I am confused... who has good or bad customer service for laptops?

[Typhoon]

I've been looking around for a laptop for the past week, and I was decided on getting a Sony S-series...but then I read a survery that charted out companies--good or bad when it came to customer service. I was surprised that Sony was at the bottom, behind it was Compaq and HP. The best were eMachines, IBM, & Apple. Problem w/eMachines is that they don't make the small laptop I want and Apple is waaayyy too expensive. I guess Apple's prices aren't that bad, but considering if I did get an Apple, then I would also have to get a x86 emulator to run Windows (yes, I like Windows) and I would have to get an Apple that is really fast to handle everything including the emulator. IBM is almost a winner, except that they don't have notebooks w/widescreen. The most complaints Who I have been hearing about recently was Dell...REALLLY bad complaints. But then Dell was rated at #4, which is waaay better than all the rest. What are your experiences w/laptop manufacturers' customer services? Who's good and who's bad?

This is highly important. My last laptop was an eMachines...I had to send it in 3 times in one year. But they were great. All I had to do was call them up, tell them my problem, and in a few minutes after getting my information, they made an order to send me a box to have it sent in--they paid round trip. They even replaced the LCD because it had a crack on the casing and even replaced the LCD hinges because of cracks. I was thinking of getting the Dell 700m because it is so cheap. I thought that considering it's bang for the buck, if there is a problem, maybe I can deal w/several hours of bad customer service to get it fixed. I had a Compaq laptop 4 years ago...they wouldn't fix my laptop and lost my record information....they are such a pain in the...

[shawnc]

I was very happy with customer service on my Toshiba laptop and am equally happy with the service of my Fujitsu.

[Typhoon]

I think on the chart, Fujitsu was good too.

[Sven Johannsen]

The more units that are out there, the more complaints you are going to hear. The more units that are out there the more customer service reps are going to be needed and the potential of hiring folks who shouldn't have that job are higher. The more units you have out there the more likely there are going to be some with problems. Especially if the you are keeping your costs down.

All that said. I have always had very good luck with Dell, whether that was desktops, notebooks or PPCs. Once you get past the initial standardized quiz they are going to subject you to, they have always been fair and prompt.

HP has been good in the past too, in my experience.

The reality is one bad customer experience always gets publicised. Whether you have 9 or 99 folks with good experiences, those folks don't generally speak up.

[Typhoon]

Hmmm... ok.

[ppcinfo]

I've had several Dell laptops and never had a problem with them. I bought a Dell laptop for my wife last Christmas, and it was missing the PC Card dummy insert. I called Dell support, and they sent one to me 2-Day Air with no questions. I'd highly recommend Dell for laptop or desktop computers.

ppcinfo

[jbachandouris]

Those of you with good Dell experiences: are these recent experiences?

The reason I ask is that for the last 8 months I had been repairing Dells and I heard very few positive comments about Dell Tech Support on the consumer end. The stories usually involve references to LONG hold times and unknowledgeable tech support people.

As to the person looking for a laptop, this is my advice:

Buy local. Go to a store where you can buy a warranty and have on-site techs who can work on the machine if need be.

I know there are some who are not fans of store techs like those at Best Buy. It does, however, beat the heck out of 2 hour hold time waiting totalk to an overseas tech.

[Typhoon]

Those of you with good Dell experiences: are these recent experiences?

The reason I ask is that for the last 8 months I had been repairing Dells and I heard very few positive comments about Dell Tech Support on the consumer end. The stories usually involve references to LONG hold times and unknowledgeable tech support people.

As to the person looking for a laptop, this is my advice:

Buy local. Go to a store where you can buy a warranty and have on-site techs who can work on the machine if need be.

I know there are some who are not fans of store techs like those at Best Buy. It does, however, beat the heck out of 2 hour hold time waiting totalk to an overseas tech.

Hmmm... hey, do you think any local shops will have laptops that have that XBrite screen like technology? Does Best Buy actually build laptops? Probably not?

[jbachandouris]

Try Circuit City. They have Sony and the screens are awesome!

[Typhoon]

Try Circuit City. They have Sony and the screens are awesome!

