We provide free to clients that purchase equipment from us a free extra layer of protection, a year onsite replacement for damaged hardware.
The scenario was that the client required a computer at work where he spends most of his time but also wanted the computer for after work so he can work from home or anywhere else for that matter. This cloud function is available on our POS Software. So a laptop made a lot of sense. He bought a Dell laptop, from a Dell reseller that only offered standard Dell servicing which he was told included on-site warranty. Once he got the laptop, he switched it on at work and used it. It worked fine for about half an hour, then the fan became loud and after an hour became very loud. Underneath when he felt the laptop was very hot. So the client switched off the laptop, not wanting to damage the laptop by cooking it but also the noise was so loud now it was unbearable. He did not use the laptop for the rest of the day. The next day, Day 2 he tried again and the same thing happened.
Now with us, we would have arranged for a replacement laptop to be sent to him and take the laptop back till it was fixed. End of problem.
However, my client did not have this option and he is computer savvy which was to help him with this problem as you will see. He did some research online on the internet and saw that it was a known problem and that he should download a few patches which people reported fixed the problem with them. This did not work for him so he emailed the laptop reseller who telephoned him and told him to use Dell support as there was nothing he could do since the patches did not work, so my client emailed Dell to report the problem. The next day, Day 3 Dell emailed him to ask him to run a special Dell software program that checks and fixes Dell laptops. My client did this and while doing this then later told me that he was sure that all this software was doing was downloading the same patches he had already done but felt he had to follow the procedure outlined by Dell. It took ages so he left the laptop on overnight to finish the task. Next day, Day 4, he tested the laptop and the same problem occurred so he emailed Dell and was told that a technician would call to organise a time. So it was the weekend coming so Monday Day 7, the technician called to book a time for Tuesday. On Tuesday, Day 8, the technician called to say that he could not make the time arranged but could come after hours. Unfortunately, the laptop was at work, so after-hours did not work, so they booked it in for the next day. Day 8 the technician came, replaced much of the insides of the computer, switched it on and the noise had stopped, wonderful. The processor was said to be the fault as clearly it looked like it had been cooked. The technician left, my client used the laptop about half an hour later the same problem reoccured. So my client contacted Dell to say the problem is not fixed. On Day 9, a technician was booked for the next day. On Day 10, another technician came spent over an hour and replaced everything inside. Then left. Once my client came back and tested it the same problem was still there. So when Dell contacted him, he notified them that the problem was still there. The Monday, Day 11 he was notified that Dell would need the computer to check and it should be sent to them. This was expected to take two (2) weeks after he sent it to them so we are looking at Day 26 before he has his laptop. Having no choice my client took the laptop home to send it on Tuesday on the way to work. At home he tested the laptop and it worked fine. There was nothing wrong with it. What was wrong? He thought about it. Than had a brainwave, at work he had used the laptop as a computer, as such all he had done was switch it into the network and did not even bothered to open the laptop up, as he preferred a regular monitor and keyboard while at home he had opened it up as he did not have such a setup. He decided rather than send it to Dell to experiment with whether it was the laptop not being opened that was the problem. This turned out to be the solution.
Okay at the end, you can say full marks to Dell for trying to fix it but at the best that laptop was going to be out of commission for more than 26 days because the fact that the problem was that the laptop was not opened in use would be unlikely to be discovered.
As it was, the laptop was not essential to the business, if it was a server knocked out for 26 days, it would have been very serious.
Not all warranties are the same. Do not assume so. Our warranty was, in this case, clearly better than this manufacturers.
