Dell Certified Tech..?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Hello all,

I'm a small computer business owner in a fairly rural area where computer
usage is really growing fast. I've had several experiences lately where
many customers have told me they have called Dell to get a certain part
replaced or repaired on site, but that the tech's either never arrive or can
never find the places of residence or business due to the rural nature of
this area and because the nearest Dell tech is located well over 2+ hours
away.

This has made me wonder, what does a business have to do in order to become
Dell certified so that we'd handle Dell support needs for clients? Is there
forms to fill out, people to contact, tests to take? I am definately
interested in this for my business.

Thanks,

Brad

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Test to take
You can find out on line just like in earlier years when everything was
vendor specific IBM, etc now its just mainly A+

On Fri, 08 Jul 2005 23:44:59 GMT, "B. Walker"
<bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote:

>Hello all,
>
>I'm a small computer business owner in a fairly rural area where computer
>usage is really growing fast. I've had several experiences lately where
>many customers have told me they have called Dell to get a certain part
>replaced or repaired on site, but that the tech's either never arrive or can
>never find the places of residence or business due to the rural nature of
>this area and because the nearest Dell tech is located well over 2+ hours
>away.
>
>This has made me wonder, what does a business have to do in order to become
>Dell certified so that we'd handle Dell support needs for clients? Is there
>forms to fill out, people to contact, tests to take? I am definately
>interested in this for my business.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Brad
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
news:%dEze.418$cg.117@news02.roc.ny...
> Hello all,
>
> I'm a small computer business owner in a fairly rural area where computer
> usage is really growing fast. I've had several experiences lately where
> many customers have told me they have called Dell to get a certain part
> replaced or repaired on site, but that the tech's either never arrive or
> can never find the places of residence or business due to the rural nature
> of this area and because the nearest Dell tech is located well over 2+
> hours away.
>
> This has made me wonder, what does a business have to do in order to
> become Dell certified so that we'd handle Dell support needs for clients?
> Is there forms to fill out, people to contact, tests to take? I am
> definately interested in this for my business.
>


Brad,

Short of getting the client referrals from Dell Support, there no need to
become Dell Certified. I looked into it several years ago and frankly, once
I learned how to manipulate Dells support organization there became no need.
So if you already have customers/potential customers complaining to you
about Dell onsite support, just tell them not to worry that you can fix the
problem parts FOC and work out a deal for labor. I've picked up several
steady paying customers this way. Job starts out as a Hard Drive
replacements and ends with a long term contract to maintain the entire
network.

--

Rob

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
news:%dEze.418$cg.117@news02.roc.ny...
> Hello all,
>
> I'm a small computer business owner in a fairly rural area where computer
> usage is really growing fast. I've had several experiences lately where
> many customers have told me they have called Dell to get a certain part
> replaced or repaired on site, but that the tech's either never arrive or
> can never find the places of residence or business due to the rural nature
> of this area and because the nearest Dell tech is located well over 2+
> hours away.
>
> This has made me wonder, what does a business have to do in order to
> become Dell certified so that we'd handle Dell support needs for clients?
> Is there forms to fill out, people to contact, tests to take? I am
> definately interested in this for my business.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Brad
>

http://dcse.dell.com/index.asp


hth

Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Rob,

Thanks for the info you gave. I actually am in a situation like that with
many customers already, where they have warranty support to get a free
replacement item, but I tend to replace it quickly, on time, and correctly
at a fair price. Although like this past week I am starting to run into the
situation more often than not where customers (like one of mine) ordered a
Dimension XPS Gen4 tower with 3 year on site replacement warranty. Don't
ask me why, but that was their preference. Anyway this person ordered their
system in May and I set it up for them and got it working beautifuly. Well
three weeks ago their CD-RW drive died and they called Dell. Initially they
were frustrated beyond believe by continuing to get someone in India who
could barely speak english and obviously was going from script and would not
deviate from it to simply get them a replacement drive. Finally after 2-3
days and 5+ phone calls a replacement drive was ordered, and since the
customer had onsite warranty repair for free, they wanted to use that (which
they have every God given right to do so since they paid for it). After a
week of phone calls and an absent Dell tech, finally a Dell tech from 3
hours away drove in, got lost, and finally replaced the drive.

Their support experience was so awful they are considering not recommending
Dell to friends or family regardless how good the systems are just because
of that experience. Throughout that experience I worked with them offering
advice, but at the same time, they refused my offer of getting them a
replacement drive and or installing it even at a fair price because they did
pay several hundred $$$ more for the added warranty services. I can fully
understand that. While I won't loose them as a customer, many other people
are purchasing this long term on site warranty and are having the exact
sameproblems as above. My thought was, if I got Dell 'certified' then I
could be that tech that handles the local area support calls and while they
get their free support then I would bill Dell... or however Dell has that
setup.

Thoughts..?

