"This was orginally an order for two systems and two flat panel displays. The flat panel displays were sent and arrived ontime; however Dell lost the order, or so it seems, for the two computers. Immediately after placing the order I received an email from Dell showing the entire order (an email which I have saved) two computers and two monitors. This was all on a thursday late Alaska time so I knew it was really a friday order and didn't expect much to happen till the following monday. By the following monday the two panels were shipped but no word on the computers themselves. This is now tuesday afternoon alaska time and I have received the monitors already but no sign of the computers at all. They never showed up on my order at all. So, I have an email from dell showing that I indeed ordered as I have said and then only shipping on the partial order and the rest is lost. "

"I tried to cancel an order a few hours after placing it last Saturday. There is no way to do that from their web site. Contacted customer support through Dell's online chat service. Person said they would initiate cancellation, but the order status still shows "InProduction". I clicked the option to send chat transcript to my e-mail, but never received it.

Called 800 number today and was routed to non-working extension, twice. Called toll number and waited on-hold for 30 minutes before hanging up.

Sent e-mail requesting cancellation of order. Received atrificial intellingence response stating that I should call 800 number to cancel an order. Called 800 number and was routed to non-working extension again. Replied to e-mail hoping that someone will actally act."

"I purchased a Canon SD300 with a recommended camera bag from their website. Though on it, I was told to expect shipment for the camera bag in 1-2 Weeks. I made the order on Tuesday 12/21 @ about 12:40 AM.

After going making the order, I had second thoughts and I decided to cancel, but I found out that there is no simple way to cancel the order! I had to send a form which would I later find out take 2-3 days to process which I thought would be okay as long as it would process. To confirm the order got canceled, I contacted their online customer support with via a Chat applet and I found out that I would likely have to send them back the item and was disappointed at the added work but they said they would allow me to ship it back at their cost so I was okay with it.

Then on Wednesday 12/22, i was shocked and at the same time amazed, the Camera as well as the bag already came in! Despite choosing the free 3-5 day ground shipping, Dell had basically shipped the camera on Christmas week in about a day all the way from texas to California! In the end, I decided to the keep the Camera and I know I will definitely purchase from them again! (they're faster than newegg ever was!)"

"Poor customer service. I realize CS is hard to manage, but from professional experience as a Phone Support Technician (for another company), Dell is severely lacking. IF calling a support center, expect someone from India with a heavy accent and overly canned responses."

"I have ordered two machines from dell for customers. One I bought through my store the other I helped them purchase online. I have been recommending Dell because of the quality hardware they have distributed over the last decade of building computers. I think they had phenomonal customer support up until last year. Now then.

There is no excuse for how mixed up and confused dell has become! I ordered a desktop on September 28th 2004 at which time I was told it would ship October 7th. On October 7th I got an email saying it would be delayed for a week before shipping out, this was unacceptable for me to tell my client this. I called to cancel the order and vent my frustration when the oddest thing happened, the computer had shipped out that day. I asked how could such an email get to me by mistake they simply denied such an email existed at all. I gave up trying to get them to admit a mistake and waited for the computer which suprisingly showed up on time.

There have been numerous times I have called Dell only to speak to a person with a heavy foreign accent and been told that my problem was solved. In one such instance I was working on an Inspiron 1100 laptop with a broken keyboard. I was attempting to get them to send a new keyboard because the machines F11 key was stuck and it caused annoying beeps plus tons of freezing in windows. My inability to communicate the problem to someone who was reading out of a manual prompted 3 seperate phone calls before I gave up and ordered a non-warranty replacement off ebay.

DO NOT BUY DELL!!! Please take the time to consider that Dell is to big to care about you or me they want your money then your on your own! "

"My problem with Dell started out small (computer missing in transit) but ended leaving me completely dumbfounded. Good luck to those who need to contact Dell about ANYTHING, technical or otherwise. Their call centre in Asia is frustrating mainly because they seem to have no communication with the rest of the company, and you have to re-explain your story over and over (and over and over) again each time you call. And you will call, because it is nothing short of spectacular to have someone call you back when promised. Their management here in Ireland is strangely unobtainable. I was told tonight (by a helpful Dell person) that the Sales Centre manager doesn't return customer's calls personally because she is usually kept busy with meetings. But aren't those meetings, by virtue of being in the sales dept., probably all about increasing sales and finding more customers?? When I was looking on-line for help in contacting Dell management, I was amazed by the amount of sites like this that all told pretty much the same story. Save yourself some time and money (you'll have to buy a new computer after throwing your Dell model through the window in frustration) and buy a new computer from another company."

