Posted on 02/28/2002 1:14:15 PM PST by the
Edited on 06/29/2004 7:08:51 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
I would not come down on Dell quite as hard as my fellow Freepers. The initial decision was stupid, but clearly it was not company policy, and the company seems to have done the right thing once it was brought to their attention. I thought the offer to ship the PC free of charge showed a certain amount of class, as did Mr. Weigand's decision to turn down the offer. I personally don't think a boycott is called for unless it happens again (and, given the ruckus that this has created, I am pretty sure we will know if it happens again).
I wholeheartedly support anyone not buying from them due to a lack of quality or certainly an issue like this where they've proven to be on the wrong side of it. I just don't believe they've done that here. There are liberals stuck inside every decent-sized company in the nation. I think offering the man a free notebook IS going the extra mile to say that they were wrong. What more could they realistically do?
MM
You're likely correct, but there's something Clintonesque about the utterances from Dell on this that leaves me doubting. I'm well aware that Michael Dell has given lots of money to the GOP and Republican candidates; including NRA A-rated candidates like John Ashcroft. But still, I'm left wondering if they're sorry about what happened or sorry they got caught.
(BTW: That little "R" at the end of a politico's name doesn't guarantee that you have someone who respects the 2nd Amendment. That's why it's called the National Rifle Association and not the National Republican Association and why the "G" in GOA doesn't stand for GOP.)
But she was not able to provide a reference to Commerce Department Bureau of Export Administration or State Department Office of Defense Trade Controls regulations that require approval of shipments to U.S. customers. Dell's export forms apply only to out-of-country shipments.
If they are going to claim the above as the reason they blocked this guy's purchase, then I'd like to know how they can get away with not following the exact same procedure for all domestic sales.
To do otherwise would be to leave them open to liability in the rare event of a bona fide terrorist failing to label his front company with a self-incriminating name. /sarcasm
Wanna feel really sick to your stomach? My wife is a high school teacher. She teaches "advanced computers". Her students admire "Steven" and look to him as a role model. He is the uber-cool icon of the age.
Effeminate stupidity is now an admired trait.
You seem to have missed something. That "something" would be them apologizing for the breakdown in effectively applying their policy, not for the policy itself.
Let's go back a few years, and pretend we're a neigbor of Rosa Parks, and we're Black. We try to get on a bus, and we're denied. When we ask why, we're told "we found out you're negroes."
We raise a stink, and the president of the bus line rises to the occasion, says that it was an oversight, and we should have been allowed to get on the bus. To make up for the "misunderstanding", he offers us free tickets good for any seats in the back of the bus.
Let's go back a few years. This time we live in Germany, and we're Jewish. We're arrested because we're found walking down the street without yellow armbands. When we protest that we never received our armbands in the mail, the local gestappo chief apologizes, and says that to make up for the "oversight", he'll give us free armbands.
It's that sort of "resolution" to the matter that has people so irate. No one likes being told they're second-class citizens.
Change their policy.
Is it really such a lofty concept to grasp?
What do you base that conclusion on? Everything I've seen on the matter leads me to conclude that it is company policy, and the only "snafu" was that they fumbled the virtual anal probe part of Weigand's transaction.
The document is available through the Legal Action Project of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence:
http://www.gunlawsuits.org/pdf/articles/gunsnbusiness.pdf
MM
I have to say the when I first heard about this I was in your camp, I figured that this would turn out to be mis-reported.
I love your graphic!
I thought their order processing software was flagging customers with hotwords like "combat" in their company name. What am I missing here? Are you telling me that it was not an automated action taken by their order processing software? You're telling me that it was some individual who personally decided to flag the transaction because he saw the word "combat"?
If so, I must say that your theory strains credulity.
That reasonable policy was not followed here (disconnect with customer feedback), which is why freebies were graciously offered.
Sorry, but Dell's not coming over to suck your boots, Don.
Is your reading not that an individual flagged it? Mine sure is.
MM
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