Brad




"Robert R Kircher, Jr." <rrkircher@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2s6dnSmBXalTs1LfRVn-uQ@giganews.com...
>
> "B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
> news:%dEze.418$cg.117@news02.roc.ny...
>
> Brad,
>
> Short of getting the client referrals from Dell Support, there no need to
> become Dell Certified. I looked into it several years ago and frankly,
> once I learned how to manipulate Dells support organization there became
> no need. So if you already have customers/potential customers complaining
> to you about Dell onsite support, just tell them not to worry that you can
> fix the problem parts FOC and work out a deal for labor. I've picked up
> several steady paying customers this way. Job starts out as a Hard Drive
> replacements and ends with a long term contract to maintain the entire
> network.
>
> --
>
> Rob
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
news:JkGze.423$cg.333@news02.roc.ny...
> Rob,
>
> Thanks for the info you gave. I actually am in a situation like that with
> many customers already, where they have warranty support to get a free
> replacement item, but I tend to replace it quickly, on time, and correctly
> at a fair price. Although like this past week I am starting to run into
> the situation more often than not where customers (like one of mine)
> ordered a Dimension XPS Gen4 tower with 3 year on site replacement
> warranty. Don't ask me why, but that was their preference. Anyway this
> person ordered their system in May and I set it up for them and got it
> working beautifuly. Well three weeks ago their CD-RW drive died and they
> called Dell. Initially they were frustrated beyond believe by continuing
> to get someone in India who could barely speak english and obviously was
> going from script and would not deviate from it to simply get them a
> replacement drive. Finally after 2-3 days and 5+ phone calls a
> replacement drive was ordered, and since the customer had onsite warranty
> repair for free, they wanted to use that (which they have every God given
> right to do so since they paid for it). After a week of phone calls and
> an absent Dell tech, finally a Dell tech from 3 hours away drove in, got
> lost, and finally replaced the drive.
>
> Their support experience was so awful they are considering not
> recommending Dell to friends or family regardless how good the systems are
> just because of that experience. Throughout that experience I worked with
> them offering advice, but at the same time, they refused my offer of
> getting them a replacement drive and or installing it even at a fair price
> because they did pay several hundred $$$ more for the added warranty
> services. I can fully understand that. While I won't loose them as a
> customer, many other people are purchasing this long term on site warranty
> and are having the exact sameproblems as above. My thought was, if I got
> Dell 'certified' then I could be that tech that handles the local area
> support calls and while they get their free support then I would bill
> Dell... or however Dell has that setup.
>
> Thoughts..?
>


Well it's hard with the onesies and twosies but what I do with my larger
clients is take care of the replacement part through dell and cover the
labor as a part of my normal monthly service charge. Hell replacing a CD is
a 10 minute task which I usually do while I'm there doing other billable
work.

As to the client with only on PC I just gauge that on how much billable work
I've done in the past and expect to do in the future. If I'm reasonably
sure there will be additional billable work I might just toss in a CDROM
FOC. On the other hand I have some onesy clients who are more then willing
to pay me just to take care of the issues for them. I have a laptop on my
work bench now waiting for a replacement HD from Dell. The client would
rather pay my standard fee for system installation then deal with Dell
support.

--

Rob

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in
news:%dEze.418$cg.117@news02.roc.ny:

> Hello all,
>
> I'm a small computer business owner in a fairly rural area where
> computer usage is really growing fast. I've had several experiences
> lately where many customers have told me they have called Dell to get
> a certain part replaced or repaired on site, but that the tech's
> either never arrive or can never find the places of residence or
> business due to the rural nature of this area and because the nearest
> Dell tech is located well over 2+ hours away.
>
> This has made me wonder, what does a business have to do in order to
> become Dell certified so that we'd handle Dell support needs for
> clients?

Find out who actually does the service work for Dell.
Don't know about "down there", but "up here" it's
not Dell, but companies that they contact with,
so it's their technicians. It may be easier to
setup an agreement with the company that employs
(or contacts) the "Dell tech" who is 2+ hours away
for you to service "your" area.

--
Dave Patton
Canadian Coordinator, Degree Confluence Project
http://www.confluence.org/
My website: http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Dave,

That is how the scenerio is here too. Dell appearantly does this nation
wide where businesses or techs are 'certified' with Dell and have appearant
contracts or agreements between each other. My experience when working as
part of the IT staff of Siemens Automotive was that with our Dell contract,
a tech would come out and service the machine (such as laptops) and drive
back to his office. He even openely admitted that he had his own business
or worked for another company that just contracted out with Dell. Based on
his statements was that his company billed Dell for the work, Dell paid
them, and the customer received free warranty service.

Brad



"Dave Patton" <spam@trap.invalid> wrote in message
news:Xns968DC9E01B7Cmrzaphoddirectcaold@24.71.223.159...
> "B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in
> news:%dEze.418$cg.117@news02.roc.ny:
>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I'm a small computer business owner in a fairly rural area where
>> computer usage is really growing fast. I've had several experiences
>> lately where many customers have told me they have called Dell to get
>> a certain part replaced or repaired on site, but that the tech's
>> either never arrive or can never find the places of residence or
>> business due to the rural nature of this area and because the nearest
>> Dell tech is located well over 2+ hours away.
>>
>> This has made me wonder, what does a business have to do in order to
>> become Dell certified so that we'd handle Dell support needs for
>> clients?
>
> Find out who actually does the service work for Dell.
> Don't know about "down there", but "up here" it's
> not Dell, but companies that they contact with,
> so it's their technicians. It may be easier to
> setup an agreement with the company that employs
> (or contacts) the "Dell tech" who is 2+ hours away
> for you to service "your" area.
>
> --
> Dave Patton
> Canadian Coordinator, Degree Confluence Project
> http://www.confluence.org/
> My website: http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
news:AHHze.1023$j21.50@news01.roc.ny...
> Dave,
>
> That is how the scenerio is here too. Dell appearantly does this nation
> wide where businesses or techs are 'certified' with Dell and have
appearant
> contracts or agreements between each other. My experience when working as
> part of the IT staff of Siemens Automotive was that with our Dell
contract,
> a tech would come out and service the machine (such as laptops) and drive
> back to his office. He even openely admitted that he had his own business
> or worked for another company that just contracted out with Dell. Based
on
> his statements was that his company billed Dell for the work, Dell paid
> them, and the customer received free warranty service.
>
> Brad
>
>
> "Dave Patton" <spam@trap.invalid> wrote in message
> news:Xns968DC9E01B7Cmrzaphoddirectcaold@24.71.223.159...
> > "B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in
> > news:%dEze.418$cg.117@news02.roc.ny:
> >
> >> Hello all,
> >>
> >> I'm a small computer business owner in a fairly rural area where
> >> computer usage is really growing fast. I've had several experiences
> >> lately where many customers have told me they have called Dell to get
> >> a certain part replaced or repaired on site, but that the tech's
> >> either never arrive or can never find the places of residence or
> >> business due to the rural nature of this area and because the nearest
> >> Dell tech is located well over 2+ hours away.
> >>
> >> This has made me wonder, what does a business have to do in order to
> >> become Dell certified so that we'd handle Dell support needs for
> >> clients?
> >
> > Find out who actually does the service work for Dell.
> > Don't know about "down there", but "up here" it's
> > not Dell, but companies that they contact with,
> > so it's their technicians. It may be easier to
> > setup an agreement with the company that employs
> > (or contacts) the "Dell tech" who is 2+ hours away
> > for you to service "your" area.
> >
> > --
> > Dave Patton
> > Canadian Coordinator, Degree Confluence Project
> > http://www.confluence.org/
> > My website: http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/
>

