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Warranty pricing
For some reason it won't allow me to post in the "Laptops General" forum so I'm posting here.
My 1 year Premium Support Warranty which I bought when I purchased my laptop is expiring on 9th May 2018.
Last week my fingerprint stopped working and my PIN too. I called Technical support who didn't know how this was caused but I have a feeling it was probably because of the BIOS update.
Eventually I got the PIN to work by deleting the ngc folder but Windows Hello had totally vanished. Apparently there had been a critical malfunction in the TPM chip which is required for the fingerprint to work.The technical support assistant said the motherboard would have to be replaced because the TPM chip is part of the SoC.
They called an engineer out who replaced the motherboard on site (because it's Premium Support) and it fixed the problem. The fingerprint now works! Happy Days
However it made me aware that something like this - however unlikely it may be - can happen again so I decided to ponder the idea of extending my Premium Support warranty because replacing the motherboard outside of warranty costs an eye-watering £600!! No thanks!
This is where my problem arises and it really has left a bitter taste in my mouth with Dell's Customer Service.
Apparently there is no way to upgrade your warranty online! It's 2018! You have to fill out a form and then Post Warranty Support who quoted the following prices for Premium Support and Onsite Service
1 Year...... £218.02
2 years...... £348.83
3 year.s...... £414.23
These prices are so expensive! So I sat an pondered further feeling really disheartened that Dell was asking so much.
So today I went to the Dell store and placed an order for the exact same laptop (specs etc) just to see what the options were for adding Premium Support with Onsite Service, and indeed there was the option of up to 4 years. The prices are as follows:
1 Year..... Included in the price
2 Years.....£130.00
3 Years.....£170.01
4 Years.....£290.01
Needless to say I got on the phone asked why there was such a difference in the prices during purchase, and after sale. It just didn't make any sense whatsoever why Dell would charge double the amount for exactly the same laptop but just extending your warranty after you've purchased the laptop. It's beyond belief.
I managed to speak to the Premium Support Manager named Richard to air my disbelief, and although sympathetic, he was unable to assist in pricing. However, he said he would pass all my comments on and escalate it to the Resolution team whom he said would call later in the day.
Indeed, true to his word, I received a call in the late afternoon from Dell. He introduced himself as Marshal Bayliss from the Resolution Team. I think he said he was the Senior Support Resolver.
He asked me to explain the problem to which I responded that he should have the notes from Richard whom I spoke to earlier.
Instead he insisted I tell him again so that he can understand batter which makes me think nothing was sent to him. Typical!
Anyway I explained my concern as before and his explanation was lame to be quite frank. Marshal said that because you're doing all the research for yourself when purchasing online that the price is less than when you purchase on the phone from the Post Warranty Team. Really?!? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
So I asked why isn't there an option to purchase the warranty online because that way, according to his statement, the warranty would be the same as when you purchase the laptop. He went on to give an example of purchasing something from Amazon would be cheaper than purchasing something from a shop. Errr ok!
So I said repeated why there wasn't an option to extend the warranty online. That way I could get it cheaper. He said there was nothing he could do about that and I told him this was a fraud. Just because I can't purchase my warranty online you're going to charge me double? Really?!
So now I'm going to write a formal letter of complaint to the Head Office. There is no way Dell can justify this difference in prices. It's unethical, unfair and needs to be addressed. Why should I have to purchase the laptop again to get the cheaper price? What happened to customer satisfaction? What happened to customer retention? What happened to customer loyalty? I could have spent my hard eared on HP, Acer, Asus etc, but I chose Dell and this is how they treat their customers??
I am extremely disappointed with Dell Customer Service. Their technical support has been good but their Custom Care has been diabolical. There should be one price (1, 2, 3 or 4 years warranty) regardless of when you purchase the warranty. It amounts to the same things whichever way you look at it.
A valued customer is something I do not feel like especially after spending so much money on their products. The least they can do it look after their customers. They're going to make money regardless so why do such a ridiculous thing like this? The mind boggles
My 1 year Premium Support Warranty which I bought when I purchased my laptop is expiring on 9th May 2018.
Last week my fingerprint stopped working and my PIN too. I called Technical support who didn't know how this was caused but I have a feeling it was probably because of the BIOS update.
Eventually I got the PIN to work by deleting the ngc folder but Windows Hello had totally vanished. Apparently there had been a critical malfunction in the TPM chip which is required for the fingerprint to work.The technical support assistant said the motherboard would have to be replaced because the TPM chip is part of the SoC.
