Has anyone else experienced the hassle of ordering a Dell machine online?

I've now been trying to place an order for over a week, and still no success!

I placed my first order early last week only for Dell to tell me (2 days later) that they never received any order at all. However I received an e-mail confirmation with a reference number. Now how does that work? You receive an automated confirmation that the order has been place yet no order is present on Dells system......

Ok, fine, a Dell sales support guy then tells me that he will cancel my order???? They cant see any order in the system but they will cancel it anyway? hmmmmm

So I then proceed to place a new order online hoping that all will be well this time around. Surprise, I call Dell 2 days later and no, no order on their system, they can see my details but no order. After 2 separate calls the operator says ok she can see an order now. Brilliant I'm finally sorted. or am I? The order she sees is not my order at all.

My question is, how am I supposed to buy a Dell PC online? Is it really that hard?

I forgot to mention one other thing, according to the company I work for we (staff) qualify for a discount with Dell. All you have to do is place your order online and then enter the discount code supplied. Question : Where is this magic little `non existent text box that I'm supposed to enter my discount code into? It doesn't exist! And if you call Dell they have no idea whatsoever about how to correctly purchase a machine with a discount code. I was told to ask a manager at my company... Right, he's going to know and support at Dell has no idea?

Now I'm waiting for the 'internet department' at Dell to call me back about the issue. What they have to do with the whole process I have no idea....
And to top it all off they are only available from 9am to 1pm (Nice job)

Comments anyone????

I order a Dell online on Monday January 8 2007, now I am typing this on it. This is the 5th Dell I have ordered without problem.

On Wednesday I received confirmation that the machine was being built. Then that it was dispatched last Friday and I could track its progress from Ireland on the UPS site. UPS phoned on last Tuesday evening to see if I would be in between 3:30 and 4:30pm on Wednesday (yesterday). It was delivered at 3:05pm.

Did you pay by credit card? If not your order won't be processed until you have paid there bill sent by post. There is a box during the order process for discount vouchers - I always hate to see these when I don't have one.

Frankly, I can't comment but I do have two Dells that my Dad got years ago for £30 He was only supposed to get one but in RMA-ing one machine that would not open, he was sent another machine but no way of getting the machine back to Dell.

In addition, they missed the DVD writer for the replacement and thus sent one out, leaving him with a spare CD writer.

But they still make profit. Probably on the spares and the fact that corporates blindly buy their products (I refuse where possible to use my Latitude D610)?

On your order process, what browser were you using and if you're using Firefox, which add-ins do you have?

AbFab - Paid with Credit Card, It really just defeats the whole object of ordering online doesnt it? It should be a streamlined easy process yet it's way harder than just walking into a store, picking your machine, paying and walking out.


Lob Rockster - I'm using IE 6, so there is always a good chance something didnt load properly. Still doesnt rule out the fact that dell doent even know where to enter the code. I really just think companies have taken the whole process of online ordering, something that should be a pleasure to do, and have truned it into a complicated process filled with room for error.

Hopefully the 'internet department' will be able to give me answers tomorrow......

I also had a terrible time with Dell's online ordering system. Many times after choosing all those options (and skipping loads of junk they try making you buy) the site would just loose all my answers and start from the beginning. Then I realized that the site was a little bit better with Explorer (I was using Firefox). In the end, I didn't buy it, so I can't comment on your problem.

Try this link to get discount ( sorry but not in english )

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/to...=dhs&cs=chepp1

I've had same exprience with Dell even worst because They've delivered two systems to me ( one of them was the order which is not registered in their system according the call center in the begining ) and they did not charge the second system from my CC Afterwards they're realized I've not paid second system and they sent me a reminder. I've talked to them and they've collected second the system but they've paid it back to me and it took two more months to send this money given back to me to their account. End of story.

I'm happily working with my Dell system since Jan 06

ubolkan - Yip, I chatted to Dell this morning and they sorted it all out.
I finally got to speak to someone that knew what they were talking about.

