[lich_king]

I don't even think if singling out Dell is useful. Most US companies have long decided that providing good customer support is a drag on revenue and that you can get away with not providing it if the product is problem-free for 99% of your users.

Have you tried calling UPS with an atypical problem? Bank of America? United? It's all the same, and the thing is, you don't find out until you actually have a problem with the service you purchased.

There are some exceptions to this rule, for example many brokerages have real customer support. Amazon stands out too - they're not prepared to handle anything unusual, but their model is to refund you almost no matter what.

But by and large, it's absolutely awful in the US and I'm often positively surprised when I need to interact with customer support in other countries, where you actually can reach a courier about your delivery, etc.

[tristor]

> United?

FWIW, Airlines are actually great /if/ you're a frequent flyer. I get great service from United on the phone and did so previously from Delta, but in both cases I was a frequent traveler and so they automatically route your call into a better queue with better trained staff.

[commandersaki]

I think in the consumer electronics space this is where Apple shines and is heavily underrated. People balk at the prices of their products, but if you've ever used their support, they are easy to access and approach, in-store, over the phone, or live chat -- for any of their product and services -- and always try to get to the bottom of your issue. Oftentimes I end up solving the problem myself as I troubleshoot with them, or find a bug that requires an engineer to track on their backend that doesn't get fixed until 2 or 3 major releases later, but at least it's been flagged.

This type of support cannot be had with any of the PC vendors it seems.

[drstewart]

Wow, other countries sound like utopia! Can you tell me how to reach RyanAir by phone and how long it will take? How about Evri? China Southern?

[aboardRat4]

China Southern is okay if you speak Chinese.