You should never have to experience this. Let us know the name of the person and we will do our best to ennsure that this will not happen again.

Somehow Dell doesn't have staff of it's own here in montreal to repair their laptops. They send people that sign contracts with them, mostly some VAR's... So I cannot understand why this couldn't have happened if the person would have bought from a Var :) Also, if someone comes to fix your computer and that person "arrived drunk and reeking of booze and cigarettes" you should turn that person back and call to make a complaint, you never should let that person touch your computer!

I think that guy worked for me at one time.
Jim, are you there?

I have been working closely with Dell since 1994 and using this 1 in a billion senerio a waist of space in eweek. Has eweek stooped to advertising dollars like the old PCweek?

How in the world would a person with a brain, who even would know how to turn on a notebook, allow a drunken booze and ash try smelling person to enter their premises yet allow it to touch their computer? To have world-wide on-site repair service you have out-sourcing. The remark that a VAR would be any better should be taken as lame. VAR's have always used out-sourcing to provide service to business customers so that they could state that the notebook will get fixed even if you are out-of-state on business. Dell has a much larger presence and spends X times more then the individual VAR, which in turn gives them the ability to control the 3rd party to a point. Dollars spent always gives you say in service provided.

Best example, Intel partner conferences the system builder always complains that it is hard to compete with Dell because of the pricing they are given. Intel's answer "buy the volume that Dell buys and we can discuss the same pricing." Also, "you guys are VAR's so unless the Value you are giving does not justify customer spending more for your unit, you are in the wrong business."

Now let us find real news to print for us to read.

Local VAR's can be an excellent resource, especially when the unit is out of warranty. It is also nice to
have the same face each time. Local VAR's often don't have the training
needed to service some gear as well and you may end up paying for their learning process.
That said, it is unfair to Dell (or any other vendor) to publish an unsubstantiated story. Dell isn't
perfect but in 10+ years of doing business with
them there has never been a problem like this.
Most of the Dell on-site service techs are from third party service providers. They have always been good people and some have become personal friends.
We've had some interesting/frustrating/amusing experiences with off-shore support/language issues, etc. but overall Dell support has been the best in
the industry.

So things like this do not happen to customers who buy direct from H-P?

Wow - can I have an article written about my buddy that bought computers from his business through a VAR, who then closed their dorrs and left him with no support, eventhough he ahd paid them. Or how about the VAR that sold my father a "current technology" PC, but was 2 year old HP stock that had been collecting dust.

This story smacks of sensationalism and is very poor reporting. Where is the customer's ame - how about a response from Dell? Are you going to soil an entire company's name because one employee (allegedly) screwed up royally?

eWeek has a hate-on for Dell - I get that, we all do...but this type of journalism is disappointing.

So lets see if I get this story...

A customer allows a drunken tech into their premises and actually permits them to work on their system?

Who is the greater fool here? Hello?

This story could work until the next time a local var's own employees comes to the client's place drunk....whether it's Dell, HP, Lenovo or a local consultant their is always going to be a "bad apple" in our lives at some point.

Ramon Ray, Editor & Technology Evangelist, Smallbiztechnology.com

Hi Jessica,

My name is Mike, I'm a channel liaison for Dell. I'm sure we'll be chatting more in the future so I thought I would introduce myself.

I can completely agree that this particular story doesn't show Dell in the best light, far from it in fact, but I can't help but see this post as a little one sided. This morning I came across an article on this very site about a VAR not taking the time to understand the technology they sold a customer. This resulted in an unnecessarily drawn-out diagnosis, or misdiagnosis on the part of the VAR, which could have easily and quickly been fixed in a number of ways had they had a basic understanding of the equipment they sold their customer. Here is the article: http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/Commentary/Missed-Opportunities/ .

Although I agree that the circumstances are severely different, I would hope that this shows that no company or business is perfect, be it a VAR, a multibillion dollar corporation, or a local mom and pop shop. Moreover, I think showing the actual value of a VAR instead of playing on the mishaps of an obviously troubled employee from a 2 year old story would put more customer faith in VARs. After all, if all companies were only known for their worst employees all businesses would be short lived.

Because this incident took place years ago I can't comment on the specifics of what happened to the tech, but if the story is true I would hope that he was let go from the vendor company that employed him. I guess the point I'm trying to make is it's up to the individual reseller to make a name for themselves, so perhaps some success stories from local VARs would be better received than playing on the dated "horror" stories of the VAR's partner companies.

Mike B.
Dell Channel Community Liaison