I have a "4 year next business day" service contract on my XPS m1210, what's the Dell (UK) support like?

Hi all, I wish to find out more information/feedback of people's with Dell's Support.

My laptop is facing imminent death I'm quite sure, but still usable. I'm currently backing up everything. For more details please see: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=411055

This is a good excuse for me to replace it so I am going to do that. Once I do I plan to call Dell to fix this issue somehow.

Now I've only contacted Dell when I worked in IT Support via a work place/contract, but never personally. However I do remember it was incredibly hard to even get some sort of direct attention with them.

With the Dell XPS m1210, they don't sell it anymore and such. I was wondering if my laptop completely dies (graphics wise) and with my 4 year service contract with them, what kind of options will they provide me?

I mean they can take it away and fix it (replacing parts, etc) and send it back I suppose, but I was wondering what are the full range of possible options? Can they replace the laptop with another of the same model, or can they replace it with an "equivalent" from the current range (an hopeful option but might not be likely...)? (Will probably need to pay a tiny bit on top I expect)

I want to be absolutely sure when I contact them I can get through past the 1st line without having to call back because I need to check if my laptop is plugged in, etc. Is there a checklist of things I can do and scribble down the results of just to be ABSOLUTELY sure they cannot ask me to do anything else so all the answers will be there for the Dell Support? (i.e. Dell Diagnostics)

Thank you for reading, I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Well I'm a fellow Londoner, so hopefully my recent experience with Dell warranty should give you some insight into what may lie ahead.

Firstly, here is my original thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=400262

It is fairly long, but thats because I did go into alot of detail within my posts.

I would say the major difference in both our situations was that my initial contact with Dell was regarding a liquid spillage, which was part of my complete care accidental warranty. However later dealings with Dell were in-reference to my next business day warranty. I.e. after the initial repair of the system due to spillage, I was sent out technicians to repair other parts.
My one piece of advice, strongly urge all repairs to take place on-site. By this I mean either your place of work or home. Having next business day warranty, basically warrants this. From my experience the two times I sent my laptop off to a service depot for a repair, it came back with some serious damage, (scratches on LCD screen, etc.) And if they really insist on a collect and repair, take loads of photos of the external areas of the laptop, so you have proof that the damage was not done previously.

I can't say for sure whether they will replace the laptop for a new machine, as in my case it was a 3 year old machine, yet Dell tried numerous times to repair it. I was surprised they kept parts for this particular model for so long. But I was told this was normal by one of the technicians as it was a business model laptop. But you never know, they may still have parts for your old system.

Oh and also, I really tried to avoid calling, as partly there was the issue of cost, (being left on hold, racking up the phone bill.) along with the issue of wanting the conversation recorded. I done 95% of my communication with Dell using the online chat support. I could always copy and paste the whole conversation with a service agent into a word file, although they always email you a copy of the conversation anyway.

I hope that gives you enough info on what avenue to take. And if you have any further questions, dont hesitate to ask.

 

I read your post and thread with great interest. I, like you, am very polite/calm but can be firm/direct when required, which I see as an important thing to prevent people their end bad mouthing you (I am also in PC Support) especially when it comes to customer services where Dell probably gets 99% crap all day.

I liked how you even managed to e-mail Michael himself lol. I mean I'm sure he recieves millions of e-mails a day but the thought of that is quite humurous.

I can only say calling is for sure the best option eventually. However as I do it from work I'll have to ask if my manager doesn't mind me making a couple a day or so just to sort my laptop out.

The XPS m1210 is also a 3 year old machine, parts wise we really cannot say, but as it's a 12incher I'll be insulted if they replace it with a Dell Mini 12 lol! However, I did see one of the guys on Dragon's Den use my exact same laptop, I forget how to spell his name but it sounds like Fetus (lol).

I like how they tried to match your old laptop spec for spec. However the thought of a Mini 12 having a T7200 is laughable at best so... we shall see.

And I'm inspired by your other thread. Once I get a replacement and I start calling dell I will also make a "blog type" post like you did.

 

I think this is a really important point. As someone who has worked in customer services for a good amount of years, it's absolutely vital to remember that common courtesy goes a long way. I've had to deal with rude customers, and polite customers, you can bet which type I pulled out all the extra stops for. Saying that, when a customer has been treated badly, you can understand their reasons to vent, in a well-mannered way.

As other people on this board have mentioned, I doubt the emails even get through to him. I'm fairly certain there are good number of people who filter the emails which go to this email address, regardless, I should point out that this was my last resort. You shouldn't really be taking this to this level at step 1, I would imagine it slightly belittles the seriousness of the issue at hand, abit like the escalation service Dell offer. I like to think, if all else fails, contact those email addresses and the unresolved escalation form.