Comment by bArray | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bArray | Hacker News Reader

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Can back this. Many years ago I purchased a Dell Latitude from eBay. After messing around with a 3D printer, there was a short of mains voltage onto the USB line, frying the laptop and tripping the house electrics. I contacted Dell asking for a schematic of the PCBs thinking that I had blown some components, but they informed me that the laptop was still under warranty thanks to the original business purchaser (by just a few weeks).

They shipped a box and allowed me to swap out a hard drive for a spare (I had study data on there), I then used the box to ship the laptop to them. A few weeks later the laptop gets shipped back with a parts replacement list, which was essentially every single PCB in the laptop and I asked them to replace the keyboard too because one key was sticking. Brand new parts in a slightly cracked chassis.

If Dell still has customer service like that, it's double thumbs up from me.

I'm currently using a Lenovo laptop which has been solid so far. I do want my next laptop to be open to repairability (even if I have to create it myself).

Dell customer service is whatever someone wants to pay for.

I bought a new Dell laptop 20-ish years ago along with whatever the super-duper coverage was called at that time (Complete Care, maybe?). IIRC, it only excluded deliberate damage (and "hammer marks" was used as an example).

But they had no trouble sending me parts. Power brick soaked in a flood? No big deal; a new one is on the way. Dropped a screwdriver on the screen at work? They sent a whole person over to replace it.

It was very expensive coverage -- it cost more by itself than the used/refurb laptops we're discussing. It was sold separately. It did not, by my estimation around that time, ultimately pay for itself.

But if you score it for "free" with a used machine, then sure! Bargain!

(A person can check the warranty/service status of an unmolested Dell machine here: https://www.dell.com/support/contractservices/en-us )

It's probably worth it for university though. Back in the day working as a Student Employee for the CSE helpdesk, we ordered overnight replacements for so many laptops and servers an it was super slick and automated, replacement parts showed up and we swapped them in. Very little downtime.

Dell and HP still offer reasonable accidental next business day on site 3-4year warranties much more reasonable in my opinion than AppleCare

I had the motherboard fail on a Dell XPS while at a conference in Tasmania, staying in a student residency that was inaccessible by car for the last ~1km. Within 24 hours a man arrived, to my room, to change the motherboard.

Extremely impressive logistics. I guess they reuse the same network as for emergency server parts/repairs.

It’s hit or miss with them. I bought a brand new Dell monitor from Amazon, through their Dell store, fulfilled by Dell. The HDMI input stopped working a couple months later, as verified with multiple known working devices connected to it with multiple known working cables. Then Dell’s support absolutely refused to honor their warranty because their database showed that someone else but me owned it. Remember, I bought it through the Dell store inside Amazon, and received straight from Dell via their own warehouse. Amazon’s support got righteously indignant on my behalf and refunded the purchase to me when Dell wouldn’t.

It felt very satisfying to tell the Dell rep who cold called me to sell my employer hardware why I’d make sure we’d never give them a dime.

And yet other people have wonderful luck with them, apparently! Go figure.

Never had to call Dell support, but I've had a similar experience with a Logitech mouse bought through Amazon (although it was sold and shipped by Amazon).

Since Amazon honored the warranty in less time than it took me to look up how to contact Logitech and go through their ridiculous process, that mouse was replaced with another Logitech one bought through Amazon. Wouldn't buy anything directly from the Logitech store, though.

I really don't care for repairability as I average maybe 2 years before getting a new laptop.

In terms of strain on natural resources, that's insane.

Only if they throw it away. If someone else uses it, what's the issue?

Or do you not want people of less means, having used laptops?

This is how people get their used laptops

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