"After cancelling my order at Alienware (see my review at Alienware) I ordered an XPS 600 from Dell. It will be my third purchase from Dell. I had and Inspiron laptop that gave good service even though it had a keyboard issue that Dell never fixed properly. And I have a Dimension 8200 purchased from the Dell refurbished store online in May or June of 2002--obviously getting a little close to its use-by date.

I like Dell's online order service. It is an easy interface and allows the buyer to select or deselect any number of components to tailor a computer to his needs now, and hopefully offer expandability for the future.

I had no problem putting together my 'dream' computer, and was given a delivery date about 10 business days later which was fine.

About 6 business days later, the computer order number was cancelled and reentered as a new number. This did not disappoint me as I hope if anything goes wrong on the diagnostic table they scrap the computer there instead of sending it to me.

The second order number is now in production, has been for 3 days, and they gave me an un-requested upgrade to overnight delivery...my (new) computer will still be delivered within the original forecast!

That's where it sits this Friday (3/24) at noon. I hope to come back with a followup by the end of next week with my new XPS 600 quietly purring on my desktop!

April 6---My new Dell arrived in perfect condition on April 3...three days early. I had changed the order one time and that changed the delivery date to April 5-7...but it came in on April 3.

It is a beauty. It purrs, it flys, it is everything I wanted and more.

I am sure most of the unhappy folks post their critiques in resellerratings.com. I also think most happy people go their own way and don't post anything.

I have been totally thrilled with all of my purchases--3 computers--from Dell and the prices have always been more than competitive. Sure there are little bitches here and there, but when you spend $3,500.00 on a new box you want to trust the manufacturer. I trusted Dell and I recommend them to anyone.

And gamers? You will burn ass with the XPS 600! Guaranteed."

"I called to order an internal wireless card for my DELL laptop. I clearly stated that I already had an external PCMCIA wireless card and that I wanted to purchase a internal one. CSR took the order and about 5 minutes later I receive the email order confirmation for an external wireless card. UH-OH.

I called them back explained the situation and was told the order would be cancelled and the CSR found the right part and ordered it for me.

Later on I received an email stating the first order had shipped. HUH? I used the online chat to talk to a CSR and they stated to just refuse delivery and they would credit the order back in 2-3 weeks. HUH? So it will take a month to get a refund. Don't think so. I put up a fuss and it took a week and a half after they received it back before they refunded the first order.

The good news, my second order for the internal wireless card came early and works great."

"In the past I have always built my own systems but due to the price drop of new pre-built systems I decided to purchase one from Dell mainly due to the reviews I have read. I must say that I'm impressed with my XPS 400 system and the 19 inch monitor that came with it. I also bought the 2405FPW monitor in addition to the 19 that was a free upgrade. Additionally, I did upgrade few other things like the processor, hard drives, ram (2GB) and the 7800 GTX video card. WOW, I am very impressed with the system. It was configured correctly from the factory, clocks fast, and super quiet. For the price you will have a hard time finding another system to top it."

"Dell completely screwed up my order of a Canon 5D camera body. They were a real pain to work with along the way and I ended up canceling the order. I will never buy anything non-computer related from them again and I'll be even less inclined to buy something computer related.

Longer explanation:

They held a one day 20% off sale on the 5D last week. I entered the coupon number online and when I got to the end of the sale, it wouldn't take the coupon even though it said previously that it had taken. I called up a sales representative and the person got the coupon to stick.

However, they somehow got my zip code wrong, probably because they were relying on an old database rather than the zip code I told them over the phone.

So my credit card didn't go through.

But they never called me or emailed me.

When I finally figured out something was wrong and called them up, I had to go through complicated menus and talk to about 4 different people in India all of whom were named John. :-)

Anyway, they said that the credit card company wouldn't take the transaction, but they wouldn't say why because that person didn't have that info. So I called the credit card company - no record of any attempted transaction.

I called Dell back and finally got through to the person in charge of credit card stuff. He knew that the zip code was wrong and also the magic number on the back of the credit card. The order then went through and showed shipping the next day.

The next day came and the order then showed the item backlogged. I canceled the order. In the process of cancelling the "cancel order" person (very specialized at Dell) asked me what I intended to the use the camera for. I said none of their business, just cancel the order.

I'll wait until April 1st for the $300 rebate and buy it from B&H.

By the way, Dell doesn't ship things the same day even if it all goes well. Unlike B&H or Norman Camera.

And Dell charges sales tax.

No more Dell for me. That's it."

"Thinking of buying a Dell computer? Think again. Then think about it some more. I purchased a desktop system about a month ago, and it’s been the worst product and customer service experience I’ve ever had. In this space, I’ll share some of the fun so you can decide if you’d like to go through the same ordeals. And there are some Dell policies that you’ll definitely want to know about.

