As my laptop’s warranty was almost over I decided it was about time I got that broken ² button repaired, as well as the loose plastic around both hinges.

When I bought my laptop I just selected the basic warranty, I’m not such a fan of spending a lot of money on warranty, just take care of your equipment and that should be enough. So when I decided to contact the Dell customer support they told me I had to pay a one-time fee of 34 euros. Reasonable for a “rapid response” which is -in theory- a technician coming to your home the next day. Up to there all went well, but then came the chain of events where rapid became awfully slow.

Once I screenshotted me sending the money to Dell they booked a technician to come 2 days later, awesome. The morning of that day I get a call from Dell where the person explains to me how my warranty was expired and the repairs to my LCD screen would cost me money next to the 34 euros I paid. Wait, what? LCD screen, warranty expired? Apparently they had mixed up the papers a bit, no problem, the technician would still come and fix my key and plastic in the afternoon.

So the technician came, he did not have a keyboard replacement part, nor plastic for the hinges. He changed the back of the LCD screen and also had the part of plastic that goes around the keyboard. I asked him not to replace the original because it wasn’t broken. Fun fact, he left the spare part for me to use when I need it. He also didn’t properly fit the plastic back so I had to slam my fist on it (really!) so it would get back into place, next time I’m going to check every small part of the laptop before I let him go.

At this point I was thinking by myself that I paid for repairs and all I got was a repair that wasn’t even necessary. So I email the customer support again and they tell me there was a mixup and they would send another technician at a time I give them, this time with the proper parts. Time goes by, no word of them for a few days and then I get a call hearing one of the parts isn’t available yet and would hopefully arrive in the next few days. Again I mail to customer support giving them a new set of dates I’m available. Time goes by..

Yesterday I get a call from Dell asking me if today was a good time for them to come even though I stated in my email that was not the case. I tell them Friday is okay and the guy confirms it, the technician would come this Friday. This morning I get a call from a Dell technician informing me he’d be at my address in fifteen minutes… I tell the person I’m not at home so there’s nothing he can do, that I told Dell Friday was OK and that they agreed. He politely told me it was no problem and he’d come on Friday.

So here’s hoping he’ll be here with the correct replacement parts on Friday. I paid them on June 20 and today is July 13. That’s nearly a month for a “Rapid Response”. I thought highly of Dell Support when I was emailing with them as they replied in a matter of hours but this is getting ridiculous as  I didn’t pay to wait a month for my laptop to get repaired.