Dude, you're -not- getting a Dell!
On 4/4 I ordered a Dell 9100. It simply had the most bang for my buck. They estimated delivery on 4/29 or so, and I was okay with that, because hey, cool and cheap is good, right?
On 4/7 I called in because they were suddenly offering 15% off, a free upgrade to 512mb of ram, and free shipping. All together, it would be like $80 less and have more ram. So I called to change promotions. I mean, they hadn't even begun to build it yet. Simple, right?
Wrong. I called on my 15 minute break. The rep I spoke to was some kind of complete jerk. He cut me off in mid-question, and told me that I would have to cancel my order and order again, resetting my ship date to some time in May. When I asked if there was someone else I could speak to, he said "There sure is!" and promptly put me back in the queue. 4 minutes later, when the next rep picked up the phone, I explained and was given a similar line, but I didn't have time to talk.
So I called back at lunch. This time I was in for a ride. I explained to the first rep (note: each rep had to verify my name, address, telephone number, and exhort to me the benefits of using their website to answer commonly asked questions) my request, to simply receive the ram upgrade and call the rest good.
The rep explained that I would need to talk to another department. The next rep transferred me back to the first department. Then I got transferred to a rep in India. This rep didn't understand my questions, and kept repeating lines from a script. He put me on hold after asking my name. He then transferred me to another rep in India.
This rep was strange. After everything I said, without adequate pause, she would say "uh huh" or "yep". And I mean that she would insert this in between every few syllables of mine. It was as if she couldn't hear me. But I persisted, and after about 30 minutes filled with holding and simple questions and simple answers, she understood what I wanted: help me keep my order and get the free ram.
And her solution after 30 minutes of English language class: You must cancel your order and order again. When I mentioned that they had already sent me a printer and camera (which were included with the other promotion, bleh), offering to send them back, she explained that in that case I couldn't cancel my order.
At this point I lost a little bit of "nice". I proceeded to explain that I could cancel my order at any time in the first 30 days. She argued with me! I asked for her supervisor, (she put me on hold again, avg hold time 4 minutes) and came back telling me that her supervisor had just started another call, and wanted to give me an extention. I said no, find someone who is available. Hold again. She came back and insisted that I would need to call back. So I asked her "who do you call when you need help?" She answered some position I've never heard of. So I then told her "get me that person". She was at a loss. And she decided to start the conversation again about what I would have to do.
So I asked her to cancel. It was like flipping a "nice" switch on for her, and she immediately offered me $50 off. I refused, and she offered a $100 coupon off my next purchase online. I finally decided that that would be a good way to get the additional ram, accepted, and hung up.
I ordered the ram, it arrived in like two days. I then realized that the laptop needed two identical ram chips to run in dual-channel mode (doubling the memory bandwidth).
Long story slightly shorter: I had to call back, and got transferred all over the freaking world. After speaking to -EIGHT- different reps, the last one (in India again) told me I would have to send it back, and would lose the $100 discount.
Fed up, I cancelled via their online chat support. The chat support person was very slow and rude, taking at one time 8 minutes to respond after saying "Please give me a moment". Finally, He agreed to cancel my order and set up a fed-ex pickup for my printer and camera.
That day I went to Fry's and bought a Fujitsu N5010 laptop. The 16" crystal view screen made me forget that it only had 64mb of video ram, and I just up and bought it. Seriously, the lcd on this thing is the best I have ever seen. Evar! =)
Anyway, last night, I log onto my Dell account to make sure everything is cool, and the order is not cancelled! Infact, it is almost ready to ship!
So my nightmare continued, and I log on to chat (I'll never call Dell on the phone again). Here is a sample of our conversation:
KEANE: Hi, my name is KEANE, thank you for contacting Dell. How may I help you? (5:31:02)
Me: Hi, I need to make sure my order is cancelled and my pick-up is scheduled for the printer and camera I received. (5:31:23)
KEANE: Please give me a minute. (5:33:04)
Me: Okay. =)
KEANE: What name is this account under? (I had already entered all of that to get into the chat) (5:42:24)
Me: Sure. Scott *********. No offense, but I seriously hope it didn't take you 10 minutes to work up to asking me my name. =)
At this point KEANE and I strike up a decently pleasant dialogue during which I explained, he apologized, I asked to have it cancelled (the other rep had not done anything to cancel or set up a pick-up) and he offered me $50 to keep it. I politely refused, explaining that I couldn't handle the idea of ever having to call Dell again. It is now cancelled.
Dell Inspiron 9100 (cancelled)
P4 3.0 ghz with HT
256 mb 400mhz Ram
60 gig 7200 rpm HD
CD-RW/DVD Player
15.4" Widescreen SXGA+ LCD
128mb Ati Radeon 9700
3-4 week wait time
Terrible customer service
Fujitsu N5010 (In my hands now.)
P4 3.0 ghz with HT
512 mb 333mhz Ram
60 gig ???? Rpm HD
DVD-RW =)
16.1" Crystalview SXGA+ LCD (unbelievable, you must see this thing)
64mb Ati Radeon 9600 (Hell, it runs the Far Cry demo at over 20fps with a factory software install. Works for me.)
