Bad year for electronics...

[wabmester]

However, I never got anything with a shipper tracking number on it nor could I find that info on any of the order or shipping status pages on dell.com

One of the quirks of the outlet -- they never send you the tracking number.

However, go to your account online. Look at your order history (not order status). You should be able to view your invoice (doesn't work all the time, for some odd reason). At the top of the invoice, you'll find the waybill number. Prepend a "1Z" to it, and that's your UPS tracking number.

At the bottom of the invoice, you'll find your service tag. Enter it under "my systems" and you'll find details of your system, including individual component brands and when your system shipped to the original buyer.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yep that works. Pretty cool stuff.

Got a lot of fun stuff for a penny each.

Didnt see anything about an original shipment...this was a cancelled order so I dont think it went anywhere.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Now that i've had the machine for a good 12 hours...first blush opinions.

Its big. About what you'd expect for a system with a 15.4" screen. After using the 13" stinkpad for a week the physical size is immediately apparent, although for me thats a good thing. The keyboard is back and up on the base, leaving plenty of room even for my ham hands to rest palms on for typing. Its back to the touchpad from the trackpoint I had just regotten used to on the thinkpad. And back to a 'standard' pc key layout from the ibm keyboard layout. Pretty much have it now.

The case is pretty solid. I could torque it if I tried but I can pick it up from one corner and its not floppy or wiggly. As with many laptops I've bought, it is deciding to hold one "leg" up in the air and isnt perfectly flat. In my experience, they settle down flat after a day or two. Even the thinkpad had a 'lame leg' for a couple of days. The case is attractive, all silver with a white trim piece that seems to be adding rigidity. Pushbuttons on the front to control play/pause/volume control such that I could use it as a dvd or mpeg4 player with the screen shut. Built in speakers located up near the top and to the sides of the keyboard, rather than the idiotic IBM approach of putting them right where the palms of your hands rest.

Screen looks just fine, its bright and the detail is pleasing. I have a 2 year old dell top of the line 17" lcd screen and side by side I dont see much difference in quality.

Keyboard is better than my old HP, on par with my toshiba, not as good as my ibm.

Included s/w is decent and not overbearing. My HP came with so much crap on it I just did a fresh install of XP over the top of it and called it even. Full copy of Word, full copy of Works, virus scan, some music jukebox and photo manager software.

Machine booted right up, found my wireless hub no problem, and after a half dozen update/reboots to get the latest s/w and fixes, Office installed with no problems.

Later I'll transfer all our files and settings; I already used XP's 'file and settings transfer wizard' to copy our stuff from the old desktop to the external firewire hard drive, which should make that easy enough.

A day or two of tweaking settings and whatnot, and we're in business. We like it. Cant beat the price.

 

[wabmester]

Yeah, the 6000's a nice 'puter. Hopefully, you'll resist the itch to check out the outlet periodically and sample every machine Dell makes. Like I did.

BTW, try hitting that play button while the computer is off. They have a feature called Media Direct that will let you play a CD/DVD that way, but I'm curious to see if the newer version still boots up Windows or if they included a player in ROM.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Question for you...

The system I bought said it contained the ATI graphics chip, but what I got has the Intel 915GM/910GML integrated.

I havent kept up much on the relative goodness of the integrated intel stuff, in your opinion am I better off with what I got or what I ordered?

 

[wabmester]

First, complain to Dell. Even if you're happy with the machine, they'll make you happier after that kind of screw-up.

And it depends on whether you want to play 3D games (I know you do). The ATI is probably twice as fast for 3D stuff. And it's a different mobo, so with the ATI you have the option of swapping out the graphics card for something better down the road (maybe), and you don't have that option with the integrated video.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Thats what I figured. Original order definitely says "dedicated ati graphics processor" although in looking at the options in building one from scratch, there are two...radeon x300 and x300 pci express. $75 and $150 options.

I'm gonna give them a call...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Looks like a ~35% perf advantage for the ati part; the newer integrated stuff is doing a bit better than the old stuff. And allegedly better battery life for the ati part as well.

My "whine" form has been submitted...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Well the whine form that will be responded to in 6-12 hours wasnt responded to.

After pressing 4/2/1/4/2/3/2/1/2/4/5/6/7/1/2/3/45/5/3/2/23/123/32/12/43/423/234 I was informed that customer care only works on weekdays.

After trying the 'get a human', I got a human who verified every possible thing about me (name, address, phone, ord#, cust #) and so forth, looked at a lot of stuff, and then informed me that they could do nothing, I needed to talk to customer care, who wont be in until monday.

So far I've gotten the wrong machine, less than I ordered, its slightly defective, and a huge megabillion dollar company cant put people on the phones to handle problems for home and home office users on the days they have off.

One thumb down, second thumb slowly turning downwards...

 

[wabmester]

Dell customer service sux0rs. Except when compared to any other computer company....

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Oh I know, service is dead. Dead, dead, dead.

How you can run a big biz selling to home users and think its a good decision to not staff your customer service lines on weekends is a little bit of a stretch though.

Based on the conversation I had with the dell rep this morning, it sounds like it had the wrong description and shouldnt have come with the ati graphics. The price I got WAS awful low. I saw an exact duplicate of the system I bought priced in the 1400's yesterday.

