A RANT ABOUT ORDERING A MAXTOR SATA CONTROLLER FROM DELL, or
an order placed on 11/19/04 , listed "ships in 24h", may only ship on 12/17/04, a month later.

Full story:
On November 19th, put in an order to buy a Maxtor SATA/133 PCI Controller card. Dell.com's Small Business division had it for $44 w/s&h, taxes, after coupons. The card was listed as "ships in 24 hours" the day of the order. It was also listed as "ships in 24 hours" the day after the order was placed. Several days later, I received an e-mail from Dell with the tracking information, stating that my order will ship on November 6th.

I called Dell on December 1st to find out why the order was listed as "Ships in 24 hours" even the day after my order. Talked to an Indian CSR who could barely hear me (VOIP is a great cost-cutting measure, isn't it?), and quoted me a definition of "ships in 24 hours" that was the complete opposite of what the website listed, and was no help whatsoever. The next day, another Indian CSR, this time claiming to be a manager, called me to find out why I called. I explained the situation, and without offering to help me in any way, or explaining the reasons for the delay, he just repeated the same backwards explanation for why the order did not go out, and that "ships in 24 hours" means "it takes Dell 24 hours just to get the order ready for shipping, and the item is shipped after that". Both CSR's gave me the same speech.

On Friday, 12/3, I e-mailed DELL support online. First message I got back: our systems are down for maintenance, wait a while for a response. The next message, received today, 12/6, titled "First Delay Notification", states that my order may ship after December 17th.

Here's the text of the next message, received today, 12/6:

Thank you for contacting Dell Online Support.
I understand that you purchased PCI card under order number xxx
which is advertised as "ships in 24 hours", I understand your frustration regarding the delay in the processing of this order.
I apologize for the extension of the estimated ship date of your order. An estimated shipping date is provided to you at the time of placing the order based on conditions at that time. Most of our orders are shipped to our customers within the time frame referenced at the point of sale. However, due to many factors involved with the production of orders, Dell is unable to guarantee any shipping or delivery date.

As all of our systems are custom-built to specification, we do occasionally run into unexpected delays in the manufacturing process. [I DID NOT BUY A SYSTEM - JUST A SINGLE ITEM]

I assure you that your situation is not indicative of the quality of service Dell is capable of providing. [YES IT IS]

We appreciate your taking the time to share your experience with us. Your comments are very important to us and will assist in making improvements where necessary. I have forwarded your message to the management and I assure you they will look into this issue and will work on making improvements based on your feedback. [Translation: BUT YOUR ORDER WILL NOT BENEFIT FROM ANY OF THESE IMPROVEMENTS, AND WE WILL DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO HELP YOU OUT WITH THIS ORDER]

Once again, I thank you for sharing your experience with us. Whether the feedback we receive is positive or negative, it remains a crucial tool for determining how we can best improve our products and services. [Translation: BUT WE WILL NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR SPECIFIC ORDER]

We truly regret any inconvenience or frustration this matter may have caused. We value you as our customer[NO YOU DON'T] and your satisfaction is very important to us [IT ISN'T].

If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. [HAD THREE CONTACTS, NEXT STEP IS CANCELLING ORDER] Thank you for giving me the opportunity to assist you [YOU DIDN'T ASSIST ME!].

I hope to have addressed all your concerns to your satisfaction. [YOU DIDN'T] Your case number for this interaction is XXX. Please keep this number for your records. This will help us keep track of this issue so we can better assist you if you have any further questions or concerns about the estimated shipdate for your order.

We appreciate your patience, and again apologize for any inconvenience. If you require anything further, please feel free to visit our website at: http://www.dellcustomercare.com

Thank you and have a good day.

Respectfully,
Nhoireekit

Here's the text of the delivery delay message:

We have reviewed your order. Although we had anticipated being able to ship your order sooner, we are experiencing an unexpected delay with your order and will not be able to ship this order and any associated orders until on or before 12-17-2004.  No action is required to proceed with the new date, however, if you do not wish to wait, you may cancel your order.  If you wish to cancel your order or if you have any questions, please go to www.support.dell.com  or contact us at 1-800-624-9897, extension (66966).  Please include your order number or customer number with any correspondence.  We apologize for any inconvenience this delay may cause.    Thank you,  Dell Inc. Notification Team 

This was only my second Dell order, first one also being for parts. So was the order delayed because I spoke up? Or is this yet another retailer adopting the BestBuy ANGELS/DEVILS strategy? Is the new trend to ignore the vocal customers who do use the discounts, and only take care of those customers that place large orders, and don't take advantage of the discounts?
It's bad enough that Dell rewired power supply connectors on their ATX motherboards, so that upgrades without correct wiring would blow up the Dell motherboards - now Dell is rewriting the definition of the word "ships". I am upset for three reasons: 1) Dell still had the item listed as "ships in 24 hours"after the order was placed, when in fact it will take 1 month to ship, 2) Dell's definition of "ships in 24 hours" is not the English language definition of "ships in 24 hours", and 3) Dell failed to: (a) timely warn me that there's a delay; (b) provide me a reason for the delay; (c) even bother pacifying me, by offering free upgraded shipping, or coupons, or discounts. I won't even bother ranting about the fact that I have to explain my problems to people that don't understand what my problems are. The language barrier is acceptable at the grocery store, liquor store, or a gas station - but not from a billion-dollar technology retailer. Good bye, Dell!
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