So Dell customer service is.... actually pretty awesome.

[bubblewhip]

Dell was usually on the butt end of customer service jokes for a long time, but I got one tech support heaven story to share.

A shift key on my M11x R3 that I have owned for almost a year broke. The fittings that held it in place completely gave way and I was left with one of the most used key on a keyboard half-functioning. I called up dell to see if they could just ship me a new key, and they couldn't; So they just decided to send me a whole new keyboard for the m11x for free. After a 30 minute tech support conversation which is actually typical (actually I had to hang up and they contacted me again to continue the conversation) they said they would send a technician + Keyboard within 3 days. I said to myself "okay, it makes sense, a day to get the part and 2 days to send someone over. that's actually pretty fast."

One hour later

I get a call from Dell asking if I would be available tomorrow. YES. In the same day just one hour later and the they promised to have someone over to fix my laptop with the desired part tomorrow morning. That is insanely fast.

The next day they called me up at 9:00 AM and said that he would be there in one hour. Came by my door, was very nice, replaced the keyboard and hinge in less than half an hour. I found out the panel gap between my hinge and the laptop. Before he left, he was able to fix it for me right outside my house.

I didn't even have the extra warranty care plan or anything, all I had was just the basic 1 year warranty and they treated me better than almost any product service I know of even outside laptops.

What company can send you same day support and drive a person all the way to your house to fix a single key on a god damn keyboard and do all the fitting for you for free? Even Apple loses because you have to go to an Apple store your self, they don't send a guy to your house.

So Dell I salute you for excellent (even best-ever) customer support and hope that the new direction of customer care nets you many profits in the future.

[308Mike]

Good for you!!

That sounds like the kind of support I used to get as a corporate customer, which is FAR different than what my friends used to get as a home support customer. I'd heard horror stories about their home customer service, but yet never had a problem as a corporate customer. I could only assume they put FAR more emphasis on their corp customers (their REAL bread & butter) than they did their home customers.

Perhaps in these tight economic times they decided to treat their home customers the same as their corp customers? I don't know, but regardless of the reason, perhaps this signals a change in Dell's support practices for the better (and it's about damned time)!!

[blackeagle603]

Glad to hear it. Just took a position in Dell in my 401K this month. It came up in avalue stock screen I run for a portion of that account.

Dell actually has been pretty good for me. I've had a couple desktops and a laptop from them that have done alright (other than the expected hard drive life issues). I may be getting one of their basic slimline type desktop boxes after finally retiring a 10+ year old machine in the living room (Dell 4300: used for school work, e-mail and browsing). It's got a low time hard drive replaced not too long ago. Sent it home with a buddy from church who sets up refugees with PC's so they can do homework, online education and have basic internet/e-mail/skype.