They called an engineer out who replaced the motherboard on site (because it's Premium Support) and it fixed the problem. The fingerprint now works! Happy Days
However it made me aware that something like this - however unlikely it may be - can happen again so I decided to ponder the idea of extending my Premium Support warranty because replacing the motherboard outside of warranty costs an eye-watering £600!! No thanks!
This is where my problem arises and it really has left a bitter taste in my mouth with Dell's Customer Service.
Apparently there is no way to upgrade your warranty online! It's 2018! You have to fill out a form and then Post Warranty Support who quoted the following prices for Premium Support and Onsite Service
1 Year...... £218.02
2 years...... £348.83
3 year.s...... £414.23
These prices are so expensive! So I sat an pondered further feeling really disheartened that Dell was asking so much.
So today I went to the Dell store and placed an order for the exact same laptop (specs etc) just to see what the options were for adding Premium Support with Onsite Service, and indeed there was the option of up to 4 years. The prices are as follows:
1 Year..... Included in the price
2 Years.....£130.00
3 Years.....£170.01
4 Years.....£290.01
Needless to say I got on the phone asked why there was such a difference in the prices during purchase, and after sale. It just didn't make any sense whatsoever why Dell would charge double the amount for exactly the same laptop but just extending your warranty after you've purchased the laptop. It's beyond belief.
I managed to speak to the Premium Support Manager named Richard to air my disbelief, and although sympathetic, he was unable to assist in pricing. However, he said he would pass all my comments on and escalate it to the Resolution team whom he said would call later in the day.
Indeed, true to his word, I received a call in the late afternoon from Dell. He introduced himself as Marshal Bayliss from the Resolution Team. I think he said he was the Senior Support Resolver.
He asked me to explain the problem to which I responded that he should have the notes from Richard whom I spoke to earlier.
Instead he insisted I tell him again so that he can understand batter which makes me think nothing was sent to him. Typical!
Anyway I explained my concern as before and his explanation was lame to be quite frank. Marshal said that because you're doing all the research for yourself when purchasing online that the price is less than when you purchase on the phone from the Post Warranty Team. Really?!? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
So I asked why isn't there an option to purchase the warranty online because that way, according to his statement, the warranty would be the same as when you purchase the laptop. He went on to give an example of purchasing something from Amazon would be cheaper than purchasing something from a shop. Errr ok!
So I said repeated why there wasn't an option to extend the warranty online. That way I could get it cheaper. He said there was nothing he could do about that and I told him this was a fraud. Just because I can't purchase my warranty online you're going to charge me double? Really?!
So now I'm going to write a formal letter of complaint to the Head Office. There is no way Dell can justify this difference in prices. It's unethical, unfair and needs to be addressed. Why should I have to purchase the laptop again to get the cheaper price? What happened to customer satisfaction? What happened to customer retention? What happened to customer loyalty? I could have spent my hard eared on HP, Acer, Asus etc, but I chose Dell and this is how they treat their customers??
I am extremely disappointed with Dell Customer Service. Their technical support has been good but their Custom Care has been diabolical. There should be one price (1, 2, 3 or 4 years warranty) regardless of when you purchase the warranty. It amounts to the same things whichever way you look at it.
A valued customer is something I do not feel like especially after spending so much money on their products. The least they can do it look after their customers. They're going to make money regardless so why do such a ridiculous thing like this? The mind boggles
ejn63
10 Elder
10 Elder
•
23.1K Posts
0
April 26th, 2018 18:00
It wouldn't matter if you had HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc. - the cost of a warranty upgrade is always higher - often by more than a factor of two - than it is when bought after purchase. When you upgrade at purchase, the manufacturer has at least a year of holding your money before any expenditure. Further, the probability of needing that warranty increases with time - by the time an average notebook is three years old, about 25-30% will have needed some repair. It's economics dictated by actuarial science.
The only time the extension makes sense is at purchase - which is why you should essentially never take a system with just a one-year warranty. You'll find most businesses buy 3-year coverage, which makes repairs during a normal lifecycle the responsibility of the manufacturer.
Some manufacturers (Apple) only allow warranty extensions to be purchased within the first 60 days of ownership - there's not even an option to do it later.
Feemy
2 Posts
1
April 27th, 2018 01:00
The reasons they gave were extremely lame. Put all this economics and actuarial science nonsense to one side for a second and look at it from a customer satisfaction POV. You're mugging the customers off.
I'm not interested in what Apple do. I'm interested in what Dell CAN do and that's the potential to improve the way they treat their customers.
ejn63
10 Elder
10 Elder
•
23.1K Posts
1
April 27th, 2018 04:00
You missed the point. Doesn't matter what you buy - car, washing machine, computer -- if you buy an extended warranty after purchase, the price will be higher, most often by a factor of two or more.