Pretty much the way a lot of smaller companies actually handle nation
wide government support contracts. Last shop I worked at had several
government contracted companies paying them to do the actual work. Only
real issue was that they all required that we only use their supplied parts.
If it was anything that required a additional part, we had to call and they
would over night ship it to us. In shop required that we over might shipped
it to them and they in turn would usually over night a replacement
concurrently or do the repair and ship the original back to us. One company
even went so far as to send us two of their company shirts to wear on their
service calls. End users thought it was amusing that we represented
different companies. In house jokes were always "who's got shirt duty" Or
"Do I have to wear the shirt? John wore it last time and didn't wash it..."
One upside, and I don't know how Dell clocks hours, was that hours were
clocked shop to shop. Was nice knowing were getting paid for the 30 to 45
minutes each way for just driving to the site.

KC

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Rob,

I'm contemplating doing that too... but my question is (based on past
experience) how would I best go about dealing with Dell to get them to deal
with me for a customers computer rather than giving me greif because I'm not
the PC owner?

Brad



"Robert R Kircher, Jr." <rrkircher@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:IqednWKTYYJ3pFLfRVn-tg@giganews.com...
>
>
> "B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
> news:JkGze.423$cg.333@news02.roc.ny...
>
> Well it's hard with the onesies and twosies but what I do with my larger
> clients is take care of the replacement part through dell and cover the
> labor as a part of my normal monthly service charge. Hell replacing a CD
> is a 10 minute task which I usually do while I'm there doing other
> billable work.
>
> As to the client with only on PC I just gauge that on how much billable
> work I've done in the past and expect to do in the future. If I'm
> reasonably sure there will be additional billable work I might just toss
> in a CDROM FOC. On the other hand I have some onesy clients who are more
> then willing to pay me just to take care of the issues for them. I have a
> laptop on my work bench now waiting for a replacement HD from Dell. The
> client would rather pay my standard fee for system installation then deal
> with Dell support.
>
> --
>
> Rob
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
news:vKHze.434$cg.274@news02.roc.ny...
> Rob,
>
> I'm contemplating doing that too... but my question is (based on past
> experience) how would I best go about dealing with Dell to get them to
> deal with me for a customers computer rather than giving me greif because
> I'm not the PC owner?
>


Ahh well I always tell the support people, on the rare occasion that I call
them that I'm the owners IT person.

For the most part, however, I use email support since I already know what
the problem is and all I want is parts. I send an initial email explaining
the issue. I get back the auto generated response giving me a list of
things to do. I answer that with necessary responses to achieve my final
goal and usually at that point I receive an email requesting shipping info.
Only on the rare occasion have I not been able to get parts shipped to my
location.

--

Rob

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I, too, provide a lot of service of Dell systems, both in and out of warranty.
I simply call Dell Tech Support and tell them I am working on behalf of the
owner of the system being serviced. (I am also equipped with the owner's name,
address, phone number to match Dell's records, and I rarely get any static.) I
charge the owner extra for the service, but I can cut quickly through the bull,
the hype and the language barrier most of the time. My clients are willing to
pay extra to someone they know and trust to do service work even under warranty,
especially when it involves replacement of a failing hard drive with oodles of
client data, not backed up, of course.

I've had at least one memorable experience with BancTec, the contracted Dell
service provider here in central Massachusetts. Memorable in terms of so awful
I never want to speak to them again. Both BancTec and Dell rely too heavily on
people who are not too fluent in American English, which is to my advantage as a
service provider. (I've lived nearly 6 years overseas, so I am accustomed to
dealing with people who do not speak English well.)

I follow the same approach with IBM, who also have relatively good warranty and
parts replacement policies. With both Dell and IBM, servicing desktop and
server units is not rocket science. Each has its own tiny oddities and quirks
to set them apart from generic white boxes. And Dell wants people to take a
test to become certified in servicing Dell systems? I hate to say it, but a
test is a total waste of time if one has 5 or more years of experience tearing
down and putting together computer systems. I've also been told by people who
have done service for Dell that Dell does not pay the prevailing rate, 'cause
Dell wants to control costs.

Noetbook computers are another matter. They are far more quirky and
non-standard than any desktop. But at least Dell and IBM both have decent
service manuals on line for download or reference. Same scenario there: people
willingly pay extra to get 99% of their personal data from a flaky hard drive.
The Dell (and IBM) service providers won't do that for you, which is a major
selling point of personalized service at a local level.

I generally avoid complete tear-down of an unstable or non-working notebook
system. From model to model and brand to brand, each one is too much of a
learning experience to take apart and put together. The work I do on notebooks
consists of replacement of major failed components like drives, plus frequent
memory upgrades, because the brand name companies are chronic in selling systems
without enough memory.

