Frustrating Dell order experience

[DocMartin]

What is the deal with Dell computers? Last week there was a free double memory upgrade, a free harddrive upgrade from 30 gig all the way up to 120 gig, a $50 rebate on a 3 yr. warranty, plus a $200 rebate on the 8250 dimension. I had been waiting for such a deal for a long time. My sons and I stewed around for a long time to come up with the system that we wanted and that we could afford. On the last day of the sale, we finally came to a conclusion. Now for the problems:
We had printed out a configuration at 3 A.M. Tuesday morning. That afternoon, I went to place the order, and guess what --the video card (Geforce TI 4200) that we had chosen was no longer an option. They still offered the Geforce Mx but not the Ti. I called a salesman and told him what I wanted. He said they no longer were offering the Ti. He said they got rid of it to make room for the two new Radeon cards. I replied "Why didn't you get rid of the Mx card instead of the Ti card. He said "Why do you want the Ti instead of the Mx?" I said, "Because the Ti is supposed to be better." He said, "Why do you say that?" I said "Because a lot of the forum users say that the Ti is better plus the ti has DVI." So then he said "Well, Dell was having some conflict issues between the Ti card and other components." So I said, "well I guess I will take the MX card then because I don't want to pay $140 or $300+ for either of the 2 Radeon cards."
Then I find out that I have to pay tax (about $90) which I didn't have to do a few months ago. Plus I had to pay $99 shipping. I said "I already ordered a Sony monitor off of you guys. You should take about $50 off the shipping, because the monitor is the biggest weight of all." He said "I don't know if I can take anything off, but if I can, it will only be $25." I said "They told me that if I don't like the monitor, I will have to pay about $40 to $50 to send it back. Why can't you take that much off?" He said "I can't take off anymore than $25, if my supervisor even allows me to take that off."
Since I was going to have to pay tax and $75 to $100 shipping, I decided to order through Dell Business because Union Plus gives UAW members a 10% discount at Dell Business. The Business site also showed all the rebates. However, when I printed out my print summary, the rebate deals didn't show up like they did on the Dell Home Site. I then tried to call Dell and after going through numerous holds and automated messages and transfers, I finally got someone. He said that Dell Business was closed for the day, even though the online deal was supposed to be good until about 11 o'clock Central time. I fianlly gave up and e'mailed Dell business, asking if I could place the order the next day and still get the deals. Well, I heard nothing back from them, and so I called the next day. They said I could no longer get the deals. So I still have not ordered a computer.

There is a whole lot more to this story, but this is getting too long. Does anyone have any comments about the Geforce ti 64 MB 4200 card? Is there problems with it? Or was Dell just "pulling my leg?" Also, I am wondering if I should just try to build a computer. Please, if anyone has any suggestions about getting a good Dell deal, I would appreciate your comments. Is it always this hard to order from Dell?

[Love2Learn]

i dont know anything about dell but i would highly suggest you and your boyz get together and build one... I reccomend it because ...
1) you sound close with your boyz... if you are that would be fun... if you arent it could get you closer

2) you dont have to know very much at all to put together a computer... if you are willing to call me... and have about 4 hours long distance on your bill i will sit through with you and your boyz and teach you how to build... not hard at all ...

3) SOMETIMES you can get better deals... but the way dell is putting together systems it wont look like you are saving a lot for your time but in the long run you will be happier because you dont have any restrictions for upgrading later.... I build my own and the first time is tough cause you dont have the parts but every time you upgrade after that you can just get state of the art parts ( i spend about 250 or 300 a year on different parts) every 1 to 1 1/2 years and still stay really current with your computer...

4) there is nothing like knowing your computer from the inside out... you can actually start to understand what is going on and that is when it starts gettting interesting (for me anyway)

5) you never ever ever have to deal with any wanna be sales guys from dell again!

-L2L

[Richard Cranium]

DM, I printed a similar deal out for my gang at work to see.

With my "Corporate" Discount, the very same machine I paid $475.00 for would cost $930 !!!!

How's that for a Corporate Discount..

Watch the Steals & Deals for Dell discounts if you want a Dell..

One comment I will make in regards to the Dell, it's a HellofaLOT faster on the internet than anything that I've ever built.. I dunno if it's the P4 or what, but the thing will FLY.. Even when connecting at 44k instead of my usual 49,333 the Dell leaves my homebuilt machines in the dust.

