Requirements of a PC Vendor

[warcleric]

Just a list of things I use to judge a PC Vendor.

1. Overnight pre-replacement of parts, with postage paid for return part.

2. Warranty Status Lookup easily available on website.

3. Driver downloads easily available on website.

4. Decent knowledgebase easily available on website. <no passwords or login required>

5. Fast answering of tech support phone line.

6. Frequent driver/BIOS updates.

7. Everyone I talk to with their company should kiss my ass when I call.

Anything I am missing?

 

[TuffGirl]

I think your list is great, but do such vendors exist that satisfy all those requirements (esp #5 and #7)? Ugh, I've recently had such nightmarish luck with a particular PC show vendor, from whom I foolishly purchased an ABIT mobo. Anyway, if you know of particularly commendable vendors, pls post them here!

Thanks

 

[GasX]

I assume that noone is 100% up to snuff?

 

[vi edit]

I find it in good business to ship a product that has been thouroughly tested. Don't want any of our P3-933's locking up at will or any of our G4 Cubes spontainously combusting.

 

[warcleric]

Haven't found one yet, Compaq is close, but I think only for their business customers, never had to use their end-user support.

P.S. I am mainly talking about complete system sales.

 

[pulse8]

Do companies like Compaq release their own bios/driver updates? I would think it's more of a hardware manufacturer thing.

 

[Double Trouble]

There are vendors that fit the bill, but you have to realize that when you want all that, you're gonna have to pay for it. We can't demand bargain basement prices such as found at a &quot;no frills&quot; show, and then expect top notch service.

I'm sure system builders like Russ, Tripleshot, Red etc can tell you how customers expect them to try and match the bargain weekly add e-machines price, but then expect personalized service.

 

[warcleric]

tagej: heh I order 5,000 systems at a time, you would think someone would be willing to provide this kind of service.

pulse8:Compaq does their own BIOS updates and makes their own NIC cards for some systems so they do the drivers for those as well...they probably repackage OEM drivers from other manufacturers for the rest of their hardware.

 

[Falcon011]

Lexmark is really good at all of these..

I've had to contact them 3 times inthe last year. Not one compaint.

 

[Dameon]

For Dell

1. Yes, on every system sold in the US. We can't get parts to middle of nowhere India next day.
2. Yep. On the page after plunking in your service tag.
3. It's improving, still needs retooling, but the files are there. Sometimes it's just not good at lowering things down. Gives you EVERY video driver possible instead of the ones for your Geforce card.
4. It's decent...
5. Server support this is definitely true, you can even have a dedicated rep if you want to spend the $$$. For the low-budget desktops, well... they have become a commodity that no one is willing to pay jack squat for any more. Can't afford to staff at that level. Learn to use other methods of contact, especially if it's not a system-down issue.
6. Relatively so, Dell's a little slow at this because they hate pulling files after releasing them. The drivers will be there, but they don't hurry it out the door.
7. You can expect that when you call customer service., but not tech support. In tech support, I will be polite and professional, but I ain't here to blow sunshine up your a$$ all farkin day. Feel free to call sales to have them stroke your ego.
Trust me, the whole PROBLEM with tech support these days is that they want people who are butt-kissers first, and training them to be techs instead of taking techs and training them to be accurate and professional.

 

[Double Trouble]

<<tagej: heh I order 5,000 systems at a time, you would think someone would be willing to provide this kind of service. >>

I didn't mean to suggest that what you are asking for is not pefectly reasonably, I just meant to say that if you want that good service, you might also have to purchase systems that are slightly higher priced. If you buy at such large volume, you certainly should get personalized service from one of the big oem vendors