Dell Delivers

By this time probably everyone has heard about Dell's recall of 4.1 million laptop batteries and Apple Computers recall of over 1.8 million batteries. Both of the recalls involved batteries manufactured by Sony. Like Dell, Apple recalled the lithium-ion batteries because of potential overheating problems that could result in a fire. Dell's recall was preceded by the circulation on the internet of a video of one of its laptops spectacularly bursting into flames.

And in case you were wondering, it's a bad deal when your computer goes up in flames. It gives the phrase, "a hot computer," new meaning! I wouldn't want to be working in Sony's quality assurance department right now.

I learned about Dell's battery recall on Sunday, August 13 from a breaking online news story. Dell's recall site was up and running on Monday, August 14 and I confirmed that Jason's Inspiron battery was included in the recall. I submitted an online request for a battery replacement and received a confirmation email from Dell on the 17th informing me that I could expect to receive a new battery within 20 business days. I was impressed, realizing that Dell was trying to process 4.1 replacement orders.

So you can realize my surprise when I received an email from Dell on the 21st indicating that my new battery had been shipped and that I could expect to receive it within 7-10 business days. Now I was amazed.

My amazement turned to shock on the 22nd when the DHL driver delivered the new battery! Wow! One week from first contact to the delivered product. Dell took a negative and turned it into a positive by managing expectations. In a competitive market where so many talk about customer service, but so few actually follow through on their promises, Dell delivers!