*Note*
Just on the net is the only thing I'm claiming it's faster doing, haven't done any other tests as of yet.. Planning to sell them all and keep on plugging along with my AMD K6-3+ @ 112mhz FSB

[jkrohn]

I have not heard of any specific compatibility issues with the 4200 and anything really. I have one and it works great. You are right about the MX vs. Ti though. MX is a lousy card compared to the Ti's

As far as ordering from dell, I have always had very positive experiences with the ordering process as well as returning things for replacement as far as TWO YEARS into the warranty! (They gave me a new CDRom drive after it burned out after two years!)

I always reccomend Dell to anyone I know looking to buy a whole computer. Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience

As far as building a computer goes, how much work are you willing to do? Personally I would rather start by "building" old computers forst. Just rip em apart and put em back together. Best way to work out the kinks of doing things IMO. That way if something goes south it won't cost you the big bucks.

Just my 2 cents.
Jkrohn

[Richard Cranium]

One more item on buying from Dell..

I never, never call them. If the unit I want is not available on-line,, I forget the deal and wait until I can configure it the way I want it.

I do understand your pain losing out on the Titanium Video Card though.

[osprey4]

I think this is just the way Dell does deals, they appear and disappear very quickly. I suppose that goes with the territory of keeping inventory at an absolute minimum.

The tax thing depends on where you buy it. The Home division does not charge tax for most states, but they do in states where they operate a B&M. The other divisions do. And shipping is one of those deal things that comes and goes.

As far as the employee discount (or union in this case), a Dell rep who visited here at my company told me that sometimes you can save money through this, but I found I did better through small business. They do charge tax through the employee programs.

I wouldn't worry about the card, in a year or so you'll be able to find a nicer card for minimal investment. The GF4 MX will do nicely in the meantime.

[birddogj59]

I had a very positive buying experience with Dell.
I am quite happy with the pc that I purchased from them.
I concur with the fact that the Dell P4 seems to fly when online.
The DSL service does very well for me.
btw, I ordered through their sales dept. and had zero problems.
Received exactly what I ordered three days earlier than promised.

[DocMartin]

Thanks for all the comments!
L2L:
I really, really want to build one with the "boyz' someday. (My oldest son, who makes circuits for robots, would probably do most of the work). However, since both boys are going to college and working and living at home, the need for a second computer is becoming more urgent. It's starting to get rather difficult in deciding who is going to be on the computer and when. I figure that I need to get something done about the situation soon. It might take too long for us to find the parts we want at the price we want to build a computer. Dell seems to be the best bet as far as buying one. HOwever, I do wish that Dell had a firewire port, three 51/2" bays instead of two, and would tell the brands of drives that they use.


Doc:
Thanks for the info about the fast internet with Dell P4. We use the internet a lot for research, pricing, connecting with the boys' universities, etc. My sons also do a lot messaging. Maybe Dell is the way to go. I should have acted sooner, then I could have gotten the Ti card and also the good rebate deals.

JKRohn:
Thanks for the info on the TI 4200. I wonder if Dell really did have any conflict problems or whether they just ran out of their supply of the TI cards? Anybody have any thoughts about this?
Also, I like your advice about rebuilding an old computer. My oldest son has done some exchanging of parts on our old machine. I am just afraid to do too much more to it right now because we do not have any back-up machine.

Osprey:
You have a good idea about the card, since cards do seem to drop drastically in price in a rather short time. And I agree that you do have to compare the different dell sites to get the best bargain at the time. I guess I should have started a little sooner before all those good deals disappeared. I just thought that they would keep getting better and better deals, the closer it gets to the holidays. I hope I wasn't wrong.

Birddog:
I'm glad to hear that you had a good deal experience with Dell. Maybe I'll still keep trying to get a Dell. BTW, how is the Dell case? I have a 7-year old Micron case that is very sturdy. Will I be dissapointed in the Dell case?

Thanks everybody!
DM

[osprey4]

We took receipt of a 4550 recently and I got the Ti4200. I know the system you got is much higher end so I'm not sure what the difference is.

The same thing goes for hard drive. Never order more than you absolutely need initially. By the time you need more space, the incremental cost you would have paid will get you a lot more space. Our first Dell came with a 20-gig drive, the cost to upgrade by another 20 gigs, $100, eventually bought me an 80-gig drive.

[Wolfman11511]

Maybe I can save you some time ordering parts.... www.newegg.com they have a HUGE selection and most come with free shipping. They also have fed ex 2 day service and it ALWAYS comes in 2 days. If you kinda afraid of building for your first time buy a bundle. Bundles come with MB, Processor, and ram in most cases. A good site for bundles is www.jncs.com. Go there and get phone number and call JNCS they have great tech support.

Hope that helps some,

Wolf

P.S. What conflicts could they be having with Ti that they aren't having with MX? Ti been around alot longer than MX, so you would think it would be the later card having the problems.