"Dell is emerging as one of my favorite retailers. They have had some great deals with stackable discounts and very few of the dreaded rebates.

I got 2 sets of the Creative Labs Z-680 5.1 THX speakers for $248.50 apiece delivered overnight for free, a 38% discount off of retail."

"Fair computer system maybe, but worst customer service I've ever seen. I was angry about being lied again and again and again. After 4 monthes' waiting and a lot of beautiful lies, I was told again that one of my rebates was going to be mailed to me after ANOTHER 5-6 weeks, and another one was denied this time even though I was told a thousand time that it's valid. And what's more, the lady calling me hung up right after her words, leaving me talking to a broken phone line.
I will stay away from Dell"

"Placed order for canon digital camera with dell after seeing it mentioned on the internet. The representative promised me the item was in stock, more than once, and promised my it would ship within the next two days. This was March 12th, he said it would ship by March 14th. I then looked on the order status page on the website, said it would be shipping on the 17th and I would be receiving it on the 18th, as I had paid for overnight shipping after finding out that it was to be shipped ground, even though the original sales rep. had promised me free overnight shipping as part of the deal. So here it is the 18th which would have been fine with me, and I call the sales rep to get a tracking number and he doesn't have one, says they took to many orders and don't have one for me at the moment, though they will send me the next one at the same price. Meanwhile I have received a automated phone call from dell saying that it won't be in stock for another month, April 14th.

Without adding every minute detail, Dell has really put me through the ringer, and I would never order an accessory from them again after all their shenanigans."

"I ordered the Logitech Z-680 speakers and a Samsung 48/24/48x CD-RW 16x DVD combo drive from Dell peripherals. Most of the time their prices aren't that great, but every once in a while they have awesome deals on certain items. I got both these items for far less than the cheapest reputable dealer listed on www.pricewatch.com.

Soon after ordering I received a confirmation email and it was easy to activate the package tracking online. The orders took about 3-5 days for processing and arrived well packed shortly after. My credit card was not billed until the item shipped, as it should be."

"UPDATE 3/31/2003, after canceling the order due to their inconsistancy in order status and not knowing if it would EVER ship, it looks like Dell decided to try to send it to me anyway. I checked this evening and the order shipped even thought I called and canceled the order.

Ordered March 12th 2003
Was told order would ship on or before March 17th.
Website status showed March 17th.
Called a couple days later to check status, sales associate said delivery expected April 16th, yet website still showed March 17th.
Called another day and sales associate said it should ship March 17th.

VERY inconsistant order status reports. The web and sales associates were not in sync. At this point I have no idea whether my order is coming. I would most likely not order from them again."

"Purchased a computer from dell with a titled "510 dollars in rebates". Four and a half months later, still no rebates, complaints filed with the BBB and absolultely no help from Dell, who are handling these rebates. Stay away from this fraudulent company."

"Purchased the Sony DRU500A DVD burner. The item just came out so I expected the delays that occured. I would do business with them again."

"Their site said the Canon S400 was "Usually shipped in 5-7 days" and that it would ship before or on 3/12. Today they emailed me that it would be 4/4. Their site now says "Usually ships in 1-2 weeks". They are not honest about availability and shipping dates."

