Ordered a DRU-500A from dell.com? Read This!

[Thwiipp]

Good to see others feel the same way i do, they way i feel now its a good thing i dont live near them , it be like a scene out of the Matrix.

[marisag427]

new update: Dell calls me out of the blue - the guy who was trying to cancel my order yesterday. He gets an e-mail from shipping - they can't cancel because my order has shipped. He gives me a bogus tracking number of 20021009. I tell him that's a date and not a tracking number. He puts me on hold.

Apparently: Dell uses 3rd party vendors to stock items. They automatically give 30 days ship dates to back-orders so they can meet their dates without people panicing. So my order went to this 3rd party vendor 3 days ago and is definitely getting shipped today - even though there is a backlog, he insists that the vender got some last week and orders placed in the beginning of October are being fulfilled.

So he said I should receive a confirmation from Dell TODAY with my real tracking number.

Don't know if I believe this for now, but I'll let you know in a few days. Now why didn't the sales guy tell me this 10 minutes ago?

I know one thing, I will never order from them again!!

[donpedro]

I called today again. Didn't sound good. They "will call me back".

In a mean time I tried Circuit City with printout of my Order. They didn't have any. They were willing to order one for me from warehouse with free shipping. But no luck with price match, since current price at Dell is higher. I'll try another store when I get back home.

[SLK001]

You guys need to keep up with current events. There have been about 12 different shipments of these drives sitting in cargo ships on the west coast of the US. With the longshoremen staging a "work-slowdown", these ships are not getting unloaded fast enough to fulfill the demand for this drive. Dell has no control over this, and cannot afford to airfreight the drives to the US and still sell for the price listed. They were (are) caught in a bind for these overseas products just like everyone else.

Maybe some of the people handling the phones are slightly above incompetent, but Dell isn't the only one with people like this on the payrole.

And "NO" I don't work for Dell (don't even own a Dell product).

[donpedro]

SLK001,

Good point. I am just too selfish . I wanted my burner yesterday. And my point is that why do they still sell this burner with same promised day 1-2 weeks ? They should move it to 1-2 months if they can't fulfill promise.

[marisag427]

He does have a good point. I don't mind the wait if Dell handled the situation better. Giving customers the run-around only makes you lose your credibility. I don't even blame the people on the phone.

A big company like Dell should have a procedure in place for times like this. Not so much to get the product to their customers (which obviously is #1), but at least to get the correct information out. Someone high above should have came up with a game plan to organize this mess and inform all the phone support personnel.

I expected more from a company who prides themselves on their support.

[SLK001]

Dell suffers from the same "left-hand-not-knowing-what-the-right-hand-is-doing" syndrome like most other big firms. Communications up / down the structure is probably poor like most other big firms. Dell is depending on their shippers to provide the information to attempt to firm up dates, but the shippers are just as much a hostage to the longshoremen as Dell. The result is that you get a flow of eroneous info with which to set schedules, which makes everyone unhappy - like youse guys!

I recommend that you just be patient. If you jump out of the queue and you really want the drive, you will just have to get back in queue farther down the line. Either that, or pay a higher price to someone who has stock.

[donpedro]

Dell suffers from the same "left-hand-not-knowing-what-the-right-hand-is-doing" syndrome like most other big firms.

That doesn't mean that I have to be happy about it, sit quietly and just wait, right ? They would have to change it or customers will find different store. Sometimes price is not the only factor as you can see here. A lot of people canceled their order and went to CC or CompUSA. Even with higher price. For me brand name Dell was some kind of guaranty that I will not have this kind of issues. I guess I was wrong.

[rtacadena]

Hmmm.... I ordered my on the 10/08 and got a shipping date of the 23rd, got an email saying it shipped on the 22nd and recieved it on the 25th. I'm on the east coast. Georgia to be exact. I'm wondering if they may had major mix ups with people cancelling orders and stuff.

[donpedro]

I'm wondering if they may had major mix ups with people cancelling orders and stuff.

Very possible. I ordered one day after you and still nothing. Also east coast. More south. You can't go more south than that

[donpedro]

Well. Does anybody have problem to call Dell.com ?

