What’s the difference in Dell’s support plans?
Choosing the right warranty and support for your Dell hardware can be one of the most overlooked steps in the buying process. Choosing the wrong support can negatively impact your long-term productivity and your overall impression of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM).
But how do you choose the right Dell support?
As you know, especially in 2020, “life happens” and it is best to be prepared for those situations when it does. Below I have provided a quick overview on the three different levels of support.
Dell Onsite Basic Support
Onsite basic support provides access to a general telephone support queue for hardware break/fix troubleshooting. This phone support is available during regular business hours only (Monday through Friday from 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM) and excludes regularly observed holidays. Some exceptions exist for certain support products which offer seven days, 24-hour Basic telephone support and 24×7 access to online Support at www.support.dell.com.
Onsite basic support may also offer the on-site dispatch of a service technician and/or warranty parts to customer’s business location during business hours (as necessary and according to level of on-site service purchased) for repairs and resolution necessary. It must be determined that the issues are due to a defect in materials or workmanship on the Supported Product.
The final option may include mail-in service and support (as necessary and according to level of service purchased) for repairs and resolution necessary due to a defect in materials or workmanship.
For a full description of Dell’s Basic Support visit: https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/services/basic_hdw_support.pdf
ProSupport (Recommended for all laptops and critical hardware)
• 24×7 direct access to highly trained experts who provide enterprise-level, tech-to-tech support
• Remote and on-site support with four- and eight-hour parts & labor response options
• Incident-based third-party software assistance for data center and end-user applications, OS, and firmware troubleshooting
• Emergency parts and labor dispatch, in parallel with troubleshooting, for issues you identify as severity level One
• Access to secure online management of parts, convenient for servicing your own hardware
• Options to remotely monitor and manage your data center hardware
• Options for data and asset protection services. https://www.dell.com/learn/ly/en/lybsdt1/campaigns/support-prosupport-for-enterprise-ec
ProSupport Plus (Recommended for all Data Center Hardware)
This is the complete package for everything that is MISSION CRITICAL. Everything you need to support PCs and tablets ProSupport Plus is the most complete support service. ProSupport Plus combines priority access to expert support, accidental damage repair, and proactive monitoring for automatic issue prevention and resolution. It is designed to provide maximum support with minimal effort for you. As the first premium service for PCs and tablets that automates support, ProSupport Plus prevents issues before they occur and quickly resolves issues when they do.
Choose ProSupport Plus to receive:
• Priority access to ProSupport engineers 24x7x365 to quickly resolve hardware and software issues
• Predictive analysis for issue prevention and optimization enabled by SupportAssist
• Proactive monitoring, issue detection, notification and automated case creation for accelerated issue resolution enabled by SupportAssist
• Power to manage all your asset alerts from a single portal with TechDirect or use tools you already use like Microsoft SCOM, Remedy, KACE and OpenManage Essentials
• System repair after a drop, spill, or surge to protect your investment
• Hard drive retention after replacement to help secure your data
• Dedicated Technology Service Manager, a single point of contact for issue resolution and monthly reporting
For a full description of ProSupport Plus for enterprise gear visit: https://www.dell.com/learn/ly/en/lybsdt1/campaigns/support-prosupport-for-enterprise-ec
Recommendations
Basic support is the lowest level of support. At vTECH io we are more than happy to white glove service and warranty for customers but sometimes Dell basic support severely limits our options and is usually not enough.
If purchasing computers for the office, managers, remote workers, or C Level employees, we recommend having ProSupport as the minimum level of support. This will give you U.S. based support and a special phone number to call in on if you are having an issue. We will always tell clients to purchase ProSupport when buying laptops or critical hardware.
Anything Mission Critical hardware (servers, storage, networking) require ProSupport Plus. If you cannot continue to work without this Hardware you must go with ProSupport Plus. This will give you access 24/7/365 access to engineers as well as monitoring and analysis for issue prevention.