I have an audio-drivers-die-on-sleep issue in Windows that they claim they have a patch for but it doesn't work. They didn't design in a brightness control that was able to turn the laptop screen entirely off and Windows can't compensate without 2 (!) pieces of 3rd party software and a line of glue code to get them to talk to each other. The trackpad is horrible and interacts poorly with Windows 8 (menus popping open uninvited). Sometimes the computer boots without the ability to recognize USB, although rebooting has always fixed this issue.
I'm not sure whether or not this all falls under your definition of "support," but it was enough to send me back to the macbook that the dell was supposed to replace.
Also, this was 3 years ago. Maybe they've gotten better.
I've had the same Dell for the past 5 years, an XPS 17. I've had a few problems with it:
- dead hard drives (after 3.75 and 4.5 years) which I don't find too bad, as they have both been used heavily.
- dead power circuit board
- another internal board where some things got desoldered as it had a bout of high fever for a while
For all of these I had the next day on site support, and a tech came over and fixed stuff every time with no problems. Now that I'm switching to a MacBook, I'm actually kinda sad to be potentially parting with the computer while it's getting fixed.
I have a ThinkPad X1 Carbon on the way. Ordered it last week with upgraded screen (without touch)/processor/ram. It'll be more pricey than the xps 13.
I've heard everything just works for Ubuntu on the machine. I was planning to run linux in a VM first to see how usable it is then go native if I must.
This must be karma for bitching about Apple, but I just opened the lid of my XPS13 and it has a crack in it. I cannot believe it. It feels like groundhog day!
In any case, I shall report back on how they handle it. Fired off a twitter message to @DellCares and they asked me for the service tag. Go on Dell, impress me!
A few years ago I spilled water on my dell inspiron and wouldn't turn on. I took it to the local dell distributor and they replaced the motherboard no questions asked.
I know that a lot of info is out there. In your case, any comparable experience with Dell support?