Dell Alleged to Hide Mass Computer Failure From Customers

There is a fascinating story out there that may be interesting to anyone who bought a Dell Optiplex computer between 2003 and 2005, especially if it failed.  The New York Times is reporting about a lawsuit brought against Dell in North Carolina because of faulty Optiplex computers.  Dell apparently knew that they would fail 97% of the time with three years and hid the problem.  Customer Service representatives were instructed to emphasize uncertainty about why a customer's computer had failed.  The failure was caused by faulty capacitors on the motherboards or power supplies which would leak, explode, or cause fires.  For some detail on how the bad capacitor situation came about, read the story in the Guardian U.K. about Chinese industrial espionage gone wrong.

How bad did it get for Dell?  The company wound up replacing bad machines with more bad machines, compounding the problem.  Dell told the University of Texas Math Department the failures were caused by trying to run complex mathematical formulas on the machines.  I understand that complex mathematical formulas may cause a machine to run slow, but I didn't think they caused the machine to get a headache.  Even the law firm representing Dell had experienced computer failure.  Dell refused to fix the problem.

The suit came about when Dell customer Advanced Internet Technologies filed suit over the issue in 2007.  The Court released documents used in the New York Times report earlier this week.  It doesn't look pretty for Dell, which spent millions on replacing bad machines.  The company also set aside cash for a possible settlement with the SEC on possible fraud charges relating to accounting issues for the failures. Dell was once known as a company with a solid product and solid customer service.  The middle part of the decade saw a general decline in both, but not enough to discourage buyers.  I expect the this news to cause other businesses to pile on once they realize what actually happened to the machines they bought.  Class action anyone?  [MG]