"I bought a Dell Inspirion via their 800 line. Rep was very helpful. Got the unit a little over 2 weeks later and it works great."

"I have an Inspirion E1505 (Sept. 06) and the service has been impeccable. I had reinstalled the OS and wasn't sure of the drivers but went on-line with live chat and they took over my computer (they asked first;)) and did all the installation for me while I watched...impressive. I had seen that they had a new version of Dell MediaDirect (3.0) so I wrote them to ask if it would be available on-line...they sent me out the disc in 3 days. I have been so impressed with their prices (specials), service, and reputation that I have just ordered a Sony DSC-H5 Camera with a $119.99 off special. That matched the "gray market" and questionable other "on-line" sellers prices. And I have comfort in the fact that my purchase is a U.S. branded item (warranty) and that it will be delivered without a glitch. I would not hesitate to purchase from Dell again.

*UPDATE* I knew when I had ordered my Sony DCS-H5 that there would be a 3-4 week delay in shipping because of back orders (got it for $384 with tax and free shipping...GREAT PRICE). I ordered on Nov.1 and had received notice that the ship date would be Dec.1. Well, I received it Nov. 7th. I am very pleased."

"Got a deal on the E521 for $399 and upgraded to 1gb for a total of $469. Since this was one of their first AMD boxes I anticipated a delay. First they said it would ship on 10/4, then that got moved back to 10/11. I was contacted on 10/11 by phone and told it would be delayed until the 18th. They asked if I wanted to confirm the order or cancel. I confirmed but started to have some doubts. My system was shipped on 10/17 and arrived in full working order two days later. I wasn't in a hurry to get this machine, but I could see this being a problem for someone/business that needed it ASAP. "

"Fairly quick shipping. Online updates and tracking not updated. I received the package before the tracking number was available. The monitor actually died on me 2 and 1/2 months after I received it and the exchange process was quick and relatively painless. Monitor was on my doorstep the next day. However, once again tracking numbers were not available online."

"I've been a loyal customer for years and have bought 3 Desktops, 3 Laptops, and various accessories from the Dell Home and Dell EPP sites over the years. This latest fiasco in customer service has turned me off to Dell forever.

I used my EPP 30% off any system $999 or over to order an XPS 700 on July 5th. After multiple shipping delays, the last of which had a system ship date of Sep. 14th, and having read about the issues Dell was having with the XPS 700, I called on Aug. 25th and cancelled my order. After seeing the web site update the status to cancelled, I thought that was the end of it.

But no! I was checking my credit card online on Sep 16th, and I see a charge from Dell for $x,xxx.xx. What the heck!!! I call Dell to find out what is going on, and learn that AFTER I had CANCELLED my order, someone at Dell had resubmitted the order on Sep 7th without ever contacting me, and that now the order had shipped.

So now I have a $x,xxx.xx charge on my credit card for a system that I did not order, and Dell won't even reverse the charge. I was told that there is nothing they can do, and that I would have to wait for the computer to arrive (4-5 days) and then refuse the shipment. Then, after it arrives back at Dell (another 4-5 day), I will be credited back the charge in appx. 4-5 days. Do the math, that's somewhere between 12 to 15 days.

Tough luck. Dell is at fault for charging me for a computer that should never have been shipped, and should have made it right immediately. Now I have to be here when the delivery comes (scheduled for 2 different days, no less) so I can refuse it.

And I have to watch out that nothing posts to my credit card to put me over my limit so I don't incur a charge.

Crappy service like this is no way to keep customers, which is why I will no longer be purchasing from Dell.

I am now a very angry FORMER Dell customer."

"Ordered Klipsch Promedia 2.1 speakers from Dell on the 14th. They had a nice deal for free 3-5 day shipping. They shipped out a day later via DHL. Package arrived after 3 days. Speakers work great, would definitely buy with Dell again (I've never had any problems with them)."

"Great product, great and fast service. I ordered a Dimension 9200 and it was supposed to be shipped in 10 business days. Actually after 5 business days, the PC was already sitting in my room. I also contact their customer service for several times. I asked some technical questions. I also asked for some additional CD. I even asked for some credit back due to a missed rebate. All the experiences were just great. No hassle at all. Every representitive was really helpful. This was my second PC bought from Dell.com. If I need to buy another one in the future, I'll definitely go for Dell."

"I purchased my 1905FP LCD computer monitor in October of 2005. The monitor's power switch failed in August of 2006. I called Dell customer support and within about 25 minutyes they agreed to send me a replacement under warranty. The replacement arrived two days later at my rural home and included a return, postage paid label. I would rate that as excellent customer support."