"I purchased an Axim x50v and had multiple problems with the unit. Tech support was unable to help because, to quote the person I talked to, "we have no information on the unit yet". Apparenlty Dell had not gotten around to giving them any info on the unit. At any rate, my problem was in returning the unit. After sending several emails to accomplish this, it turned out that no one came on the designated date to pick my unit up. After another email, Dell sent DHL to pick it up. They came on 12/6/04. As of 12/13/04 DHL tracking showed that it was delivered to Dell. As of today, 1/4/05, I still have no credit for my return, and after multiple emails with Dell, I'm told they didn't receive my package until 12/27/04, which is obviously incorrect. So I wait here for my refund on a defective unit. Possibly waiting until the end of time........."

"I didn’t want to do it because I always build my own PCs but I ordered a system from Dell. It was seven days before Christmas and I never thought it would make it on time…but it did! I have heard horror stories about their tech. support but I have to give them two thumbs up for getting my order to my house in 3 days! "

"Ordered their 2005FPW widescreen LCD. Arrived on time and in perfect condition. A few dead pixels developed over a week or two, but they're not noticeable unless I really look for them in black background. Overall, very satisfied."

"Service and part are good. The delivery is aweful. I ordered everything with 2nd day shipping, earliest product got to me 8 days later!"

"I ordered a Viewsonic VE710b LCD monitor and APC PF11VNT3 surge protector from Dell. I placed my order on the 29th of December. The monitor's listed ship date was between 1 and 2 weeks according to Dell's website. I received both at 1 PM on the 30th."

"On November 17, 2004 we had placed an order with Dell Computer Corporation for a processor to be shipped to my husbands work. We gave them our credit card number, which we authorized to be processed only once. The transaction was declined and we received an e-mail from ****@**** (please see attachment) requesting that we contact our bank to discuss further credit card resolution. The e-mail also stated that to reprocess the existing card, please contact Dell at ****@****. Then our order would be reprocessed using the card that was originally submitted with our order. We DID NOT respond to the attached e-mail authorizing Dell Computer Corporation to process our credit card a second time. Dell processed our card without our permission and sent us a PC. In the e-mail it states that the order will be canceled within 72 hours of no response. Our order was not canceled but processed without our consent.

I have spoken with numerous customer care representatives stating that we would like our money to be returned immediately due to their mistake. They are not able to rectify the problem. They state that they are unable to credit my account until the PC has been returned. We had to call five times to have the PC picked up by DHL, which is unacceptable. They have a tracking number stating that DHL has your equipment and they state that it is policy to have the hardware received and in-house before they can credit my account. Again, this is not acceptable due to Dell Computer Corporation taking payment for hardware that we did not authorize by processing my card illegally. This not our mistake and responsibility to repair.

Dell does not repair their problems and I feel that the "Customer Care" department that they have are worthless. Numerous times I asked them to rectify the problem but they wouldn't and then they decide to refund our money minus shipping and handling for the return. We are currently in battle with Dell for the remaining money. I would recommend that if you want a PC and a company that is great to work with go to tigerdirect.com. We got a better PC for less money and they have great customer care."

"My Dell system cost me less(substantially) than the parts alone and customer support is as good as any other vendor that I have used.


Tom"

"Ordered a Maxtor 120GB hard drive with 8MB cache. I researched this purchase very carefully, looking at all competing products and specs.

Then waited for 3 weeks. Finally got it at the end of December, and ... they sent me a disk with only 2MB of cache. (I had to call Maxtor to find this out, using the serial number).

Customer No-Service is THE WORST! If you have a cellphone, you just cannot afford to call them, because they keep you on hold FOREVER. Email them, and wait ... for a useless response. Try to "CHAT ONLINE" with them, and it either tells you they are too busy or (falsely) says you are not a home user (I am), that you are a business according to their records, so no chat for you.

Nightmare. Never again.

UPDATE, Jan 1 2005: Since then, after many emails and posting on their user forums (a good idea, btw), I got a very apologetic email admitting their error and giving me $35 credit for the hassle. They also RMAed the drive at their expense. So I went ahead and ordered a Seagate drive through Dell using the credit. They say they will credit my VISA account for the other drive once received (within 15 days thereafter). I shall update this review if they do not."

"Computer was not opened until Christmas. So it would not start. The issue was loose memory chips. The problem was that in 3 calls to dell support on 12/27/04 I was on hold for 1 1/2 hours and received no help - no one ever picked up. In the time frame I figured it out myself and also configues a wireless laptop and router while waiting.

Putrid support."