Are Dell always this Crap !

muppetkiller

I recently put in an order for a laptop Inspirion 2200 from their factory outlet.
And after 2 days still hadn't received a order confirmation.
after 3 days they finally charged me for it.
then after a week i rang to see what was going on as it still had not arrived.
They gave me a customer oreder number which when i checked online it stated that the machine was in production and expected delivery date was today..
I checked again this morning to find that my order had been cancelled ?
now they are investigating why that happened and have put the money back in my account ?

their customer support kept telling me that they required my cooperation ?
and kept thanking me for shopping at dell to which i replied this is my first and possibly last time ..

anyone else have these problems ?
did you ever get the laptop you ordered ?
:mad:

hawkmoon269

Ordered an Inspiron last December and didn't have any problems. Received it within the promised time. No company is perfect, I guess.

muppetkiller

Was it the 2200 ? Any good (if it ever arrives ?)

hawkmoon269

No, just a 510M

Praetorian

Dell seem to have gone to **** recently. I ordered a monitor on a corporate account recently and I've now waited for 3 weeks for it.

The Irish guys won't reply to emails or take calls about existing orders; they are there to take your money off you when you order. The indian guys in support are useless.

muppetkiller

Agree with you there they keep giving me names of people (supervisors to contact) and i can't understand what they are saying.. I asked her to spell the name and she just ignored me twice ?
:mad:

delly

I'm a fan of Dell, but there service has gone downhill from days gone by. Its like they don't even have to try anymore.

copacetic

problem sounds like going through factory outlet, you are then buying a specific pc that has been returned, chances are they lost it or put it up on the system before they realised there was something wrong with it.

have the 8600 in work and it is ok, but build quality is poor, my tosh at home seems much more solid, one of the guys here has the 9600? (not sure of model numebr )and has had nothing but trouble with it and the service has been atrocious, pillar to post between india and uk without anyone knowing what they are talking about

petes

Yeah they can be a pain in the arse for ordering and delivery, but if you get a contact who sorts you stick with them especially if you are a business customer as you can get deals which are not available online

Gurgle

daveym wrote:

my tosh at home seems much more solid

Ah good old Toshiba!

The Volvo in a market full of Fiats.

muppetkiller

Ya it's the factory outlet alright..
beginning to regret even bothering with them now...

4Xcut

if they've given you back your money and you are unhappy with their service then take your business elsewhere. Their aftersales support is even worse

astec123

Plus they tie you into using their crappy system for the OS and restore, would never buy a dell ever. Or a packard bell. I want a PC/laptop that when it comes to upgrading it wont cost the earth or still sit there and tell me its Dell still. Plus with dells etc, they could not do more advertising on them if they tried, my laptop (evesham) says the company name once on the shell, and no where else. No irritating symbols on boot. KISS principle, keep it simple stupid.

Wertz

muppetkiller wrote:

anyone else have these problems ?
did you ever get the laptop you ordered ?
:mad:

I used outlet for the first time last january when I saw what looked like a decent bargain on an insp8500 laptop.
After advice from boardsters I contacted Dell by phone when I heard nothing from them after placing the order. Sales rep was very good and said they'd get things moving...
A day before the due delivery date I received a shipment....whcih ended up being a free carrycase (on offer at the time) but NO laptop :mad:
Got back on to them and they said there was a problem with the courier and that the machine had been lost (WTF?). Was told I'd get a machine of similar spec. I was pretty worried byt his turn of events...
Heard nothing for a week and got back on to them...they'd get things moving. At this stage it'd been almost a month since first ordering and I was just about to call and cancel the f**king thing when a courier arrived with a delivery.
I opened the box and was presented with an 8600c configured just as the 8500 had been.
Now, the thing was that the original had a first gen P4 CPU @ 2200mhz (not that spectacular, but the replacement was sporting a 2100mhz dothan :eek: along with several other upgrades.
That cpu on it's own retails for about $800...I paid €760 total for the machine I still marvel at the quality of the screen.
Besides the niggling fact of not getting a physical copy of WinXP I am wholely satisfied with the machine. At that price who wouldn't be? Dell tend to f**k up a lot, going by comments I read all over the web, but if you keep on at them (and are lucky with the sales rep you get) they'll come good in the end...
There's a great thread on this site about how to get free stuff off Dell US lol...doubt we'd get it here but it makes for interesting reading. Also a good site in general if you own or intend to own a dell lappy.

