Dell computer tech support

About a year ago I bought myself a new dell laptop, my first laptop. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but I didn't think I would have any problems transitioning from a PC to laptop. I am really smart. I had no problems at all. The biggest obstacle I had was transitioning from Windows XP to the new Vista. I did not like the new design to vista with the word was the lack of the “file” prompt. With the help of a coworker I was able to conquer this battle.

Fast forward to March of 2008. The computer is just a few days over a year old and I ran into my first irritating problem. For some reason my cd/dvd drive decided that it wanted to work extremely loudly. Then it started skipping on some of my cds. Since I have had this mission of listening to every cd I own, and are only “S”, I could not tolerate this loud irritating noise and skipping. This led me to call Dell. In the back of my mind I was thinking “here we go again, I purchased a product whose lifespan is just slightly over the warranty requirements”. My previous phone with Sprint lasted 14 months and carried a 12 month warranty. A friend of mine had a 30,000 mile warranty on his car. The warning light went off, conveniently, at 30,030. This made me think. What products currently exist that are “built to warranty”? By being “built to warranty” I mean some items that will inevitably die within 3 months of the expiration of a warranty?

Fortunately for me the Dell tech support rep, located in Alabama (Go America not India!), was able to fix my computer over the phone. I also have to thank my extended warranty, which lasts until 2010. What was the culprit? I installed itunes on Sunday and there was a lack of a driver. For you techno geeks you can feel free to discuss this. Needless to say my computer is working and I did not lose the 25 or so songs I currently have on my ipod. Kudos to Dell, but I still do have to ponder, what items are out there that are “built to warranty” and break shortly after the warranty expires? Please provide some suggestions.

On another note, how well do you know corporate america? Take the following quiz. I scored 12 out of 15 for an 80 percent. If you do well there try to spot the fake. This one is hard, so please do not go to NYC or a flea market without doing this.