As soon as I enter my Order or Customer number they will give me message "Number taht you reached is not working number.... Please dial....". New number is for Goverment customers. I was using this number fine before.

Am I on some kind of "black list" ?

[Jester700]

Just another data point -
I ordered mine on 10/4, with est. ship date of 10/9. There was an intermediate ship date they gave me later that I forget, then on 10/18 I got the message that my expected delivery was 11/29.

Long story short, it came today - to central PA.

WOOHOO!

[marisag427]

hooray, I actually got a real tracking number - it went out today. So I'm guessing in 2-3 days it should be here.

Unbelieveable - I just wonder if I got bumped because of the several phone calls I made, or if it was just a coincidence.

[donpedro]

hooray, I actually got a real tracking number - it went out today. So I'm guessing in 2-3 days it should be here.

Unbelieveable - I just wonder if I got bumped because of the several phone calls I made, or if it was just a coincidence.

What is first sign of shipment ? Email or Status on Dell's web site ?

[Tbear]

Odered on 10/01 got email saying would ship by 10/23. Then got email saying 11/29. Still nothing else.

[marisag427]

first sign of shipment was two days ago I saw on Order Status - it was split in two.

In the Shipped section, it read:

Shipped -

Sku: 97-11127 Quantity: 1
Description: Discount(s) and/or coupon(s) have been i

Tracking Number: 20021009 (this number is a date, but which date I have no idea since it's not when I ordered it)

Carrier:

But the drive was still listed in the Items on Backorder Section.

But since then I've had 3 dell reps call me to tell me different ship dates ranging from 11/16 to 12/31.


Then, when I spoke to a rep today, they stated that the shipped section meant that it went to the vendor to be shipped, but it hadn't left yet.

Just now on their website in Order Status, it changed and reads

Shipped 10/30/2002

Sku: 450623 Quantity: 1
Description: DUAL DVD+RW/-RW EIDE DRIVE

Tracking Number: XXXXXX
Carrier: AIRBORNE EXPRESS

Shipped 10/30/2002

Sku: 97-11127 Quantity: 1
Description: Discount(s) and/or coupon(s) have been i


Tracking Number: 20021009

Carrier:


I still have not gotten an e-mail

[donpedro]

first sign of shipment was two days ago I saw on Order Status - it was split in two.

My status was split from the beggining. Now (after first promise date) it looks like this

Shipped Items
Shipped
Sku: 97-11127 Quantity: 1
Description: Discount(s) and/or coupon(s) have been i

Delayed Items
Currently one or more items are not available. Every effort is being made to complete your order.
Delayed Currently attempting to complete order
Sku: A0060843 Quantity: 1
Description: 2.4X/2.4X DVD+R/RW / 4X/2X DVD-R/RW / 8X

[mlcarson]

I f*cking hate Dell. I posted earlier today that after talking to Dell customer service (Patricia) that my order was supposed to ship out today and arrive no later than Monday. I checked my status later and discovered that another order at a price of $371.54 had been placed and that the ship date was 1/28/2003. Talk about going from bad to worse... My original order date was 10/1/02 and the ship date was 11/29/01 at a price of $253.06.

I then called back and tried to figure out what was going on. The guy I talked to still didn't have a satisfactory answer as to why so many orders that were placed after mine got shipped while I was still waiting -- just that they screwed up. He didn't have a clue as to what Patricia was trying to do but knew it didn't work since the ship date was now in 2003. He supposedly tried expediting the original order which gave me my original est ship date of 10/4/02. Don't know whether it will help but I'm pretty damn frustrated that orders placed weeks after mine have already shipped. I'll wait until 11/29/02 if I have to but will cancel if that date gets pushed to the next year.

Tried the circuit city price match thing since they do have the drives locally but they're priced at $350 and won't do a match. Guess I'm stuck with Dell.

[JasonK]

It's pretty clear what Dell is doing. They are shipping out the drives to those who bought it days later at the higher price. They're hoping the original ones sold in the $250 to $270 range will cancel their order since there are enough people wanting the drive at $350+.

[vw671]

It just might be time for a BBB complaint. But to do so we need proof of people getting their drives who ordered after us.

To you people who got your drives could you give us the order date and delivery date and a scan of the order info if possible.