"Our church purchased a Dell Dimension July 2000. Included in the purchase was Next Business Day on site "Premium" warranty. March 4, 2003 the computer would not boot. I called Tech Support. The individual determined that it was the motherboard, and sent us one to arrive in 3 days. The motherboard arrived March 6, 2003. However, when we installed it, the computer still would not boot. I called Tech Support again. I was "escalated" to a Sr. Technician who ordered some parts to be sent to their service personnel, who would come to our location to repair. We missed the time for ordering for service on March 7, so were told to expect call on March 10. At 4:30 on March 10, I called Dell Customer Service as I had not been contacted. When looking in the system, the individual found that something about the order had been cancelled, but had been reordered at 1 pm that day...which then put our "next business day" service on March 11. The Service Tech arrived at our location with a large box of parts, however, none of them repaired the problem. He needed to order additional parts. He indicated that the symptoms we had described to the Tech Support person should have resulted in a processor being ordered...however, no processor was sent to them...almost every other component was sent instead. So he ordered the correct parts, and we hope that they will be shipped in time to be installed on March 12. An automated call set up an appointment for 10a - 1p for March 12. My daughter stayed home to be available. At 10:30 I contacted the repair people to see if they had any idea what time they would arrive...they indicated the part had not been shipped and would not be available for installation March 12...that they expected it for March 13. Later in the day, we received a phone call indicating that the part was backordered. Now am getting tossed around on the phone system to see how long the back order will be. Well, it turns out that the backordered part is really a new system (the dead processor can't be obtained)---now that sounds like good news, but it may be another 2 weeks before we get it...meantime no computer for office work at the church. There has not been any kind of rush put on this--which seems like there should be with the PREMIUM warranty. Actually can't track online either as it is different than an order...so only have the tech support people's word that it is being built. Then, when we receive we will have to swap hard drive data....luckily we know how to do that...all users might not. I realize the warranty says they don't deal with software...but since the faulty component is the cause...We have no actual "proof" that we are getting a new system. The web page now says the order is "In Transit to Local Carrier"--has been that way since 3/15/03. On 3/18/03, another order appeared on the order status page. It also says "In Transit to Local Carrier". I called Tech Support to see why there were 2 orders. Really didn't get a good answer. Mark thought that the order would ship 3/18/03. The 2nd order showed up on 3/19/03--though I had not received any email confirmation that I had signed up for so I could plan my time around the delivery. It was not a new system as the Tech Support people had indicated, but rather a refurbished system....better than what we had....will see how long it will work....of course, our warranty runs out this July...so will have to purchase additional warranty if want to "cover" the "new" system. I have taken time off work to be available for the service calls, not to mention the length of time in the waiting queue on the phone and the length of time with getting the new system set up with our software. And we paid for Premium warranty....This has all been very frustrating.....beware. "

"Always have a good experience with Dell peripherals. Pricing is average but the product quality and customer service are excellent. Keep checking techbargains.com for Dell sales. This order I picked up a Lexmark e320 laser printer with 30% off in coupons AND free shipping!!! "

"I bought (2) 1800FP 18.1" LCD's for $831.13 shipped thanks to the AnandTech Hot Deals forum. I ordered @ 5am on Thursday March 6th and received them the next day @ 11am. Free overnight shipping is always a pleasant surprise, and Dell delivered. Thanks for the excellent deal!"

"I ordered a 15GB Apple iPod and a 256MB Kingston CompactFlash card. Shipping was free. My order was processed and shipped within two days. I am very satisfied with my experience with Dell."

"Ordered a 1800FP 18" LCD on Jan 23, 2003 and received one week later. Great looking and very BIG screen size compared to my Dell Trinitron 17" CRT. I was able to get it a a very good price -- $ 451.75 in Dell Home. First day of using it saw there were two dead sub-pixels, second day another one showed up. Called Dell and asked if I could make exchange for another one. Dell said they would cross ship another new LCD to me, and a few days later it got here. No dead pixels!! They didn't charge for shipping the old LCD back to them or the new one to me. The price did drop by $50 dollars within 30 days and I tried to get them to credit me $50 but no go, but I'm satisfied that they didn't charge for the exchange and I'm a very happy owner of an 18" LCD."

"I have purchased four computers for my church and two for employees within the last year and have had the same experience with each order.

The good news is that delivery has been very fast and the systems were as ordered.

The BAD NEWS -
1. Purchase and business support is terrible. It's difficult to get a human who can help with a problem. Dell has consistently charged sales tax on these orders even though we have a valid tax exempt form on file with the Dell tax office and we checked the "tax exempt" block on the order. Getting Dell to refund the tax usually takes 2-3 months.

2. Computers don't always work. Two computers ordered last December did not work with the supplied DVD burners. It ultimately came down to compatibility problems between XP and EZ CD-Creator. Unfortunately there was no fix until Microsoft updated XP. Dell is either failing in the integration/test department or knowingly shipping bad products. Which leads to my next complaint..

3. Tech support, especially email, is useless. Don't even bother. They were absolutely no help in finding the problem. They even sent me grossly WRONG instructions for some of the troubleshooting. It's "award winning service" - the Dunce Award!

4. IF you have a hardware problem and require a replacement shipped out, they charge your credit card for the item then refund the money after they receive the defective item. However, they are VERY slow on the refund.

In future orders, I will definitely check other vendors before I blindly order from Dell."

"Excellent experience. Ordered on 2/24, received at home on 2/28. After a terrible experience with ABS (read my review there), this experience restored my faith in computer companies. Everything worked correctly the first time. Unlike the ABS Bravado 2240, the machine is extremely quiet, efficient, and does not crash. I ordered a Dell 4550 (P4/2.4, 512K RAM, 120 GB, nVidia 420MX card, etc). Kudos to Dell for a fast, efficient, and quality operation. It does cost a little more, but it is WORTH IT. You are not just buying a computer, you are buying piece of mind with a company that conducts its business at the highest level of professionalism."