Oh that's right. Yea, those screens are awesome. But I don't want to run into bad customer service, which is a big concern for me. I remember a really bad experience from Compaq awhile back...I pledged to never buy from them again. Not unless they totally revamped their tech. support and customer care and the whole company itself. Didn't Compaq, about 10 years ago, have a problem w/their PC line? I think I remember them getting in trouble for selling "brand new" computers that were actually built w/refurbished or old computer parts, and sometimes using the wrong computer part (like a 2400 baud modem instead of a 3600 baud). I had a friend who had this problem about 10 years ago. Compaq is terrible.

[Sven Johannsen]

Buy local. Go to a store where you can buy a warranty and have on-site techs who can work on the machine if need be.

I don't expect a local store will actually work on an in warranty laptop. They generally ship those back to a suport center.

Yes the experience with Dell is recent, though with PPCs most recently. In each case it appeared to be domestic support. One was via phone, the other was live chat. I haven't had any issues with my Dell laptops that required tech support.

[Typhoon]

Yea, on the chart, local shops had a pretty good and reliable tech. support.

[jbachandouris]

What are you talking about? I said Circuit City (the store) NOT Compaq (the computer).

The brand with the best screen that I have seen in retail is Sony.


This post is referring to comments made by Typhoon further up the thread.

[jbachandouris]

Buy local. Go to a store where you can buy a warranty and have on-site techs who can work on the machine if need be.

I don't expect a local store will actually work on an in warranty laptop. They generally ship those back to a suport center.

Yes the experience with Dell is recent, though with PPCs most recently. In each case it appeared to be domestic support. One was via phone, the other was live chat. I haven't had any issues with my Dell laptops that required tech support.

Glad to hear...I never bought the Axim because of all the horror stories on Axim Site, but I sure could have used the extra cash in my pocket that went to my hx4705 (bought retail).

[Typhoon]

What are you talking about? I said Circuit City (the store) NOT Compaq (the computer).

The brand with the best screen that I have seen in retail is Sony.


This post is referring to comments made by Typhoon further up the thread.

Oh I know. I was mentioning about customer service. Mentioning about customer service reminded me of the bad customer service I got from Compaq. Sorry if there was a mix up or whatever, i was just remembering about what had happened...

But, yea, Sony's rocks. I compared their screen to all the XBrite wannabes, and Sony's is still the best. But I don't want bad cust. serv., esp. for a machine that will cost $500 more than an equivalent machine of another brand.

[jbachandouris]

True, but once again if you buy retail with an extended warranty, you never deal with Sony, only the store you bought it from.

[Typhoon]

True, but once again if you buy retail with an extended warranty, you never deal with Sony, only the store you bought it from.

Ohhh I see. Do you have experiences that you could share w/me? When ever I think about extended warranties from a store, I think of all the bad complaints about them from Best Buy. There are so many anti-Best-Buy websites up who dedicate spreading the word about there poor extended warranties (I believe). It is a scary thought, but then I also don't really know what good they are for from Best Buy. As for Circuit City, I would have to find out.

[jbachandouris]

Lets see...I bought an Ipaq 4155 from CompUSA with their extended warranty (2 years). According to their contract, you will receive a replacement (refurbished) by mail if your device ever fails. When my Ipaq had issues, I made a call and convinced them to let me upgrade to the hx4705 (VGA screen). Although I had to pay the differnce, I was still able to upgrade.

[Typhoon]

Lets see...I bought an Ipaq 4155 from CompUSA with their extended warranty (2 years). According to their contract, you will receive a replacement (refurbished) by mail if your device ever fails. When my Ipaq had issues, I made a call and convinced them to let me upgrade to the hx4705 (VGA screen). Although I had to pay the differnce, I was still able to upgrade.

Huh...but those are PDAs though. Bigger difference than a laptop, right? They might check it first? or will they just take it and send you a refurb.? If that is the case, that would be good, but simple cracks from age might make them think you dropped it?

[jbachandouris]

Sorry, I really don't know.

[Typhoon]

Sorry, I really don't know.

Oh ok, thanks though.