Dell Outlet left me high and dry

killer007

I was tasked by the local primary to get a laptop for them at the best price as it is only a two teacher school and funds are not great .After a week of looking around I ordered from Dell Outlet. This morning I got this,
Dear ?????
I am contacting you in regards to your dell outlet order
??????-??????, I have been informed by our Factory that
unfortunately this system, system tag ID DYXC9H1, was put onto the
website in error, As a result this system is unavailable to order. There
has been no charge applied to your credit card and I sincerely apologise
for this error and any inconvenience this has caused. However we do
update our website with fresh stock and offers daily and you will find a
wide range of systems to choose from. Again we sincerely apologise for
this and any inconvenience caused.

I am really pissed off.:mad::mad::mad:
Has this happened to anybody else?

kikel

Annoying when something like that happens. Best thing to do is forget about it and find something else. Not worth the hardship and fighting with Dell.

thehamo

to be honest, I think Dell charge rediculous prices for their laptops. You're better off buying one from a shop. You will get it for cheaper, plus if anything goes wrong you will be dealing with someone face to face instead of relying on them to get back to you by email.

leninbenjamin

thehamo wrote: »

to be honest, I think Dell charge rediculous prices for their laptops. You're better off buying one from a shop. You will get it for cheaper, plus if anything goes wrong you will be dealing with someone face to face instead of relying on them to get back to you by email.

that's awful advice.

A) your average high street shop's customer service is typically no better if not worse. typically they have little to no technical training and wouldn't know their IDE from their SATA. in fact, more often than not, it's the same as an online retailed. Your hardware is sent away to be fixed.

Prices. your average high street shop is typically much more expensive. You can get the odd decent bargain, so it is worth shopping around, but it's the exception, not the rule.

C) Dell actually have some good value that's hard to beat. Avoid the over priced Studio's and XPS, and instead look at the Vostro range. They have some damn good value stuff.

as for the OP's post: I've never had dealings with the Dell outlet myself, but one or two friends have, and they report the same as you. It's hit or miss, sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you dont.

In general i would avoid the outlet though, it can be hard to tell sometimes what's a refurb and what's a returned sale. You dont want a refurb imo. Anyone i know who's gotten one hasn't gotten the same life out of it as a brand new laptop.

Gurgle

leninbenjamin wrote: »

A) your average high street shop's customer service is typically no better if not worse. typically they have little to no technical training and wouldn't know their IDE from their SATA. in fact, more often than not, it's the same as an online retailed. Your hardware is sent away to be fixed.

They know no less than the people you get on the phone in Dell, when you eventually get to talk to someone. The difference is that when you walk into a shop you find a human being and they can't avoid you.

leninbenjamin wrote: »

Prices. your average high street shop is typically much more expensive. You can get the odd decent bargain, so it is worth shopping around, but it's the exception, not the rule.

PC world, Curries etc. always have cheap systems.

leninbenjamin wrote: »

C) Dell actually have some good value that's hard to beat. Avoid the over priced Studio's and XPS, and instead look at the Vostro range. They have some damn good value stuff.

No, they have some damn cheap stuff.
Take the Vostro range: The CPU / HDD / RAM / Screen size specs are decent for the price but the quality is atrocious. The keyboard bends when you press a key near the middle, the speakers are so crap you can't make out a word, there isn't even a DVD burner as standard.
To make it worse, you get Vista Home Basic on every one of the cheap Dells - this is by far the worst OS I have ever seen (including the legendary Windows ME).

leninbenjamin

Gurgle wrote: »

They know no less than the people you get on the phone in Dell, when you eventually get to talk to someone. The difference is that when you walk into a shop you find a human being and they can't avoid you.

You're not wrong. But at the end of the day, 6 weeks away if you have a fault either way. And PCworld/Curies staff can be just as good at fobbing you away if they are so minded.

Gurgle wrote: »

PC world, Curries etc. always have cheap systems.

I've just priced a laptop for my sister. The best value was online. From time to time there will be great value in those stores, but I've always found that online retailers to have consistently better value.

Gurgle wrote: »

No, they have some damn cheap stuff.
Take the Vostro range: The CPU / HDD / RAM / Screen size specs are decent for the price but the quality is atrocious. The keyboard bends when you press a key near the middle, the speakers are so crap you can't make out a word, there isn't even a DVD burner as standard.
To make it worse, you get Vista Home Basic on every one of the cheap Dells - this is by far the worst OS I have ever seen (including the legendary Windows ME).

I've had a Vostro for 2 years now. A housemate has had one for 3. They come with home premium or business now. My speakers are better than some of the more expensive systems friends of mine have. As for the keyboard bending, early models did but the quality has improved substantially since then afaik. And even then, all plastic keyboards will bend to some degree. You can pay a premium for an aluminium shell if you want, I prefer to keep my €200 in my pocket.

Dunno what you're on about the DVD burner though. All the models i've been looking at have them as standard. You can get blu-ray on the 1320, 1520, and 1720 btw.

My own Vostro has taken a battering. I did IT in college, so i would regularly use it 10 hours a day. Cycling/Walking in and out of college for 2 years with it on my back, dropped occasionally, even stepped on the keyboard once, no amount dirt or abuse has caused an issue to date. The only issue I've had with mine is that it gets quite hot because of the crappy 8400 in it, but at the same time it still hasn't failed on me where friends more expensive systems have.

Gurgle

leninbenjamin wrote: »

I've had a Vostro for 2 years now. A housemate has had one for 3. They come with home premium or business now. My speakers are better than some of the more expensive systems friends of mine have. As for the keyboard bending, early models did but the quality has improved substantially since then afaik. And even then, all plastic keyboards will bend to some degree. You can pay a premium for an aluminium shell if you want, I prefer to keep my €200 in my pocket.

Dunno what you're on about the DVD burner though. All the models i've been looking at have them as standard. You can get blu-ray on the 1320, 1520, and 1720 btw.

My own Vostro has taken a battering. I did IT in college, so i would regularly use it 10 hours a day. Cycling/Walking in and out of college for 2 years with it on my back, dropped occasionally, even stepped on the keyboard once, no amount dirt or abuse has caused an issue to date. The only issue I've had with mine is that it gets quite hot because of the crappy 8400 in it, but at the same time it still hasn't failed on me where friends more expensive systems have.

Mine is 6 months old, came with windows vista basic, no DVD burner, crappy sound, only 2 USB ports, a crappy Celeron and an even crappier Intel Mobile graphics adaptor.

Bits keep falling off it, not breaking just falling off.

(When I say 'mine', its a Windows 7 test station I use in work.)

The closest thing I can find on Dell now is the Vostro 1015, which does have a DVD RW. Price is €299 + VAT ~ €360
For the same money, I'd buy this:http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Toshiba_Satellite_Pro_L300D-20R_Laptop_PSLC9E-00V001EN/version.asp