XPS 9000 and XPS 8000 delivery delay issues

Hi this is my first post in the forum and I am quite dimayed at the number of postings on the delays for delivery of the XPS 8000 and 9000 machines. I ordered my XPS 8000 on Dec 28th and was given an EDD of Jan 25th. I asked at the time of order why it takes so long to build and ship but was told "it may not take that long, we have to give a date to cover ourseleves" Today is the 23rd Jan and my PC still shows as In Production, I called customer support last night and got a very ignorant and rude Indian who had to be asked several times before he would give his name. I asked for an update on the delivery date and he said Feb 12th, when I asked why I was notified by email of the delay he said nothing. I was told I could not cancel as the machine was "in prodcution" to which I responded that its has shown as "in prodcution" since the day after I ordered it. That must be some production process!!! Where do we stand legally regarding cancelling the order? I have received the monitor which was on a different order number and would happily keep that but I don't want to be poting here in weeks time saying the PC got delayed again. I live in Canada and callijng and emailing Dell is a waste of time, I was promised a call back by a manager within 2 hours but surprise, surprise that didn't happen either. I will not be paying to send the PC back (assuming it ever arrives) or paying restocking fees for something that has clearly been a problem for several months.

Hello Skipback,

I suggest that you call 1-800-847-4096 from now on. I've never called this number myself, but I sent an e-mail to Team Blackhawk (US-based) a few days ago, asking them to provide me with a number that won't transfer me to another *overseas* customer care centre. And this is the number they gave me.

I think this number is listed as the Canadian tech support line, but I think you can give it a try. Hope this helps.

Good luck!

Well, Guys, my XPS 8000 was delivered today. I have spent the last few hours checking it out, updating the BIOS, loading software, etc.  Based on advice from other threads, I disabled Sleep and Hibernate and chose what they call Hybrid Sleep (I guess it is more of a doze instead of sleep:emotion-2:, it powers everything down, but doesn't actually turn anything off) because of some problems that appear to be related to Windows more than Dell computers.  I then went to lunch, came back and the computer came right back on.  I have also had one full week with my XPS 435/9000 from the Outlet.  Both are working fine.

Congrats on receiving your PC, TDB53~

I know you've unsubsribed this thread, but just in case you see this, I'm just a bit curious, didn't your XPS 8000 come with the latest BIOS installed? And isn't it suppose to?

Well, Guys, my XPS 8000 was delivered today. I have spent the last few hours checking it out, updating the BIOS, loading software, etc.  Based on advice from other threads, I disabled Sleep and Hibernate and chose what they call Hybrid Sleep (I guess it is more of a doze instead of sleep:emotion-2:, it powers everything down, but doesn't actually turn anything off) because of some problems that appear to be related to Windows more than Dell computers.  I then went to lunch, came back and the computer came right back on.  I have also had one full week with my XPS 435/9000 from the Outlet.  Both are working fine. Just in summary, ordered my 8000 on 12/30 with an EDD of 1/25, got a delay notice to 1/2, contacted U.S. based customer service and got it expedited (I don't think they can do anything while it is in production, so it must have been about ready to go - they just changed the shipping from the 5-7 day ground service to 2nd day air, Saturday delivery), so I actually received it today, 1/23. I won't bother to list all of the specs, just the basics: i7-860, Win 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, 4GB RAM (I can upgrade memory cheaper than Dell offered, so I went with the minimum), 500 GB HDD, ATI Radeon HD 4350 512 MB video, 16X DVD+/-RW drive, 1525 wireless card. It was made in Mexico. I also ordered a 23 in. widescreen HD monitor, but not as a package with my computer. That had an EDD of 1/11, delayed to 1/15, delayed to 1/18. Contacted U.S. based customer service who indicated that I might wait until next Christmas to get the monitor, but that they had the 21.5 in version of the HD widescreen in stock. I cancelled the 23 in. and ordered the 21.5 in. Got it in 5 days. Made in USA While waiting for my XPS 8000, a need arose for another computer at one of my business locations, so, I decided to try Dell Outlet.  I ordered the XPS 435T (same computer now known as XPS 9000, only a name change, no change in the actual computer). I ordered it on 1/13, it shipped on 1/15 and I had it on 1/19.  Made in USA. The moral of the story is that certain parts create more of a delay, primarily because Dell closed the North Carolina plant in December and moved all of the manufacturing of the Studio XPS line to Mexico and then had difficulty getting some parts to Mexico. Also, one of the companies licensed to manufacture motherboards for these processors decided not to manufacture them because the next generation of chips was released in January, creating an industry-wide shortage of motherboards. During my time here I have learned that U.S. based customer service has more knowledgable and caring people. For those of you still waiting, try to get in touch with U.S. customer support (hint, send email very late at night, it seems to get routed to them first thing in the morning).  Discuss which parts of your order might be the delay (23 in. monitors, more than 8GB RAM, RAID, Blu-Ray). Decide if you can maybe get those parts from third parties and then see if you can change your orders to expedite completion.  The Mexican plant is up and operting and 8000s are coming off the line, as long as they are not too customized.  So, as I sign off this thread, I want to acknowledge Jill G - Dell post-order department in Round Rock, TX, Chris M -Dell Desktop Liaison, Round Rock, TX. and the Blackhawk sales and sales support team, somewhere in the Central Time Zone (Austin or Nashville, I think).  All were very responsive to my emails, Knew what they knew and what they didn't know, gave reasonable answers (not scripts), didn't overpromise and underdeliver. Thanks to them I got two great computers and 1 monitor in a timely manner. Finally, thanks to all of you who have been so faithful in your posts.  You have made the wait more tolerable for everyone. Happy computing.

