"I placed two orders from Dell on 11/24/2007. The smaller order was handled fine. The other order got delayed for more than a month and was mysteriously canceled. There is a phone number to call for issues but once you type in the extension to report issue with order it forwards back to the phone number again so you keep entering and entering it. Email query about the order went unanswered. It is amazing how the company can be fine to usually but as soon as they decide they're not going to honor one of their holiday specials they will simply ignore you and hope you'll go away. "

"Ordered the MSI video card in November. Got delay after delay email while live chat people said it should ship soon. This week I looked and my order was cancelled. No notice. I advise anyone thinking to order from Dell to find a more reliable retailer."

"I see I am hardly the first to complain about Dell's 8800GT deal, but here I am. As upset as I am about the delays, apparently people who ordered AFTER me (and I wasn't even one of the first) got their orders substituted with alternative products. I wasn't sent or offered any kind of substitute, which would be reasonable after their preauthorization hold left me without access to $220 of my own money for a few days. "

"I placed an order with them on Nov 26th. Order was to ship Dec 11, which was fine since it was a Christmas present. On Dec 11th I got an email saying it was delayed to the 18th. On the 18th I got an email saying it was delayed to the 28th. I checked with them today, and now the order has been delayed to Jan 21st. Dell sells items they don't actually have in stock. Ordering from them in a crap shoot. I won't be doing business with them again, and I recommend you don't either."

"I ordered an Item on November 24th, the page said it will ship within 24hrs. 3 Backorder notices later I call them for about the 4th time to see if they can switch me to an Item they have in stock. I get switched to a like Item by a different manufacturer. But my price has gone from $208.00 on the original order to $249.99. Im told it is IN STOCK. Sat on hold for 20 min while it was verified. Item was ordered on Dec 24th. Supposed to ship on Dec27th. I get a backorder notice in my Email. I call them up AGAIN stating I needed it by the weekend for a late Christmas gift. They dont have any in stock. 6-8 week lead time. They switch me to another item that is "In stock" Exactly the same specs as the last one I had ordered. Same manufacturer and everything. Just a different part #. NOTHING Different at all. They want to switch me to this item for $289. They refused to meet the $249.99 price of the 2nd card I had ordered. I canceled my order, Closed my account and will never do business with Dell again. I highly advise others to not do business with them either."

"I placed an order for a videocard from Dell.com on 24 November 2007 (Order#938226399). It was the MSI 8800GT video card. After the shipping was delayed for the third time, I contacted Dell via online chat. During the online chat I was informed by Customer Service that "...this product is no longer available with us...". When asked why they kept the charge holding on my CC and giving me a new delayed shipping date if the card was "no longer available" they didn't have an answer.

I was surprised that Dell would do something like this. If the product is no longer available, just cancel my order and tell me you've made a mistake. Don't string me along for over a month telling me that you are going to ship it at a later time. I could have, and eventually did, bought the product or something similar from someone else who had it in stock.

I will think long and hard before I order from Dell again, and I have ordered from them many times in the past. All I wanted was an explanation why they would treat their customers like that and string them along, bad policy in my opinion and it cost them a customer."

"Placed an order for a videocard on the 24th, expected to ship on 12/14, then 12/26, and now delayed till 1/4/08. They don't know if the hardware I purchased is actually ever going to ship, their customer service staff doesn't seem to care in the slightest."

"Yes, I'm yet another participant of the MSI 8800GT debacle. Two delays in shipping and then the order was canceled with no e-mail notification or contact of any kind.
Even if this offer was over-subscribed, in my mind there is no excuse to string people along for almost a month and then cancel the order out of hand."

"Attempted to order 2 of the MSI 8800 GT video cards from Dell on 11/27. Initial ship date of 12/12. Received notice on 12/12 that it would be delayed until 12/19. I sent Customer Support an email asking why I was notified so late. They apologized and offered a 6% discount on a future purchase. First of all, that does nothing about the order I'm actually having the issue with. Second, 6% is weak; I could get a better discount without thinking about it. Disappointed so far.

