A Friends Experience

A good friend of mine called me to tell me his experience with Dell over the weekend.

He was working on his computer when suddenly the display showed nothing but black. After checking his cables and trying to reboot, he still only had a black screen. The Dell was just over a year old and just out of warranty. So he called Dell support and a tech from India named "Bob" took his call. The tech had him on the phone for two hours and they were able to get a video signal. The tech wanted to do further troubleshooting and eventually had him taking components out of his computer. My friend told the tech he was not comfortable taking the computer apart, but was reassured that Dell would be liable for any damage. As the support call progressed and more and more components were removed and replaced, eventually the computer wouldn't boot up again. They tried several times after that and the computer never came back to life. The tech told my friend he was sorry and that (as they say) was that.

Well the next day my friend was upset (to say the least) but was surprised to receive a call from the tech stating that his supervisor had told him that Dell would extend his warranty due to the circumstances. My friend was told to take his computer to a local computer shop and Dell would pick up the bill. My friend got all of "Bobs" contact info and then took his computer to Circuit ****. After a day of diagnostics, my friend received a call stating that the motherboard was "dead." He then attempted to call (couldn't email) the tech to let him know what had been found. After a couple of days and many calls/ many voice mails he decided to call Dell's main support number and see if someone else could help. To make an already long story a little shorter, he was told that his computer was out of warranty and that no one could contact "Bob" and they were sorry but could not help.

So now my friend has paid for Dell to help break his computer, he is stuck with a diagnostic fee from Circuit ****, a bad motherboard and no word from "Bob."

This is a classic example of how todays large computer manufacturers lack the ability to give good service.

Any thoughts?