[dun4cheap]

Well I say we stick together here. This is what I have done so far. My order was placed on 10/07/2002 through Dells small business. Originally the out the door price was $275 and change and the ship date was supposed to be no later that 10/22/2002. This has now been changed to 11/28/2002, then to 10/28/2002, then to 11/07/2002 and now 12/31/2002. Prior to this I spoke with Jeff Russel whom is the sales supervisor for dell. He has taken an additional 10% off making the order $248. Since then I have purchased one from Circuit City for $315.00. I refuse to cancel my Dell order. I have been calling DELL on a day to day basis. These are my official contact points. Everyone should call them tomorrow.

Dells number - 1-877-284-3355

Jeff Russel - xtension 88204
Jennifer Roman - xtension 40563 - email- Jennifer_Roman@Dell.com

When you call I would ask them to take an additional 10% off also. Funny thing is I emailed her back and asked her if the delay of the hard drive she referenced in the email I recieved below would effect my DVD -RW shipping. She never responded.



Customer,

I apologize for the inconvenice, but I have no control when orders ship.
I've spoken to my manager and he has authorized the 1 time 10% off for the
Hard Drive. You have every right to cancel your order, if you wish. They
have updated the new eta on the hard drive to 12/31/02.

Thank you,
Jennifer

[Jester700]

I agree that the situation sucks for many, but I dunno if it's because of the profit motive. Plenty of people are getting them at the low price. Mine was $254 before tax, and I just got it. I ordered after you (10/4), but it was in the same general timeframe. Seems like a computerized queue FUBAR to me.

[dun4cheap]

Well, interesting enough I decided to check dells order status before going to sleep and my order has been updated to shipped 10/30/2002. I will keep you guys posted. It was supposed to go over night. The tracking number does not register with UPS yet, but thats not unusual.

Ed

[rtacadena]

I agree with Jester700. I think it was a queue f'up. I ordered on 10/8 and got it around the 24th or 25th. They sent me an email that it would ship on the 29th but it shipped on the 22nd. I ordered mine thru Home&Home office and got it for $268.00 total.

[jcuervo811]

Hey guys, I ordered mine on 1st of Oct with original shipping date of 7th of October. Then it changed to 16th, then 28th, and now it is scheduled for the 7th of Nov. I am frustrated seeing other people getting their drives already. I have called them up and they tell me the same thing that they don't have any and they are on backorder. Obviously thats a bunch of crap. From day one my status has always said "InProduction." Does everyone else have that on their order status prior to saying "Shipped."

JCuervo811

[dun4cheap]

Mine said in production up until this evening. Now it sais shipped 10/30/2002. Interesting enough I signed up for the email notification and never recieved it.

[marisag427]

surprisingly, I just looked up my tracking number on airborne express - apparently they overnighted it! It's supposed to be here by noon tomorrow.

Wonder why they did that? I guess it was all the phone calls...

Maybe they are trying to make up for the inconvenience.

[mlcarson]

Sitting here getting more and more pissed. Order date 10/1 - complained today about people ordering after me getting their product shipped and here's another example of it the date of the complaint. My status is still "in production".

[ancasur]

I'm not suprized by this at all. The "Award Winning Dell Support," was a miracle in action when I went looking for support last year for the last Dell computer/product I will ever own. Throughout the support forums, customers would ask for help and provide every last bit of information down to the serial number, and where it was located. In return, ALL customers would get a template response for a Dell support technician informing them that they didn't have the correct Dell unit for the respective forum, they should go to the forum that their computer belongs to, and that they should figure out how what kind of computer they have. This happened in multiple forums. The variety of responses were from polite one sentence replies of clarification, to screaming frustration, and even people who posted pictures of their computer on Geocities websites as proof. However, the legendary quality of Dell's dedication of customer satisfaction was not about to wane in the face of adversity and further factual clarification; and a different service technician replied, but ONLY in regards to the grammer, spelling, and email etiquette of the customers. So, if you guys are getting the run around from Dell's "Tornado of Retardation," i'm not suprized; they work so hard at it.

[ancasur]

Whoops, I was tired. A little clarification:

In return, ALL customers would get a template response FROM a Dell support. . .