Ordering from Dell? Be prepared to wait… and wait… and wait

First, let me say this: I’ve been a Dell customer for a long time. And I hope someone from Dell reads this.

I’ve bought systems and servers from them for the past 10 years. As I moved from job to job, I brought them along with me, giving them new business with companies that weren’t using them for their computer needs. The main reason for this is that as a large business customer, I’ve always been really happy with them: Product deliveries are usually on time, and their large business support is excellent.

But as a small business owner, I’m not so happy. On January 7th, I ordered a Dell Mini 12, which I planned to use in early February for a short trip I was planning. I got an excellent price on the system. The expected delivery date was fixed to January 19th – two weeks. Not terribly quick, but I could live with that.

But almost three and a half weeks later, I still haven’t received my system. And, if I hadn’t called Dell multiple times to get a status update on the delivery, I wouldn’t have gotten any news about it at all.

Sure, you can always go to Dell’s website to get your updates via your order number, but when your system is listed as “in production” for three weeks, you have to start asking some questions.

The system is still listed as “in production” today. That means it probably won’t get shipped until a few days, and that I won’t be getting my laptop before the middle of next week, at the minimum.

Now, the Dell Mini line is a very popular line of computers, and perhaps demand is outstripping production. I don’t mind that – what I’m having a problem with is being quoted a time of two weeks, and then getting the equipment several weeks later. If I had been told in the beginning that it would take a month or more to get the laptop to me, I would have decided to order something else. Now, I’ve paid hundreds of dollars for the computer which can no longer be used for the specific purpose it was purchased for. You can understand my frustration.

And this is not the first time something like this has happened with Dell. I thought it was an anomaly when, around a year and a half ago, I ordered a $3000 box through them, and had to live through the exact same thing. When I received it, the system was over a month late – and by the time I got it, the price for it dropped around $75. I called up Dell’s representative, and he said he would reimburse me the difference.

I never received the reimbursement, but unfortunately only realized it six months later. I then decided to drop the matter, as I didn’t feel like arguing with them again.

A few work colleagues and friends have had similar experiences – One of them had a 3-week delay on his order, and when he got told he had to wait, and that there wasn’t anything that could be done about the issue, he called his sales rep’s boss, and eventually ended up speaking with one of Dell’s Canadian VPs. On the same day, his system was shipped by air, and he got it the following morning.

The moral of this story? If you are a small business or an individual and need a Dell product quickly (two to three weeks, if that can be called “quickly”), don’t even bother trying to order it from them. Go to your local electronics store and get what they have in inventory.

I still think that Dell makes excellent products, but when it comes to delivery time and follow-ups for consumer’s products, they’re just not in the game.

Have you experienced anything similar with Dell or any of their competitors? Are they worse than everyone else, or is this kind of thing generalized through manufacturers that deal directly with home customers?

Edit: Followup story: CDW Astroturfs [GAS] with Fake Comments

Update: My Dell Sales Rep. called me yesterday and told me there was some pieces on backorder for the Mini 12. He canceled my order and placed a new one for the same machine, but with an upgraded processor, hard drive, and warranty. This time, the new expected delivery date is set to March 10th 2009.





A Sad Day for Microsoft

Most of you probably know this by now, but in the next few months, Microsoft plans to cut about 5% of its workforce, a total of approximately 5000 jobs. I thought this sad cartoon illustrated the situation quite well. There’s no word if apple will be following the trend yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we start hearing similar news from the company soon.

[Via The Daily What]

Wednesday Geeky Pics: Fun with Legos

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Today this set of geeky pics takes you to the wonderful world of tiny building blocks and square-bodied people. Apparently taking pictures of Lego creations is a popular past time; I found so many neat things on this search that I may have to do another set on some future Wednesday. Remember: there’s nothing wrong with being a blockhead!

Lego Relativity
lego5

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Darth Vader hot wheels picture needs a caption

By Johnny Daniels
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

darth-vader_ariel-atom

The readers over at Jalopnik were invited to come up with a caption to the above picture and a few possibilities were thrown around. However, being a long time reader of GAS, I felt convinced that you guys could come up with much better captions!

So without looking at what they said on the other page, what do you think Darth “Racer” Vader is saying?   Can you come up with the perfect caption for this picture?

Feature: Fire + Art = Fire Art

By Brian Boyko
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Really, it doesn’t get much simpler than that – Jason Mika and David Umlas create a percussive symphony of colorful flame, burning salt-laced propane in chrome and steel statuary.

The video doesn’t do justice to how loud it actually is in person, I’m sorry to say – but if it did, you wouldn’t be able to hear anything else in the video. When asked why they would do this, the only answers were “Because we can,” and “People cheer.”

Once again, we don’t want to get sued, so don’t try this at home.

Of course, if everyone took that advice, then no one would ever do anything like this and thus wouldn’t have a video.

If you’d like to see the video in full HD resolution, just hit this link, which will take you to the video’s high-def page on YouTube.

Other installments of Crazy Inventions and Crazy Inventors:

How Changing my Posture Transformed my Life

First, I’d like ot start by saying that in recent years, my general fitness has decreased, partially due to this blog. Yes, you read that right. Time in front of your computer, like all things, isn’t beneficial when done in excess. Fortunately, because of a few changes I made a few months ago, I’ve started feeling better again.

Now, before anyone starts blaming blogging, let me say this: The problem isn’t blogging specifically, it’s sitting in front of a screen all day long! Since running [GAS] has become more of a second job for me than a hobby, I really do invest a significant amount of time in the site. And yes, that’s apart from my 35-hour-a-week “regular” work schedule. So this mean that in a normal week, I spend around 50 to 60 hours staring at my monitor. It’s really started messing with my health.

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Monster.com user data stolen — again

You’d think that a Monster once bitten would be twice shy.  But even though user information has been stolen from Monster.com on at least two prior occasions, it has happened yet again.  This time, the data includes user IDs and passwords, as well  as contact information.  Monster does not store Social Security numbers, thankfully.  The last time contact information was stolen from the site, it was used to construct convincing phishing attacks — so beware of all links or attachments in unsolicited emails (as you should always be). 

Monster is recommending that you log in and change your password immediately, in case the thieves have some intention of using the accounts for nefarious purposes.  If you were foolish enough to use the same password for other sites, you might want to change those, too (and use different passwords for each one this time!).

Monster also hosts USAJOBS, “the official job site of the United States Federal Government.”  Data from that site was also stolen.  The federal government has had its own share of computer security issues in the past.   If they were hoping for better security from the private sector, they might have been a tad disappointed here.

This has to be tough for Monster.com.  You might think that with all the newly jobless people looking for work, their business would be booming.  But remember that the service is paid for by employers who are seeking employees, not by those seeking jobs.  So Monster must be feeling pinched between higher volumes of job seekers and lower volumes of sponsors and satisfied customers.  It’s not surprising that analysts are projecting negative growth for the business throughout next year (though still probably turning a profit).

Monster hasn’t released details on the volume of data stolen, or what type of vulnerability was exploited.  Could Monster’s job cuts in 2007 and other cost-cutting measures have left them more vulnerable?  Or is the data they possess such a valuable target that it draws the unyielding attention of the best crackers?

Let’s hope that the third time is the charm, and that Monster gets everything locked down tight this time around.

[via CIO]