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What Dell Support Thinks of Dell Support | 64 comments (64 topical) | Post A Comment
Not so fast, bucko...[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#3)
by Anonymous User on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 11:54:23 AM PDT

"You have problems with page-cannot-be-displayed, cannot-connect-to-Internet, and blue screen errors?" a Panama-based Dell tech responded to a reader's description of support woes. "They are all Windows-related problems, and guess what? Dell is a hardware company. If you have problems with Windows not running properly, blame Microsoft and call them to fix it.

Here's a newsflash: Dell's contract with Microsoft states that Dell is responsible for supporting Windows on their hardware. So like it or not, Dell's support reps have to handle these issues.

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Sure Dell supports software...[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#4)
by talmy on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:53:46 PM PDT

but only for 30 days, and their solution is "reinstall". But what do you really expect? There isn't enough margin to provide real support. And people aren't willing to pay. (Look at all the complaining about the high cost of Macs.)

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Who supports Windows at Dell?[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#5)
by OlderThanDirt on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 01:22:01 PM PDT

I'm looking at the cover of the copy of Windows XP Pro that came with one of the new Dell systems my company leased last year. It plainly says the following: "For product support, contact the manufacturer of your PC." That sounds like the ball's in Dell's court for support of Windows issues to me. Slam and dunk, Dell tech guy!

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High cost of Macs[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#11)
by Anonymous User on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 02:12:59 PM PDT

The high cost of Macs has more to do with low sales volume (compared to Windoz PCs) and the cost of "cutesy" and "trendy" product design than it does with the cost of support. My Dell Latitude is over 6 years old and is still going strong (only thing it can't do is play any new games). Only one failed component and that was the CD-ROM drive. Tech support had a new one on its way in no time. That was before Dell outsourced their tech support overseas however so I have no recent support experience especially as any OS issues I can solve myself.

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Not "reinstall"[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#22)
by Anonymous User on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 06:46:43 AM PDT

I got the "reinstall"" mantra from Dell Support two years ago. But now with Win Xp,they are much more likely to tell you to restore the registry to a previous save point. - precision blogger

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OEM is responsible for Windows Support[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#21)
by Anonymous User on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 06:14:06 AM PDT

Absolutely! If you buy a new computer with Windows pre-installed then the manufacturer has assumed support for Windows. Compare IBM's support to Dell's in this area to see how it's supposed to work.

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CONTRACT[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#48)
by Anonymous User on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 01:45:55 PM PDT

Dell and Microsoft have a contract, yes. But it states that they will verify functionality of the operating system only. No usage support. If it blue screen they can help reinstall it. There is no support for "I reaaaalllly needed to download that free song from a shareware program and now I am so riddled with spyware that I can't do anything and can't get online. Bad DELL bad DELL BAD!" Dell can only support so much. If they supported everything under the sun and then some your hold times would grow that much more.

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What Dell Support Thinks of Dell Support | 64 comments (64 topical) | Post A Comment
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