My company has been a small specialist Dell Computer reseller in the UK for 5 years. There are other resellers direct with Dell. So what is all the fuss about Dell going to sell through dealers in UK? It already does.

We have our own account manager and get excellent back up and sales support. Dell configuration is easy compared to some other manufacturers.

Dell service in UK is superb and the computers are reliable and built to order in a few days. Dell financial services were a great help to us when we first started trading.

Overall, speaking as a dealer, Dell is the best computer supplier I have dealt with in the last 17 years.

Ron Shiel

Mister Inkjet Ltd

I completely agree with Ron Shiel - I've nothing but high praise for them, they gave me such a superb deal on a batch of highspec workstations and they even continued that price when I placed a personal order. To top this off, their customer support phoned me each morning to give me an update on the system progress.

Now that is 1st class customer service, I've delt with loads of "local and friendly" companies and none them even come close!

Partnering with a big retailer is all well and good, but Dell should think long and hard about the UK and the inevitable approaches that PC World will make to range Dell machines. I have been very impressed with Dell's quality and customer support over the years having bought numerous machines.

I have also made the mistake of buying a machine from PC World with an atrocious customer service experience. In my view if Dell were to partner with PC World it would alienate their rock solid UK customer base and probably drive them into the arms of HP. The cultures are just poles apart.

Dells choice of Walmart in the US leaves us unimpressed here. Dell is a retailer first--(TIC) while Walmart may locate Dell back by the milk at first-- few clerks have the technical computer savy to assist customers. If volume doesnt meet Walmarts expectations we will be doing the Walmart prayer--on our knees in the aisles looking for Dell on the bottom shelf. Hope Dells picks are better in Europe for the basic box sales.

At any rate, I expect Dells recent expansion into Brazil and the south american markets will more than surpass profits from US walmart stores. The B in BRIC stocks are flying and seem to have a solid future--I wish Dell luck there.