1

As i have seen many times, people are generally unhappy with many of the companies they purchase end user devices from due to their support.

Our last refresh was DELL and their support has declined over the past few years, to the point it is no longer useful to us.

I don’t have much experience outside of Dell/Lenovo/Microsoft support so i wondered which support do you guys find is worth it?

We currently pay for Dells 4-year NBD pro support and i have two cases each over 2 weeks old now, still not resolved.

Any recommendations to switch to? Budget isn’t much of an issue. I know hardware is also a factor, but that’s for a different discussion.

50 Spice ups
2

I use DELL and have found them particularly efficient. Perhaps I just got lucky but I would definitely suggest that you kick up a fuss and hopefully they’ll speed things up for you?

Good luck anyway!

20 Spice ups
3

Most of my interactions both dell prosupport has been around hardware issues and it gets sorted the next day as a rule
For Windows related issues if updating drivers/bios doesn’t fix I’m a scorched earth person and redeploy the OS from scratch

But the prosupport guys are normally very good so I’d chase your contact on these tickets

13 Spice ups
4

Are you looking for Break fix and software support?

5

This is only hardware support, replacement mobo’s etc. We did have a good relationship with dell but my last…6 or 7 cases have all taken weeks to resolved under NBD and i am curious at other options now.

6

It entirely depends on location and which team is assigned to you. You could find heaven with HP but find many who say it is hell.

3 Spice ups
7

If you are unhappy with Dell support, complain vociferously. And if still unhappy rethink about your strategy for laptops. Maybe, consider buying cheaper laptop versions with no support at less than half the price and buy spares and maybe replace more often. Then find a local outfit to repair the broken ones on a relaxed timescale. That may be a better option for you.

10 Spice ups
8

I love Dell’s support. They have always treated us well. Their only downfall is the companies that they outsource to do the on-site repairs. In the past we’ve had a horrible time trying to get those technicians to come on time. Dell just needs to vet those companies better I think.

5 Spice ups
9

One of the schools I used to manage had a load of Acer’s that all had dodgy trackpads.

After much arm twisting we finally got Acer to agree to an RTB warranty replacement of the trackpads, which they completely arsed up as when they returned them several came back with cracked screens and damaged cases.

Earlier to that they’d also managed to send a different laptop to a residential address instead of the school. Naturally our first thought was that UPS had cocked it up but turned out Acer had provided UPS with a completely wrong address. That also required much arm twisting for them to replace the laptop with one of a similar spec (originally they tried giving us one with a smaller screen and less powerful)

So, add Acer to the ‘Do not recommend’ list.

7 Spice ups
10

All the companies have issues.

  • Dell = Treat their partner network like scum. You might quote some kit out as a partner only for a Dell rep to contact your client directly, quote the exact same kit but at 10-20% less than what Dell quoted you as a partner.
  • HPE = Their web developers are sadists who seem to delight in wasting as much time as possible when it is 2am and you just want to download drivers for a server
  • Lenovo = Repeated security issues which have made them a high risk option for deployment.

Really, choose the best of the worst. None of these guys can get it right.

18 Spice ups
11

My only issues with Dell have been when ProSupport was expired. Their normal support is absolute crap. Have not dealt with HP’s support since the split, but it was pretty good when I used it (for printer and switch issues, the latter being part of HPE now). Priscilla@HP and Justin (Dell) have also been very helpful. Have not dealt with Lenovo or Intel’s support, so I can’t comment on those.

@priscilla-hp @justin-dell

4 Spice ups
12

I would say that Dell is still the best there is as far as support is concerned. Of course, they can only do so much. If you don’t mind my asking, what were the issues that Dell could not solve?

6 Spice ups
13

For me Lenovo haven’t been great recently which I think is to do with them stepping further away from IBM, to the point I just bought some Dell and Fujitsu kit to try instead but none of it has failed so can’t test the support. The Fujitsu kit has been a real eye opener, far better quality than I expected.

As much as I don’t get on with HP kit (I swear it hates me) the support has been great recently.

I have a handful of Microsoft things and none of those have needed support yet.

2 Spice ups
14

We have needed replacement trackpads/Motherboards and SSD’s. We are only small and everything i have read is what i expected. I keep hearing that Dell is currently the best our there. However, when buying a £1500k laptop, with £300 NBD pro support to always have to wait 2 weeks for parts or engineer delays is frustrating.

I do keep spares (older XPS laptops no longer in service) but it gets frustrating having to set these up every time dell doesn’t turn up.

The actual engineers (when they turn up) have been nothing short of fantastic, no complaints there.

15

Hi Nick - Noticed you’re in the UK, so tagging Kelsea for Dell UK to see if we can get you in contact with someone closer to your area!

@kelsea-for-dell-uk

4 Spice ups
16

Thanks Kelly!

OP- can you PM me your contact info, I can get this over to my team at Dell to see what we’ll be able to help with!

@Dell_Technologies

4 Spice ups
17

I have noticed the Dell’s quality of support go down over the years as well.

We started using Surface devices and Microsoft’s Commercial Complete for Business has been amazing. I am lucky enough to have a Microsoft store near me but I just have to take the damaged device over to them, they look up the serial number, then hand me a new (refurbished I am sure) Surface Pro back. I can get a device back to my user in hours and most of that time is taking then restoring a backup.

1 Spice up
18

Email your sales rep at Dell. They will escalate it. Every company has some not so great employees. Dell has been my best experience overall

1 Spice up
19

Not that this can be wrong, how can it be when it is your experience? But, I have experienced mostly the polar opposite of this. We routinely buy refurbished products from Dell, which come with the same warranty as a brand new Dell. As with any computer, if you buy enough of them, you are bound to have some problems. We have had full motherboard replacements, cpu replacements, screen replacements, ssds, never any trackpads… Anyway, more times than not, the part is overnighted and the tech arrives the day after to install. So the majority of our calls have been a 2 day solution. Day 1: identify problem and submit ticket. Day 2: tech arrives and fixes problem. Grant it there are times when the first suspect is not the problem, so it may turn into a 3 or 4 day solution. Dell has never left us sitting around for 2 weeks though.

The techs they send are normally…interesting people.

2 Spice ups
20

We don’t have a sales rep, we go through a third party to buy our laptops. For Support however i go directly to dell (because it quicker to raise the issue).