[BigV]

Hey Clodfobble.

Motherfucker.

I have great empathy for you. I am that guy on the other end of the phone all day long, remoting into other peoples' computers... Dell fucked up, as you already know, all too well. I'm sorry you had to suffer that, as my friend. I can't do shit about Dell's culture wrt tech support. But! I suffer what you suffer too. I can't always fix it. Just today, my last call of the day, I eliminated a LOT of stuff it wasn't then told the customer, my customer, they should open a ticket with their vendor of their unique, industry-specific application. I couldn't fix it.

I'm really sorry, that is total bullshit.

eta:

Sometimes, like for gear that simply can not be down, the premium support contract from Dell can pay for itself. As you know, the hardware can sometimes fail. And as I'm sure you also know, it's usually not the hardware. But identifying the hardware problem by eliminating all the possible software possibilities can be an exercise in frustration (understatement). But the top tier pre-purchased support contracts have delivered for me, not FOAF, me, personally. I have had occasion to call Dell because the server that ran our email went taillights. I called them in the morning and I had a new server *that afternoon*. No shit. Now, I wasn't paying for the gold contract or whatever the name of the tier was, but trust me, there *is* a level of support that will take care of that shit. Posthaste.

Is it worth it? Well, that is the question. But I assure you, it exists.