As a former field tech for a Dell Service Provider I can honestly tell you this. If you get a dell and it breaks, it's going to stay broke for the rest of it's life. They (dell) sell 2 kinds of machines, the kind that work all the time with minimal difficulty (approx. 90 percent), and the kind that never work right no matter what you do(the remaining 10-ish percent). The trick to getting your laptop replaced is simple. Stop dealing with level 1 support. Talk to dude's boss, then talk to that guy's boss and so on and so forth until you wind up with Micheal Dell's secretary explaining that they can't send you a replacement any faster than overnight (unless you live near Austin).
I've stopped having support issues because I've developed the inherent ability to be a 'problem user'. You have to raise hell on the phone, and offer coffee to the guys(or girls) that actually come out to fix your junk. The problem isn't poor customer support, it's a lack of customer created motivation for the support teams.
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As a former field tech for a Dell Service Provider I can honestly tell you this. If you get a dell and it breaks, it's going to stay broke for the rest of it's life. They (dell) sell 2 kinds of machines, the kind that work all the time with minimal difficulty (approx. 90 percent), and the kind that never work right no matter what you do(the remaining 10-ish percent). The trick to getting your laptop replaced is simple. Stop dealing with level 1 support. Talk to dude's boss, then talk to that guy's boss and so on and so forth until you wind up with Micheal Dell's secretary explaining that they can't send you a replacement any faster than overnight (unless you live near Austin). I've stopped having support issues because I've developed the inherent ability to be a 'problem user'. You have to raise hell on the phone, and offer coffee to the guys(or girls) that actually come out to fix your junk. The problem isn't poor customer support, it's a lack of customer created motivation for the support teams.