Dell is in business to make money - they cannot sell a warranty extension on a used system for the same price as they do with a new one, by simple economics. When purchased with system, they keep the money for an extended period of time before it's ever needed to cover a warranty claim -- in exchange, you get a lower price.
If you buy the warranty after a few months or a year, you pay the full freight for the warranty -- just as you would if you purchased an extended warranty on a washer after months of use -- or on a used car vs. a new one.
The warranty upgrade/extension covers the future repair needs -- and those future repair needs increase in probability starting with the first time the power is switched on.
Dell isn't doing anything different than what every other consumer product vendor does.
In fact, you'll find you'll be better off putting aside the funds you'd spend on the warranty to pay for the repair yourself -- the ONLY time an extended notebook warranty makes sense it at purchase time. After that, bank the funds - you'll basically find that unless you have a very high end system, a major repair after a couple to three years on a system makes no sense -- the cost starts to approach 40-50% of what a new system would cost.
babasupo
7 Posts
0
April 25th, 2019 02:00
The cost of the warranty could be higher after purchase, but it should not be anything like doubling or tripling the the money paid when you buy the laptop. For example, an XPS 9575, I was quoted a value of 372 British Pounds to extend the warranty to 3 years. The worst that could happen to this laptop is a motherboard replacement and a new motherboard cost approximately #450.
Kounavaki
15 Posts
0
July 27th, 2019 06:00
The think is the actuarial science stuff does not make sense in the beginning since you are already covered by the "compulsory limited hardware guarantee". So, this is the reason all companies give you a 30 - day grace period to extend your warranty (Apple gives 60 days from what I heard). I did that with Toshiba and I was very happy that I could extend my warranty just like that by ordering it online at a reasonable price. Heck, even if you go to those high street stores (e.g. John Lewis) and you have any issue you can return it back with no questions asked if it is under "their" warranty cover policy. But, as everyone else I was quoted some horrible prices after purchasing the laptop (less than 10 days) which were 5 times more than the ones listed in the Dell website had you bought the warranty with the laptop!!! The prices quoted by a Dell "expert" (aka outsourced personnel from India since their English were ) 1Y ProSupport and Next Business Day: 279.04 £ 2Y ProSupport and Next Business Day: 446.45 £ 3Y ProSupport and Next Business Day: 558.06 £ Totally unacceptable in 2019 So happy with my new Dell XPS 9380 but disappointed by the warranty process. P.S.: The "expert" also said they do not support extension of warranty so from what I understood I had to "rebuy" the whole warranty... like Dell? P.S.2: Anyone know what's with sites selling warranty extensions for Dell equipment*? Are they reliable? Anyone acquainted with the process? *https://www.uk.insight.com/en-gb/searchresults/warranties/extended-warranties?FK%5B%5D=&slider_selected_low_price=0&slider_selected_high_price=10000&slider_low_price=0&slider_high_price=10000¤cy_format=%C2%A30&LP=0&HP=1000&C=C-25&A-DAX-ManufacturerID=271〈=en-gb&SB=bs&PS=10&P=1&all=y
1o1e12
1 Message
1
September 10th, 2019 20:00
I agree with you on this one. With that what I always tell anyone when I purchase something and they ask if I want a warranty, I tell them if their product breaks before a reasonable time and they don't fix it or give me credit towards a new one then I'll never purchase anything from them again. If your pc or laptop breaks you'd be better switching companies and taking that $400 elsewhere. Also in 3-4 years time, the pc or laptop that you're using will most likely be pretty outdated.
xmarkx88
1 Message
0
September 26th, 2019 17:00
You can tell them what you want, but the reality is that they probably don't really care that much if they lose you as a customer unless you are responsible for well over $100k in purchases a year (or have social media influence to make such a sway). TBH, they probably laugh at you after you finish your rant, especially if you are buying a $400 (low margin) computer from them. I'm not trying to be mean, but, rather, remind you that businesses the size of Dell are all about analytics. They've already calculated the number of customers per year that will tell them the exact same thing as you and have determined that they will come out ahead by just letting you finish your rant and leaving it up to chance. From your end, you will switch manufacturers until you get lucky or run out of options except for a boutique style manufacturer small enough to care about your rant. The catch is that you'll end paying close to the same at the boutique than you would have at dell for the laptop plus warranty. Whether you pay more or less will depend mostly upon economics of scale vs relative executive compensation. I don't like this reality but it is the one that we have, so the best option is to adapt and accept or rally enough people to make a difference. Based on the typical personality type that would give this rant to dell, you will probably hate this reply and completely dismiss it as false, until the day inevitably comes where you are forced to face this truth. I speak from experience.