"Dell has great prices--unbeatable. I've been a long time customer. That's all the good I have to say.

Their purchasing support and some aspects of their website are extremely bad.

First, apparently, somehow my account has several login IDs, but only one email address shows in the profile. I was unable to change this address, which was an old yahoo address which has been spoofed so I don't use it anymore. I called their support and they couldn't fix it either. I thought it was no big deal and left it at that.

But I had an order "backordered". I had a great price on a black 350D using their stackable coupons. But they couldn't ship as estimated, and whenever the date was missed, they would send an email to the account I don't check giving me three days to confirm or my order would be automatically cancelled. This is a process which favors them but not the customer, because if you miss the email, you lose your order (and coupons).

But what's weird is that you lost the order despite the fact that they also call you and even if you say "keep the order in"! They called me on the camera, which I had already waited over a month for, and emailed. I had missed the email, but I told the person I wanted the order to stand.

Because I didn't reply to the email, which incidentally gave me to the 16th to "affirm" (3 days) even though the new ship date was only one week out! And despite my telling them on the phone to keep the order in place, they cancelled it.

The real fun began when I tried to get them to reinstate the order. A response to the cancellation email simply brought the rote response "The order has been cancelled; call sales". I spent almost 3 hours on hold for sales support before hanging up and trying to call sales. It took several calls to get anyone to do anything other than transfer me. After they confirmed my identity, they would ask me the problem, transfer me to someone else, and then they would confirm my identity, ask the problem, transfer me to someone else, starting me over. Sometimes the transfer would place me back in the "main menu", so I was back to square 1.

I called a sales only number and asxked to speak to a supervisor. She said there was nothing she could do for me, but she could put me through to someone else (again). This time, they eventually got me to someone who said they could not reinstate my order. I could order again, and they would give me the best price they could. But the camera I ordered was backordered and no longer on the "sales" list. So I had to order a different one (the silver version).

In trying to resolve the problem I used their echat system. It didn't work right in firefox. After switching to IE and waiting in line for 10-15 minutes, someone accepted the chat and said, "please wait a moment while I read your problem description" (or something like that). So I waited. Two minutes later, they gave me the message that since I had not responded in two minutes, they were terminating my session. And that's a final termination message, not a warning. Gee, I was waiting for them to read my message. Back to the start again.

In several places, and in emails, I was told to call a dell number for sales support and given a five digit extension. Unfortunately, the phone system requires a 7 digit extension. I did later find out from the sales person the "secret" is that all extensions start with 72 prefix, so you just need to add that.

The real secret is not to buy from Dell, or if you do, not to expect any kind of after sales (or even during sales) support. Dell has gone down the tubes."

"Hey everyone,

I just wanted to write and see how many people are having problems with Dell shipping their products out to you. This what happened with my order. I bought a Canon Digital Rebel XT body from Dell on April 15, 2005. On their website, they stated that that items "Usually ships in 24hrs." I don't know what standard of time they are on, but on this planet 24hrs = 1day. So, understandably, I became a bit frustrated when I found out it wasn't going to be delivered until May 2, 2005! Okay well, this is a popular item and I got a good price on it so I guess I'll wait.

And wait. Then, a few days before it was supposed to ship, I get another email from Dell saying that it is AGAIN delayed and won't ship out until May 12, 2005!! Okay, by this time, I am little more miffed because I need this camera to shoot at a family friend's wedding. I call in/email/chat to them and rant and rave. All they can do is upgrade the s/h to Next Day Air *when they actually plan to ship it out. Realizing that there's nothing more I can do I decide to wait it out.

And wait. Guess what? A few days before the scheduled ship date of May 12, 2005, I get another email from Dell saying that my Canon has been delayed...ONCE AGAIN! This time until May 19, 2005. This is starting to feel like the deja-vu from hell!! Again, I call in but they don't want to take responsibility and said that it's "out of their control" because it isn't a Dell product and from a third-party manufacturer. Wait a second, I am buying from Dell, so Dell is responsible to me and, likewise, Dell is a customer of Canon so why doesn't Dell make Canon ante up some responsiblity? If Dell is going to pass the buck like this everytime, why don't we just buy direct from Canon as USELESS as Dell is being the middle-man in this transaction? If Dell is choosing to serve no assistance in distributing the manufacturer's product to the customer, what's the point? Yet after all that, they still say they can't do anything about it and I have to wait.

And wait. Are you starting to see a pattern emerge here? Yep, you guessed it! Today, Dell served me with another email (just days before they promised before that my camera was supposed to ship) and said my camera will be delayed YET AGAIN!!! This time the ship date is July 11, 2005!!!!!

I have no idea what to do. What do you guys think? I *REALLY* need some help here. I am at my wit's end here and I know calling in to "Customer Service" is just going to be a waste of time. Please offer me some ideas!!!

This whole experience of buying from Dell is like buying from HELL!!

Thanks!"

"Ohhhh, the infamous Dell. I used a $75.00 coupon to purchase an item that was on sale and in the checkout it clearly said the item was $0.00. I even received an "Order Acknowledgement" stating the total was $0.00 Then two hours later I receive an "Order Confirmation" stating that the total is $96.96!!

I spent over an hour on the phone trying to clear up the mess and I was assured I would not be billed. Sure enough, I find a $96.96 charge from Dell on my credit card statement! This time I talked to Dell via online chat and they promised that the charge would be deducted, but who knows at this point. The scary thing is, Dell's records indicate that I was charged $0.00.

