Dell policy gets thumbs-down from Dehradun partners

Partners in Dehradun are not impressed with Dell's channel policy as far as
carrying out the DGS&D rate contracts are concerned. There have been increasing
instances wherein Dell has failed to give its empaneled partners (system
integrators) their due share of commission despite committing the same to them.
The DQ Week has mails from one of the affected partners that shows the
communication between a Dell representa-tive and the affected partner. The mails
clearly establish the fact that the partner was committed to a certain
percentage of ORC (commission) by Dell which was later denied to him.

Dealers who deal in DGS&D rate contracts, in the region claimed that the
company has been engaging in unethical business practices and taking undue
advantage of the tie-up that they (Dell) had established with them.

Pointing towards the same, Arvind Mittal, CEO of Rans Electronics mentioned,
“There have been five to six cases wherein representa-tives of Dell requested us
to refer our clients to them on the condition that they would pay us the
commission for the same. However, once Dell closed the contract and collected
payments from the parties they never bothered to pay us our share of
commission.”

Referring to the ITDA case, in which Dell received payment in less than a
week's time Mittal elaborated that Dell failed to pay them the ORC even six
months after the closure of the contract. Further the vendor had verbally
approved an ORC of eight percent in Feb 2008 but reduced it to seven percent.

Another partner facing the same problem is Himanshu Agarwal of Devansh IT
Solutions. “Dell promised to pay us a commission within the range of one to six
percent on the condition that we convert clients for them as far as the DGS&D
rate contracts are concerned. However, the moment they implement the contract on
our behalf and collected the payment from the client, they completely ignored
us. We escalated the matter to the top level of authorities within Dell but we
never received any response from them.”

To add insult to injury, these clients turn to partners for any post-sales
issues. “If these very clients face any post-sales issue they come to us since
we are a face to the company and they place their trust in us. Under such
situations we are unable to assist them,” said Agarwal.

In one incident, Agarwal relayed that about a year back he had introduced a
contract of Excise Department of Uttrakhand to Dell. The vendor closed the deal
without Agarwal's knowledge and till date he is yet to receive his share of
commission for the same.

Puneet Kaura, CEO of Interface Corporations and an ex-office bearer of the
local association opined that Dell's actions were not being appreciated by the
channel in the region. “I was one of the office bearers of the local association
until a few months back when this issue was escalated, so I am aware of the
problems that Dell's empaneled partners have been facing. But the company is yet
to resolve the matter and revisit their business strategy in this space.”

Clarifying their stance, Alekhya Talapatra, Director, Dell India stated,
“Dell is committed to a robust partner program and follows strict rules in
ensuring partners do not suffer in any way, including timely payments of
commissions based on mutually agreed parameters. Dell does not do any direct DGS&D
business for laptops, desktops and servers but only through its empaneled SIs.
All payments of commissions are the responsibility of our DGS&D SI-Dell works
from the start to closure with one partner who in turn owns the responsibility
of closing, executing and payment realization. Dell has only one DGS&D RC
directly in Uttaranchal with due commissions paid as a part of our transparent
partner program.”