My advice? Keep on doing what you are doing. Do not bother with any sort of
Dell certification... Ben Myers

On Fri, 8 Jul 2005 23:57:59 -0400, "Robert R Kircher, Jr."
<rrkircher@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
>
>"B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
>news:vKHze.434$cg.274@news02.roc.ny...
>> Rob,
>>
>> I'm contemplating doing that too... but my question is (based on past
>> experience) how would I best go about dealing with Dell to get them to
>> deal with me for a customers computer rather than giving me greif because
>> I'm not the PC owner?
>>
>
>
>Ahh well I always tell the support people, on the rare occasion that I call
>them that I'm the owners IT person.
>
>For the most part, however, I use email support since I already know what
>the problem is and all I want is parts. I send an initial email explaining
>the issue. I get back the auto generated response giving me a list of
>things to do. I answer that with necessary responses to achieve my final
>goal and usually at that point I receive an email requesting shipping info.
>Only on the rare occasion have I not been able to get parts shipped to my
>location.
>
>--
>
>Rob
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:42cfcc1d.1066793@nntp.charter.net...

>
> I've had at least one memorable experience with BancTec, the contracted
> Dell
> service provider here in central Massachusetts. Memorable in terms of so
> awful
> I never want to speak to them again. Both BancTec and Dell rely too
> heavily on
> people who are not too fluent in American English, which is to my
> advantage as a
> service provider. (I've lived nearly 6 years overseas, so I am accustomed
> to
> dealing with people who do not speak English well.)

Had a bad PE2650 one time that would randomly reboot. After some
discussion with Dell Support it was decided to replace the MOBO under the
Next Day Service plan. Waited all day on site... No Show. Get a call late
from BancTec guy feeding me some BS about not having the parts. The parts
were shipped to the site over night and were already in my hands. So he's
going to come out tomorrow to fix the thing. So much for Next Day.

Tomorrow arrives and the tech shows up as promised but it quickly became
obvious that he was clueless at least with rackmount systems. First he had
no idea how to get the server out of the rack. I had to show him that and
how to get into the unit after it was out. I had to go for a couple of
hours and figured by the time I got back he'd have the mobo swapped. Well
you guessed it. I get back in 1 1/2 hours and this rube is standing there
scratching his head.

"I just can't get this mobo to release from the case", while he's pulling up
on one end and flexing the damn thing.

"Well did you try the release knob here in the middle?" at which time I
pulled the knob and the mobo came out with ease.

No comment from the Tech of course. So he puts in the new mobo and snaps in
all the fans processors etc (breaking a processor mounting clip in the
process) and we get the server backup and running 3 + hours after he
arrives. I suspect it would have take me 1/2 hour at most. Needless to say
I had a very unhappy set of users waiting.

The real pisser was that the server ran fine for about 24 hours and then
started rebooting again. Arrgggg. Well this time I transferred its role
over to another server and pulled the unit out of service and brought it
back to my shop. Called Dell again and when they suggested having the tech
back out I said absolute not just send me the parts... Turned out to be a
bad processor.

From that point on, I've NEVER had a dell tech come out to repair anything.
The productivity time lost by the customer was more then my hourly rate
would have been had I just done the work myself.

--

Rob

 

[Fixer]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

OK lets get a few thuings straight here, if anyone othewr than a Dell
certified technician makes repairs to a PC/Laptop/Server without Dells
approval then the warranty is instantly void. with a few exceptions all Dell
warranty work is carried out by Getronics, Unisys or Banctec and occasionly
someother 3rd party for say a product recall by Compuerland or someother
company. You can take your DELL DCSE certification on products not sure how
much it is now but their is a foundation course for each range ie Laptops,
Desktops servers, and the certification has to be renewed each and every
year.

IF your clients are having problems with techs not keeping appointments then
report it to Dell or the other option is collect and return.

If you do decide to take the option of certification then Dell pays the rate
of about £48 per desktop no matter what the problem, no repaynment for bad
diags or a 2nd visit, laptops are the same and servers are about £55 convert
this to your countries coin of the realm,

So now ask the question IS IT Worth It????
"Kevin Childers" <wildthing123@charter.net> wrote in message
news:9dKze.13560$x82.11961@fe03.lga...
> "B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
> news:AHHze.1023$j21.50@news01.roc.ny...
>> Dave,
>>
>> That is how the scenerio is here too. Dell appearantly does this nation
>> wide where businesses or techs are 'certified' with Dell and have
> appearant
>> contracts or agreements between each other. My experience when working
>> as
>> part of the IT staff of Siemens Automotive was that with our Dell
> contract,
>> a tech would come out and service the machine (such as laptops) and drive
>> back to his office. He even openely admitted that he had his own
>> business
>> or worked for another company that just contracted out with Dell. Based
> on
>> his statements was that his company billed Dell for the work, Dell paid
>> them, and the customer received free warranty service.
>>
>> Brad
>>
>>
>> "Dave Patton" <spam@trap.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:Xns968DC9E01B7Cmrzaphoddirectcaold@24.71.223.159...
>> > "B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in
>> > news:%dEze.418$cg.117@news02.roc.ny:
>> >
>> >> Hello all,
>> >>
>> >> I'm a small computer business owner in a fairly rural area where
>> >> computer usage is really growing fast. I've had several experiences
>> >> lately where many customers have told me they have called Dell to get
>> >> a certain part replaced or repaired on site, but that the tech's
>> >> either never arrive or can never find the places of residence or
>> >> business due to the rural nature of this area and because the nearest
>> >> Dell tech is located well over 2+ hours away.
>> >>
>> >> This has made me wonder, what does a business have to do in order to
>> >> become Dell certified so that we'd handle Dell support needs for
>> >> clients?
>> >
>> > Find out who actually does the service work for Dell.
>> > Don't know about "down there", but "up here" it's
>> > not Dell, but companies that they contact with,
>> > so it's their technicians. It may be easier to
>> > setup an agreement with the company that employs
>> > (or contacts) the "Dell tech" who is 2+ hours away
>> > for you to service "your" area.
>> >
>> > --
>> > Dave Patton
>> > Canadian Coordinator, Degree Confluence Project
>> > http://www.confluence.org/
>> > My website: http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/
>>
>
> Pretty much the way a lot of smaller companies actually handle nation
> wide government support contracts. Last shop I worked at had several
> government contracted companies paying them to do the actual work. Only
> real issue was that they all required that we only use their supplied
> parts.
> If it was anything that required a additional part, we had to call and
> they
> would over night ship it to us. In shop required that we over might
> shipped
> it to them and they in turn would usually over night a replacement
> concurrently or do the repair and ship the original back to us. One
> company
> even went so far as to send us two of their company shirts to wear on
> their
> service calls. End users thought it was amusing that we represented
> different companies. In house jokes were always "who's got shirt duty"
> Or
> "Do I have to wear the shirt? John wore it last time and didn't wash
> it..."
> One upside, and I don't know how Dell clocks hours, was that hours were
> clocked shop to shop. Was nice knowing were getting paid for the 30 to 45
> minutes each way for just driving to the site.
>
> KC
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Fixer" <steve.h1@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:daoisn$u8k$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk...
> OK lets get a few thuings straight here, if anyone othewr than a Dell
> certified technician makes repairs to a PC/Laptop/Server without Dells
> approval then the warranty is instantly void.