"

I have been a loyal DELL customer. I have never bought any PC except a
DELL. Because I thought (erroneously) that DELL was the best. Poor me.
I should have bought an E-Machine. MY computer which is less than 6
months old has been nothing but problems. The major ones started
around July.
Not trying to toot my own horn, but I do know my way around a
computer. Most pesky problems I can fix ...sometimes with the help of
tomcoyote.com, but still. Im not surfing around with no virus
software, anti spyware software or firewalls, I dont open everything
that gets sent to me, and I visit very very few websites.
So, imagine my frustrating when I try to contact DELL tech
support...and have to deal with endless automated questions that dont
address my problem and a computer that cant understand my answers!! So
that Im literally screaming at the damn phone trying to enunciate
every syllable and banging every key trying to get a live person on
the phone.And then I go on hold for 45 minutes. And, theeennn...I do
finally get a lovely man named "matthew" who has a very thick Indian
accent and he asks me everything the computer just asked me...and
understands me about as well as the computer did. Great.
Next, he listens to my problems, and asks me to hold for "5" (yeah
right) minutes while he conducts "research". The guy knows NOTHING
more that I do!! So he has me just reformat. Hell. Thats easiest.
Well, my computer never worked right after that, but Ive avoided
calling DELL back, but today I crashed again.
Same thing...hold for 45 minutes then transfer to someone else to hold
for 45 minutes...over and over for 4 hours!
I will never buy another DELL.


"

"READ THIS! It’s long but will change your opinion on buying a Dell. Ever since this last episode I will NEVER buy from them again. You SHOULD NOT either. I will admit they USED TO BE good. But they aren’t anymore.

I ordered a new XPS 600 for ($3747) April 30. I thought that I would like a good computer for college and for gaming. The computer arrived about on time.

About 1.5 months at most into using the computer I turned it on and I smelled BURNING and the computer WOULDN'T LOAD.

After about 4 hours with many different tech support people who couldn’t speak English very well, I was told to run a very long test with the built-in problem scanner (about 5 hours long). I had to sit through it the tech said. Didn’t find ANY problems.

I wasted a lot of my time. The tech just wanted to DUMP ME OFF. I paid for "top of the line" technical support. I can’t imagine what the "regular" service is.

I called tech support again for the next few weeks. One tech who could speak English well enough to understand me said it was Dell's fault. The tech said he would order a new motherboard and have a technician install it. I called on a Sunday in late July.

That Tuesday the technician calls and says he will be at my house anywhere from 10am-2pm. I didn’t skip work since he said he would be at my home a long time before I had to be in.

I don't know if these technicians are independently-contracted by Dell or not, but they aren't very good either.

When he finally showed up at 5pm, (I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AT WORK THEN), he didn’t have a screwdriver and had to BORROW one from me.

The technician crunched my cards into the motherboard with so much more force then I have ever applied to anything delicate (like my computer). I heard a lot of cracking from the cards themselves. He was BREAKING them.

Once he did install it, he was VERY RUDE when I told him it didn't work. I smelled BURNING. He thought I was wrong and messed with my monitor for a while since I got no picture. the computer wouldn’t TURN ON. He finally came to the conclusion that it was a faulty motherboard.

Next time 3 days later same thing. Motherboard #2 DID NOT WORK.

It probably would have worked had the technician not spent a long time talking to a friend of his on the phone. He didn’t care.

Finally he gave up. Put me on the phone with a customer service rep. The Rep said that I would be getting a brand new computer with close to the same specs my old computer had.

Some COMPETENCE. The customer service rep STRESSED that the new computer would be “THE SAME OR BETTER” as my old system. He said it would take 5-15 days for the new computer to arrive since the XPS 600s were still shipping (they weren’t).

I talked to the Rep on Friday, August 4 2006. A long time since the middle of JUNE when the computer broke initially.

The automated order status system over the phone said my system was still in the “build” stage on Sunday, August 13. I was leaving for college soon and needed the $4000 computer I PAID FOR.

I called the support people at Dell that day and they assured me it would arrive when the online order said it would, Tuesday, August 15. I hadn’t heard of the online order status system so I checked the system that was placed for me.

I was FURIOUS. Not only were the components not close to what my old computer was (WORSE), the computer was entirely missing a $250 component. And since the computer was supposed to be shipped in 2 days, I thought I needed to act fast to get the computer I PAID FOR.

Monday, August 14 was a tech support day with people who couldn’t speak English and would HANG UP ON ME. I was hung up on 5 TIMES. Once, a woman tried to hang up on me but failed. She greeted me after a series of beeps after I had been on hold for 30 minutes with “Hello Welcome to customer support May I have your order number.”…the same greeting I received at the beginning of the call.

