Having been a Dell customer for nearly 20 years, buying them for both home and office, I am quite dismayed at the lack of concern by Dell for purchases made off of the refurbished section of its website. There is absolutely nothing there that lays out a plan to upgrade to Vista. Sure, I can buy a copy of Vista anywhere. But without the CD-ROM Dell is providing to purchasers from anywhere else on its website, the Vista upgrade alone is worthless.

 

Advertisng began in the trades last fall about Vista. Most if not all said 'don't be afraid to get a new PC now; when the release of Vista is announced, most vendors will make upgrade plans for users who buy during this period' or words to that effect. This was a ploy to help sagging PC sales which some users had been delaying pending the release of Vista. As soon as a time period was announced, I bought a new system from Dell. It was sold as 'new' but it came from the 'outlet' site.There was no warning given that Dell would ignore these PCs when Vista came out. In many discussions with Dell, their reasoning was that I got a discount on the purchase of the PC. Would somebody please explain what that has to do with the Vista upgrade? Given my 'discount', why doesn't Dell at least offer their CD-ROM of drivers and the Vista upgrade in some fashion? It's the same PC offered for sale elsewhere on the website but with a free upgrade!

 

By the way, Dell still offers on the website an 'Express Upgrade to Vista" elsewhere on the website with no mention of 'outlet sales' not eligible. It implies all sales are eligible.

 

This has been a totally frustrating experience with Dell that makes absolutely no sense at all