Best of luck with your order.

ressem

Bought one last week, received in 5 days, 600 cheaper than retail. Got the XP cd that you don't get when buying at full price.

Support is crap I agree. Even if you buy corporate onsite gold. Build quality of the last few yrs has been bad.

Though I like the I6000 (fingers crossed) and some of the servers, wouldn't touch the rest.
Strange way they're running the business.

formatman

if they charged you for it then it did ship , but Interlink stole it ...this will be probably logged on the internal notes but they won't tell you this ,

or they made a mess up on the price and didn't want to honour it

the factory outlet prices can be higher then the up to date prices with the all the discounts so get the best offer you can on the web and then and then call at 8am or close of business when someone either needs to start their quota for the day or save their target for the day

formatman

also alot of the web orders and factory outlet orders are not processed on the web but printed out and manually processed to prevent credit card fraud,information can be left in full view around desks for lots of people to steal your credit card number if they wanted too

Wertz

formatman wrote:

if they charged you for it then it did ship , but Interlink stole it ...this will be probably logged on the internal notes but they won't tell you this ,

Funny...that's what my gut feeling was at the time I received the carrycase. There was definitely something dodgy goin' on at the time...as for not honouring the deal...once they accpet your payment it's basically a binding contract, no? K

muppetkiller

I hope so because the price i paid was fantastic hehe .. basically 550 yoyos with all the mod cons dvd/rw 512Mb ram wireless etc...

the jew

bought a dell laptop almost a year ago, got it in the time they said, then i went and fúcked up windows (my fault) rang dell and they helped my out. so all in all, i thought they were pretty good, probably would buy another laptop off them in the future.

formatman

550 for that , excellent , thats why your order was cancelled , if they stick to the T's and C's then you might have difficulty , best way is to call Sales , tell them your order was cancelled and see can they reinstate it .have your credit card ready nd triple check the quote when they send it to you etc

Don't get stroppy with the sales as your the one grovelling to get the bargain etc (-:

Depends if the sales person is in the mood to take the margin hit for the day

Only hope is talking to Bray also ...won't have a hope explaining the situation to India

muppetkiller

They just sent on another confirmation of my order saying it will be delivered on the 6th June ?
No explainations as to why it's taking so long ?
So lets wait and see..

maidhc

I bought an Inspiron 2200 for €318 from the outlet yesterday. (Cel 1.4, 256 Ram, 40GB, 11b/g, DVD+RW, 15" XGA, 1yr waranty). Got my order confirmation today. So far, so good!

Wertz

muppetkiller wrote:

They just sent on another confirmation of my order saying it will be delivered on the 6th June ?
No explainations as to why it's taking so long ?
So lets wait and see..

Seems to be only with the laptop section of Outlet...I ordered a Dim8400 from them on Sunday and it arrived today.
Perhaps the unit is a refurb from the UK market? Maybe they test laptops a little more than desktops? Really don't know but 7-10 days seems to be about the norm...
Nice deal BTW...got another nice one meself

muppetkiller

This morning I got a call appologising about what had happened and they gave me the new order number and details...
I checked up my order status and guess what it's been cancelled again...
Even though i had been told an updated delivery date of 31 May ?
just gets better and better :mad:

Syth

maidhc wrote:

I bought an Inspiron 2200 for €318 from the outlet yesterday. (Cel 1.4, 256 Ram, 40GB, 11b/g, DVD+RW, 15" XGA, 1yr waranty). Got my order confirmation today. So far, so good!

That's a good deal. If I got that I'd return WinXP (I'm a Linux fanboi) and try to get the circa €300 refund price. A laptop for under €20!

goldfish

I had similar problems with Dell outlet, ie getting a Web receipt when I ordered online but then the order would get lost down the line.

However I have since sucessfully ordered two different desktops recently by doing the following (recommended by the Dell Outlet sales droid)
1. Choose your system in the dell outlet store
2. Put it in your basket, taking note of the system identifier number
3. Call Dell outlet Sales on 1850 200 778 (During office hours of course!)
4. Explain what you have done and that your chosen system is in your basket
5. They will then ask you to release the system from your basket (ie delete from your basket) and they will process the order there and then, taking credit card details etc...

