Penny wise, pound foolish indeed.

Total time on the phone [to Dell]: three hours. Delay in hard drive replacement: almost two weeks. The time involved on the chat I assure you is very typical and it’s not just Dell. I see it with HP/Compaqs as well. Service is simply not part of their deal.

The Apple Experience

My next client had a Macbook. I could hear it was the same problem immediately. Ironically, it was the same brand and size of hard drive as was in the Dell. I entered her serial number on Apple’s support web site, and it showed the computer was still under warranty. We then set up a “Speak to an Apple Expert” call-back for about 20 minutes later. On the dot, the technician called. I explained the loud noise and told the tech I booted off the Leopard DVD and the hard drive showed errors. He agreed to ship a new hard drive the next day. Total phone time was less than five minutes and it was 30 minutes from problem diagnosis to closure and less than 24 hours from the time I called until the new hard drive arrived on her doorstop. Again, this interaction was very typical.

A Tale of Two Hard Drives: Apple’s Secret Weapon?.

Note: Friends of mine in Australia have reported far better experiences with Dell warranties in contrast with Apple.  I believe the above example was from Dell USA.  I know that Aussies wont tolerate the above level of BS from a company, not for 5 minutes.

HP Worst In Laptop Reliability Study