XPS 1640, Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4GHz/1066Mhz FSB/3M L2 Cache

Yes, they just cancelled my order too. They said they tried to call me for some security reason (even though I muste've bought over 10 laptops, plus numerous monitors, harddrives, etc.) over the past years at the SAME address with the SAME credit card.... To make matters worse, they DID NOT try to call me [I have caller ID plus I can see online who tried to call me online with Vonage: trust me, they didn't call] nor did I receive an email. They said they would re-instate my order and I should get an email today. Well, no email, no call, nothing. Went online, and the order was re-instated with an insane delivery date. Great communication, just great!

I was a Dell fanatic up to now. I think I'm jumping ship. I just went to the HP and Sony sites for the first time in my life. I'm actually thinking of going over to the Mac. Maybe the Macbook Pro (only reason why the XPS has the edge to me is that it has 2 video ports so no need for a Matrox dualhead2go or triplehead2go). Other than that, they're both pretty close. And finally owning a macbook is part of the fun :) By the way, what's up with LEATHER on the XPS laptop. I'm not a PETA fanatic but does a laptop really need LEATHER?!?! It makes the XPS ugly, animal unfriendly, totally out of whack with the days. I wish they had the white version without the stupid leather but I think the only version that doesn't have the leather is the black XPS, arggg. Oh well, that's the one I ordered, the glossy black that everyone tells me will have my fingerprints all over it [always dirty according to the reviews]. Come on dell, leather?!?...

Dell has gone through some rough patches but these latest weird decisions really beats everything out of the water. Another good example: my dell 1525's screen hinges broke 1.5 years after I bought it (another reason to buy the XPS: a barrel instead of flimsy hinges;  barrels are on the new 1545 too I see). Anyway, I ordered the spare parts to replace the back cover and front bezel and they messed up the order twice. They even asked me to call some other place to cancel the messed up orders. Wait, aren't you all working for dell? So,I need to call one place to give an order and some other place to cancel it,nice!

Has anyone else noticed that they also seem to loose orders? Seems like I have 10 different customer numbers in my account. And I can't see all my orders in one place anymore, I have to figure out which customer number was created for that order, then the order number and some other number which I can't remember. Good luck if you didn't save or print out your invoice. argggg, DELLL!!!!!!

Bottom line, I wondered too if they didn't cancel my order for some other reason, this just doesn't make any sense. Dell needs some serious help... now apple, just add another DVI port or new Display port. How hard is it to add one little port anyway.

Pierre

Thanks for the heads up, I'll triple check everything I receive. Yeah, I used to own I sold it way before I went all liquid in the summer of 2008 (just before the crash, phew! the technical were all heading south so I pulled out). And I wouldn't buy it either anymore. I'm not excited by anything they do right now. I bought the XPS because I've been going straight to dell for years. This time, was the worse and I wasn't too psyched by the laptop and its design...  I just needed a new one and didn't think too much. No, nothing exciting. The Adamo line might be thin but there's nothing cool about it, doesn't get me excited. Maybe the best value they have now is the Studio 15 with backlit keyboard and hdmi. The XPS lost its appeal. No, I can't imagine them going up either.  I think I'm not the only one who's starting to look at other vendors. Thanks again, I'll be careful with what they send me.

If anyone from dell is reading this, it would be imensely useful to be able to search by

[ ] has HDMI port

[ ] has keyboard backlit display

[ ] has display port

etc.

Searching by amount of memory is just stupid, we can always add it when we configure it [or buy it somewhere else later], but if it doesn't have a backlit keyboard, it's not something you'll add later.

They kept telling me that it was a popular computer and that was the reason it took so long,,NOT. Reason was that they must have been waiting on a return since what they sent me was a refurb computer. I would not have ever known it other then the long wait,, the run around I got and I had a problem after it arrived. 2 techs spilled the beans and told me it was a refurb. This after customer service assuring me it would be new.

I have finally gotten one right before Sept. 20th that thesay is new but I don't believe a thing they say any longer. So far no problem with this one other then the ticking sound from the hard drive which is a known issue that they have not developed a firmware. BTW  the Mac had the same problem but they developed a fix for it.

Dell has really  disappointed me as well as many others. I sure am glad I don't own their stock any  longer as i see it hitting rock bottom. I hope you get your problems solved. If I were you I would be sure the computer you get is new if it is supposed to be. I know it is against the law to sell something as new if it is refurb. and I tol them so and I was contacting the Atty. General and reporting them. That is when I got this one which is supposed to be new.

Sounds like the nightmare that I went through. I am not lying but spent one whole day 8 hours straight being transferred from one place to another or hung up on before I got this current computer.

I am almost willing to listen to the ticking sound in the hd rather then go through them replacing a new hard drive and opening up my computer. Who knows with them it could only be a loose screw inside. I don't trust Dell any longer. I can not tell you how many people have asked how I like my new laptop and after I tell them my horror story they buy another brand. Not many people are willing to go through what you and I have.

I wonder if cooperate knows what is going on below them? If so they are fools for not rectifying a terrible situation and customer service. They will continue to loose business.

Let us know how you like your mac. I have heard lots of good reports on them.

They just did it again. After re-instating my order and saying they would rush it and apply overnight delivery, I saw that the delivery date is 11/4/2009 with 3-5 day delivery!!! And then, the next day, I get a call AGAIN, to confirm some security thing. WHAT?!?!? Didn't we just do that? Would you have cancelled my order again!??!