Yes....it's a bit convoluted but it works!

muppetkiller

Well i'm still waiting it is in production for the third time as of yesterday...
all they seem to be concerned about is if their complaints department have been helpful or not ? I said they were but they don't know anything about my order ...to which he replied "yes i'm sorry of this but did they help you ?"
it was like talking to a wall..
:mad:

penexpers

Syth wrote:

That's a good deal. If I got that I'd return WinXP (I'm a Linux fanboi) and try to get the circa €300 refund price. A laptop for under €20!

You won't get €300 out of returning WinXP - I know someone that did it a couple of years ago and got 80 punts, I've heard of others getting less since (like €50 euro).

maidhc

An interesting idea anyway though, since I intend to try kubuntu on it. (I have Suse 9.1 and XP Pro on my desktop) I dont know how compatible the 2200 is with linux though, there is very little information online about it, and I dont really have the patience for messing around for hours and hours trying to get fiddly things working.

The laptop is still at the "Processing Order" stage though. I rang up yesterday to ask what was the delay and they said there was no problem and it would be shipped soon. I got a phone call today asking if the service was satisfactory. They must be getting paranoid!

reece

bought a dell inspiron 8200 a while back. Tried to buy it online but their site kept crashing. Phoned up and bought it...even got them to throw in a free printer. Rang them a few times to get an extact delivery date as I wanted to take the day off to collect it. They said 3 weeks. Thought that was a bit odd. rang back the next day. They said it was dispatched and should arrive the next day. Arrived the next day but it was only luck that I had rung back. My friend had similar trouble 4 weeks ago. Fast track courier service arrived at his house but he hadn't expected delivery. He rang the depot (as they left him a note) and they gave him some verbals about not been there. From what I can see Dell need to sort out their post sales service pretty lively!!! I'm buying from them again in a few months time but dread the anticipated delivery problems

angeleyes

You should try working for them.

Hey I wouldnt allow a Dell computer into my home or the office where I work in! I know too much of what goes on in that place!

They are awful to work for and awful to deal with!

angeleyes

Syth

penexpers wrote:

You won't get €300 out of returning WinXP - I know someone that did it a couple of years ago and got 80 punts, I've heard of others getting less since (like €50 euro).

A new retail version of Windows XP Home edition costs about €300. The version you get with a laptop is almost certainly OEM not retail. I'm still not sure what the difference is. It's something you'd have to haggle about.

muppetkiller

Ah the saga continues ...
Due to be delivered today....email sent saying expected delivery date is now the 10th June !!!!
I'm cancelling my order...DELL SUCK BIG TIME.

Although I did notice some crackin deals on their desktops ..mmm not worth the hassle me thinks

..Does anyone know my rights in this situation ?

formatman

Dell don't have an after sales service ! ...

their business model is based on volume shipments to please the shareholders .

They have enough Business customers to make a living from

The consumer side is more of a hassle to them and not their core business

Consumer will all be done on the web pretty soon as its not worth having paying someone to sell €400 machines

muppetkiller

Oh my god now this is the clincher ..
I checked up online again to find my delivery date has been reset to tomorrow,
I then get an email from them this mornign saying that the order confirmation i received was sent in error and in fact my order is not even in production...
she now wants me to look online an see if i can find a similar system ?
So that now i have to re-order a new system ?
:mad:

formatman

if you think the price ws good , push for the original system , they are trying to worm out of it now , but it takes 10 mins for a team leader to ok the order and then your sorted

waz

goldfish wrote:

I had similar problems with Dell outlet, ie getting a Web receipt when I ordered online but then the order would get lost down the line.

