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11 Comments
- allahuakbar, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2One thing this article fails to mention is how did the submitter treat the case managers and anybody from Dell. He mentions towards the end that he felt he wasn't handled "politely", but you can't expect politeness if you're being a rude ass yourself. It sounds like a couple employees made promises about shipping they shouldn't have made, but it comes down to the manufacturing line, and they can't make guarantees at all. I wouldn't be surprised if the couple employees who made a promise only did after a lot of badgering by the submitter.
- wilf_brim, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I'm gunshy of any OEM, including Dell, but this story would have been better if the author had actually detailed what the problem really was that delayed the production and shipment of the units. I will grant, however, that Dell should not have made any promise when they weren't sure that they could deliver.
- dirgeofkerberos, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2horrible. im living the same situation. the only difference is that i live in santiago, chile.
my history (in spanish) at my blog.
http://www.gatonaranja.cl/gonzalo/ - Trendecide, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1also having problems with Dell on the same system. Ordered the m1330 the day it came out and have had nothing but loads of problems with the order:
http://www.philosophyme.com/index.cfm?blog=49 - Rosewood, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I'm glad you are taking up their time from helping people who aren't whiny little prats. If I was in charge, I would have canceled your order and blacklisted you from ordering again.
What do you expect when everyone and their dog ordered the laptop the second it went live? I ordered within the hour, before sites like engadget said it was available. I didn't receive even an order acknowledgment email for a week. My ship date was set for August. If you feel that is anything less than what is to be expected, you are nuts.
Also, in the future, stick with Dell chat so you have logs of everything. - IceUck, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2I've been buying and recommending Dell computers for a little over 10 years now. My last experience, which was about 1 1/2 years back, was the first negative one that I've had.
The actual problem was pretty simple - I couldn't buy the computer configured without Win XP, and since I was decommissioning an older system with XP Pro on it, I didn't want to spend the extra $ for another license I didn't need (in fact, I owned several XP Pro licenses that I wasn't currently using). I purchased the system with the cheapest OS option: XP Home, intending to replace it when the system arrived.
When the system arrived, I tried to upgrade it from Home to Pro, but there was some issue about OEM XP Home vs. MS XP Home, and Windows Setup on my XP Pro CD wouldn't recognize it and allow the upgrade. Next I tried to wipe the new system's HD and install XP Pro from scratch, that should work, right? Sure, it's going to be more work to go to Dell's site and find all of the proper drivers (they no longer include driver CDs - they just put a restore partition on your HD - does me no good, since I'm installing a different OS).
Booting from the XP Pro (SP0) CD, the installer didn't recognize the SATA drives, and only offered an option to load drivers from the floppy drive - you know, the floppy drive that didn't come configured on this system. There was no support to load these drivers from a USB drive or anything else, so I was pretty much completely stuck.
OK, all of that is understandable, and none of it is Dell's fault (well, except maybe for not offering an OS alternative, but I understand they're doing that now). I called Dell technical support and explained the problem. The answer that kept coming back was "Sir, you have to buy Dell's OEM version of XP Pro" (which is much more expensive now than if I had just configured it with my system in the first place). I was also assured by multiple cheerful support staff that Win XP licenses are per-machine, so that you have to buy a new one every time you buy a new system. What a boon that must be to Microsoft's sales! I'm surprised that more companies don't set up their licensing that way. When you get a new car, do you have to throw away all of the CDs in your old car, and buy new ones? I'm not sure whether that's really true for OEM licenses, but I'm certain it isn't for non-OEM, and I explained to them that I own extra non-OEM licenses for XP Pro. "It doesn't matter, sir, you have to buy XP Pro CD from Dell".
After weeks of phone calls, and continuously being shuttled between different support staff, I finally spoke to someone with enough technical knowledge and sufficient authority to resolve my problem - Dell sent me an OEM Win XP Pro CD, free of charge (actually, they sent two in separate packages, probably due to the number of support staff involved at that point).
The CD did indeed solve my problem, as it had the necessary service pack and drivers to recognize the SATA drives. It was nice that they gave me XP Pro free of charge, but I wasn't looking for that, and shouldn't have needed it. I expected to be able to use the hardware that I'd bought with an OS that I already owned multiple licenses for, without being herded into buying their specific branded version.
The entire experience left a very sour taste in my mouth (it was a full month after receiving the system before I was able to actually use it). I bought my next system through HP, and I've been happy with it. I haven't written Dell off completely yet; prior experiences with Dell had all been positive. I'll probably consider them for my next system purchase, but I'll do some research on their customer satisfaction first. If they haven't cleaned up their act - there are other companies. - Shenaniganz08, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Buried for being fussy about the situation
Look everyone knows that the original ship date was estimated to be July 28th. Don't give me this crap that you actually believed you would have your laptop July 6th, 3 weeks earlier than everyone else.
I understand that you were given false promises, but grow up, Santa isn't coming down that chimney on December 25th either ! - sln36, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0My original ship date was july 31st... now it back ordered till august 7th... I'm pretty disappointed.. and now they have a promotional offer for those ordering now... do you think they'll work with us because of the delay?
- thelordzero, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2I've actually updated the page with some more information and will continue to keep it updated.
- aedinius, on 10/10/2007, -2/+0I was actually there for a few of the conversations he had with Dell, and despite what they had said to him, he kept quite a civil tone.
- thelordzero, on 10/10/2007, -2/+0While some of you have accused me of being a whiny little prat, this is far from the truth. I was happy with my order even when I originally ordered my two laptops being told that they would ship at the end of July. What I can't stand is being lied to. Everyone makes mistakes, true, but I gave each employee ample chances to check on everything they promised a few times including the original moved up date which started this fiasco. If those of you who think I'm a whiny little prat, reconsider how you would like to be treated as a customer. Being lied to multiple times just isnt acceptable.
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