Support contract agreement not met; what does Dell do about it?

So here's the story, in chronological order...

11:36 am - RAID drive fails
12:00 pm - Finish phone call Dell support. They're going to send out a new
drive, and a service tech to replace it.
1:00 pm - Service Tech calls, says they drive will be there shortly
1:30 pm - Get e-mail from Dell support, giving a new tracking number, and
the guy says they shipped the wrong drive, so they canceled that one, and
re-sent the right one.
2:15 pm - Drive arrives
3:30 pm - Service tech shows up, finds out they shipped out the wrong drive
(twice). He climbs on the phone.
3:50 pm - Service tech leaves, says the drive will be here first thing in
the morning, and I'm to give him a call when it gets here. He did give me
the option of hanging around here till 8 pm (potentially, as they apparently
re-start the 4-hour clock again), but I have a life.

So basically, we spent an extra $500 for the 4 hour support contract, and
they didn't meet their end of the agreement. Looking through their website,
they state that they'll provide a certain level of support, but no mention
of what happens if they don't. Heck, they could promise to provide 1 hour
support, and then just a nice apology if they miss it (all the time).

It's a little disappointing, cause I was all set to write a complementary
post about how from start to finish, it was like 3 hours to get back up and
running. But considering they had our service tag number, and all the
details on the machine, and sent out the wrong drive (twice), I'm not so
happy. Has anyone had luck nagging their support person for some sort of
consolation prize?

Clint

 

Out of curiousity, what does the phrase '4-hour support contract' mean.

I've found in the past that with other companies, that could either mean
they will respond to your call within 4 hours, or in the case of service
contracts we used to have with HP on their servers, our contract
specifically stated that we had a guaranty that within 6 hours of the
initial call, the server would be back up and running, hardware only.
Installation of any software was up to us.

 

Yeah, that's a question. Hard to answer, although I might take a gander at
our warranty documents when I get back into the office. But nowhere in
their website can I find anything that describes the penalty for them
missing their part of their contract, whether it's Next Business Day, 4 hour
on-site, or 2 hour.

IMHO, they haven't done ANYTHING within 4 hours, beyond answering the phone.
Not really worth an extra $500.

Clint

 

I think if they don't deliver the goods on time you get a free pizza


Journey

 

I spent 4 days with a down 6600 server a while ago, we also had 4 hour
support, but they ended up replacing everything (and I mean everything)
except the case in it to fix it - some things more than once.

 

Mmmm, pizza...

Actually, that works for me. If I nag on them for anything better, the
company will just get it anyway, not me. At least with pizza, I'll get
something out of the deal.

Clint

 

I have gotten consolation prizes on several occasions. I don't know
how it would work for a business customer. My thought is that it
never hurts to ask.

Also, when returning an item Dell sometimes offers incentives.

Journey

 

Clint;
Yes, that is exactly what you need to do.
Even if you found it on Dell's website, it may differ from your copy which
applies to you.
There are probably clauses in the agreement to cover various circumstances
such as non availability of part which this may fall under.
But your agreement is your only authoritative source.
If your office has a legal department, see if they can have a look.
But even if your legal department will look, are they qualified in that type
of agreement?

 

Just as a follow-up on this, the HD was replaced at 8:30 this morning, about
20 hours after the initial call to Dell. Third times the charm, with
regards to sending out the hardware, apparently. It's in the process of
re-building the array even as I type.

Clint

 

Clint,

Just a guess, but I'll bet that the language of the contract says they'll
RESPOND in four hours, but are not responsible for delays in the
availability of parts.

I wrote many, many very large software contracts ($25M+) and I ALWAYS wrote
them in my company's favor.

Tom