I purchased an XPS 200 system and upgraded (another $70) to the 19-inch flat screen LCD monitor (UltraSharp digital 1907FP). However, the monitor did not provide the same sharp display that I saw on the 17-inch monitor at the Dell kiosk where I ordered the system. For one thing, the text wasn’t crisp and there was an annoying text effect on scrolling. I spoke with Dell (via their Indian customer service reps) several times, and they found concluded that the monitor was not malfunctioning and all the settings on my PC were fine (resolution, refresh rate, text size, etc.). The bottom line is the 1907FP is just a crummy monitor.

I had purchased the system from a Dell kiosk (Crabtree Valley Mall, Raleigh, NC), so I called them up to see what my options were. They stated that it should be no problem to return the monitor and exchange it for the UltraSharp 17-inch monitor. However, when I called Dell, I learned this about their return policy: You can only exchange your item for the same item. They would not give me a cheaper 17-inch monitor in exchange for my more expensive 19-inch monitor! From what business school did Michael Dell learn that bit of customer service magic? Oh yea, he was a college dropout.

Another fact about Dell: They outsource much of their customer service to a third-world country. Yes, you may very well purchase your computer from a nicely spoken kid at a kiosk in the middle of an American mall, but when you pick up the phone to call Dell customer service (oh yes, you will almost certainly have to), more than likely you’ll speak with someone from India. The person’s English may or may not be understandable. How’s that for bait and switch? By the way, if you're an unhappy Dell customer, be sure to express yourself to potential customers each time you walk by a Dell kiosk at your local mall.

Once when connected to India, I asked to speak to a supervisor. They put me on hold and I was never connected. Another time, the Indian tech was nice enough to call me back to see if the problem was solved (it wasn’t), but she called me at 3:30 AM! It appears they are not trained on something called “time zones”.

Why companies would outsource one of their most important functions to a third-world country will, I think, be one of those inexplicable questions that business schools will ask their MBA students to write papers about in 5 or 10 years. I expect Dell will be a poster child for that hard-learned lesson.

So I decided to keep my old CRT monitor and sell the new Dell LCD monitor on eBay. One of the questions I received from a prospective buyer was whether I could transfer the monitor’s 3-year warranty to the new owner. Ok, here’s another Dell policy you need to know about: You cannot transfer the warranty for a system component. The warranty applies only to the system as a whole.

Here are other problems I’ve had with the Dell system so far:

- The main profile is corrupted. The only solution that Dell support (India, of course) has provided is a workaround and not a true solution (create a 2nd profile, which requires having to select from one of two profiles on boot up).

- The CD-ROM / DVD player makes a horrible noise. I haven’t had the stomach to call Dell support on this one yet.

- The system as a whole is loud, and the fan noise changes rhythm periodically.

The consensus I’ve found is that people are no longer recommending Dell to friends and family. It seems everyone knows of customer service nightmares either first- or second-hand. Also, Dell seems to be using cheaper and cheaper hardware in a downslide that’s been going on for years.

People remember Dell when they were way ahead in terms of equipment and support, but that’s no longer the case.

For more, see Dark Side of Dell"

"Ordering through the online store was terrible. We were set-up with a double order. (one PC we wanted, the second one we did not) Suffered through the normal "press button" to get to a customer service person so we could cancel the order. The person although, helpful was unable to cancel the incorrect order. Dell shipped the wrong order rather than cancel it. We ended up canceling the correct orders just to avoid more hassle. We gave the "Dell Case Manager" plenty of opportunities to communicate with us. They failed.

Summary:
Dell shipped the wrong product, and shipped it to the wrong address. They have poor lines of communication within the company, (both slow and incomplete.) Those representatives that seem to want to help can't, because they do not have the authority to make the process simple. There also seems to be a general lack of Quality control on those "customer support" reps that are rude and do not listen.

Conclusion:
DO NOT ORDER FROM DELL ONLINE. If you insist on buying from Dell, call a sales person directly or go to a store that sells the product. Don't get scammed into what appears to be a deal by ordering online.

Lesson learned:
I should have stopped here first to check the reviews and avoided Dell to begin with.

This may appear to be duplicate, but I actually have 4 order numbers and they were consistently poor. I guess I want to make sure that everyone that reads this aware of the poor quality or service Dell offers. (if they do contact me to correct the situation I will clear up these reviews with a status update)"

"I bought a Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW 20.1 inch LCD Monitor. Overall I was and still am extremely pleased with the monitor. However, after less than a month it developed a dead pixel near the center. This happened just outside the 21 day return policy. I emailed Dell to find out what my options were and never heard back from them."

