ON A DELL DISAPPOINTMENT

NO JOY

(Updated)

I finally ordered a Vista computer a month ago.  Specifically, I ordered a fully loaded Dell XPS M1730 laptop, which recently won PC Magazine's Editor's Choice award.

Upon completion of the order online, I got confirmation on Dell's website with a promised ship date of October 23rd. 

So on the date of expected delivery, I went and checked the status of my order, and it re-confirmed the date.

However an hour later, I got an email from Dell with the bad news that my order would now not ship until...February 8th, 2008.

Having ordered lots of computers from various vendors over the years, I know delays in receiving orders are not unusual.  Often specific parts shortages can easily add a few days or weeks to the completion of an order.

But never in my experience has an order slipped by four months.  And not getting a heads-up on the delay until the promised day of delivery was also pretty unusual.

Dell's customer service folks agreed.  The folks I spoke to agreed that this was an unusual delay.  But after a few escalations and inquiries, none of the reps were able to figure out WHY the delay occurred, or which component on the order was causing the delay.

Instead, the only recommendation I got was for Dell to cancel my order, re-enter it as a NEW order, and promise me an expedited shipping date of November 20th, almost a month later than the originally promised ship date.

Again, the delays in this order are not surprising.  What is surprising is the degree of the delay, Dell's inability to provide a timely heads-up on the delay, then to explain the delay, and the need to cancel and re-order the same order to get things hopefully moving again.

I cite this anecdote only in the context of Dell's recently launched overhaul of it's customer service capabilities on the consumer side of it's franchise.  That was partly in reaction to the Jeff Jarvis lead "Dell Hell" dust-up a couple of years ago.

Although anecdotally I found Dell's customer service people to be easily accessible, responsive and eager to help, the systems and procedures supporting their reps seem to be still letting them down.

And I'm still deciding whether to re-order or cancel. 

After all, there's a Leopard-equipped Mac laptop available at my local Apple store as early as Friday.  Tempting.

Update:  I know it's apples and oranges in terms of the products, but I just got an email from Apple with an assurance that my Leopard Family pack order has shipped by Fedex in time for delivery tomorrow.  As promised.  And as has happened before.

Comments

[Alex Tolley]

Why not buy the Mac laptop, add Parallels and XP and use that instead? Surely you are not that price conscious given the toys you buy.