Re: warranties
- From: "Woody" <harrogate3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 09:23:24 -0000
"Paul D.Smith" <paul_d_smith@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1233045632.26729.0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
...snip...
It isn't easy to prove that one particular type is reliable, because
the models change so quickly!
As an example I program computers. My employers have been through a
number of brands, purchasing for a combination fo reliability, cost
and advanced technical support (e.g. strange set-ups of very hi-spec
servers - everything else we can do in house).
I'm currently typing at a Dell, so good as a brand that I've purchased
one myself. But a couple of years ago a whole slew of Dell's started
failing. Seems that they were all built using a set of dodgy
capacitors that degraded quickly then failed.
"Change brands" you yell - except that Dell were far from the only
manufacturer hit by this same problem using components from the same
capacitor manufacturer. Even my lowly home ADSL router had the same
brand caps. in! The problem is that a very small number of
manufacturers make ALL the basic components and they can sometimes be
the Achilles heel of a product.
So you buy something and hope it fails within the warrantee or, like
Dell did, you have a manufacturer who is willing to replace the dead
"faulty" componentry well after the warrantee. That's one reason my
employer still buys Dell - they admit mistakes and they correct them,
no fuss. The same sort of service Bill and the rest of you pros.
provide.
Paul DS.
Yes but... Reliability is what it is all about.
When we were taken over ten years ago we were issued with brand new Dell
laptops. My boss' keyboard failed within five days, and of the six or
seven people working from the same office none of us got through the
first year without a hardware problem of some sort - two machines were
replaced completely. We replaced about four years ago with Lenovo and
the hardware faults have dropped out of sight.
A friend bought a Dell desktop machine a couple of years later - she was
without it for 28 weeks in the first year, it spent so much time on RTB
warranty repair.
One of my customers bought nearly 300 machines about three years ago,
nearly 200 of which fall within my bailiwick as it were. I have not kept
any records but from feedback from my colleagues I would guestimate
perhaps 25% (if not more) of these have had new motherboards in them
whilst under 3-year on-site warranty.
No, sorry, but I still think Dell have quality problems. If I were
buying now, desktop or laptop, I think I would go for HP.
As an aside, buy an Epson printer and ask the supplier about reliability
and you will get the standard 'we never see any returned Sir.' No they
don't, because Epson replace direct. I've had three printers over the
last decade or so, the first was replaced twice in the first year, the
second was replaced within a month as it packed up completely. My latest
is still going, but it's only five months old!
--
Woody
harrogate three at ntlworld dot com
.
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