I began writing this column while my father was on the phone attempting to deal with Dell Computer Corporation, which he says is great on selling you a system but is terrible on any follow-up support, especially when you are trying to claim money back from them.

After many phone calls over the past month he is now muttering that he will never deal with Dell again.

He spent 15 minutes on hold this time before the Dell representative promised to fix the problem. He has spent a month attempting to claim $23 Canadian back that was missing from a promised refund. When he first ordered a computer from Dell online, the company cancelled the order without telling him.

He only discovered the cancellation when he phoned later to find out why his new computer had not arrived. He had to re-order the entire system. Instead of treating him like an idiot, Dell should have rewarded him for being persistent and buying their products.

I consoled my dad by pointing out that Dell has one of the highest hardware reliability ratings in PCWorld's annual computer manufacturers' ratings, published this month. Only (and I use that term in a relative sense) 12 percent of Dell desktop owners reported having a system with a failed core component (CPU, graphics board, hard drive, motherboard, power supply, or RAM), compared with a mean of 15 percent in the desktop product category of the survey.

However PCWorld's annual ratings confirms that Dell has tumbled a long way from five years ago when it was winning accolades for follow-up service support. In fact, the magazine's survey indicates that all computer manufacturers are failing terribly in how they treat customers.

Overall, regardless of the product category, PCWorld found that as the desktop computer industry continues to mature and as many products become more reliable, phone service continues to frustrate users ? with a few exceptions.

Other than IBM's notebook division, no other big-name computer maker earned consistent better-than-average marks for service, PCWorld said. Independent, locally-owned providers also tended to deliver great service, readers said. Here, the magazine is talking about providers who build computers using a variety of parts.

So before you buy overseas always check the local providers in Bermuda. Ask your friends and any available stranger about the quality of service such independents provide.

But 38 percent of participants in the survey who owned independent-store desktops reported experiencing a hardware or software problem with a system they bought. While service can be just as important for a business as hardware reliability, if your hardware has less of a chance of failing, there is less chance that you will have to deal with service support.

The mean for the desktop category overall was 29 percent. Think of it. An average of 30 percent is a high failure rate for any industry but it seems to be the norm for computer manufacturers. This means almost one-third of all desktops will experience a technical problem that significantly affects the operation of the machine.

In this best of the bad survey then, Emachines comes out on top of the desktop category, followed by Apple, Medion, Alienware, Dell, IBM and independent sellers. Sitting at the bottom of the pile were Compaq/HP (a merged company), MPC and CyberPower.

Since HP purchased Compaq in May, 2002, the company has merged its service for the two sets of desktop customers, but both brands earned low marks in the survey. On the service side, 17 percent of HP desktop customers complained about unresolved problems, compared with a mean of 12 percent in this category.

In the notebook category, Emachines topped the list for customer satisfaction, followed by IBM, Apple and Dell. Sitting at the bottom of the pile is Sony, Compaq/HP and Gateway.

The survey of 42,000 computer users about their computers, cameras, printers, can help you gauge who builds the most reliable hardware and who provides the best support.

The overall ratings are broken down into hardware and service categories, so you will have to go to the site for further information (www.pcworld.com). Click on the "Magazine" section for free access to the January 2005 issue.

If you have not updated your Windows computer to get the latest critical Microsoft security patches issued last week then go to www.SecureBermuda.com for information and the correct links.