Dell - Extortion? - Follow Up

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Art Wolinsky <awolinsky () oii org>
Date: May 30, 2005 6:34:31 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Dell - Extortion? - Follow Up


Within minutes of my post hitting IP, I had about a half-dozen  
replies.  One suggested that I go to MSCONFIG and stop it from  
loading and another basically said, good luck, the only way you're  
going to get rid of it is by formatting the hard drive. I decided do  
some more digging and figured I'd have to bite the bullet and pay the  
fee to get it off.  Here's what transpired.

Here is the exact alert I received today that started it all...

New and Improved Dell Support 3 Coming Soon!
Dell Support 2.x will be automatically upgraded via the Internet to  
the new Dell Support 3 by June 1st. No user interaction is required.
Dell Support 3 conducts real-time scans of your computing environment  
(PC, peripherals and network devices) for potential technical support  
and security issues, sends an alert when an issue arises, offering  
advice and in many cases the option to choose to run an automated  
fix. To learn more about what it monitors, click here."
NOTE:  If you do not want to receive the upgrade, you need to  
uninstall Dell Support through Add or Remove Programs in the Control  
Panel.

Pay particular attention to the part about Add or Remove Programs.   
Guess what folks.  You CAN'T remove it that way.  I paid $49.95 plus  
tax to have the tech tell me that the software is on a ghost  
partition of the drive and the only way to get rid of it is to  
reformat the drive. I would like someone from Dell to explain to me  
why I am told to remove it through the Add or Remove Programs panel,  
when it can't be done.  I it because people would be a tad bit upset  
if the said, "If you do not want to receive the upgrade, you need  
reformat your hard drive."

Personally, I feel this puts Dell right in the same category with the  
spyware folks we all know and love.  The tech was quick to point out  
at there are plenty of other utilities that report information back  
to companies.  To that I replied, yes, and every one of them gives me  
the option of not installing it or purchasing it.  Even the worst  
spyware can be removed without reformatting a hard drive.  Dell's  
software is going on my computer whether I like it or not and the  
only way I can prevent it is to do a full data back up, reformat my  
hard drive, and spend the next 3-4 day reinstalling all of my software.

I really don't think that's worth paying $50+ to find out.  At that  
point, I asked him to put me in contact with someone who could refund  
the $49.95 plus tax that I had just paid.  I was connected and  
without a great deal of difficulty or undue time, I did get the refund.

As things stand, Dell will be losing me as a customer.

Art


Art Wolinsky
OEO 3DWriting, Inc.
awolinsky () 3dwriting com
http://www.3dwriting.com

I am perfectly capable of learning from my mistakes.
I will surely learn a great deal today.




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