Dell/HP vs iBuyPower/CyberPowerPC

jamesbharris · May 26, 2019

I know Dell & HP doesn't offer the same flexibility as far as being able to pick each individual component. On that point, there is no comparison. I am more interested in warranty support, specifically, the ability to contact support thru e-mail/chat & get a fast response. I have a disability which makes my speech hard to understand so just picking up the phone isn't an option. I need to be able to handle any interaction solely thru chat or e-mails and hopefully, get a quick resolution without having to actually talk to anyone. I would guess the larger companies, Dell & HP, are easier to reach simply because they have more people working for them but are those people in their chats or responding to e-mails actually able to do anything or are they just basic troubleshooting and then are going to tell me to call after they go thru their checklist?

Crunchy Dragon · May 26, 2019

-Moved to Laptops and Pre-Built Systems-

Falco5150 · May 26, 2019

17 minutes ago, jamesbharris said:

I know Dell & HP doesn't offer the same flexibility as far as being able to pick each individual component. On that point, there is no comparison. I am more interested in warranty support, specifically, the ability to contact support thru e-mail/chat & get a fast response. I have a disability which makes my speech hard to understand so just picking up the phone isn't an option. I need to be able to handle any interaction solely thru chat or e-mails and hopefully, get a quick resolution without having to actually talk to anyone. I would guess the larger companies, Dell & HP, are easier to reach simply because they have more people working for them but are those people in their chats or responding to e-mails actually able to do anything or are they just basic troubleshooting and then are going to tell me to call after they go thru their checklist?

Not sure what prebuilt company has good email support since I've never bought from any of them, but LTT made a video series about a bunch of these companies and ranked their value, phone support, etc.

it may help you decide who to buy from.

kirashi · May 26, 2019

23 minutes ago, jamesbharris said:

I know Dell & HP doesn't offer the same flexibility as far as being able to pick each individual component. On that point, there is no comparison. I am more interested in warranty support, specifically, the ability to contact support thru e-mail/chat & get a fast response. I have a disability which makes my speech hard to understand so just picking up the phone isn't an option. I need to be able to handle any interaction solely thru chat or e-mails and hopefully, get a quick resolution without having to actually talk to anyone. I would guess the larger companies, Dell & HP, are easier to reach simply because they have more people working for them but are those people in their chats or responding to e-mails actually able to do anything or are they just basic troubleshooting and then are going to tell me to call after they go thru their checklist?

I don't want to sound like a Dell shill, but.... I'm a Dell shill Seriously though, I also don't like calling tech support because most companies use overseas call centres for the 1st level of tech support (nothing wrong with that; it's just that I want to get support without having to play the can-you-understand-me or can-i-understand-you game) so I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to reach out to Dell over Facebook Messenger and have an on-site technician (a local contractor) show up 3 days later with a replacement drive because my XPS 15 shipped with a SanDisk-made NVMe SSD that worked fine for about 6 months before the laptop randomly began failing to boot.

The contracted tech & I got along really well and talked shop about managed services & general IT consulting while I did basically all of the work replacing the drive. (He didn't expect this at all, but seeing as how I do IT consulting myself, I wanted to replace the drive myself, and he was cool with it.) Replacement drive installed 30 minutes later (Dell gave me the Samsung PM951 drive it should have come with as a replacement) and a final Facebook message to the Dell support rep and all was done. Best tech support experience I've had with a company, period.

Just bear in mind that whatever company you work with can be represented a number of different ways depending on the support agent you happen to get. Some really know their stuff & go out of their way to make sure you're taken care of because to them, it's not "just a job", while others... clock in & clock out without a care in the world.