At the office the Dell support calls are never about the OS or software products. Just arranging for repairs. We never have a problem.
Bob
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I am new to this Dell Forum, and would like to ask about Dell Support. I have had a Dell Desktop for about 6 years. I paid for a 4 year priority extended support. The initial telephone support was great. The support was in the US, and Dell had some local stores where you could order a PC. As time went on, the support became worse and worse, especially after going to India. I had to fix my last two hardware bugs at my expense because they refused to send me the parts I needed unless I paid an extra $99.00 for "Problem Determine Support". It was still under the warranty I paid for. Thankfully, I have not had a problem for the last two years. I really need to get a new PC, but I need to get a feel as to what kind of support I might expect from Dell. Dell used to make a very reliable product, but because I have not been in the market for a replacement for years, I am trying to determine if buying another Dell is a good move. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
Charles Ranheim
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For USB issues use this one.
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=1049&DwnldID=18053&lang=eng
I have never called Dell support for software assistance. My last two calls to Dell for hardware problems under warranty were for a defective floppy disk drive, and an defective monitor. In both cases, they said because it "may" be a software problem, I would have to pay $99.00 up front for their "Dell for You" program, to verify it was not a software problem before they would send me the parts I needed. I had already proved the display was defective by switching it to another PC. I did the same with the floppy drive. They were not interested it my problem determination. They just wanted me to pay the $99.00 to have some foreign tech play with my operating system. I have been down that path before, before they began charging the $99.00 up front. After destroying my OS and hanging up, I had to reload the entire machine before I could go back to fixing it myself.
Please understand I did not start this thread to unload on Dell for what happened two years ago. I was just trying to find out if their support had improved before buying another Dell. They made good products and had good support before going downhill. I am just trying to get a feel for their current level of support. Charles Ranheim
We have backups of the systems so we can let them play with it. Floppy drives are so cheap that we don't bother with the warranty except on laptops. And the few laptops with floppies are either out of warranty or frankly ready for replacements.
99 bucks is par for the course today. In fact cheap compared to shop rates here!
Here's a tip. Learn about CLONEZILLA and how to backup, restore your entire machine. It's free and cheap compared to other methods.
Bob
My primary concern was the fact Dell would not honor the warranty I paid for, unless I paid the $99.00 first. There was nothing in my warranty that said I had to pay the first $99.00 on every problem call. Secondly, since I had the necessity to reload the system, I have been using Acronis for full backup. This already came in handy when I started getting HD errors. You said $99.00 was a good price for service. Do you think this is a valid charge when I already paid a good price up front for the extended warranty? Perhaps I am missing something about warranties. If it is normal to charge an extra $99.00 for speaking to them up front, even though I already paid for the warranty, this should be written in the warrany document. I looked at this charge as just a way to make more money from their trusting customers. In my case, I had already proven exactly what was failing, and only wanted them to give me the parts to replace myself. My warranty even included in house service, which I was not asking for. This in itself saves them money. There are electronic stores in my area that sell PC's and offer extended warranties for a price. The problem with that is that many of these stores close, or go away for some other reason, and you lose the warranty you paid for. The last one to close in my area was Circuit City. I know there must be other PC users out there that do not have the skills to service their own PC's and purchase these extended warranties. I would like to hear from them if possible. Thanks for your input.
Warranties sold by others on a Dell that are now dead and gone are not Dell's problem. I can see where many would demand Dell cover a warranty they didn't issue.
Bob
I purchased my Dell from Dell direct. The extended warranty I purchesed directly from Dewll was not honored in the last two years it was in effect. Certainly, I would never expect Dell to stand behind a Circuit City warranty. I only mentioned you have to be carefull of local electronics stores that sell warranties, because they may not be in business for the life of the warranty. Do you see anything wrong with Dell charging $99.00 for a hardware support call on a product that is under a paid warranty, when this charge had never be declaired in the warranty I purchased? Again, I am only looking for peoples experience with their Dell warranties in the past two years. Long after I purchased my warranty, Dell announced a Software Support Service called "Dell for You". This was not part of the normal hardware warrany. They just tried to switch me to the Software Support Warranty whenever I called for hardware service that was covered. It bothers me to think you see nothing wrong with this.
If this is still going on, I will not go will Dell and pay for a warranty that is open ended on charges to me. Charles Ranheim