Go to " My account " on the dell support page. Then scroll down to " My software" you can download  all the sofware you paid for through DELL. I Bought Office 10 from the windows site- but everything that was installed when the sys was built is downloadable. Make sure your invoice stated you paid for the full version, if not you can get the add supported one free from MS.

Tech support has gotten really bad of late,..

They all sound angry and bitter...I've actually hung up and tried getting another tech.

Last rig I'm buying from Dell...ever !

It should have come with a CD version for it I think. I bought mine with MS office and I got the CD with the product key on the back. I don't know if laptops are different but for my desktop I got the CD. It is also listed on my invoice.

I would check to see if I had the CD and if not I would call customer care and get it. 30min on hold is crazy but if that is what you have to do...

So, if I have the MPI card, but  ...

1. I uninstall it, and want to reinstall it (without re-imaging the machine back to factory original condition)

2. My hard-drive crashes and I loose the factory restore partition

... how would I reinstall it? How do you only reinstall Office 2010 Starter Edition (so MPI card can be used on re-install)?

As of June 2010, we will not be shipping the Office 2010 CDs. If you purchased any of the three Office 2010 full versions, you will receive the MPI card separately which will contain the activation key that unlocks the appropriate modules from the factory installed image. The three versions are:
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010
Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010
Microsoft Office Professional 2010

So what we load is the Office 2010 starter edition. You then go through the installation process and input the product key from the MPI card which loads the full version you purchased.

To answer my own question ...

... download and install the Office 2010 trial version and then activate the upgrade.

http://support.euro.dell.com/support/topics/topic.aspx/emea/shared/support/dsn/en/document?c=ms&l=en&s=bsd&docid=370455

So, the Office 2010 Trail version downloadable (from Microsoft) version will also accept the MPI/CoA registration ... seems like a acceptable and workable solution to me.

So why should we ever buy Microsoft software from Dell in the future?  I think it's wrong to sell someone software with the laptop purchase and not install it for them.  I understand this saves you guys time/money but people buy from Dell because its easy . . . you're making it harder with this change . . . 

Personally I have never bought Microsoft Office from Dell as I can get multiple installs for a cheaper price if I buy it from elsewhere especially if I get student versions.

The OEM Windows is cheaper and a somewhat better deal but has limitations. In my opinion the OEM Office is a worse deal both with limitations and price.