Dell: New order NIGHTMARE m1730

New order NIGHTMARE m1730

I am turning here, to post my complete and utter dissatisfaction with Dell, after attempting to place an order, and actually RECEIVE the ordered item. Below is the LONG story, that I think covers all of the main points.

April 29th, I placed an order through Dell Home / Home & Office for a new Dell XPS m1730 Laptop. The order I placed was for a very high end configuration, and was priced over $3000. At the time, I had an estimated delivery date of May 9th. Since it was within two weeks, I opted for the "free" 3-5 day shipping.

At that time, I also ordered some printer cartridges, a couple of USB Wireless Network adapters, and a Wireless Access Point.

The printer cartridges were delivered, very quickly. The wireless gear was delayed. My laptop showed "In Production". I waited, and as the delivery date got closer, I was emailed with the first delay.

It would now be May 11th. Two days, no problem. One week after that, I received ANOTHER delay notice, for both the laptop and the wireless gear. New Date: May 29th. I opted to cancel the wireless portion of the order, and get it locally for both less time and money.

I opted to keep the laptop order going, but seeing that the online configuration tool no longer had the particular options I had ordered, I decided to shoot them an email, and ask if the new configuration options were available, and if we can just adjust my order. I figured that maybe if I selected some different options, the delays would be resolved, and I'd get it sooner. I was told "No, sorry, but once it is in production, NOTHING can be done.. You must wait until you receive it, return it, and re-order if you wish to make changes".

I did not want to wait for that process, so I just left it.

Last week, I looked at the status online, and yet again, the laptop had been delayed. This time, the email said I had to respond, either by calling or replying to the email, or the order would be canceled.

I called. After going through 7 transfers, I finally spoke to a manager in customer service who understood what was happening. I went through every detail of my order, and asked if ANY of it was on back order. He assured me that the delays were not due to parts being unavailable, but that there was a large amount of orders for this system type, and that demand was making up the delays.

After expressing my complete dissatisfaction, and working through it, I requested that my order have expedited shipping, at Dell's expense, so that when it actually DID get completed, I could get the system as fast as possible. After many attempts to get me to accept the previous explanation that "In Production" means NOTHING can be changed, and the order could not be adjusted in any way, I finally stated unequivocally that it was NOT acceptable to have 3 delays, and no ability to even update the shipping method.

The manager then suddenly had another option available to him, and he assured me he would do what he could, and that there were no guarantees. I was explicit: Just get it here quicker, I'm not canceling or changing anything otherwise.

He said he'd get back to me within 48 hours. The next day, I checked the website, and sure enough, the shipping method was updated to Next Business day, and the delivery date was as previously noted (June 5th).

Today, I logged in, and the order was listed as canceled. Ridiculous! I called the order notify number listed in the email I received (which wasn't even sent until I logged into the system to check status).

I am transferred all over, and "escalated" to a manager. All of the people involved blamed me for the order being canceled. They say that I failed to respond, and it was "auto-canceled". I explained OVER & OVER that I did respond, by CALLING, not replying to the email. They were able to SEE that I spoke with someone that day, and that the shipping was updated to Next Business Day as a result of my call.

After talking with 4 people, here is where my order sits:

1) "I'm sorry, but once an order is canceled, we cannot do anything to resolve it, you must re-order"
2) I asked to be escalated. I spoke with a manager, who assured me they would do what they could. After an hour of holding, and explaining, it seemed like I had progress.
3) The manager came back, and said they would do a NEW order, expedite the build, as well as shipping. They assured me this was the best, fastest, and easiest way to resolve the issue.
4) I relented, and went down that path.

Now, I am being told that the majority of what I had ordered isn't available. The configurations aren't possible, and I should just find something else that I can accept in its place.

I'm livid, but at this point, I'm a full month into this, without ANY order now, and no idea how long it will take to complete this 'new' order. I go through the website, look at the options available, and figure out that even though the X9000 extreme processor isn't available, I can just get a T9500. The 9800 (1GB) SLI options aren't available, but I do see an 8800 version - to be honest, I don't know WHERE it was, it may have been home, it may have been small business. I have both types of accounts.

After getting the parts list together, I sent it off to the manager who requested I research a comparable system. She calls me back, and says that she cannot even find the 8800, and that some of the other items that were involved in my list cannot be chosen either, even though I found them online.

At this point, I have asked to be escalated again. I told her that this isn't even remotely "OK", we're not even building a machine that is close to what I was expecting to get. She says she needs to transfer me to customer care, for the escalation. Once transferred, I hear someone pick up, and then they hang up on me.

The 2nd manager is convinced my delays and problems with the original order was due to parts availability, when the guy I talked to 3 days prior said it wasn't. Nobody knows WHAT the issue is, nor do they seem to care.

I want to spend a large sum of money, for a current, high end, laptop. I have TRIED giving this business to Dell again, only to have this nightmare. The Indian call centers continually pass the buck from one group to the next, and nobody has the ability, authority, or desire to actually fix the problem.

If ANYONE has some sort of contact information for someone at Dell who wants to actually resolve my issue, and complete the sale, please feel free to contact me. My email address is brad at senff dot net.

Any advice as to how to get this entire story to someone who is actually responsible for sales, and support, would be greatly appreciated.

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Brad Senff