I almost had the same thing happen too, they said my original order hadnt been canceled and If I hadnt have checked they would have delivered 2 machines and charged me double.

Someone should really look into the online ordering process at Dell. I dnt think I will ever order online with them again. As soon as a company gets too big, they lose focus and quality customer serivce no longer matters when the money is rolling in.

Sad...........

I've only ordered once but my experience was very good. Easy to make the online order and configure the machine, good value for money and fast delivery.

I'm particularly impressed with the actual quality of the machine - it feels solid and is extremely quiet which is unusual for a 'cheap' PC.


Gav

Dell desktops are excellent quality and value. Replacement parts like motherboard and PSU are eyewateringly expensive, mind. And overclocking's out (or was for a long time).

Dell laptops are the absolute shits. Or certainly Dell Latitude D610 is to mobile computing what face lifts are to Jocelyn Wildenstein

When your McAfee 90 day licence expires on your Dell and you find there is no way to uninstall it, expecially after consulting the Dell technical support web site, then check out "PC Decrapifier".
http://www.yorkspace.com/pc-de-crapifier/

If you find you keep getting DSL connection problems then do what I did and unistall "Dell Network Assistant". I am sure it doubled the speed and reliability of my DSL connection. That one's a gem from Dell and not to be missed.

Thanks for that. It highlights one of the things I hate most about Dell - they no longer give you the OS CDs, just a "revert" CD. That means you can never rid yourself of their garbage unless you buy the OS yourself.

i too had problems with connecting to the internet with outlook and IE, iTunes and other programs were okay. (i have vista home premium)
this advice got me on the wrong track.. sorry! instead, when your mcafee license expires, go to the mcafee homepage and download their official removal tool. otherwise you will NOT get rid of mcafee. believe me. i've spent almost a week trying all sorts of things, including pc-decrapifier. so, do this:
1. download mcafee removal tool
2. download the new antivirus/firewall/anti-spyware et al software, i recommend kaspersky internet suite 6.0 for approx 50.- (vista version), said to be the most up-to-date and comprehensive security
3. unhook your internet connection
4. remove mcafee with the tool
5. install your new security software
6. hook up to internet again. if it doesn't work you're best bet is to reinstall the operating system from the boot-dvd dell gave you with your computer (instructions on dell website)

hope this helps!

Christ & I thought Real was bad .....

I got a Dell a couple of weeks back. Formatted it, put the drivers on and installed the software not the crapware.

It no longer randomly freezes

Sort of similar to the above, I got a new Vaio recently, kitted out with Vista Business, I want to take all of the shite off it but leave the stuff I'm going to use e.g. take off Norton so I can install spybot, avg etc and not have any conflicts, but leave on stuff like MS Office which I'll be using daily. Any tips on how best to rid my system of Norton or am I going to spend a fruitless time googling and restarting the system

knowing how windows uninstalls....I'd format. Plus you can partition as you wish too

I have a Latitude D400 subnotebook that I have had for several years. It performs brilliantly, although the battery needs replacing. It was , and still is, perfect as a small notebook. The sony, samsung and tosh equivelants were complete garbage. The large widescreen luggable latitudes are good too, with an XGA screen and impressive resolution. It seems that the midrange models seems to be lacking somewhat though.
dave

Last time I formatted a system was waaaay back when my trusty Amiga 500+ was running a bit slow and I couldn't afford the upgrade to the Amiga 1200

I fear that the knowledge will not necessarily translate from a 1993 Amiga to a 2007 Vaio

Problem is, Sony in their wisdom don't seem to have sent me any OS / recovery CD's, I've got copies of Office, Adobe etc that I can install no problem, but if I format then is it going to wipe off Vista as well...?

terry, I'd be tempted to uninstall and look for ccleaner to do the rest

mate, just wait until you try to load up third party software ... our techies have been having loads of fun with Vista Business since January .....