DELL Computers Laptop warranty expired and next day hard drive crashed?!?! Tech support answer: you can buy a new one... Round Rock, Texas

I have been a faithful Dell customer for nearly 10 years now.  I buy a new desktop and laptop every 2 years.  Last year, I bought a laptop and it has been nothing but trouble since.    The laptop is used for homework and research. 

 On May 1st, 2010 I returned home from work to start homework only to find nothing but error messages.   I called Technical support that evening after running diagnostic tests on my own.  

 The woman on the phone barely spoke english and her reading wasn't all that great either.  Trying to understand her with all of the noise and giggling in the background was definitely a task!

After being on the phone with her for a couple of hours she told me that the problem was with my hard drive and that I would have to buy an new one since my warranty expired April 2010.  

I told her that I was not pleased with that answer and informed her that this should not be happening on a computer that is only a year old.   She informed me that a new hard drive would cost $180-$190. 

I told her that this was unacceptable, as I was asking to speak with a supervisor I was hung up on.  If this is the way Dell chooses to do business I will surely take my business to a computer manufacturer and not just a company that assembles computers. 

 I am also in the service industry and speak to about 30-25 clients a day, If I were to leave them with this kind of service we would not be in business.   I can assure dell that I will make every person that I come in contact with aware of my opinion of the lack of quality in not only their product but, their service as well.  

 HP, Apple, and IBM will definitely profit from this unsatisfied customer, and so will their sales teams!