Omar L. Gallaga writes about technology culture for the Austin American-Statesman. He's worked for more than nine years at the Austin American-Statesman and edited Technopolis, the newspaper's personal tech section, and ¡ahora sí!, Austin's Spanish-language newspaper. He's been a writer and performer with Austin's award-winning Latino Comedy Project and is a contributing writer for Television Without Pity, MSNBC.com's books section and The Almost Late Show with Bobby Bones. He writes a comic strip, "Space Monkeys!" with his brother, Pablo, and lives in New Braunfels with his wife and three technologically savvy cats.
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The entry titled "Dell saying goodbye to mall kiosks."
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2008 > January > 30 > Entry
By Omar Gallaga
| Wednesday, January 30, 2008, 01:50 PM
Dell Inc. is eliminating its mall kiosks, taking it out of the bustling retail area that includes those funky plastic birds that fly around in a circle and cheap gold jewelry stands where you buy gifts for your girlfriend when you’re 15 years old.
The Dell kiosk at Barton Springs Square mall was always a welcome sight for me: I enjoyed checking out the large flat-panel monitor and the multiple printers. But I never actually saw anyone buy an item at one of these kiosks, which may be part of the problem.
If this ends up being a good business decision for Dell, I’m all for shutting these things down, especially if it makes more room for scrumptious cheeses and sausages from our friends at Hickory Farms.
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Austin, Computers, Food, Shopping
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By Omar Gallaga
February 1, 2008 1:37 AM | Link to this
Hi, Tim --
I don't think it would hurt to mention your experiences on Dell's customer site, Direct2Dell.com.
By Tim Shockley
January 31, 2008 6:02 PM | Link to this
If Dell would concentrate on getting back to putting a good product out and just completely rebuild their Customer Service and Tech Support Departments, they would not have to be closing these kiosks. I walk Barton Ck. mall nearly everyday and they had some really good employee's working there. One in particular whose first name is Berlin(can't remember his last name)is the kind of employee that Dell is in dire need of more like him. I purchased a PC from the Kiosk a year ago. It was a piece of junk. I got NO where with Dell's Cust. Serv. & Tech. Support people, except the run around. If Berlin hadn't stepped and assisted me I would have been lost. I got another PC, which also is junk(can't do system restore unless in safe mode). Berlin has tried to help, which is more than Dell's main office. I just hope that they don't just dump these employee's, I think any company in town would be glad to have someone of Berlin's caliber.
By Tim Shockley
January 31, 2008 4:54 PM | Link to this
I hope for the employees of the Dell Kiosks that Dell will evaluate the people they had staffing them and find a place in the Company for them. I know one employee in particular that worked at the Barton Creek Kiosk that any company would be lucky to have on their payroll. I just know his first name and that is Berlin. I purchased a Dell Dimension E520 a year ago. It was nothing but problems. If it hadn't been for Berlin's concern to make sure his customers were happy, I don't think I would have ever got anywhere dealing with Dell's POOR Customer Service and Tech support. After he(Berlin) got involved I was finally shipped another PC, which unfortunately is just about as bad. I just got tired of fighting. Still can't do a system restore except in safe mode and that is after having taken it out to Dell in RR and having a "Senior Tech" work on it. Berlin continued to try and be of assistance to the end. I just hope that Dell doesn't just "Dump" a caring employee like him.