I guess I should *not* have gotten a Dell...

huh? what exactly are you guys talking about? maybe i'm dumb and don't get it, but could somebody please explain?

 

If that is pointed to me then what we're talking about is financing. Instead of paying $2,000 upfront for a new PC. I can, instead, pay $40-$80 a month for up to 36months or so, and that is the minimum payment. The minimum payment you have to pay depends on your credit score / credit history. If you have bad credit then you have to pay a higher minimum. It also includes interest charges because if you multiply the minimum times the term of the finance, it will be more than what the original price of the PC was. That's interest. Be careful with these things because you can eventually ruin your credit report very quickly if you miss a payment and then your interest/minimum start to climb up. It is always good to pay more than your minimum, as much as you can, so that the balance goes down and interest doesn't accrue.

 

http://wcco.com/consumer/local_story_148150249.html

Sorry for the bump, but it's related.

 

Haven't had a problem with my new Dell after a month of daily use. I'm very pleased with it and consider it to be something of a bargain in terms of "bang for buck"

 

I was in America about ten years ago on holiday ( I'm from the UK ). I was suprised to see a program on TV that was telling people this about credit cards. You wouldn't believe the shock on peoples faces when they realised how much money they were paying if they only paid their minimum payment each month.

My credit card statement states that by only paying the minimum payment then you will end up paying more. Which I thought would be obvious but apparently not.

The minimum payment is just so they can make sure you're still alive, so they can charge you a fine for late payment & so they can lull you into a false sense of security.

On most loans or mortgages you are better off paying more at the beginning too if you can afford it as they tend to lump all their fees in at the beginning & you don't pay off any capital for a while.

smf

 

:lol: oh my god - didnt really know dell would pass you to techies in india for help desk

 

Dell only passes you to techies in India if you buy the "discount" support level.

If you purchase the high end support, you get high end support.

That's what a lot of people don't get about Dell, you very much get what you pay for.

Sure, Dell sells $200 computers with 90 days warranty and limited support. If you want cheap you can get cheap, but you had better not expect top of the line support for cheap.

Now if you drop $2000 on a computer you can get 4 year warranty, direct line to senior support and next day, on-site, wherever you are service. You pay for it, you get it.

Almost all the people that bitch about the "poor quality" of Dell tech support are those that were too cheap to buy the proper level of support for their needs. If you spend for it up front, Dell support is well put together.

-hl718

 

I can vouch for that, at least partially. My part-time job is PC support, and all our laptops are sourced from Dell, so every couple of weeks I end up having to phone them up to get them out to fix something. I've never once been put through to a foreign operator, and very rarely have to wait more than a few seconds to speak to someone.

They still read shit off a list, though, which is really frustrating. "Yes, I have tried pressing the power button. Yes, the PSU is plugged in..."
The funniest/most depressing thing is that half the time you can start off the conversation by clearly telling them everything you know (ie "this laptop's battery is dead, I've tested the laptop with other 2 batteries and it works fine, but the original battery is fried and refuses to charge"), and they'll sit through it, say "yeah" or "ok" every now and then, and then proceed to ask the most basic questions anyway.

 

If you knew how many problems those sorts of questions usually solve then you'd get the idea why they have to ask them. I agree though, it's infuriating to be competent at computer systems but get the mouth-breather treatment.