At 6 months the Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200 drive failed. As I have 2nd Day On-Site, a Dell tech came over and replaced it. Windows will not activate; the error says the product key is invalid. Turns out Dell shipped a drive with an image with Windows 8 Core Instead of Pro. A week later and after many hours on the phone and remote log- in, Dell sent a 2nd HDD. This one also had W8, not W8P, and again Microsoft refused activation. Now I find that Dell hardware support is convinced that my machine shipped with what they call "Windows 8 Home". At one point they called it a 2710, and they don't believe it has a SSD drive as well.

i became frustrated and insisted that the support team leader simply get on a browser, go to Dell.com, enter my Service Tag, and check the system configuration. she did so, and read off exactly the information that they were denying. This system sold for $2,199; I got a discount to $1,999. When the 2nd tech was here, I showed them the receipt listing all of the details. 

After the 2nd drive was installed, a "level 3" technician called and logged on for remote support. His mission was to erase the registry key and BIOS information for the Windows 8 Pro installation, and force the system to accept the basic edition. He was unable to make that work (I was at work; my wife helped him gain access)  so now he has declared the hardware failure service ticket to be completed. He has opened a new software issue ticket, and has transferred me to software support. He has also shipped out installation disks for Windows 8. I am expected to work with software support to install what I'm sure will be W8 Basic. 

As I'm sure most readers are aware, setting up a system like this is more complicated than loading some software like, say Turbotax. Even if I have been sent W8 Pro, the disk image I have is for a lesser machine. How will I set up the SSD that doesn't exist on W8 Basic machines?

Does anyone have any idea what is happening? How can I contact someone at Dell Who can intercede in this "train wreck" of incredibly bad support? Anyone can log in remotely and check the on-board hardware, and realize that this configuration always ships with Pro. 

By the way, I also sent them a photo of the machine label, complete with Service Tag and Windows 8 Pro badge. Help!