Definitely do not pay for training. The tests for certification are open browser. You do have to have at least 2 employees of your company who both get certified, but the tests are incredibly easy. The hardest part for me was getting an "open" PO from my accounting dept to cover the agreement. It is money well spent.
TVK From: Oliver Marshall [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, September 12, 2008 9:53 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Dell account and DIY replacements My account manager claims to know nothing about any such scheme. Which is no surprise really :S Someone off list sent me a link to the Dell Direct Parts scheme which does exist in the UK, and I've asked our accounts manager to send us the forms. If the cost of the training is reasonable then it's definitely something I think I'll go for. Seems silly to be a Dell reseller and then have to deal with lesser trained tech in remote countries for the slightest issue. Olly From: Devin Meade [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 12 September 2008 15:26 To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Dell account and DIY replacements We are not large by any means, but we do get replacement parts. I would call your rep and ask, it couldn't hurt. We dont have any Dell certified peeps here. I may want to be one when I grow up though. We run about 10-12 servers that are replaced every 5 years and about 60-80 workstations and laptops every 3 years. We get "large business" pricing and we try to get the best support contract on the servers (4 hour response, 24x7x365). Warranties on workstations - we usually get a 3 year at purchase time and let them expire. Our workstations needs are pretty high end (we run Revit, AutoCAD, etc) . We haved called in a number of hard drives and we just tell them we need a replacement and it shows up the next day, same with flat panel monitors. Oh yeah, we have moved our MS vol licensing to Dell. Dell has really been courting our firm in the last 12 mos. THey sent some big-whigs to our office and we asked specifially for this (no calling India for a bad mouse, etc). -Devin On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 9:05 AM, Oliver Marshall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote: What size of Dell account do you have to have to be able to arrange your own replacement parts? We've just spent the best part of a day dealing with Dell 'reseller' tech support about a duff laptop that just won't power on. Rather than just replacing it they've tried to get us to do everything, including the usual "q: Can try you reinstall windows? A: Seriously? It doesn't even power up, how are we going to reinstall the OS?" etc. Is there a certain size we have to become for Dell to treat us like grown ups ? Olly -- Devin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