"Two words - Dell HELL!!!! Two more words - Dell sucks! I won't bother to talk about my experience because I would just be repeating all the other experiences on here. But just to confirm, I've contacted 10 different toll-free numbers 90% outside of the US, a bunch of annoying non-english speaking outsourced workers who say way to aften Ma'am I will do all I can to help you. Yet they never fail to transfer me into yet another random black hole, where another non-English speaker takes 5 minutes to have me identify myself, 3 minutes every tme they put me on whole - for grand totals near 1 hour and finally a continually unresolved situation. I hate Dell and I hope they burn in HELL after what they've put us through. Deep down in my heart I know that one day the owners of Dell will suffer for their greedy need to outsource while holding thousands of unsatisfied customers at ransom. I mean what are you going to do after dropping $1,000 plus, walk to Texas and take the items out of the warehouse your damn self, or even more tempting hop the next boat to india and shake the crap out of some stupid moron!!!If you can help it, DO NOT PURCHASE A DAMN THING ELSE FROM DELL! BTW, can someone get them some workfloe consulting. 40 different departments to fulfill every unique task isn't cutting it. "

"DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH DELL!!!!! ordered projector, needed information, could not reach a human, returned item could not get account credited, still waiting, low quality, NO support, not worth the effort."

"Dell use to have good service many years ago, but now they are terrible. I use to spend over $10,000/year at Dell, but now I do not trust their customer service anymore. Once I wanted to return an item and a rep told me they will give me a full credit and also credit for the return shipping. I got an authorization number for each credit. Two month later I looked at my credit card statement and noticed that they did not issue wither credit. I call Dell back and they said they do not issued full credit and they do not give credit for return shipping. I ended up disputing with my credit card.

Bottom line is you cannot trust Dell anymore and their product is cheap.
"

"Dell gets a bad rap, and deservedly so for their customer service, but in my experience, the product has been excellent bang for the buck. this system has yet to have any issues what so ever (knock on wood), and I got a really nicely configured desktop for less than $1,000. a 64bit p4 630, a gig of 533mgz ram a 250gig HDD, a 256mb radeon x600Se again, all for less than $1000 (plus a free POS crt and a free POs printer). contrast this with myalienware which has just been repaired for the 4th time in less than its first year and it seems that either 1. getting a good pc these days is a totally random event, or 2. price has very little to do with quality these days.

Anyway, the main point of my review is this: If you know your way around computers, and can deal with explaining the same thing to 4 different people in 3 different countries around the world if you have to call them, you can't find a better bang for your buck than dell. I am very happy with my purchase and would buy from them again and actually, I have bought several smaller items since then from Dell (axim x50v etc...) At this point, unless I go really high end with my next purchase (like falcon northwest) my next pc will also be a dell."

"This was by far the WORST shopping experience I have ever had in all my 48 years on this planet !!!!Payed for "new" computer got refurbished. Tech support said it could not be refurbished because that would be illegal.DUH !!! If you were unfortuate enough to buy from these scoundrels, please check "your" files. I found over 49000 files/downloads from 2001 to 2006. Of course Dell had no explanation (in any language)of how they could have got there. After over 9 frustrting calls, they were willing to send me another refurbished one. Now does that sound right to anyone? Please don't try to deal with tech support. Ask to speak to a manager. After talking with 3 I was able to convince them I would not be paying for return shipping for the junky archaic system. I got every upgrade & yet it was so slow I could have read War and Peace while it booted up. I ordered a video card. After convincing tech support it wasn't installed, the dear fellow decided that just because it's listed on my invoice, and reflected in my final cost doesn't mean I was charged for it. If anyone has any clue how to reason with such nonsense PLEASE let me know. I had spent hours researching countless systems and felt I was semi-informed. But much to my dismay, I didn't realize I should have been researching companies and sales tactics. One very useful source is epinions.com . They have many, many pages of bad reviews on Dell. I guess I relied on my past experiences with Dell and failed to realize, THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN !!!!!!!"