Anyway, thanks to Chris (Fumblefactory) for recommending Fujitsu. They rock!
On 4/7 I called in because they were suddenly offering 15% off, a free upgrade to 512mb of ram, and free shipping. All together, it would be like $80 less and have more ram. So I called to change promotions. I mean, they hadn't even begun to build it yet. Simple, right?
Wrong. I called on my 15 minute break. The rep I spoke to was some kind of complete jerk. He cut me off in mid-question, and told me that I would have to cancel my order and order again, resetting my ship date to some time in May. When I asked if there was someone else I could speak to, he said "There sure is!" and promptly put me back in the queue. 4 minutes later, when the next rep picked up the phone, I explained and was given a similar line, but I didn't have time to talk.
So I called back at lunch. This time I was in for a ride. I explained to the first rep (note: each rep had to verify my name, address, telephone number, and exhort to me the benefits of using their website to answer commonly asked questions) my request, to simply receive the ram upgrade and call the rest good.
The rep explained that I would need to talk to another department. The next rep transferred me back to the first department. Then I got transferred to a rep in India. This rep didn't understand my questions, and kept repeating lines from a script. He put me on hold after asking my name. He then transferred me to another rep in India.
This rep was strange. After everything I said, without adequate pause, she would say "uh huh" or "yep". And I mean that she would insert this in between every few syllables of mine. It was as if she couldn't hear me. But I persisted, and after about 30 minutes filled with holding and simple questions and simple answers, she understood what I wanted: help me keep my order and get the free ram.
And her solution after 30 minutes of English language class: You must cancel your order and order again. When I mentioned that they had already sent me a printer and camera (which were included with the other promotion, bleh), offering to send them back, she explained that in that case I couldn't cancel my order.
At this point I lost a little bit of "nice". I proceeded to explain that I could cancel my order at any time in the first 30 days. She argued with me! I asked for her supervisor, (she put me on hold again, avg hold time 4 minutes) and came back telling me that her supervisor had just started another call, and wanted to give me an extention. I said no, find someone who is available. Hold again. She came back and insisted that I would need to call back. So I asked her "who do you call when you need help?" She answered some position I've never heard of. So I then told her "get me that person". She was at a loss. And she decided to start the conversation again about what I would have to do.
So I asked her to cancel. It was like flipping a "nice" switch on for her, and she immediately offered me $50 off. I refused, and she offered a $100 coupon off my next purchase online. I finally decided that that would be a good way to get the additional ram, accepted, and hung up.
I ordered the ram, it arrived in like two days. I then realized that the laptop needed two identical ram chips to run in dual-channel mode (doubling the memory bandwidth).
Long story slightly shorter: I had to call back, and got transferred all over the freaking world. After speaking to -EIGHT- different reps, the last one (in India again) told me I would have to send it back, and would lose the $100 discount.
Fed up, I cancelled via their online chat support. The chat support person was very slow and rude, taking at one time 8 minutes to respond after saying "Please give me a moment". Finally, He agreed to cancel my order and set up a fed-ex pickup for my printer and camera.
That day I went to Fry's and bought a Fujitsu N5010 laptop. The 16" crystal view screen made me forget that it only had 64mb of video ram, and I just up and bought it. Seriously, the lcd on this thing is the best I have ever seen. Evar! =)
Anyway, last night, I log onto my Dell account to make sure everything is cool, and the order is not cancelled! Infact, it is almost ready to ship!
So my nightmare continued, and I log on to chat (I'll never call Dell on the phone again). Here is a sample of our conversation:
KEANE: Hi, my name is KEANE, thank you for contacting Dell. How may I help you? (5:31:02)
Me: Hi, I need to make sure my order is cancelled and my pick-up is scheduled for the printer and camera I received. (5:31:23)
KEANE: Please give me a minute. (5:33:04)
Me: Okay. =)
KEANE: What name is this account under? (I had already entered all of that to get into the chat) (5:42:24)
Me: Sure. Scott *********. No offense, but I seriously hope it didn't take you 10 minutes to work up to asking me my name. =)
At this point KEANE and I strike up a decently pleasant dialogue during which I explained, he apologized, I asked to have it cancelled (the other rep had not done anything to cancel or set up a pick-up) and he offered me $50 to keep it. I politely refused, explaining that I couldn't handle the idea of ever having to call Dell again. It is now cancelled.
Dell Inspiron 9100 (cancelled)
P4 3.0 ghz with HT
256 mb 400mhz Ram
60 gig 7200 rpm HD
CD-RW/DVD Player
15.4" Widescreen SXGA+ LCD
128mb Ati Radeon 9700
3-4 week wait time
Terrible customer service
Fujitsu N5010 (In my hands now.)
P4 3.0 ghz with HT
512 mb 333mhz Ram
60 gig ???? Rpm HD
DVD-RW =)
16.1" Crystalview SXGA+ LCD (unbelievable, you must see this thing)
64mb Ati Radeon 9600 (Hell, it runs the Far Cry demo at over 20fps with a factory software install. Works for me.)
Anyway, thanks to Chris (Fumblefactory) for recommending Fujitsu. They rock!