So, I call then back and reminded them they promised RUSH build and overnight delivery when ready. He told me he did it, with a hint that he was doing me a favour. huh? They promised me that TWO DAYS AGO! Anyway, ok, then I saw that it was overnight delivery but still estimate 11/4. That's would be TWO MONTHS after my order (I was scheduled to received it this week originally). So, another 3 week wait.

In the meantime, I googled the MacBook pro with virtualized windows (using VMWARE Fusion or Parallels) and it seems like iwork is Exchange compatible and it supports my VPN, dev environment and I can even run my app servers on it. And they can get it to me by the end of next week! WOW!

So, I called back Dell just now to cancel the order. I enter my order number in the system. Then someone FINALLY answers and I have to give back theorder number and I explained why this whole thing SUCKS. Then they tell me they're transfering me. Next person asks for my order number again [arggg!!!] and why I'm cancelling [argg!!!!!] and they offer me 75$ if I want to keep the order. Well, if you didn't transfer me 10 times and wasted 3 hours of my time so far, I'd consider it. But given that I'm a software consultant and make as much in one hour, I decided to cut my losses short and just cancel the darn order. This was my last Dell computer order. I might buy some monitors or whatnot. But goodbye Dell for computers and laptops. You guys need some serious help.

I can't wait to get my hands on my shiny new Macbook PRO!!!! :) Welcome to a more Zen life, I'm not looking back!

oh, yeah, I forgot about that part (I'm a very patient person), YES, they did hang up on me at least 3 times. Once in the middle of a conversation. I'm not sure if it's a technical problem or what, but this is insane (then you have to start from scratch again). The other times [at least twice], they transfered me, it rang then hung up. Nice...

I used to tell everyone how I loved dell, all my computers since 2001 are Dells. I'm writting on my dell right now and I have 4 dell servers in this very room (plus all the other dell stuff lying everywhere around me). I lobbied at work to get them to buy dell for quality and price (we buy Lenovos at the office). But the people on the phone at Dell just get in the way, it's just a nightmare to deal with dell.

Corporate should be FORCED to configure and order a laptop once a month. See how that goes. Then try to cancel an order. Try to get some after sales service. Use your own credit cards and see how many times they'll validate your order and cancel them (resetting the delivery date another month out in the future). Try it, you might be surprised just how frustrated you'll get with your own company.

Now, for the mac book I just ordered, I was a little quick on the trigger and ordered the wrong one (too much time on the phone dealing with Dell made me screw that one up, a little too eager in getting a new laptop). Anyway, I call up Apple, enter my order number (thinking, here we go again), someone comes up on the phone in less than a minute (LOUD AND CLEAR, NO DELAY) and confirms my identity based on the order number I just entered (ah, 21st century technology!). Then I tell her I ordered the wrong laptop. She gives me the option of cancelling or just updating the order (wow, UPDATING an order, never heard that from dell [where they give you an 800 njumber to cancel] and she ALONE would be able to help me without transfering me ANYWHERE). So she updates the order, tells me I should have an email now and if I'm satisfied with how she helped me. I replied: 100%, you have no idea how great this was! I don't have my MacBook yet but am already falling in love with that fruit company from California :)

From my experience you don't make it as bad as it was. I have owned NUMEROUS Dells and only Dells for years and years. I furnished a dentist office out with a computer in each room. Drs. office and medical support staff as well as my own family. I belong to numerous groups that sell like home shopping networks. They have specials on their computers often. After hearing my nightmare they are losing sales but do you think they care, NOT. Somehow I think that corp would do something about this since it would have to effect their bonus.

Having dealth with Dell so many years and the good service I used to receive I am shocked at the recent turn of events.

HI Meggie13, I just saw my old thread as I created a new one on a TV I just bought. Shoot, I should've reread this thread and not tried to order the TV, I just went through the same fiasco again. My order got cancelled twie, they think I'm doing some sort of fraud. I'm jus tunable to order from dell.

Anyway, I never replied to your question about the macbook pro. I LOVE it. Battery life is amazing, the computer is made out of one single piece of aluminium. The scrolling with two fingers is awesome. phone support is amazing to say the least. Video tutorials. It took me maybe 2-3 days to gets used to the missing right click and backspace keys (I also miss the keyboard acceleration features, you can set up some but unlike on windows, you can't do everything with the keyboard, you have to use the mouse for some actions). Working as a software developer, I love being able to use the mouse as little as possible. But that's the only negative thing I found.

I was utlimately able to buy an XPS16, which I use to write this email right now (my wife stole the macbook pro from me and she's not giving it back, I might have to buy an ipad2 or somethign ;-) ). Anyway, The XPS16 is really cool. Big but cool and very powerful. IF you are able to order it. In fact, I just saw that they changed the model. No more very sturby hinges, back to the cheap hinges that keep breaking (I had to fix one myself because I just didn't want to try to get support via phone anymore). I ordered the replacement parts instead and fixed it myself, 2 days wasted but better for karma that trying to play phone tag for 4-6 hours... Then being grouchy for 2 days.

So anyway, I'm writting to you from the last dell I ever bought. And probably the last thing I ever bought from dell. I can't even order TVs anymore from dell. It's really too bad, they have great prices and kinda good products but I just have to be more zen in my life, I can't deal with half-days wasted on the phone. This is not healthcare we're talking about, this is buying stuff. It should be easy, super easy. It should be fun and exciting. Not frustrating and taking half your day.

Good luck to you and your family, with the economy right now, we all are going to need it dearly...

Pierre