Former Employee Dishes About Dell

A former Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) employee sent The Consumerist a list of the 22 Confessions Of A Former Dell Sales Manager, which The Consumerist posted yesterday.  Suffice it to say, Dell is not happy about the information the employee so freely offered the public claiming much of it was confidential.  Dell even went so far as to have their legal counsel send email messages to The Consumerist asking for the post to be removed (The Consumerist posted copies of that correspondence here – good for them). 

Sounds like there is some information in that post that Dell wants to keep secret, and I’m not surprised.  If you read the 22 confessions post, you’ll see that many of the items on the list give customers tips on how to save money on their next Dell by teaching them how to get a better deal online or at a Dell kiosk.  It also tells consumers how to get better customer service and tips about the Dell private-label credit card and warranties. 

Much of the information in the post is really not a secret.  Most people who have been around the block a few times would assume many of the confessions on the list were true before reading them, but it seems to take on a greater value when the information comes from an employee.  The problem for Dell comes not as much from the 22 confessions post as it does from their reaction to it.  I’m not trying to downplay the negative press some of the items on the list will have on the Dell brand and its trustworthiness, but by basically freaking out about the post, they drew a lot of attention to it.  Consumerist even warned Dell of the negative backlash that removing the post would have since it would look like Dell has something to hide.  Now, Dell needs to work quickly to not only mitigate the bad press they’ve gotten from the 22 confessions post, itself, but also from their heavy-handed response to it. 

What do you think about the 22 confessions post and Dell’s reaction to it?