Thompson & McCarty, P.C. CPA

I want to share my story of a server gone bad.  I recently ordered a server from Dell and had my MIS provider take it to make it what I needed it to be.  He discovered that the server would not load the operating system (OS) from the Windows install disk.  After much work (see "Who Says Window Is Easy" vid middle of the page) he discovered that the problem was that the drivers needed to make the system work were not provided by Dell.  Further, they had no intention of providing the drivers to make it work and zero method for delivery of said drivers.

Now you may be thinking "What in the world were doing with this computer".  Frankly, I once felt the same way about my MIS partners insistence on doing things his way.  However, allow me to share with you the importance of this methodology.  If I take what they send me and never attempt to load from the OS disk, I have zero support in 3-5 years.  Dell will not support me without extra $$$ and even that may not mean success.

They will not tell me that they never installed from the OS disk.  They will say they don't support that now.  This is very important if you have a real disaster recovery plan.  One has to be able install and reload from source disks and back ups to get back up and running in a reasonable time frame.  I know this from experience and I will state emphatically if you have never been there you don't want the experience.

After much pain and agony and attempts with technical support my MIS partner advised me that we would be unable to make this work with any degree of reliability.  I needed to return the server to Dell.  I called my Dell contact and he had been reassigned but gave me another personal contact number.  I called the new contact and he gave me directions on returning the server by UPS pick up (My Office).  Two days later he sent me an email advising that UPS would be picking up the next day and that I could expect a credit on my card the same day that the package was acknowledged as picked up. 

The return went exactly as the Dell representative said it would and then he went two steps beyond that.  He called the day the server was back in their possession and he emailed me a survey to ask how they did.  I must say the whole experience left me feeling good about doing business with Dell.  I can honestly say that I don't often get to say that these days particularly as relates to big company customer service.  Dell Customer Service, I tip my hat to you.