 

[ladelfina]

decision to not staff your customer service lines

So you can have cheaper computers? TANSTAAFL. 

poor bun, I feel your pain.    If you bought from their site and the description was wrong, you should still get what was advertised, no? If they screwed up they should eat the cost of sending you the computer you ordered. I hope you can make them see reason

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I'm sure they will. Often they'll upgrade you to the next best platform when they screw up, but since I already got a GREAT deal on this one, I doubt they'll do more than simply send me the same box with the ati graphics instead of the integrated. I get to "clean" the old one of my apps and data and then reload. Joy

 

[justin]

Maybe you can get dell to comp you $75 or so. I think that is a pretty common practice for them. Then keep your current Dell laptop and you won't have to reload all your apps on the new machine. Unless you need the graphics card for something, like gaming!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I was hoping to use this to replace both my old laptop and my old desktop, and yes, I play games now and then. After looking at the benchmarks some more, the performance on the integrated graphics is worse than I thought. One third to one tenth the speed of the weakest ATI offerings in some apps. Although on some apps I dont use like the sims the integrated is actually faster. But not by much.

On another front, buying the bluetooth cell phone is also turning into a travesty. I had noted that the order I placed didnt show up, and then realized I hadnt gotten a confirmation email. On calling them, the original order appears to have "gotten stuck, weird, dont know what happened...I'll enter another order for you". We go through that, of course he cant give me free upgraded shipping because I've been waiting a week for it.

This morning I get two confirmation emails, one for the week-old order and the other for the new one. Of course they cant cancel an order, even if its unshipped. So when I receive two, I send one back and then argue with them about the shipping costs.

So now you not only dont get good customer service, you cant even successfully buy something without a problem.

I'm just never buying anything other than food ever again.

 

[justin]

Your wife may want a new Lexus SUV in a few months when her "old" one gets a little dust on it. You better not swear off buying non-food items just yet.


(need I say, this is sarcasm?)

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

You sarcastic @%$@# !!!



She'll be driving that car ten years from now. Trust me. It'll have about 20,000 miles on it and still look like its new.

 

[justin]

"Here Gabe, here's $10 bucks. Go make mommy's car look like new again. Yes, the usual, wax, wash, vacuum, and wipe down the interior. Don't forget to clean the windows."

After all, he'll be driving it one day, so he ought to clean it, right?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ten bucks?

Surely you jest.

 

[justin]

Ten bucks?

Surely you jest.

That's only $8.13 in today's dollars. Assuming 3% inflation, a couple of hedonistic adjustments, and Gabe will wash cars 7 years from now.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Well Shirley, I think I may have to go with one of two arguments "We wouldnt have the car if we hadnt had you, we'd still be driving around in the expedition with a back seat full of dogs" or "Most of that stuff caked on the seats came out of you, so get your paper towels out mister..."



Sarcasm is great. Of course I wouldnt force my child into some form of labor.

 

[Nords]

Of course I wouldnt force my child into some form of labor.

Rookie.

$10 is the going rate at our house for a wash & vacuum. Of course now I can tell her that in just three years the Taurus wagon will be hers so she'd better take care of it.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I'm lying. Come on, my lips were moving.

He already shows a great fascination with the vacuum cleaner. One of his favorite things is sitting in the baby bjorn hanging off of me while I vacuum the house. Yes I have a picture. No, you have no chance of me posting it.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Well its four thumbs down for Dell and this system is being returned for credit. Last time I'll buy a dell product.

After navigating numerous phone system hell lines, I was disconnected twice while reading order numbers or giving my phone number. The third time I gave my phone number for a return call and explained that I had been hung up on. The guy said there was absolutely no way I could get a replacement with the right parts in it, that i would have to return the system and then find and order a new one from the outlet. I asked for a supervisor and was put on hold for 15 minutes and then disconnected.

I finally got through to a customer care specialist who said she had 'broad powers'. Unfortunately she confirmed that they had no way to exchange a system and upgrade anything. It would be the same configuration as what I have now. No offers of any upgrade to make up for the mess, no offers of any discount to keep the machine I have.

She offered me one other option. To send me back to the people who kept disconnecting me (sounded like another country, probably something wrong with their phone line interconnect), and she said if I mentioned things like better business bureau or attorney generals office, I might eventually get escalated to the executive office, who might send me what I actually bought.

I decided that waiting all weekend for customer care to be in the office, spending an hour on the phone fruitlessly, and already having wasted several days loading this system with apps and data was all the time I was going to spend. It sounded like if I was willing to spend an hour threatening people I might just get what I originally bought. <GONG>

UPS will come by to pick it up tomorrow, at least there is no dollar cost to me at all.

What a complete and total waste of time, and a tour de force example of how completely horrifying customer service has become.

I officially retract every Dell recommendation I've ever made.

 

[justin]

If it makes you feel any better, I stole a screwdriver from dell when they sent me a replacement keyboard for my laptop. I had to return the defective keyboard to them in their return mailer, but I "accidentally" kept their screwdriver. It had a pocket clip on it, so I couldn't bear to part with it. That'll show them. Maybe you should inadvertently forget by accident to return select parts of the laptop - like the cord or the office/windows CD's or something equally obnoxious. 8) Then lie your ass off when they try to get them from you. Claim they never shipped with the system or something. Stick it to the man!!!!