The next day (Tuesday August 15) no computer came. The online order status system updated to say that my order was going to be shipped on Wednesday August 16 and arrive Thursday August 17. It didn’t arrive then. Liars.

I yelled and told the service/ tech/ rep people that if I wouldn’t be able to get my computer by August 24 (the day before I leave for college) than I wanted a full refund.

The customer service people told me that there was no way that the computer would be sent to my home before I left. Not even a week after that. Not even 2 weeks later.

After literally 2 more days of yelling starting August 17, I received an AGREEMENT for a refund. I haven’t seen it, but UPS came to pick up the computer on Monday August 21, the day the Dell people said they would come. It was the first bit of competence in 4 months.

In short: Dell will TAKE your money, WASTE your TIME, give you FAULTY products, LIE TO YOU about nearly everything and make it NEXT TO IMPOSSILBE to fix your PROBLEM even though you paid A LOT OF MONEY for those exact services. All of this for a COMPUTER that YOU PAID FOR TO BEGIN WITH.
"

"As a long time gamer now professional job inclined, I decided to follow the commercials and bought two laptops from Dell.

The first laptop purchaced (4-15-2006) was an Inspirion Eseries 17 inch. Quality, shipping, and overall look factor of the laptop was perfect. About a year later with no problems, appears there is an problem with the LCD monitor. 4 Vertical blue lines run on the screen. I will try to resolve this problem with Dell and write back to you on it.

The second laptop (1-24-2006) was another Inspirion, but a Bseries. For the 1,600 dollars we paid, I expected a chasis that appeared and felt stable. This laptop looks like it can be broken with one hand. Cheap plastic, cheap LCD, overall, personal trash that I would rather risk my 1,600 dollars buying a laptop from a local retailer.

But both Laptops share the same problem ---

The ammount of unwanted / useless software that is deeply installed into the Operating System. I wish that Dell allowed me to buy a computer purely for components and have JUST the operating system installed. But in my fantasy this will never happen with large sellers. Dell and their "user-friendly" software helps the novice through the computer, but in the end, slows down and destroys performance.

Finally my last grudge is with their Outsourced Customer Service. Dell has one of the WORST trained techs to call for support when their computer is down. For example, my background of computers isn't certified A+ / C+ but well enough to know the ins and outs. I felt like I knew more than the Techs reading their service manual trying to help me out. It felt like a HUGE waste of time, not because the fact I Was on the phone, but it was because they could not advance my own troubleshooting.

PROS
Build Quality is excellent (on "Entertainment Systems" and above)
Laptops can take a beating
Decent prices
Shipping and processing is on time or better

CONS
- Lower end laptops are lower than lower than what you would expect
- Extra software Dell puts in is the root of all initial performance problems
- Customer Service is extremely unprepared, not properly trained, and appears non helpful or welcoming


I will update on our LCD problem if they resolve or help us to get it fixed.

******Update August 23, 2006******
After speaking with the day time Tech, I was very happy and satisfied with his performance. Hes speed, attitude, and overall welcoming allowed us to move quickly through the troubleshooting/confirmation of the LCD Defect. Only waiting for him to write up a Warranty Replace issue (you must understand as a consumer, if a business is going to lose money, they must document how they are losing it and confirm why they are losing it). He was perfect, on the spot and I couldn't ask for any more help or any more definitive answers that I asked. He set me up for onsite support to come around next week for my laptop LCD replacement, and I will update on that.

However, later that evening I called again for some moral support and confirmation of the deletion of the "SECRET PARTITONS." IT was the outsourced tech support. It took long, rather annoying, and again I felt like I knew more than she did...It took forever, I had to wait for HER to READ HER manual. The Outsourced, unprepared customer service strikes again.

Overall -
Day Tech - American, Fast, Quick, and Welcoming
Night Tech - Outsourced, Slow, Still reading a manual for everything, Uneducated on Computers (or so it appears)

I will update on the Laptop LCD On-Site Repair.

******Update August 25, 2006******

Turns out DELL hires an independent repair company to deal with the numerous DELL warranty/repair calls around the nation. Our guy who came in was a friendly local guy. His overall confidence and appearence in the repair was excellent in replacing my LCD screen on the laptop and was a rather pleasant afternoon.

TIP: Whenever you call DELL, call on a weekday int he middle of the afternoon. Don't waste or deal with DELL's weekend/night support. Dell is on the rise with customer service, and I am rather pleased with their improvements."