That's complete BS. I ALWAYS refuse the onsite tech and just request parts.
I've never voided or been told that it will void any warranty.

> If you do decide to take the option of certification then Dell pays the
> rate of about £48 per desktop no matter what the problem, no repaynment
> for bad diags or a 2nd visit, laptops are the same and servers are about
> £55 convert this to your countries coin of the realm,
>
> So now ask the question IS IT Worth It????

Most definitely not. Which is why most of the "Dell Techs" I've come across
are clueless.

--

Rob

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Do you have the email info for Dell? I would greatly appreciate that.


"Robert R Kircher, Jr." <rrkircher@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:y82dnVValeja1lLfRVn-1A@giganews.com...
>
>
> "B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
> news:vKHze.434$cg.274@news02.roc.ny...
>> Rob,
>>
>> I'm contemplating doing that too... but my question is (based on past
>> experience) how would I best go about dealing with Dell to get them to
>> deal with me for a customers computer rather than giving me greif because
>> I'm not the PC owner?
>>
>
>
> Ahh well I always tell the support people, on the rare occasion that I
> call them that I'm the owners IT person.
>
> For the most part, however, I use email support since I already know what
> the problem is and all I want is parts. I send an initial email
> explaining the issue. I get back the auto generated response giving me a
> list of things to do. I answer that with necessary responses to achieve
> my final goal and usually at that point I receive an email requesting
> shipping info. Only on the rare occasion have I not been able to get parts
> shipped to my location.
>
> --
>
> Rob
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Just go to the support page and open a support call via the l ink provided.

--

Rob


"B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
news:_5Sze.1062$j21.940@news01.roc.ny...
> Do you have the email info for Dell? I would greatly appreciate that.
>
>
> "Robert R Kircher, Jr." <rrkircher@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:y82dnVValeja1lLfRVn-1A@giganews.com...
>>
>>
>> "B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
>> news:vKHze.434$cg.274@news02.roc.ny...
>>> Rob,
>>>
>>> I'm contemplating doing that too... but my question is (based on past
>>> experience) how would I best go about dealing with Dell to get them to
>>> deal with me for a customers computer rather than giving me greif
>>> because I'm not the PC owner?
>>>
>>
>>
>> Ahh well I always tell the support people, on the rare occasion that I
>> call them that I'm the owners IT person.
>>
>> For the most part, however, I use email support since I already know what
>> the problem is and all I want is parts. I send an initial email
>> explaining the issue. I get back the auto generated response giving me a
>> list of things to do. I answer that with necessary responses to achieve
>> my final goal and usually at that point I receive an email requesting
>> shipping info. Only on the rare occasion have I not been able to get
>> parts shipped to my location.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Rob
>>
>>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Thanks for the info. More than likely after looking at the Dell costs
($800+) there is no way I'm paying that to get a piece of paper that says I
can work on their products. Like you said, experience dictates all and I've
got 20+ experience on computers of all sorts.