Congrats! TDB53, happy for you bud!

SORRY, HIT THE POST BUTTON TWICE, PLEASE DELETE THIS POST!:emotion-10:

Well, Guys, my XPS 8000 was delivered today. I have spent the last few hours checking it out, updating the BIOS, loading software, etc.  Based on advice from other threads, I disabled Sleep and Hibernate and chose what they call Hybrid Sleep (I guess it is more of a doze instead of sleep:emotion-2:, it powers everything down, but doesn't actually turn anything off) because of some problems that appear to be related to Windows more than Dell computers.  I then went to lunch, came back and the computer came right back on.  I have also had one full week with my XPS 435/9000 from the Outlet.  Both are working fine.

Congrats on receiving your PC, TDB53~

I know you've unsubsribed this thread, but just in case you see this, I'm just a bit curious, didn't your XPS 8000 come with the latest BIOS installed? And isn't it suppose to?

Congrats on receiving your PC, TDB53~ I know you've unsubsribed this thread, but just in case you see this, I'm just a bit curious, didn't your XPS 8000 come with the latest BIOS installed? And isn't it suppose to?

You would think so, wouldn't you, but, not the case.  It had BIOS A01, the current is A03, which I believe came out in early December, before I even ordered this computer. I read about this issue in another thread, so I made a note to check it when the computer came.  I had to do the same thing with the other computer.

Speaking of that, on my 9000 I was having problems with operating some software, after a lot of fooling around, I thought to go to the nVidia site (I have the 1024MB GeForce GT 220 video card).  I discovered that I did not have the latest driver for the card, so I downloaded it and suddenly all of the software worked. These were older 32 bit programs that could not display under Win 7 Aero, they have to change the screen resolution, but that was not being communicated properly to the video card.  I thought to check this because the same software loaded without a problem on my 8000 with the ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB.

The point is, when you get your computer, go to the vendors' web sites and download the latest drivers for all of your hardware, don't assume you have the latest.

Where do we stand legally regarding cancelling the order? I have received the monitor which was on a different order number and would happily keep that but I don't want to be poting here in weeks time saying the PC got delayed again. I live in Canada and calling and emailing Dell is a waste of time, I was promised a call back by a manager within 2 hours but surprise, surprise that didn't happen either. I will not be paying to send the PC back (assuming it ever arrives) or paying restocking fees for something that has clearly been a problem for several months. How many times does it have to be delayed before I cancel without penalty?

I guess U.S. law would apply to Dell, even when selling in Canada.  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission rules state that after the 2nd delay they are required to notify you and automatically cancel the order unless you specifically state that you want to continue.

1-800-847-4096 is the number I called and it either went to India or I just happened to get an Indian guy that lives in Canada, he was pretty unhelpful and down right rude anyway.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that :emotion-7:.

1-800-847-4096 is the number I called and it either went to India or I just happened to get an Indian guy that lives in Canada, he was pretty unhelpful and down right rude anyway.

[quote user="Skipkack"] 1-800-847-4096 is the number I called and it either went to India or I just happened to get an Indian guy that lives in Canada, he was pretty unhelpful and down right rude anyway.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that :emotion-7:.

