The reason companies separate their "Gold level support" and consumer support is that a lot of individuals, normally consumers, want the cheapest laptop possible. Every single company, including IBM, Toshiba, and HP create this delineation between their two options.
The way that Dell works is that their Inspiron laptops, which are especially sold extra cheap and sometimes can be found in stores, come with a limited warranty and service where people have to send their laptops in for repair. This service is, as previously mentioned, extremely shoddy, because the consumers are usually greeted with an Indian representative named Joe on the other side of the line who wants to replace your hard drive four different times. I'm pretty sure that even IBM used to do it in the same way. The difference was that IBM actually advertised their business line of laptops more often than their really bad consumer ones. Dell's Latitude warranty isn't actually "Gold service," because the Gold level service is typically saved for large corporations which have specific licenses for many users. It does, however, cost an extra 100 dollars, which is usually the same that IBM charges for its laptops. Dell's Latitude warranty automatically forwards to a proper technician after immediately receiving your computer tag ID, and this usually is a Senior Technical Support Staff, or someone who resides in the United States and has significant experience with laptops. By the way, did you know that this warranty service allows Parts-Only service requests, and for users who aren't familiar with opening up laptops with a screwdriver, a person will come within the next day in order to repair that laptop?
I actually often call Dell for my single Latitude laptop... not because it breaks for no reason, but more because either a key pops off, I mishandle the computer, or something small that doesn't look like I purposely cracked the screen or threw the laptop into the oven. Dell's usual response from the technician:
1. Hold time of less than a minute
2. Technician verifies service warranty, name, and contact information
3. I reply back which part needs to be replaced, for the reasons why, etc.
4. They usually tell me to hit F12 on Bios in order to reach diagnostics (an often required part of Dell employees in order to keep track of problems)
5. I respond as requested, and sometimes there isn't an error in diagnostics
6. Hold for 3 minutes while they enter case ID in
7. Dispatch+Case number fully entered and I hang up, expecting to have someone in the next day, or those free Windows XP CDs I requested as a Parts only Service.
Hey, 10 support calls to Dell and I'm still happy. In fact, I actually suggest Dell latitude laptops to many individuals, telling them that IBM is still fine, but I'm scared of the way Lenovo might handle its customers soon.
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The reason companies separate their "Gold level support" and consumer support is that a lot of individuals, normally consumers, want the cheapest laptop possible. Every single company, including IBM, Toshiba, and HP create this delineation between their two options. The way that Dell works is that their Inspiron laptops, which are especially sold extra cheap and sometimes can be found in stores, come with a limited warranty and service where people have to send their laptops in for repair. This service is, as previously mentioned, extremely shoddy, because the consumers are usually greeted with an Indian representative named Joe on the other side of the line who wants to replace your hard drive four different times. I'm pretty sure that even IBM used to do it in the same way. The difference was that IBM actually advertised their business line of laptops more often than their really bad consumer ones. Dell's Latitude warranty isn't actually "Gold service," because the Gold level service is typically saved for large corporations which have specific licenses for many users. It does, however, cost an extra 100 dollars, which is usually the same that IBM charges for its laptops. Dell's Latitude warranty automatically forwards to a proper technician after immediately receiving your computer tag ID, and this usually is a Senior Technical Support Staff, or someone who resides in the United States and has significant experience with laptops. By the way, did you know that this warranty service allows Parts-Only service requests, and for users who aren't familiar with opening up laptops with a screwdriver, a person will come within the next day in order to repair that laptop? I actually often call Dell for my single Latitude laptop... not because it breaks for no reason, but more because either a key pops off, I mishandle the computer, or something small that doesn't look like I purposely cracked the screen or threw the laptop into the oven. Dell's usual response from the technician: 1. Hold time of less than a minute 2. Technician verifies service warranty, name, and contact information 3. I reply back which part needs to be replaced, for the reasons why, etc. 4. They usually tell me to hit F12 on Bios in order to reach diagnostics (an often required part of Dell employees in order to keep track of problems) 5. I respond as requested, and sometimes there isn't an error in diagnostics 6. Hold for 3 minutes while they enter case ID in 7. Dispatch+Case number fully entered and I hang up, expecting to have someone in the next day, or those free Windows XP CDs I requested as a Parts only Service. Hey, 10 support calls to Dell and I'm still happy. In fact, I actually suggest Dell latitude laptops to many individuals, telling them that IBM is still fine, but I'm scared of the way Lenovo might handle its customers soon.