I'm finished with Dell. No more.

[Quest]

LOL! Every business has a legitimate reason to cut down on tech support costs and Dell, HP are no exception.

Consider the following:

Each NA tech support guys that take your call and assists you through various different situations are paid at least 18+USD/hr, and given a computer that they sell to you for 399 or 499USD, with OS and some other stuff included, profit margin tends to wear really thin if an avg joe calls in and rant about not being able to enable their wireless connectivity, or get an infection (that typically calls for 1+hr avg to solve, back and forth).

So, tell me you good chaps: how would they be able to offer such an aggressive hardware pricing when they also have to offer you tech support that may run them up 10+hrs or more?

The business side of Dell is better for they actually have various different support plan that you can subscribe to, and that's where the differences in support services lie.

Call it anyway you want it: this is just business as usual for you simply cannot demand a low/competitive pricing on HW and still expects to get premium after-sales support for free (incl. in your purchase deal). Simple as nite and day.

Q.

 

[Buffman]

we buy many many dells at work. I've never had an issue with Dell support, but I'm mainly calling for warranty work to get sent replacement parts. I've been using their online chat lately. That way I can understand them better ( written english is better) and I can do other things while waiting for them.

 

[tmorris1]

Originally Posted By: firemachine69
I refuse to buy Dell only on the basis that they refused to credit me back the $30 NSF fee on a five and some change overdraft charge (remainder of interest I had forgotten about).

Otherwise, good computers.

So its Dell's fault that your check bounced?

 

[firemachine69]

I asked Dell to return the NSF charge as a CREDIT to my Dell account. They refused. I explained to them that per law, an NSF fee on (purely) interest is illegal, you cannot compound interest on a simple loan. They stood their grounds and still refused. To make matters worse, I had called them two weeks prior for the EXACT amount remaining to pay off the loan, and I paid exactly the amount the Dell representative had told me.

Told them congratulations, they just lost a customer for life. All over a CREDIT to spend on their (typically) overpriced website.

It's this thing called "good faith", I received it from my bank (RBC) when they hit me with their own NSF fee, no problem, and the customer service rep even chatted with me over coffee. Guess what? They ain't the cheapest in town, by a long shot, but they're wise enough to remove a thirty dollar NSF fee, when my combined fees (between my commercial and personal accounts) amount to well over four hundred per year. Will I change banks, particular since BMO offers Airmiles, which I collect heavily, on most all their products? Nope, I am an extremely satisfied customer at RBC, and unless they do something to truly aggravate me, likely will remain with them for life.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Quest
LOL! Every business has a legitimate reason to cut down on tech support costs and Dell, HP are no exception.

Consider the following:

Each NA tech support guys that take your call and assists you through various different situations are paid at least 18+USD/hr, and given a computer that they sell to you for 399 or 499USD, with OS and some other stuff included, profit margin tends to wear really thin if an avg joe calls in and rant about not being able to enable their wireless connectivity, or get an infection (that typically calls for 1+hr avg to solve, back and forth).

So, tell me you good chaps: how would they be able to offer such an aggressive hardware pricing when they also have to offer you tech support that may run them up 10+hrs or more?

The business side of Dell is better for they actually have various different support plan that you can subscribe to, and that's where the differences in support services lie.

Call it anyway you want it: this is just business as usual for you simply cannot demand a low/competitive pricing on HW and still expects to get premium after-sales support for free (incl. in your purchase deal). Simple as nite and day.

Q.


MINIX IIRC pays their apple support phone techs 10 or 11 dollars (CDN) an hour here in town. We have one of their call centres.

 

[PandaBear]

To be honest I don't think Dell overprice their products if you know what you are getting. Usually they are very competitive on the low end deals on a regular basis. Business and large OEM tends not to fuzz over a couple hundreds here and there, but are extremely critical of down time if the parts is not ready, or if they want to buy an exact replacement that is 2 years old (to fit a certain form factor or do a drive replication).

The key is, you have to be willing to pay in order to get the service you want, plain and simple in any business.

For the OP, if you want better service I think you need to stay with a custom build machine from a small local mom and pop store near by, and don't be surprised they charge you more than DELL or any other brand.

 

[daves87rs]

You have to learn to build computers...so then you will know how to fix it.

I plan building my next system..prices be you know what.


My current gateways have been flawless (granted those stupid Vista issues with my labtop) so far.


My Dell was ok...lots of little annoying issues.


I hated my Emachine-two motherboards in two years...granted, it was a fast little bugger....


I just wouldn't have bought a Gateway, Acer, or Emachine in 2006, as they seem to have huge motherboard issues....

 

[JustinH]

Building computers is fine, and a good learning experience.

I have built dozens of them.

But honestly, you can not even come close to buying the parts for what Dell is selling them for.

Plus they put windows Vista on the computer. Even getting an academic copy of vista (upgrade) is 99 dollars.

 

[simple_gifts]

Quote:

Business and large OEM tends not to fuzz over a couple hundreds here and there, but are extremely critical of down time if the parts is not ready


Well, @ our site, Dell "sometimes" understands this. We have hundreds of Dell servers and 1000's of desktops. Odd though that when a drive in a RAID-5 array goes bad, Dell would tell us to "reseat" the drive and call them back with the results. Not sure about anyone else, but I'm not willing to force a rebuild on a drive, than in all likelihood, is 99% chanced as bad. This is the "nonsense" that we have learned to put up with (putting our customers business @ risk with "idiotic" support help trying to save Dell $200 on a support plan that was PREPAID) and we just inform them we have already tried reseating the drive when we put in the service call.

 

[javacontour]

Zactly,

I just took advantage of the $299 deal posted in another thread, with the free shipping.

For $533.87 shipped to chez javaContour tax included I got the dual core 2.5GHz with 3GB RAM, Vista Home Premium, upgraded to 500GB HD and added Office '07 Home to satisfy oilBabe.

There is no way I could buy all of that for that price, OTD shipped to my home.

I don't need a gamer rig. I've used my Dell Dimension 2300 with a 1.8GHz Celeron, upgraded to 768MB of RAM for the past nearly 7 years now, so this thing will seem to scream. If the Vista special desktop graphics don't work, I think I can switch to a classic desktop that is far less resource intensive.

(I hear the Intel 3100 graphics is OK, but nothing great.)

Originally Posted By: JustinH
Building computers is fine, and a good learning experience.

I have built dozens of them.

But honestly, you can not even come close to buying the parts for what Dell is selling them for.

Plus they put windows Vista on the computer. Even getting an academic copy of vista (upgrade) is 99 dollars.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: javacontour


(I hear the Intel 3100 graphics is OK, but nothing great.)


You can always plug in a $10-$20 low end PCIe graphics card and call it a day.

 

[javacontour]

Yeah, if I don't like it, and I find I can't live without Aero (doubt it) then maybe I'll do that.

We may even have a consumable PCIe card that I can order as a repair part if there is a Window's driver for a Sun card.

 

[unDummy]

I don't recommend Dell. With everyone wanting cheap disposable computers, how can you argue with their pricing? Same reason why wallyworld is around.

But, when I build my own computer, I can plan the 'upgrade' path over the next few years. Most branded computers tend to be limited or you'll practice trial/error upgrades.

 

[brianl703]

The only Dells I have I got used. I probably would never buy a new one.

I have a few PCs that were put together using parts from other PCs, some parts that I got free as they were being trashed, etc. These PCs didn't cost much to build, perhaps I have to buy some memory or a power supply (I make use of those disk power to P4 connectors, so the only reason I'm replacing a power supply is if it's blown or doesn't have enough wattage).