I'm really starting to think they are just playing "You're on candid camera" (or candid microphone) with me.

I have an itty bitty SX280 Ultra that came with a 40gb drive. I want more storage and was hoping that, even with the tiny footprint, I could add a 2nd drive in there. Dell's site makes it super easy to get support for your particular system. You just log in while you are on that computer and it identifies the computer and the service tag and gives you links to everything about your computer. So rather than shut the p.c. down and open the chassis, I thought I'd just ping the online chat and ask if I could fit another drive in there or not. Stupid me.

Here are a few highlights of the conversation. Note the times.

01/30/2007 08:57:16AM Agent (): "Thank you for contacting Dell Technical Support. My name is xxx and my rep ID number is xxxxxx. How may I assist you today?"

01/30/2007 08:58:04AM Julia Lerman: "I didn't want to take my computer apart to answer this question - it's an SX280 ultra. Is there room INSIDE for a 2nd hard drive?"

01/30/2007 08:58:31AM Agent (): "Thank you for the information. I’ll be glad to assist you. Please give me 2 to 3 minutes to pull up your account information."

01/30/2007 08:58:41AM Agent (): "I would also request you not to hit F5 key or refresh the screen anytime during the chat as that will disconnect you from me."

01/30/2007 08:58:44AM Agent (): "Also, may I have your telephone number, along with the area code to update our records?"

01/30/2007 09:01:14AM Agent (): "May, I also have your alternate number in case we are not able to get you over the main number?"

01/30/2007 09:01:27AM Julia Lerman: "use the number I gave you"

01/30/2007 09:01:29AM Julia Lerman: "thanks"

01/30/2007 09:01:32AM Julia Lerman: "it will work"

01/30/2007 09:02:14AM Agent (): "If I understand the issue you need information if you can install a second hard drive on the system you are using?"

So it's been 5 minutes of bullshit and now he's getting to my question.

Then after another 1 1/2 minutes....

and so on and so forth

here's where the conversation ended, with my question still unanswered.

Twenty freakin' wasted minutes. This was not the fault of the agent, but of Dell's support system.

So I disconnected and in 2 minutes I had my computer shut down, the chassis off and saw that no, there is no room for another hard drive.