<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:42cfcc1d.1066793@nntp.charter.net...
> I, too, provide a lot of service of Dell systems, both in and out of
> warranty.
> I simply call Dell Tech Support and tell them I am working on behalf of
> the
> owner of the system being serviced. (I am also equipped with the owner's
> name,
> address, phone number to match Dell's records, and I rarely get any
> static.) I
> charge the owner extra for the service, but I can cut quickly through the
> bull,
> the hype and the language barrier most of the time. My clients are
> willing to
> pay extra to someone they know and trust to do service work even under
> warranty,
> especially when it involves replacement of a failing hard drive with
> oodles of
> client data, not backed up, of course.
>
> I've had at least one memorable experience with BancTec, the contracted
> Dell
> service provider here in central Massachusetts. Memorable in terms of so
> awful
> I never want to speak to them again. Both BancTec and Dell rely too
> heavily on
> people who are not too fluent in American English, which is to my
> advantage as a
> service provider. (I've lived nearly 6 years overseas, so I am accustomed
> to
> dealing with people who do not speak English well.)
>
> I follow the same approach with IBM, who also have relatively good
> warranty and
> parts replacement policies. With both Dell and IBM, servicing desktop and
> server units is not rocket science. Each has its own tiny oddities and
> quirks
> to set them apart from generic white boxes. And Dell wants people to take
> a
> test to become certified in servicing Dell systems? I hate to say it, but
> a
> test is a total waste of time if one has 5 or more years of experience
> tearing
> down and putting together computer systems. I've also been told by people
> who
> have done service for Dell that Dell does not pay the prevailing rate,
> 'cause
> Dell wants to control costs.
>
> Noetbook computers are another matter. They are far more quirky and
> non-standard than any desktop. But at least Dell and IBM both have decent
> service manuals on line for download or reference. Same scenario there:
> people
> willingly pay extra to get 99% of their personal data from a flaky hard
> drive.
> The Dell (and IBM) service providers won't do that for you, which is a
> major
> selling point of personalized service at a local level.
>
> I generally avoid complete tear-down of an unstable or non-working
> notebook
> system. From model to model and brand to brand, each one is too much of a
> learning experience to take apart and put together. The work I do on
> notebooks
> consists of replacement of major failed components like drives, plus
> frequent
> memory upgrades, because the brand name companies are chronic in selling
> systems
> without enough memory.
>
> My advice? Keep on doing what you are doing. Do not bother with any sort
> of
> Dell certification... Ben Myers
>
> On Fri, 8 Jul 2005 23:57:59 -0400, "Robert R Kircher, Jr."
> <rrkircher@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>"B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
>>news:vKHze.434$cg.274@news02.roc.ny...
>>> Rob,
>>>
>>> I'm contemplating doing that too... but my question is (based on past
>>> experience) how would I best go about dealing with Dell to get them to
>>> deal with me for a customers computer rather than giving me greif
>>> because
>>> I'm not the PC owner?
>>>
>>
>>
>>Ahh well I always tell the support people, on the rare occasion that I
>>call
>>them that I'm the owners IT person.
>>
>>For the most part, however, I use email support since I already know what
>>the problem is and all I want is parts. I send an initial email
>>explaining
>>the issue. I get back the auto generated response giving me a list of
>>things to do. I answer that with necessary responses to achieve my final
>>goal and usually at that point I receive an email requesting shipping
>>info.
>>Only on the rare occasion have I not been able to get parts shipped to my
>>location.
>>
>>--
>>
>>Rob
>>
>>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"B. Walker" <bawalkerREMOVE@THISmodemnet.net> wrote in message
news:V8Sze.469$cg.396@news02.roc.ny...
> Thanks for the info. More than likely after looking at the Dell costs
> ($800+) there is no way I'm paying that to get a piece of paper that says
> I can work on their products. Like you said, experience dictates all and
> I've got 20+ experience on computers of all sorts.
>

I usually suggest 1 year for desktops w/o LCD monitors and then 2 or 3 years
for Laptops and desktop w/ LCD monitors. Most cases this is for parts
replacement only or in the case of laptops Return to Depot. My theory is
that for most components if it's going to fail it will with in the first
year except for LCDs. As Ben notes laptops are a PIA to work on so I
usually send them off for repair.

In many cases I get the client to buy from the Small Business side of the
web site or I buy the unit for them through my SB sales rep and those units
come standard with 3 year service.

--

Rob

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

No, it is not worth it to get Dell DCSE certification at £48 per desktop or £55
per server. My time is worth more than that, and I bill my clients accordingly,
especially when the problem turns out to be software-related, something that
Dell cannot provide under warranty and their techs are ill-prepared to do it
anyway. The low cost of reimbursement for warranty service explains why the
quality of said service is abysmally low.

As far as service under warranty, I have NEVER had a hardware failure after
servicing a client's system still under warranty. Maybe I've been lucky as far
as the quality of parts provided by Dell or IBM under warranty? Or maybe I'm at
least as competent as the service techs who are Dell-certified?

As far as I am concerned, a warranty exists to get replacement parts should
something fail during the warranty period. Further, I do not advise ANYONE to
buy an extended warranty for a desktop computer. An extended warranty may be
justifiable for a notebook, depending on its initial cost and the usage it sees.
Sales of extended warranties provide most of the benefit to the seller of the
warranty in terms of increased revenue. The primary benefit of an extended
warranty to the consumer is less money in the bank. This is the same as buying
an extended warranty on any other piece of consumer goods ranging from
refrigerators to clock-alarm-radios, or any other so-called insurance plan.
Those who sell warranties have learned well from the insurance industry, who
have learned well how to fleece the insured... Ben Myers

On Sat, 9 Jul 2005 14:19:16 +0100, "Fixer" <steve.h1@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>OK lets get a few things straight here, if anyone other than a Dell
>certified technician makes repairs to a PC/Laptop/Server without Dells
>approval then the warranty is instantly void. with a few exceptions all Dell
>warranty work is carried out by Getronics, Unisys or Banctec and occasionly
>someother 3rd party for say a product recall by Compuerland or someother
>company. You can take your DELL DCSE certification on products not sure how
>much it is now but their is a foundation course for each range ie Laptops,
>Desktops servers, and the certification has to be renewed each and every
>year.
>
>IF your clients are having problems with techs not keeping appointments then
>report it to Dell or the other option is collect and return.
>
>If you do decide to take the option of certification then Dell pays the rate
>of about £48 per desktop no matter what the problem, no repaynment for bad
>diags or a 2nd visit, laptops are the same and servers are about £55 convert
>this to your countries coin of the realm,
>
>So now ask the question IS IT Worth It????

 

[Fixer]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

<snip>
problem turns out to be software-related, something that
> Dell cannot provide under warranty and their techs are ill-prepared to do
> it
> anyway.

