Horrible customer service

Today I called the customer service line because I was suppose to receive a box to send my laptop in for service by the 18th.  When I reached a customer service representative, he told me that I did not receive the box because his department did not have the authorization to send the box.  It was waiting on a higher level of support to approve the box.  He offered to request that a box be sent again.  I asked to speak to the department that approves the box.  He did not want to me to speak to them, when I insisted, he put me on hold for five minutes and then said that he had no way to contact the department other than internal email, so he would resubmit for me to receive a box.  I then asked to speak to his supervisor, which earned me another seven minutes on hold.

The supervisor said that he did have the authority to send me a box and he would do this.  I then reported what the other representative stated and he repeated that he does have the authority.  When I agreed to have him repeat the process it took being placed on hold three times for seven minutes at a time.

It was clear that the representatives were either working off of a script or that they did not have a strong command of the English language.  Either way is there anyway to speak to someone in the U.S. or have all support services been farmed out overseas? I was also told that the only way to speak to someone in the US would be to upgrade to the pro service plan.  Is this accurate?

Additionally, my first call into Dell Support I was told that charging the computer for more than seven hours would ruin the computer and the battery.  Is this accurate?  

I was instructed to remove the screws and take apart my laptop.  I did as instructed and had difficulty putting all the pieces back together properly.  The representative told me that if anything happens while we are on the phone, it doesn't void the warranty.  Is this accurate?

At this point I would never buy another Dell.  I have no problem with customer service being overseas, what I have a problem with is their inability to understand my clear English or their lack of technical knowledge to understand what I am talking about.  I was placed on hold for five minutes so the representative could research how to turn off a computer that won't power on.  This moment did not give me confidence.