Oh, and the reason I had the $75 coupon to begin with is because a camera that was listed as IN STOCK has now been delayed two months.

So the moral of the story; no one at Dell is really an unethical person. Simply the company is soooo disorganized that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. Outsourcing their customer service to India will be their undoing."

"I wasted one month waiting for a Memory Stick Pro Duo 1GB. When I ordered that, it showed in stock on Dell site.
I just checked my order status and they cancelled my order without even warning me...

The worst "service" I've ever experienced online!!!"

"My computer has not worked from day one. They refuse to do anything about eventhough I paid extra for in home tech service."

"I still haven't received my computer speakers that I ordered over a month ago! Dell has the worst customer service and I will NEVER buy from them again!"

"I purchased UltraSharp 1905FP 19-inch Flat Panel Monitor for over half off with stackable coupons. Very satisfied with the purchase. Dell was quick to confirm the order. Shipped on time, and recieved on time. Would do business with again even though some customers diss dell heavily. I think there are too many willing to jump on the diss dell bandwagon."

"Dell Small Business has done it again.

I have had great experences with Dell Small Business. Regarding RMA of parts and great prices also.

I would be very willing to buy from the Small Business side again. You do not necessarly need to be a small business to buy here.

I would not purchase from the home side of their operation. Everything I have heard about the home section tells me it is bad but, small business is good!

"

"I ordered a laptop on April 1st, got the product on april 8th. I then received another laptop (which I did not order) on April 12th. there wa no record on "my account" at Dell's website about the second laptop coz it turned out with different Customer number. Since then, I have been calling them for more than 1 week and spoke to at least 18 differenct people (mostly in India) for at least 30 minutes per call just for Dell to have someone pickup the laptop and ship it back to Dell. One empty promise after the other and after the 18th call, DHL finally came by and picked the the other laptop on the 18th. It reached Dell on the 22nd and until now, I have been patiently calling to get credit for the other laptop which I have never ordered but somehow was charged against my credit card. Now its already May 4th and I am still waiting and waiting and patiently calling for Dell to rectify the error they made which I, the poor customer is the one who is being inconvenient to a great extent. Dell has now earned the Worst customer support of all time which easily beat HP/Compaq by huge margin.
will never ever buy anything from Dell again."

"Purchased a new retail packaged internal DVD burner using amex Gift checks that i purchased using my amex points. Received an unpackaged (no box, cd, manual,etc) porly packaged DVD burner. Also showed signs of a previuos instalation (e.g. screw marks) Returned item and Dell wil not refund my money or exchange item. they tell me that they dont refund gift checks and i cant use it to purchase a replacement burner. So no store credit no dvd burner no gift checks. The only thing that got burned was me"

"Ordered a Canon Digital Rebel XT on 4/15 due to the outstanding coupon deals that were posted in the forums on DPREVIEW.COM. Noticing that the expected delivery of the black camera was 2-3 weeks, while the silver one was 2-3 days, I ordered the silver one, although I had a slight preference for the black one. After placing my order, I immediately received an e-mail acknowledging the order.

18 minutes later, I received my order confirmation via e-mail, with an expected ship date of May 2. A couple days later I tried to see if I could change my order to the black unit if the wait was going to be the same, but the CS reps could not give me the same outstanding price that I had found through the stackable coupons.

I kept checking on the status of the order every couple of days, and my expected ship date remained the same. I read on DPREVIEW that some people were ordering new silver Rebel XTs after I did, and had already received them. That doesn't seem right.

So I check on April 29 and found that my order had shipped on April 28. No courtesy e-mail at all. I tracked my shipment from DHL's website, and saw that it should be delivered on May 3. On the morning of May 2, I checked the DHL status again and noted that it was with the carrier. The package was left by my garage door on a rainy day, no signature required. Luckily, my wife heard the dog barking and retrieved it as the delivery man was walking away. She asked if she had to sign anything, and was told no.

Disappointing that a reletively expensive piece of equipment would simply be left by the garage in the weather! And had I not persistently checked my order on Dell's site, I would not have been expecting it, and it would have sat outside for several days if I were out of town.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the product I received, and especially the price I paid. However, Dell's service leaves something to be desired."

"I continue to be thoroughly impressed with them.

I do admit it requires some finessing especially with the techs over in India, but if you know what you're doing, they are awesome!

They are not only awesome, but very accomdating. I will continue to purchase from them. I tried purchasing from HP once and it was a nightmare!

Dell really has their stuff together!
It's such a pity that commonly the only vocals ones are the ones that were not satisfied or happy. Happy and satisfied customers have no reason to speak out or invest time in putting up a review.

One question for all that are complaining about Dell, do you think they would be a Fortune 500 company if they were not doing a good job?

Dell does a great job! And I can stand completely behind them! "

"Overly bureaucratic and less-than-knowledgable customer support. Products are first-rate, but beware if you have a simple problem with your order. took 8 tries with customer service to arrange a return of a thumb drive."

"Purchased a Dell Dimension 4700 based on Outragious Deals listed on Resellerratings.com. Computer/monitor/free printer arrived 2 days early via UPS. Everything was perfect. "

"I ordered a cable from Dell for my Axim X50v - on sale with free 3-5 day (slowest) shipping. Ordered on 06/06; I was amazed when it appeared on my doorstep on the morning of 06/08.... I'm impressed - I wasn't expecting it for at least a week. "