Quote:
Originally Posted by
gdl203 
That sounds ideal but isn't there a real risk that the shop will close or go out of the business, leaving you with no counterparty to the service contract?
It also doesn't really work for laptops, especially small laptops like the one he has.
I'm honestly surprised he's getting service this bad. I told my sis to get one and hers has been great. My own experience is mostly on the business side, but it's also been very good. The one time i had to replace a redundant power supply, I had the part the next morning after talking to them in the afternoon. I had actually pulled the PSU out myself to examine it, and it was just a fan that wasn't spinning. I tested it with a different fan and it worked fine so it wasn't a problem on the PSU's PCB. i told them i'd be happy to swap the fan myself but I got an entirely new unit from them. I've also had great experiences with sales.
I'm sure part of this is just dealing with a huge company. As a rule, it's generally more unpleasant than not. Statistically i'd be surprised if Dell was any worse than HP or Apple. Still, I don't know why he's waiting on hold for 5 hours. That's beyond absurd.