On 12/19, I received another notice, order delayed until 12/28. So at this point I knew I wouldn't have this for the holidays, as I hoped. Upset again, I sent another email. Was offered a free 2GB MP3 player or a $50 credit. Again, nothing done about the problem on the CURRENT order, and they claimed no responsibility because the manufacturer was supposedly having trouble filling orders. I sent them one last email simply saying that something needed to be done about the current order, or I would cancel and refuse to order from Dell again. Received a response saying that they would be unable to do anything. They could have applied that $50 credit to this order and I would have continued to order products from them in the future, but instead they lost a customer who purchases $1000s worth of computer parts every year.

Now I've found out that MSI only manufactured 3600 of these for Dell and ended production on 11/29. So I was dealing with Dell for a month when they full well knew they wouldn't possibly fulfill these orders, and they did NOTHING about it whatsoever. Shows the quality establishment that Dell is today. Again, I will NEVER order from Dell because of this horrible experience. I'll gladly spend more money at a place that at least 1/2 cares about their customers."

"Horrible, horrible service. It has been over a month and no delivery. Every time I call they tell me my item is boxed and will ship that that. They keep delaying the ship date a week at a time while keeping my money on hold. I cannot get any help from the CSRs as they keep telling me it is shipping when it is not. Their phone support seems to be based in India and there is a small language barrier as well. My kids missed their christmas present because of Dell."

"Terrible, unbelievable experience. Was promised an upgrade for the backorder and had to call everyday for a week to get it. I will never give Dell my money ever again.

Not only that but I was charged twice through Paypal. Over 10 days ago I was promised the original order was to be cancelled and I would be given my money back via paypal. I have never received my return, even after promises to wait "another 24-48 hours" by multiple reps. I don't care if they are giving away Latitudes, I can't morally bring myself to do business with Dell computers."

"I place an order with Dell for an MSI Geforce 8800gt graphics card based on a deal I found in another forum. The item showed to be in stock, and would take 1-2 weeks for delivery. After two weeks my order still said "in production" and had not shipped yet. I then went on the Dell chat support, and was told that the item was delayed till the 17th. After the 17th passed, I got another email stating that the product was delayed again till the 24th and that if I didn't contact Dell to give my "consent" to keep my order open they would cancel my order. I then immediately went on the chat support again where the "agent" kept saying that the product was discontinued (big fat lie), and I should cancel my order, and reorder another video card. I didn't feel like waiting 6 weeks+ that any other comparable video card showed for status, so I told the agent I wanted to keep the order open. The next day, I checked the order status and it now showed as canceled. My Overall satisfaction with Dell has dropped considerable because of this, and I will try to avoid dealing with them as much as possible in the future."

"I also got burned on the 8800GT deal. I want to make clear that this was not some pricing error that everyone was trying to take advantage of. Dell was selling the card for the normal price of ~$259 but had a 20% off all electronics & accessories sale. So the deal was legit.

The only reason to deal with Dell and it's poor quality products and even poorer customer service is the occassional amazing deals that pop up. But the Catch-22 is that Dell only honors those deals about half of the time."

"In late November, Dell took orders for the MSI 8800gt video card at a significantly discounted price ($52 instant rebate). To the best of my knowledge, not a single one of these video cards ever shipped, and Dell pushed back the "expected ship date" three times until it was obvious that no one would receive these before Christmas. Dell tried to use bait and switch tactics to dupe myself and others into changing our orders for higher priced (read as: price gouging) 8800gt cards that may or may not have even been in stock and ready to ship for the holiday season. I decided to cancel my order with Dell and pay extra for express delivery with a more reputable retailer. As per my research, Dell has done this three years in a row during the holiday season which makes them habitual offenders. "

"I ordered a video card and was given a shipping date of two weeks after the order. It seemed long, but after chatting with Dell, I was told it was worst case shipping date. I expressed that I wanted the item for Christmas, and they seemed confident that it would be here. The day that the card was supposed to ship, I got a delay email which added on another week. I spoke with Dell customer service, again, and was told they were expecting 3600 units to arrive and ship. On the second shipping date, I received another email stating that there would be another delay of 9 days. I spoke with chat numerous times since then and got many mixed stories, some of which were outright lies (as verified by a call to the manufacturer).

Finally, I get another email that asks if I want to keep my order. I chose yes and spoke with chat to verify that I wanted to keep my order. Suddenly, the story changed and I was going to get my order canceled whether I wanted it or not, and as of today, it is canceled.

While Dell is a big name, it seems that even the big players find ways to abuse customers and get away with it."