In the past 2/3 years I've bought 1 laptop and 3 desktops for relatives and have very impressed with their customer service.
On the one occasion they forgot to refund me for the delivery charge when I returned a laptop. I had calls every day or two to give me an update and as promised the money was back in my account within a week
I have to acknowledge it used to be pretty bad though.
I'm IT Tech for my work, dealing heavily with HP Compaq, IBM, Dell & Fujitsu. I also aid friends and their families with issues when they arise.
I have to say I've dealt with some shocking examples personally, but realise others may have had good experience. I won't go into these as could start a whole new thread and my intention isn't to bash Dell.
I'm glad there's favour towards Dell and clearly they can do things right and consistently as amjedm, but my faith in Dell through my own personal experience has been shattered repeatedly.
I'd like to put something in favour also of HP Compaq. If you buy one of the Business range of Desktops (Evo's, ie DC7100, DC5100, DX5150, DC7600, DC7700, DX2200 etc.) then you should be expecting to get a 3yr onsite warranty, which is way beyond the Dell offerings, often getting 1yr warranty, only 3 months onsite.
I've bought a DC7100 Small Form Factor myself and although 2 systems out of date of production, I'd be suprised if I hadn't got more than a year left on the warranty from point of manufacture, let alone what HP COmpaq may give me as grace beyond that as it's a new boxed PC.
I'm happy and have confidence in the machine I have and the support I'll recieve on aftersales. I hope the original poster also gets this peace of mind, whatever the decision made.
Anyways, all have a fantastic weekend and may catch you on-thread play-depending
Edit: Just did a warranty check on my PC brought about 2yrs old but unused - I still have 12 months onsite warranty on it.
Dan.