Dell's "next day on-site" guarantee is one of the major factors influencing my loyalty to the brand. I've been buying Dell since 1998 and have always paid for this service as my business cannot afford to have a machine down while it gets sent to their labs for repair.

In the past, Dell used a Dutch company with outlets all over Europe to handle their warranty repairs and the company was more or less perfect. Well-trained techs would arrive within the scheduled time period and perform their task efficiently. But nowadays Dell no longer use that company and the result is barely-trained school-leavers turning up when it suits them. They haven't seen an Alienware before but hey, all computers are basically the same and who cares if a few screws go missing! Well I won't get into what can happen when they get their hands on your machine because there's already plenty of posts about that.

Here's the contents of a mail I just sent to the Dell support tech handling my case:

The onsite technician just called me to say it is not convenient for him to come today so he will come tomorrow morning instead. This is what he always does because my office is a 2 hour drive from his home so he hates making me his last appointment.

Basically, his working day is supposed to end at 19:00h. If he arrives here at 17:00h and spends up to an hour working on my machine/s that means he will leave at 18:00h but as he has 2 hours return drive he would arrive home late. He doesn't like that because he doesn't get paid for that lost hour so he simply refuses to come.

By making me his first appointment between 10:30 - 11:00h it's the company that pays for his lost travelling time however, this means that Dell's "next day on-site guarantee" is worthless for motives completely outside their control.

In fact, his exact words were "I could come this afternoon but I could not guarantee that because you are not in my region. The only way I can be certain to arrive is if we book the appointment for the following day."

Incidentally, I'm lucky that it's a 48h service this time because with previous visits the technician sometimes cancelled delaying his visit for up to 4 days!

@ Chris M.
The only reason I'm posting this is because I think Dell needs to be aware of what their 3rd party warranty services are getting up to behind their back. Let's be clear about this, my Dell support tech did exactly what he was supposed to. He launched the on-site intervention for the following day. The fact that the guy phoned me just now is proof of that. But he has no control over the actions of the individual who received the case from his employer and even the employer is unlikely aware of what just happened. If it was a one-off event I wouldn't be so bothered but it's been like this for all but one appointment.

Update:
Just received a reply from my Dell support tech...
"We cannot accept this kind of treatment to our customers, that's why I'll escalate your email to my superior."

And I immediately replied...
"Thanks. I just want to be clear that I fully appreciate this is NOT Dell's fault. Personally, I don't think his employer is even aware of what's going on because, by phrasing it the way he did and asking me which option I would prefer, he manipulated me into rebooking the intervention for the following day. That way he can tell his employer it was the client's decision and it also allows him to finish work early today.

I don't know if he gets paid an hourly rate or on a per intervention rate. If it's the latter he is probably manipulating them to concentrate as many as possible in the same region which makes good economic sense, even if it damages Dell's promised next day guarantee. If he is paid an hourly rate then clearly he will do whatever he can to avoid being on the road outside his agreed working hours."