Dell are not responsible for customers Data, that is the customers
responsability, Dell will provide software support for software supplied by
them but thats it, its not that the techs are ill prepared to do it

 

[Fixer]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Well obviously you've been very fortunate
"Robert R Kircher, Jr." <rrkircher@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:stqdnXHX87SjnU3fRVn-tA@giganews.com...
> "Fixer" <steve.h1@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
> news:daoisn$u8k$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk...
>> OK lets get a few thuings straight here, if anyone othewr than a Dell
>> certified technician makes repairs to a PC/Laptop/Server without Dells
>> approval then the warranty is instantly void.
>
> That's complete BS. I ALWAYS refuse the onsite tech and just request
> parts. I've never voided or been told that it will void any warranty.
>
>> If you do decide to take the option of certification then Dell pays the
>> rate of about £48 per desktop no matter what the problem, no repaynment
>> for bad diags or a 2nd visit, laptops are the same and servers are about
>> £55 convert this to your countries coin of the realm,
>>
>> So now ask the question IS IT Worth It????
>
> Most definitely not. Which is why most of the "Dell Techs" I've come
> across are clueless.
>
> --
>
> Rob
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Fixer" <steve.h1@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:daovvq$35p$1@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Well obviously you've been very fortunate


Fortunate or not it just dosent' happen.

--

Rob

 

[Dan]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I'm sorry that your experience was bad. But most BancTec CE's are
paid much less than $25 per call (company-paid benefits? good one.
healthcare & dental was $400 a month extra out of your pay...but its
PRE-TAX, oooo that makes it all worthwhile ;P ). And from what I hear
the pay keeps going lower every year. Most techs only get about 4
calls per day, which averages out to about $25,000 per year, not
including the monstrous gas, vehicle wear/tear and cel-phone expenses
CE's must cover with their own personal finances. BancTec gets what
they pay for.

As far as parts not arriving, if the Dell CSR places a service call
_after_ 4pm, the part will NOT arrive the next business day. The Dell
CSR then _promises_ that the tech will be out the next day, and of
course the tech can't do anything, and therefore takes all the heat
for the Dell CSR screw-up. The Dell CSR promises the moon just to get
the customer off the phone while they're still moderately happy.

Some Dell CSR's also promise that the tech will stay for the entire
re-installation of Windows XP and complete re-installation of
applications when a hard drive is replaced. A tech is not going to
spend 4 hours at a location for $25, $22, or whatever it is now.

As a final note, the Dell phone-CSR is the one that's ultimately
accountable for things that are beyond the on-site tech's control.
Granted, you had a bad tech, but if the CSR keeps sending motherboards
(or other broken-refurbished parts) when the problem is clearly
somewhere else, the tech should not be held responsible. With some
calls I had to go out 3 or even 4 times before Dell finally got it
right or replaced the system entirely.


On Sat, 9 Jul 2005 12:43:12 -0400, "Robert R Kircher, Jr."
<rrkircher@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
><ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
>news:42cfcc1d.1066793@nntp.charter.net...
>
>>
>> I've had at least one memorable experience with BancTec, the contracted
>> Dell
>> service provider here in central Massachusetts. Memorable in terms of so
>> awful
>> I never want to speak to them again. Both BancTec and Dell rely too
>> heavily on
>> people who are not too fluent in American English, which is to my
>> advantage as a
>> service provider. (I've lived nearly 6 years overseas, so I am accustomed
>> to
>> dealing with people who do not speak English well.)
>
>Had a bad PE2650 one time that would randomly reboot. After some
>discussion with Dell Support it was decided to replace the MOBO under the
>Next Day Service plan. Waited all day on site... No Show. Get a call late
>from BancTec guy feeding me some BS about not having the parts. The parts
>were shipped to the site over night and were already in my hands. So he's
>going to come out tomorrow to fix the thing. So much for Next Day.
>
>Tomorrow arrives and the tech shows up as promised but it quickly became
>obvious that he was clueless at least with rackmount systems. First he had
>no idea how to get the server out of the rack. I had to show him that and
>how to get into the unit after it was out. I had to go for a couple of
>hours and figured by the time I got back he'd have the mobo swapped. Well
>you guessed it. I get back in 1 1/2 hours and this rube is standing there
>scratching his head.
>
>"I just can't get this mobo to release from the case", while he's pulling up
>on one end and flexing the damn thing.
>
>"Well did you try the release knob here in the middle?" at which time I
>pulled the knob and the mobo came out with ease.
>
>No comment from the Tech of course. So he puts in the new mobo and snaps in
>all the fans processors etc (breaking a processor mounting clip in the
>process) and we get the server backup and running 3 + hours after he
>arrives. I suspect it would have take me 1/2 hour at most. Needless to say
>I had a very unhappy set of users waiting.
>
>The real pisser was that the server ran fine for about 24 hours and then
>started rebooting again. Arrgggg. Well this time I transferred its role
>over to another server and pulled the unit out of service and brought it
>back to my shop. Called Dell again and when they suggested having the tech
>back out I said absolute not just send me the parts... Turned out to be a
>bad processor.
>
>From that point on, I've NEVER had a dell tech come out to repair anything.
>The productivity time lost by the customer was more then my hourly rate
>would have been had I just done the work myself.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

My experience with BancTec was different. First I contacted Dell for service
under warranty, with service tag #, express service code, owner name, address
and phone number. The usual drill. Dell, in turn put me in touch with BancTec,
after setting up a trouble ticket or whatever they call it.

I called BancTec to set up when a service tech would arrive with a replacement
power supply (I had already diagnosed the problem to that extent). The first
date I was given turned out to be a Saturday, over a week away. When I pointed
out that the day was a Saturday, I was given an earlier date, and a time, 10am.
By 11am on the appointed day, nothing had happened. Nobody showed up. I called
BancTec and I was told that they could tell me nothing because their computers
were down. I persisted a couple of more times that day, finally gave up and
called Dell again. I told the Dell support person to cancel the BancTec service
call and to simply send me a replacement power supply. Fortunately, I had a
similar model of Dell here in stock, so I removed the power supply (identical
wattage and model), put it into my client's computer, tested it, and got the
computer back into the client's hands as quickly as I could. When the
replacement power supply arrived from Dell, I put it into the computer from
which I had stolen the power supply. I called BancTec back again, and told them
to ah heck off, but in very pleasant terms.

