HP, DELL, Gateway certs??

[Cygnus]

I am looking for it right right now and may very well find it. but im looking for info on getting myself certified to be an autorized service center for HP, Compaq, DELL, and Gateway. We are already certified here for Acer but that was because it was offered to us by them. I have noticed that a couple of you guys are Compaq certified so perhaps you could give me some info on how to go about getting these certs?

Thanx.

[King Grover]

I'd like to hear about this too. I'm starting up a business soon, and I would like to get certs in these makes as well.

[Cygnus]

well, Gateway is definately out of the question. I dont know why I didnt think of it before but they have their stores all over that handle any support calls they recieve.

[Cygnus]

I got the following link from DELL for their DCSE program. Its free so I signed up for it but I have yet to find the practice exams they speak of.


<a href="http://dcse.dell.com/" target="_blank">http://dcse.dell.com/</a>

[Draggar]

Is there really a cert for Dell? Now, I can see companies like COmpaq, HP doing this because they put those annoying little stickers on their boxes *Warranty Viod if Removed* but not Dell.

I'd say go to your local CompUSA and talk to the techs there. I think they all have to get some certs.
(I knew one who was MS, HP, Novell, Compaq, LinkSys, and a few others certified)

[Cygnus]

As it turns out DELL does their service calls through local companies, much the same as HP. The only two comapnies that seem to be locked up are Gateway (with their own stores), and Compaq (supported by Radio Shack, Best Buy, Office Depot, CompUSA, and many other local PC service centers). From what ive been able to find DELL and HP like to sub their work out to qualified locals.

[Fierce]

Not to drive any1 away from doing it, (I would like to get those certs too), but if your not affliated with a business, the prices are steep!

[Draggar]

[quote]Originally posted by Fierce1:
<strong>Not to drive any1 away from doing it, (I would like to get those certs too), but if your not affliated with a business, the prices are steep!</strong><hr></blockquote>

I had a chance to get some HP certs for free, but I ****ed that up.

Easy fix to that, get a job with your local CompUSA and get the certs through them...

[Hippie_Tech]

Are you talking about just being certified to work on the machines or are you trying to set up a Service Center for the manufacturers?
Dell does offer the DCSE program with online practice tests and online cert tests. They cost a little bit of cash though for each test and if you are trying to become a Dell service center, you have to sell at least $25,000.00 worth of Dell products and give them $1500.00 to get your service center kit. As far as Compaq goes for service centers, you have to have an ASE (Accredited {?} Systems Engineer: which requires you to have an MCSE or CNE cert) and an ACT (Accredited Compaq Technician) on staff at your store. I won't even go into how much money you have to give Compaq to become a service center. This gives companies like Comp USA and so on an unfair advantage since they only need one ASE for all of their stores. It can be done, but it costs quite a bit of money to do it.

[TheTechHandbook.com]

We are HP certified for some of their products. You have to take a test for each product to do warrenty work. The website is <a href="http://www.partner.americas.hp.com/" target="_blank">http://www.partner.americas.hp.com/</a> and on the right side there is a menu talking about the program. You get paid a set amount per unit, no matter what you did to the machine. Just a side note, they can be a pain in the bottom to work with. They often tell customers they have parts in stock, but tell us they are out of stock / back ordered.

As for Compaq, one of the techs here tried them and said they where worse then HP. Never paid on time for warrenty work. To look at them try <a href="http://www.compaq.com/training/service/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.compaq.com/training/service/index.html</a> or <a href="http://www.compaq.com/certification/na/" target="_blank">http://www.compaq.com/certification/na/</a> I'm not sure if that is the correct link or not, I have a link for them at home which I think is different. I belive they have three paths to follow.

Hope that helped.

[jobbin]

Dell, Compaq, and HP use local companies to do service calls. I know because I do it here in my area.

[electronmanipulator]

Although I am classified as an independent contractor, I do warranty work for Dell, Compaq, and HP. I also work on machines under extended warranty from GE, Best Buy, QVC, SVC, and People PC. All of these companies contract their work in most areas to BancTec Corp, the company which pays me. BancTec(for now) pays for the Dell certification exams. The other vendors don't require certification. This would be an incredible expense for an individual, you could never realize a profit as a single exam (one model) runs about $800.

[Antimatter]

Compaq requires APS(Accredited Platform Specialist) cert which consists of 2 exams, Essential Service Skills and Servicing Compaq Desktops and Workstations.
This allows your company to become an ASP(Authorised Service Provider) and get paid for doing warranty work.
The only problem with this cert is that it needs renewal every 12-18 months.
That's the way it works in New Zealand anyway.
Edit: BTW, the Compaq exams would be about US$50
and more than that, you should have 6 months tech experience(and decent knowledge) under your belt first. While it may be fairly easy to get the cert...if you're stupid I'd say they'll tell you to go somewhere else(and rip your arms and legs off in the process).
Compaq seem to have a lot of nice procedures on diagnosis of problems these days with their systems(besides which most of the mainboards used seem to be A-Bit boards with integrated video which makes replacements simple).

[Cygnus]

After finding all I could on the web and checking out all your posts I think that the only cert worth going for is the HP cert. I can get more printer service as well as PC service from them where none of the others can offer that. Thats beside the fact that Compaq and DELL want WAY too much cash and time to get there certs. the reward from the sacrifice is not worth it from them IMHO. Reviewing the HP requirements, I think I can get that cert very soon. I have been working on their products a long time now.

Thanx for all the tips people.