"I ordered a Sony DSC-H2 Camera from Dell using a 25% off coupon (thank you Techbargains) on Monday (8/14) night and chose the free ground shipping (5-7 days).I received an acknowledgement and confirmation that same night saying the order would ship on Wednesday (8/16). Received a shipping confirmation on Wednesday that the item had shipped and would be delivered the next day. And it was. The result: I saved 25% on my order (which ended up being about 10% cheaper than the lowest price I could find anywhere else), got free shipping, and received my order in three days. No complaints here...."

"I am really impressed with the service and delivery.
I placed an order for a WG111T wireless adapter on
16th August and was suprised and got delivery the
following day! It was not even a special delivery
shipment(ex 1-2 day delivery,etc)but it arrive at
my office sooner than expected...totally brand new
and nicely packed...very satisfied."

"Worst customer service I have ever seen! I have worked in tech support and I have witnessed a lot of call center problems but Dells support really really sucks. A big part of the problem is Dell’s e phone system which makes getting to the right department nearly impossible if you are doing anything other than buying a computer. If anything goes wrong with you dell purchase you are in for a real struggle. All I had to do is return a memory card that I bought from Dell. First off it took over a month to ship the card to me and by the time I got it the price was cheaper on other websites. Anyhow the card had a 5 year warranty and ended up going bad in 3 months. I spent 3 hours on the phone continuously getting transferred trying to get the card replaced. Finally after 3 hours I just gave up. My time is worth more than the $60 the card cost. But just imagine if you bought a $1400 laptop from Dell and something goes wrong how long you might have to wait. Just read all the other reviews on here before you buy from Dell. "

"I have been a consumer activist for several years and I have owned computers since IBM began making desktop PCs in 1981. I do not get the strong hate mail against Dell.

Dell has long been a Rolls Royce in a market filled with fast buck computer assemblers and sellers. Dell was forced by cut-throat competition & poorly informed buyers to enter the cheap computer market created by eMachine, Gateway, Packard Bell & thousands of local small assembly shops.

There have been support problems with the under $500 systems but Dell maintained excellent quality, excellent engineering & support for its over $600 desktops. I have owned six and not one has ever needed repair. This impresses me because the several other mail order computer company PCs I purchased over the years from Acer to Gateway (when the top magazines rated Gateway number 1 in quality, value and support)ALWAYS arrived needed to be finished. I swear Dell was the only major direct sale PC maker (they were known as Mail Order PCs) who actually tested them and did I 24 hour burn-in before shipment to buyers! Gateway certainly did not.

The best way, in my opinion, to buy a newer PC is to buy factory refurbished. So, my Dell sales experience is limited to Dell Outlet Store.

I find Dell refurbished systems are so class A, like new that I cannot tell anyone ever used them. I just this month received a hot refurbished Dell Dimension XPS 400 customizable (originally called Dimension 9150 customizable).

I got Windows XP Media Center 2005, a set of programs, McAfee Security Suite free for 3 years!
It came with 1 Gig of fast memory, a fast SATA 250 GB hard drive, a solid graphics-video card, & so forth. There is no way this system was ever used. Cost? $459 & free Shipping & I had it in a week.

I have one criticism of Dell's current online ordering process. The largest computer maker in the world (Dell) needs to hire some good common sense marketing people, strong in communications with buyers.

Dell has fallen into using insider terms (I called it "Dell-anese" in a letter about the ordering process I sent to Dell customer service) in their ordering process. I am a businessman & I do a lot of online ordering. I have not encountered a more insider lingo filled ordering and invoice system.

When an experienced buyer like myself has no idea what to click next after I list the system I want to buy, there is something seriously wrong with the language in the online ordering process. You get three choices and none of them seem anything near to "checkout process"! I had to take random guesses and click my way back to the begining in order to get to checkout!

The rest of my purchase went well as I expect with a Dell purchase.

Dell remains one of the very best computer makers and sellers in the world. Just avoid the under $500 systems with a printer, flat screen and other marketing hype tools. If you go for it anyway, consider the quality of what you get, not just the very limited handholding from support.

We do need to get real. Do you get Dell quality from a eMachine, HP or Compaq desktop system you pay less than $500 for? How is their support? If you get a 'all the bells and whistles' PC system for under $500 and the thing actually works, be happy. Grab Dells ample online text information and visit the Dell forums.

Do not expect $400 of support and hand holding & a PC system for $299.

Dell and IBM has had the best support in the business for years. I think they still do (Lenovo-IBM does). Visit the Dell Support site and you get considerable specification detail and an excellent support group forum hosted by Dell.
A good support group is far superior to the phone support any computer maker has ever been able to supply.

If you want the latest Tech PC system and no need to think or learn anything to work the system, you will have to lay out a few grand for a local private computer consultant. Not even a $50,000 car or a $300,000 private airplane comes with free new owner training. "