In general, I’ve been quite pleased with the technical support I get from Dell’s Small & Medium sized Business division.

They usually adapt quickly to my level of technical expertise and take my word for it when I report a problem.   Once the failing component has been identified, they quickly setup the appropriate dispatch to get the problem corrected.

Yesterday, however, was an exception.

About a year ago the video on my Latitude D630 went bad.   I contacted Dell and they got a replacement motherboard sent out and installed (although it was slightly delayed).

Last night it happened again … although this time it wasn’t just the video … it appears to be the entire motherboard that has failed.   The system won’t boot normally … and when I try to boot into diagnostic mode (by pressing the Fn key down), it might or might not boot … but it clearly indicates problems by blinking the num lock, caps lock, & scroll lock indicator lights.

So I got on to chat with a Dell tech support rep (from another computer, obviously) to get it checked out.   The rep I was talking to, Simon, quickly identified that the motherboard needed to be replaced.

He told me that he would get the repair order setup and would email me the information after the chat was ended.

I got the chat transcript quickly … but never got any information about the repair order.

This morning I checked my email again and saw nothing about the repair order.   I also checked Dell’s website to see if the support request had been logged at all … and saw nothing.

I tried to get into Dell’s tech support chat again this morning … but couldn’t get in (although I got a few emails indicating that their support reps got into the chat, but I was never notified about it).   So I gave them a call.

After sitting on hold for quite a while … I was connected with a women who could not find any indication that a repair order was setup.

So, I had to go through the entire dialog again … luckily I brought the laptop into the office (as I usually do) so I was able to run through the diagnostics again.

She also determined that the motherboard had failed … she thought it might also be the LCD panel, so she set up a repair order for both the motherboard and the display.

This time I stayed on the line until she gave me the case and repair order numbers.   I also checked the web site to verify it was showing up.   It did.

Hopefully the replacement parts will get shipped out today, and I can get the repair scheduled for tomorrow.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Although not seriously broken, my faith in Dell (in general) is somewhat degraded.