1. Choose your system in the dell outlet store
2. Put it in your basket, taking note of the system identifier number
3. Call Dell outlet Sales on 1850 200 778 (During office hours of course!)
4. Explain what you have done and that your chosen system is in your basket
5. They will then ask you to release the system from your basket (ie delete from your basket) and they will process the order there and then, taking credit card details etc...

tried a similar approach a few weeks back. only to get an order confirmation detailing a smaller flat panel vdu than I signed up for.
chased them up on it. they stated that the larger screen was only an offer available to online customers.........funny the double memory and free printer offer were not impacted by this. then they tried.... u purchased after the offer deadline.... but the order confirmation dell issued was the day before this date........ when I stated that all their adverts state call 1850 or purchase online..........no ifs or buts the said I should write them a letter, when asked for a contact name, they just said send it to customer care dept. I had a lot of time on my hands and can be a little anal on such matters so I bombarded the sales rep who eventualy provided a supervisors email who got the same treatment.
got the correct size flat panel delivered a few days later

johnnyc

buy your laptop from lidl or aldl they have quality laptops and good after sales service

maidhc

This is getting very interesting!

I'm still waiting, no movement whatsoever, the laptop has been in "Order Processing" mode for a week now. I have ordered stuff in the past from the Dell outlet and never had any problems apart from Interlink getting lost or just not being bothered.

Dells latitude service is top class, I have never had any problems whatsoever with any desktops I bought from them apart from a mouse that died after a few months, which they overnighted to me.

AFAIK the contract terms state the order is complete when they ship the merchandise. I used to think they only performed a credit check on ordering and actually charged on shipment. If they have charged you, then I'd imagine you would have a very strong case, that, irrespective of their terms they failed to complete their side of the contract. It shouldnt come to that though, if its a decent bargain, which it sounds, id stick with it and demand the system I paid for.

J-blk

The most likely thing is that they did lose your original factory outlet laptop and are now trying to worm out of selling a new system at the bargain price. As others mentioned, a factory outlet system is already built (sometimes returned, sometimes never left the factory as the order was cancelled after build) so there's no production involved (their online tracking system simply mirrors the tracking of a new system).

I ordered an Inspiron 9100 of the factory outlet a couple of months ago - delivered in Dublin in 5 working days and no issues.

And though I thought I would never ever buy a DELL (I used to work for them a few years back - arrrgh), the factory outlet deal was 700 euro cheaper than configuring the same system "new"... I wouldn't try the Indian support though...

muppetkiller

Ok we have a development...
After getting on to Senior sales Mgmt they decided that they had been very bold and gave me the Inspirion 6000 with an ATI graphics card and dvd burner etc for the same price whohooooooo
but there's a catch ...it has to go through the same process as the last three orders hehehe
but i finally got on to a sale person in the irish office and she was very helpfull
called me whenever there was a development ..so lets see if it arrives next week now...
enjoy the long weekend

J-blk

That is an awesome deal if you end up getting it .

The 6000 is a lovely little system and much nicer than the entry level 2200. This mess could be a good thing for you after all - just make sure they don't mess up on the credit card charges...

Soundman

Just got the Inspiron 6000 myself. You will love it. Savage laptop, imo.

Dell did screw up my order though. Luckily it was in my favour. I ordered a CD/RW + DVD combi for it. When it arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see they had installed a DVD/RW for me.

Enjoy your new toy when you finally get it.

Sparky

I was thinking of getting a 6000 over the 9300, (the screen is just too big) and was wondering what the battery life is like, since im using a 9100 and i just get 2hrs.

muppetkiller

Order has just been confirmed and looking like a friday delivery date hehehe

muppetkiller

waiting still waiting sigh :rolleyes: .....I think it was 1842 when I originally ordered this..

talla

Have to say i've had no trouble at all with dell, ordered an inspiron 6000 on THursday and it was delivered this morning. This is the second inspiron 6000 i've ordered in a month, that was delivered 2 days after ordering(Sparky_S is now the proud owner of that laptop )

skywalker

Sparky_S wrote:

I was thinking of getting a 6000 over the 9300, (the screen is just too big) and was wondering what the battery life is like, since im using a 9100 and i just get 2hrs.

Indeed. What is the battery life like?

Sparky

skywalker wrote:

Indeed. What is the battery life like?

well i got the inspirion 6000 of talla, and the battery lasts just over 3hrs. which is great, but thats with the screen brightness set low.
Plus the great thing is the laptop goes rocket fast when plugged into the mains.

muppetkiller

it arrived !!!!!!! and I must say it's rather class....nearly took away my frustration with Dell lol