Try 800-624-9897. I always used email, late at night and got U.S. based support, but, this number is the U.S. Post Sales Dept.  They are in the Central time zone, try calling normal business hours or you will probably be transferred to India.

I guess U.S. law would apply to Dell, even when selling in Canada.  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission rules state that after the 2nd delay they are required to notify you and automatically cancel the order unless you specifically state that you want to continue.

My delivery date at present still shows Jan 25th even though I was verbally told yesterday that it would be delayed until Feb 12th. If this is delayed again I hope they don't deny the first delay by not updating the website details correctly. I have absolutely no faith in anything Dell tell me anymore.

Thanks I will try the 800-624-9897 number tomorrow do you know what their normal hours are? I am based in British Columbia so I will be calling around 4pm PST hopefully that will be to speak to manager. I have bought two Dell desktops before but that was when I lived in UK. I will not be dealing with Dell again.

After reviewing my dates, I can see the PC was actually listed as 'In Production' the same day as I placed the order, presumably thats because they want to trap people into the "you are too late to cancel" situation.

The guy I spoke to had the attitude of 'its late, so what, we don't care' he had no customer care skills whatsoever. I knew when he promised I would get a call from a manager within 2 hours that he was lying, all he cared about was getting me off the line. We all know things go wrong from time to time but the measure of a company is how it handles that and how it treats its customers. I will be surprised if Dell have many customers if this is what they have come to. This forum has almost 1000 posts and they clearly knew about the delays long before they accepted my order (and many other peoples orders too) why do they continue to sell under false pretence that they will provide the goods as agreed at the time of order?

US LAW absolutely does not apply in Canada! We are a soveringe nation. However you must have signed a Canadian Contract and you can file complaints in the US as that is where they operate under US law.

As far as the return, take as long as Dell did to get around to returning it. If they inquire tell them you shipping department is backorder and you are awaiting a prepaid shipping invoice and cancellation of any contracts with the original computer before you ship. Also inform them due to an exception high call volume it may take some while to return their emails or phone calls. Use caller ID. Tell them how happy you are to deal with them and they can expect a response shortly (six months) Oh ya, if you use Dell financing, unless you signed a second contract you only pay for one computer at a time. Dell financing cannot cook up a second contract without your approval

Thanks I will try the 800-624-9897 number tomorrow do you know what their normal hours are? I am based in British Columbia so I will be calling around 4pm PST hopefully that will be to speak to manager. I have bought two Dell desktops before but that was when I lived in UK. I will not be dealing with Dell again. After reviewing my dates, I can see the PC was actually listed as 'In Production' the same day as I placed the order, presumably thats because they want to trap people into the "you are too late to cancel" situation. The guy I spoke to had the attitude of 'its late, so what, we don't care' he had no customer care skills whatsoever. I knew when he promised I would get a call from a manager within 2 hours that he was lying, all he cared about was getting me off the line. We all know things go wrong from time to time but the measure of a company is how it handles that and how it treats its customers. I will be surprised if Dell have many customers if this is what they have come to. This forum has almost 1000 posts and they clearly knew about the delays long before they accepted my order (and many other peoples orders too) why do they continue to sell under false pretence that they will provide the goods as agreed at the time of order?

Well, that would be 6 p.m. Central time on Sunday, so you might catch them. If someone with an Indian accent answers, hang up and try another time.  At one point I was told the hours were 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST Mon-Fri and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST Sat & Sun. They are 2 hours later than Pacific Time.  If you do, I don't think you will find it necessary to speak to a manager.  The people in the U.S. based office are all pretty competent.  Good luck.

BTW, since the model was discontinued on 12/31 and the new model 8100 was released on 1/7, they had to have known about that at the time you and I ordered our systems. Did they disclose that?  Of course not.  Did they disclose that they were closing two U.S. plants and laying off 3,500 people in December? If you read the North Carolina papers you knew that, but there was no mention on the Dell web site. We could go on and on about what they knew and did not disclose, but that is water under the bridge.  The good news is that it looks like the 8000s are rolling off the assembly line now, so, hopefully you won't be waiting too much longer.

If you do not have your computer, DEMAND that they ship you the nearest equivalent computer with the same or better parts as per the customize your own web page. Obviously the older computers are no longer in production so you should get the same or next best as per their web page. I have gotten several upgrades the way. Now after 6 months I have stopped paying Dell and will demand a complimentary computer based of such horrible customer service. They made millions last year on the backs of North Carolinian tax payers.