Re: Dell's Exploding Computer and Other Image Problems
- From: "Kevin" <webman6@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:13:22 -0700
"Sparky Spartacus" <Sparky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:39Jsg.14$Fu1.13@xxxxxxxxxxx
July 10, 2006
Dell's Exploding Computer and Other Image Problems
By DAMON DARLIN
A Dell notebook computer that burst into flames last month in Osaka,
Japan, has damaged more than just the conference table where it sat
smoldering. The incident, publicized in photos on the Internet, has also
hurt Dell's recent attempts to improve its image.
The company said the incident got more publicity than such incidents
usually do when they happen to other manufacturers. In part, that is
because Dell's reputation for responsive customer service was already
under attack after the company, the world's largest PC manufacturer,
started to cut costs at its call centers last year. Dell, reacting to the
savaging it has received on blogs and Web sites over the cuts, recently
responded with a program to spend more than $100 million to improve
service.
Photos of the flaming and smoking notebook were posted on a technology
news Web site called the Inquirer on June 21
(www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article =32550). The story was passed
around to other Web sites and blogs like Consumerist.com. It was also the
subject of a brief article carried later that day on the Dow Jones
Newswires.
Two days later, Cindy Shaw, a securities analyst with Moors & Cabot,
notified her clients about the publicity. Last Thursday, citing reports of
a second smoking laptop, this one in Pennsylvania, she advised them that
"should this story also hit the mainstream press, we believe there is
headline risk and potentially negative demand ramifications for Dell."
Bob Pearson, vice president for corporate group communications at Dell,
called Ms. Shaw's reaction "somewhat irresponsible."
Ms. Shaw said neither she nor her firm had made any financial bets that
the company's stock would fall. She does, however, recommend that clients
sell the shares.
So far, though, Dell's stock price has been largely unaffected.
Dell said its engineers examined and tested what remained of the flaming
notebook computer for several days to find the source of the problem. They
concluded that the fire was caused by a faulty lithium ion battery cell,
but that the problem was unrelated to a recall last year of notebook
batteries by the company and several other computer makers.
"It's very, very rare to have a thermal incident," Mr. Pearson said.
Dell said that it found no pattern of battery failure and that the
Pennsylvania incident publicized by the Inquirer Web site was caused by a
chip problem and not batteries.
The company also directed reporters' attention to a statement by Norm
England, chief executive of the Portable Rechargeable Battery Association,
that said, "Based on the millions of lithium ion batteries in use today
and the exceptionally small number of cases in which a battery malfunction
has occurred, we believe these batteries are safe and reliable." He also
said that more than two billion lithium ion cells would be manufactured in
2006.
For any company trying to repair its image, any bit of bad news hurts.
Teresa Valdez Klein, who has commented on Dell's customer care troubles
before on the Blog Business Summit Web site, compared Dell's public
relations problems to those of Britney Spears. "The blogosphere latches
onto the story and runs with it ? drowning out anything good or redeeming
that the company might say," she wrote.
Mr. Pearson said the customer with the melted notebook had been given a
new one.
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
I was under the impression that this incident had been proven to be a hoax.
Something about flammable liquid being present on the table with the laptop.
This smells like an urban legend in the making similar to the stories
circulating years ago about computer monitor makers placing tiny cameras in
the bezel of the monitor so "they" could spy on "us".
.
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