I am a Dell Solution Provider, have been since they started the program about a year ago. I've sold a few systems and had very few problems.
However...
I had a monitor go bad and needed a replacement. I went through Dell Hell getting it replaced. I had to speak with a "Systems Engineer" from INDIA about my bad monitor. He asked me how did I know that the monitor was bad, I said, well for one thing it doesn't come on and secondly because I have been doing this for 20 years. After about 2 weeks of going back and forth with these bozos from India I said I wanted to speak with someone in AUSTIN BY GOD TEXAS !! At this point I was more than pissed. I was finally told that in order to get the monitor replaced I would have to become Dell certified. They NEVER said anything about that when they signed me up to become a reseller. Ok...so I get certified after waiting another 2 weeks for the stupid test. I get a monitor about 2 weeks after that. It took almost 8 weeks for this to happen !!
The sad part? I am right here in Austin just a few miles from Dell headquarters where I could have driven over there in less than 15 minutes and picked it up myself !!
I had a monitor go bad and needed a replacement. I went through Dell Hell getting it replaced. I had a very similar experience. I bought 2 Nokia flat panel displays with my new Dell system with a 3 year warranty and 1-day on-site repair/replace support.
After about 3 months, 1 Nokia goes black. I call Dell. Dell says they don't support Nokia - The Nokia they sold me, shipped to me, listed on my invoice & support contract - they don't support. Unlike other displays, Dell says they would only replace the Nokia if it had failed within the 1st 30-days, whereas other displays & components Dell would continue to support. Dell refused to identify which components they would in fact support directly. I had to wait until one failed to find out.
Dell inisisted I had to go to a 3rd party, Millenium ??, who apparently does all of Nokia's display support in the US. I had to ship the display to them, and wait about 1 month to get a different refurbished display back, that was marginally acceptable but not as good as my other brand new display.
A different problem arose when I upgraded from NT to W2K. Dell would invariably require a 30 minute explanation on every call, persuading Dell they still had an obligation to support the hardware & firmware.
All this about 3 years ago when Dell tech support was still in the US.
I don't know that I would buy Dell again. Given I've had to do all the support myself, Dell's alleged quality and organization is of no practical benefit. They are no different than a guy working out of his garage when it comes to actually meeting the terms of their agreement.