About 10 days later, a BancTec service person called wanting to set up an
appointment. I told him to ah heck off too, albeit in my most pleasant manner.

I wish I could say that I made all this up, but it is accurate, factual and
honest. By the way, I (and my client) live west of Boston about 25 miles, and
maybe the same distance northeast of Worcester, MA. So neither Dell nor BancTec
could make the excuse that I am in a service area with sparse coverage and long
travel times to get here.

And this is how Dell is supposed to provide service to its customers under
warranty? If my client had tried to do this, she would still be waiting for a
tech to show up to verify the cause of the problem, then she would wait some
more for a replacement power supply and service tech to converge at the same
time in the same place. Yep, she paid, and willingly, for my time, 'cause it
meant getting the computer back into service in a timely manner.

No way on earth would I be caught working for BancTec at no more than $25 per
service call. This helps me understand why the level of service from BancTec
was so atrocious. It's another example of you get what you pay for.

Spoken like the true Dellbot I am (referring cunningly to another thread in this
newsgroup). I wonder if I'll now lose votes in the contest for Dellbot of the
year? ... Ben Myers

On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 15:30:09 -0400, Dan <jasdfosd@asjedfoi.com> wrote:

>I'm sorry that your experience was bad. But most BancTec CE's are
>paid much less than $25 per call (company-paid benefits? good one.
>healthcare & dental was $400 a month extra out of your pay...but its
>PRE-TAX, oooo that makes it all worthwhile ;P ). And from what I hear
>the pay keeps going lower every year. Most techs only get about 4
>calls per day, which averages out to about $25,000 per year, not
>including the monstrous gas, vehicle wear/tear and cel-phone expenses
>CE's must cover with their own personal finances. BancTec gets what
>they pay for.
>
>As far as parts not arriving, if the Dell CSR places a service call
>_after_ 4pm, the part will NOT arrive the next business day. The Dell
>CSR then _promises_ that the tech will be out the next day, and of
>course the tech can't do anything, and therefore takes all the heat
>for the Dell CSR screw-up. The Dell CSR promises the moon just to get
>the customer off the phone while they're still moderately happy.
>
>Some Dell CSR's also promise that the tech will stay for the entire
>re-installation of Windows XP and complete re-installation of
>applications when a hard drive is replaced. A tech is not going to
>spend 4 hours at a location for $25, $22, or whatever it is now.
>
>As a final note, the Dell phone-CSR is the one that's ultimately
>accountable for things that are beyond the on-site tech's control.
>Granted, you had a bad tech, but if the CSR keeps sending motherboards
>(or other broken-refurbished parts) when the problem is clearly
>somewhere else, the tech should not be held responsible. With some
>calls I had to go out 3 or even 4 times before Dell finally got it
>right or replaced the system entirely.
>
>
>On Sat, 9 Jul 2005 12:43:12 -0400, "Robert R Kircher, Jr."
><rrkircher@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>><ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
>>news:42cfcc1d.1066793@nntp.charter.net...
>>
>>>
>>> I've had at least one memorable experience with BancTec, the contracted
>>> Dell
>>> service provider here in central Massachusetts. Memorable in terms of so
>>> awful
>>> I never want to speak to them again. Both BancTec and Dell rely too
>>> heavily on
>>> people who are not too fluent in American English, which is to my
>>> advantage as a
>>> service provider. (I've lived nearly 6 years overseas, so I am accustomed
>>> to
>>> dealing with people who do not speak English well.)
>>
>>Had a bad PE2650 one time that would randomly reboot. After some
>>discussion with Dell Support it was decided to replace the MOBO under the
>>Next Day Service plan. Waited all day on site... No Show. Get a call late
>>from BancTec guy feeding me some BS about not having the parts. The parts
>>were shipped to the site over night and were already in my hands. So he's
>>going to come out tomorrow to fix the thing. So much for Next Day.
>>
>>Tomorrow arrives and the tech shows up as promised but it quickly became
>>obvious that he was clueless at least with rackmount systems. First he had
>>no idea how to get the server out of the rack. I had to show him that and
>>how to get into the unit after it was out. I had to go for a couple of
>>hours and figured by the time I got back he'd have the mobo swapped. Well
>>you guessed it. I get back in 1 1/2 hours and this rube is standing there
>>scratching his head.
>>
>>"I just can't get this mobo to release from the case", while he's pulling up
>>on one end and flexing the damn thing.
>>
>>"Well did you try the release knob here in the middle?" at which time I
>>pulled the knob and the mobo came out with ease.
>>
>>No comment from the Tech of course. So he puts in the new mobo and snaps in
>>all the fans processors etc (breaking a processor mounting clip in the
>>process) and we get the server backup and running 3 + hours after he
>>arrives. I suspect it would have take me 1/2 hour at most. Needless to say
>>I had a very unhappy set of users waiting.
>>
>>The real pisser was that the server ran fine for about 24 hours and then
>>started rebooting again. Arrgggg. Well this time I transferred its role
>>over to another server and pulled the unit out of service and brought it
>>back to my shop. Called Dell again and when they suggested having the tech
>>back out I said absolute not just send me the parts... Turned out to be a
>>bad processor.
>>
>>From that point on, I've NEVER had a dell tech come out to repair anything.
>>The productivity time lost by the customer was more then my hourly rate
>>would have been had I just done the work myself.
>