"I write to add Dell my story. I own a 9100.
My problems started with an intermittent POST problem. When I tried to start the computer, the lock lights would flash once and nothing more would happen. I called technical support, attempted to explain the intermittent nature of the problem, and explained my belief that the motherboard temperature sensor was failing. Thankfully, the unit was still under warranty, so Dell authorized a return. I sent it to them, they claimed to fix it, then sent it back. However, the unit continued to fail intermittently. So, I called again.
I learned that the depot hadn’t done anything to the computer even though I had taken the time to include a written summary of the failure mode and my speculation as to the cause. So, off to the depot again. This time, Dell replaced the video card. The unit still didn’t work. On my third call to tech support, I was instructed to flash update the BIOS with a download from Dell’s FTP site. This seemed to resolve the problem. (I now wonder if this was some sort of work around.)
Shortly thereafter, the AC adapter seemed to fail. I called Dell to order a replacement. I was told that Dell did not carry the AC adapter in stock anymore and that a request to order the part would need to be initiated. Eventually, Dell shipped me a refurbished AC adapter at no cost and with no warranty.
Three weeks ago, the computer started telling me that it was unable to identify the AC adapter.
Then, last week, the computer ceased to POST even with the AC adapter plugged in. When the adapter was initially plugged into the computer, the light on the adapter would show green. Shortly after plugging the adapter in, the light would begin to dim and eventually go out.
Assuming that the problem lay with the adapter and/or the batteries, I decided to order replacements. I first attempted to purchase the replacements on line. However, when I searched for the parts, Dell’s online catalog instructed me to call sales (a bad sign). I called and asked to buy the battery and adapter. The sales person gladly accepted my $230 order and assured me that the correct parts were identified in his system and would soon be on the way.
Today, the parts arrived. Unfortunately, I was sold a battery for a 9200 and an adapter for an 8500. I immediately called Dell and, after pressing four buttons, was connected to India.
I explained my problems to the tech support person. He told me that I had been sold the wrong parts (no kidding) and that I would have to call sales to get the correct parts. I told him that I had called sales. I also expressed concern that the problem really resides in the motherboard. Of course, we can’t troubleshoot the computer without powering it up and he can’t authorize a repair call until we first go through the telephone diagnostics. Yes, I had purchased the two years on site service when it was offered near the expiration of my initial one year warranty. Eventually, he looked up the part numbers and initiated a call record. After looking up the parts, he told me that he had to connect me to customer service to place the order for the right parts.
After a lengthy wait, I was transferred to the Philippines. The customer service rep wanted to immediately arrange for the recovery of the incorrectly shipped parts. I asked him if he would be able to place the order for the correct parts. “No,” came the response. I would have to speak to yet a third person to place the order for the correct parts. Unwilling to arrange for a return until I could confirm my access to the correct parts, I insisted to speak to sales. Another wait. Now I was transferred to Texas.
I again asked to purchase the battery and adapter for the 9100. This time, the sales rep told me that he could sell me the battery, but that he could not order the adapter. Getting somewhat frustrated, I asked if there was one person at Dell that I could talk to who could resolve my issues. “No,” came the response. I would have to talk to sales to order the battery, customer support arrange the return of the parts that Dell had incorrectly sold to me, and to tech (again!) about the adapter which he suggested could only be obtained from reworked returned adapters.
UGH!
Two calls and three different Dell representatives later....this is the best that Dell could do.
A refurbished adapter is being sent to me. I don’t know when it will be sent. There is no guaranty that it is the right adapter or that it will work (or for how long it will work).
THIS IS SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE!
Dell, if this is what you do for your customers with on site warranty coverage.....well, I can’t even finish the thought.
Sadly, I note that Dell recently reported favorable financial results. So, I guess cheap products (and I don’t mean price) and non-existent customer service yields profits in the short term. Beware that your name becomes mud in the marketplace. Your short term strategy will not work for long!

Service Tag
HXR5Q41
"

"I ordered 2 LCD displays from Dell. When they arrived and I connected them, one of them was not working properly and completely stopped working after a few days. I called their tech support number to get an RMA number but was told someone would call me back to resolve the problem. After waiting the entire day for their call I filled out a form on their website to report the problem. Both of those events were over a week ago and I have not heard a word back from Dell. I am having to file a dispute with my credit card company to get my money back for the defective monitor."

"HORRIBLE!! NEVER AGAIN!! Terrible non-english speaking customer diservice. Bought a TV, the TV had problems. Tech person offered to replace it. They replaced it with another bad TV. The TV got shipped to the wrong address and was sent back to Dell. Dell had to wait until they got that one before they would ship another TV. Finally get the 2nd TV (or the 3rd?!) and it TOO is bad, horrible graphic problems and big white bad pixel areas. Soooo I call and find out that it is just beyond the 21 day return time..and they won't give me my money back, which by then is all I wanted. So I explain that the time would not have gone over if shipping time was not taken into account and that if they had shipped it to the right address it would have taken less time. They are adament that they will not return my money but would be happy to replace the TV................again. Oh and did I mention that they replaced my TVs each time with REFURBISHED TVs??? I bought a brand new flat screen TV and they ship me REFURBISHED replacements less than a month later.. less than a WEEK later!!!!!! ARGHHHHHHHHH. Talk about fuming. So 3 months and 650 cell phone minutes later and after filing a suit with BBB (thanks BBB), I got some, not all of my money back and sent the TV back. All in all their customer service department as a whole is rude, arrogent and unfriendly.. their tech support are nicer and try to be helpful but stick to strict Dell policy and will not budge an inch to help an angry customer with legitimate issues.. grr.. Dude you're getting a pile of crap! NEVER AGAIN!!!"