Dell "Support" for Dell machines

[Bob Posert]

I've been reading in various messages about Dell's wonderful support
and would like to present an alternate view.

My company ordered a Dell 333D machine with SVR4 last year, and after
many delays like "we'll be shipping it out to you next week," finally
got it in early February.  The machine didn't work in various ways, so
I called up Dell technical support for assistance.  I got through to a
helpful person, and he solved the immediate problems (tcp/ip wouldn't work
[the "pre-installed" system wasn't configured for *any* network
adapter], the mouse didn't work with X [the same "pre-installed" system
was set up for a mouse different than the one that came with the
machine]).

The next day tcp/ip stopped working again.  I asked for someone in
UNIX support, and left a message.  I got a call back after I left a few
more messages over a few days, and had the following conversation:

	"I'm having problems communicating over the ethernet with the
	 Western Digital card."

		"What kind of problems?"

	"I can't ping other machines on the network, but I can ping localhost."

		"You're getting pinging from your hard drive?"

	(What, is he serious?) "No, I run the UNIX command 'ping' and it says
	that the other machines aren't replying."

		"Umm, I'll have UNIX support call you back."
	
	(Isn't that what I asked for?) "Ok."

After a few more calls, Dell sent a different model Western Digital
16 bit card that solved the problem.  Note that you have to boot under
DOS to configure the card - they don't supply a UNIX configuration program.

After another annoying sequence of placing service calls and getting
responses like "Your call has been dequeued wrongly,"  "Oh, gosh, I'll
bring this to the supervisor's attention and you'll get a call back
right away," "Gee, I'm really sorry. I'll print out this report to ensure
that you get immediate service," etc. I was able to ask about a bug in Dell's
implementation of X - you cannot start up an xterm from within an xterm.

		A semi-amusing sidebar:  While waiting interminably
		on hold, listening to recorded sales pitches, I heard
		"Be sure to ask about Dell's plug and play UNIX
		solution - the 333D."  It gives a whole new meaning
		to "plug and play" - plug it in, and play with it a
		long time before it works!

The xterm bug and "many others" are supposed to be fixed in an update
coming out towards the end of March.  It isn't going to be automatically
mailed out; you have to call them for it.

This person wouldn't take a bug report about an interaction between
Dell SVR3 csh/NFS and Dell SVR4 NFS.

Another call.  After only three calls to "Tech Support," over a week, I
spoke to Pat Pitre about the bug:

	Dell SVR3 csh dumps core if an NFS mounted directory is placed
	in its PATH, if the NFS server is running Dell SVR4 (or SunOS,
	and maybe others).

Pat told me to mail the core dump to support at dell, and he would call
back with a PTR number.  I mailed it, and called him after three days
(and left a message on his voicemail).  A different service tech, Ken
Bees, returned the call and said that they never received the core dump.
Hmm. Usually I get a notice of bounced mail.

I told him how to duplicate the problem, and he said he would call back
within two days.  He also said that Dell planned no more SVR3 bug
releases unless the bug was "very important."  I told him that this bug
means that the 333D machine won't be able to act as a server for the other
Dell machines here (they run SVR3), and that it was very important to
me; in fact, we bought the machine to _be_ that server.  The suggested
workaround was to use the Bourne shell on the SVR3 machines.  Right.

Three days later I called him, and he said that
	1) He couldn't find a SVR3 machine with NFS
	   to duplicate the problem on.
	2) It had been "noted as a problem," PTR #AUS 2434.
	3) If Dell comes up with a "resolution," which can take up to
	   two months, they might call me back.

Well, swell.

Dell has major problems with their support.  It is pure luck if you
reach the same service tech on a followup call as on the original call.
This means re-explaining the problem every time.  They do not follow up
on service calls.  I placed a call regarding removable SCSI in mid-
December, and was told that the problem had been assigned a PTR number
and I would be contacted by an engineer.  I never heard back.

It looks to me like Dell is a DOS company that sells UNIX.  I'd prefer
to buy from a company that sells mated software and hardware, and will
recommend purchases of real workstations in the future.  Suns are
looking better all the time.

As always, these opinions do not reflect my employer's opinions, but
are mine alone (though I do try to get other people to hold them).

--Bob
-- 
When an eel bites your leg, and the pain makes you beg, that's a moray!
I'm bob at psitech.com or uunet!psitech!bob