Correct Pro-Support is the level.  I normally have them ship me the parts and I 
do the repair but they did not want to do it this time.  I have done my own 
repairs for several years as you said it is easier than getting a tech to you 
at a time or place that is convenient to both of us.  Dell told me that the 
tech had to meet me at my primary place of business for the first visit, which 
I found VERY strange if not stupid.  The tech told me to just tell him where to 
me him and he would do his best.  I have no fault with the tech they sent just 
the in house tech support people.  To be honest this is only the third time is 
~25 years I have had a major break down of a Dell machine that includes 
servers, desktops, and laptops.  I have always in the past had great support 
even when they off-shored their home brand machines.  Their tech support was 
always their best selling point for me.  Their attitude is what is getting my 
goat on this one.  It is more of a "we will tell you what you need to know when 
we feel like it" than anything else, that and my garage business is taking a 
big hit by having my primary machine DOA for weeks.
 
Jon
 
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] OT-ish: Laptop
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 20:26:59 -0500

WOW.That sucks.  I’d be so frustrated.  Never had an issue like this.  Not even 
with ‘Return to depot’ like you did. (Which I often opt for (Even though I have 
onsite, I ask nicely and they let me send it in for free.  With all the spares 
I have, I don’t care how long a repair takes… I’d rather do that than 
coordinate with a tech.  I feel it’s cheaper for Dell too)). Curious, what 
support level was this?  ProSupport?  From: [email protected] 
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jon Harris
Sent: Friday, October 25, 2013 6:42 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] OT-ish: Laptop I would normally go with a Dell Latitude 
or Precision but after the last couple of weeks I don't know if I would go that 
path anymore.  
 
rant on\*
 
I have the On Site warranty and the Dell tech came in to "fix" the issue.  
Turns out they did not send him the correct parts but he got the original issue 
sort of fixed but wanted to replace the parts giving me issues.  Came in the 
next week replaced the parts and machine is now dead completely.  Okay not a 
big issue but Dell will not let him fix it again they want it back to look at 
it closely when if fact it was most likely a dead system board (their paperwork 
indicated this was the issue after all).  Time goes by they took 3 days of it 
to send me a box to return the machine minus the drive.  They keep it for 7 
days including the 5 days it took in shipping which including waiting for the 
box.  On return it is less dead but still dead as far as I can tell.  Power 
indicators show it is now trying to power up but it still does not power up.  
Dell has me return it again as not only is the machine non-functional but for 
the very brief time we do manage to get it to function one of the parts is now 
not working.  It took them 4 days to finally get the replacement machine 
scheduled for build, but they had some of the parts wrong, go figure a just 
over 2 year old machine and they can't read their own database to figure out 
what parts my original machine had.  It took them 3 more days to get the 
machine parts list modified and now they are telling me they are out of screens 
for laptops and have no idea of how long before they will get more in stock to 
take care of their backlog.  I am now without a functioning machine for 2.5 
weeks with no idea as to when they will get my EXPEDITED machine replacement.  
I was told originally I would only be down 7 to 14 days.  Oh and the in house 
tech, claims ownership of the issue, takes 2 days to return emails and his 
supervisor, also claiming he is involved, does not return emails at all.
 
*\ rant off
 
If you really want the BS go with Dell if not try either the Lenovo or Toshiba 
line of machines.  Sony makes rock solid machines as well but they are not 
business quality IMHO.  Lenovo's work well are rock solid and are business 
class.  My next one may be either a Toshiba or Lenovo after this BS from Dell.
 
Jon
 > Subject: [NTSysADM] OT-ish: Laptop
> To: [email protected]
> From: [email protected]
> Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 09:50:14 +0000
> 
> I need a new laptop....anyone have any recommendations in this arena?
> 
> I like fast, I like nice-looking....but I also hate spending a lot of money, 
> maybe about 700 English pounds would be my budget? I don't really do much 
> besides browse, watch movies and work on documents, although it might be nice 
> to have decent battery life and maybe be able to run a CPU-intensive game 
> like Football Manager.
> 
> I prefer to run Windows, but I'm open to all options really. Just looking for 
> some recommendations as to what type/model people find good, rather than 
> expecting anyone to do the research for me :-)
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> 
> 
> JR
> 
> Sent from my (new!) BlackBerry, which may make me an antiques dealer, but 
> it's reliable as hell for email delivery :-)
> 
>                                         

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