Point Stick Covers

     I recently called Dell to replace a missing point stick cover for a 3-yr old Latitude 7480.  I have 5-year Dell Pro support, but not tous risques hardware replacement, so the agent told me I would receive an invoice to order a point stick nib.  It takes 5 seconds to push the little rubber nib onto the stick, so I insisted I did not need on-site replacement service.

     I received an invoice for one "single incident support, keyboard part" (namely, the nib) for $61 for the part plus tax plus $149 installation cost, with the option to accept or decline the entire offer with no substitutions.

     This is outrageous.  A nib is worth about $1.  In fact, you can buy 10 Latitude 74-- series nibs for $10.99 from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Nbparts-Keyboard-Pointer-Trackpoint-Latitude/dp/B07P9ZDQBT/ref=pd_sim_b2b_3/135-4147087-5542625?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07P9ZDQBT&pd_rd_r=377d0885-f2a8-4f0b-961c-78fa77c4cdb0&pd_rd_w=PNMBA&pd_rd_wg=mkT85&pf_rd_p=a07701e4-f565-442a-b97f-93ab23cbb7ef&pf_rd_r=4P9GPAR2BC5QG3AZ6TC0&psc=1&refRID=4P9GPAR2BC5QG3AZ6TC0), including shipping.

     As for the labor, to "install" the nib, you just push it onto the stick.  Period.  Takes about 5 seconds.  That $149/5 seconds, or $107,280/hour.  A perfectly reasonable labor cost, don't you think?

    As an alternative, consider buying a whole new laptop (Latitude E6400) for $139, just over half the total cost ($215.64) of the itty bitty 7-mm diameter rubber nib from Dell (https://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIV0BE2WD2147&source=region&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleBizMKPL-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleBizMKPL-PC-_-pla-Front+Source+Tech-_-Notebooks-_-9SIV0BE2WD2147&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqfz6BRD8ARIsAIXQCf24WqOvOvVOxNTGccrTAsFQ0GhjqZFJiDD7qyuI1JQpVwAH2ZUxi5AaAuPOEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds).

     You decide which is the better deal.

     I was then asked to evaluate my service from Dell.  You can probably imagine my reply.