When my XPS M1530 arrived the screen was grainy. They came out the next day and replaced it in 10 minutes. I asked if they could come later at night (around 7pm

When my XPS M1530 arrived the screen was grainy. They came out the next day and replaced it in 10 minutes. I asked if they could come later at night (around 7pm) which is outside the scope of their free care, however because the order arrived 2 days later than their website estimate they did it for free. Also an additional thing with Dell - when ordering something always ring up and talk to a rep before completing the order. Mention you're interested in purchasing in future if all goes well, but the price concerns you, and if they have any upgrades available - they will usually throw in a free processor/ram/warranty upgrade as these things are relatively cheap for them depending on the time of year. I'm about to buy my girlfriend a Dell Mini 12 for Christmas (she only uses laptops for Office, Web, Messenger and Skype) and see what deals are available. While my Dell relationship has been great there have been moments where I had unsatisfactory customer service. I got industrious and tracked down the email addresses of CTO and head of Australia (I'm an Aussie) and shot them an email expressing my frustration. I was promptly contacted by a top level Sales assistant (who was Aussie, not outsourced - apparently there's only a few of these dudes) who sorted things out very quickly and threw in some stuff to boot. I would recommend them to anyone as long as it's understood that they are out there to make money like any other company, and you have to approach them looking for a bargain that's not advertised. This works best if you have a history of purchases, are placing a large order, or mention that you're a "decision maker" regarding hardware purchases in a technology company (if that's the case).