This low rating is not about Dell products, which are not bad, but about Dell's customer support and sales. I have had several purchases directly with Dell, through both Home and Small biz departments, big ticket items as well as small purchases. Dell's site is Ok, but if something doesn't work and you have to talk to a person for me 3 out of 4 occasions it's been a frustrating experience.  
 
For example, my last order didn't ship and Dell didn't tell me about it. They send me a confirmation email that it shipped but it didn't show a tracking number. No other word from them. 3 weeks later I contacted Dell to see what's going on. Order status in my online account didn't show anything useful. I tried chat, they gave me UPS tracking id which proved ups never actually shipped it. When I asked why they told me to call customer care phone. I called customer care and was bounced to tree different reps (all with Indian accents). I waited in queue patiently and each time they would first asked for name and order #, put me on hold, then tell me they need to transfer me to another rep. The last one couldn’t tell me why my order didn't ship, and when I ask to reorder said he can't do that he needs to transfer me to a sales rep, then he just hang up. 30 minutes waisted, for what should be a simple issue.  
 
Next, I used sales chat to try to reorder. Same thing, I got bounced through 3 different reps, each time a rep would repeat the question, I would wait, then I would get message that I'm being transferred to another rep. It doesn't make sense but it sure feels like they don't care. And don't even try to call sales, they have the worst possible setup. You have to talk to a machine and answer what feels like a survey before they will transfer you to a live person and some reps are poorly trained and have heavy accents. To be fair, some reps are good and I have had good experiences with sales reps on the small biz side - but overall dealing with Dell has been unsatisfying experience. Best to avoid them.  

Purchased a few laptops (3) and some other odd items from Dell.  
 
First, if you are going to buy from Dell, make sure you are on one of their coupon lists. Oft-times you can combine a dell coupon code, with an already discounted sales price. For example, on the last laptop we bought, we were able to combine the online sale with a 40% off coupon for get a 17" Vostro laptop for well over 55% off total price.  
 
As for buying non-computer stuff from Dell, they often have some pretty killer deals on other electronics (again, some of these can be combined with Dell coupon codes for some fantastic savings).  
 
The ordering, sales, and shipping process has always been pretty decent in my experience. In Dell forums I've certain heard a few horror stories of forever-delayed shipments, but I've never experienced such myself.  
 
For returns, it is a doable process (I had to return one laptop), but they will make you just through hoops of fire (and 26 different 'let me transfer you' call center tactics) to get through the process. Be patient and you'll get there. Once I was given the RMA, the return shipping went well, and the item was credited back to my card within 3 days.  
 
I am sure I'll end up buying another laptop (or 3) from Dell down the road. With the sales and stacked coupons, you can usually find a quite nice deal.

Very disappointed!!! I highly discourage from shopping at Dell. Ordered product (PS3) and it was processing 2 months before Dell canceled my order stating that they don't have it in stock. At the same time you could buy PS3, but at higher price. So, I don't get how you can advertise something and then claim that you can't sell it at that price. Stay away from Dell!!!

Dell's customer service and e-commerce site are horrible. I placed an order with Dell last night. I recently applied for their Dell Preferred Credit Account and wished to make a purchase that would be partly on this new line of credit and my debit card. It was all set up fine on the screen. It showed that a portion would be charged to my preferred account and the remainder would be deducted from my own debit card. I clicked sumbit and nothing happened, so I thought perhaps I hadn't clicked on the button, I clicked again and this time I was directed to the "Thank You for this purchase" screen. Next day I notice a holding on my bank account for the full amount. I call Dell immediately where I am given several menu options that lead to more menu options that prompt me for my last for of my social where I am given more menu options again prompted for my zip code, following more menu options and finally I get directed to a real person, except I sit on hold for about 5-10 minutes. Finally I get representative who I explain my situation regarding how I split the payment method, but only my debit card was charged and for the full amount. He tells me he has no record of a purchase made on my preferred Dell credit line. I explain again, that I just started the account and tried to make a purchase and that their website screwed up. He puts me on hold, comes back to get the invoice number, comes back again to get another number and then tells me that my debit card had been charged the full amount. I tell him to rectify the situation because that was not what I requested. He puts me on hold again and then comes back to tell me there is nothing he can do and that I can return the product after I receive it. I tell him this is unacceptable, and I would like to speak to his supervisor. I am again placed on hold for 5-10 minutes and finally the supervisor comes on and says the representative has explained the situation to him and that they can do a balance transfer from my debit card to my preferred account and it will be taken care in one billing cycle. I again say this unacceptable, that I can not wait nearly a month for the funds to be transferred . He tells me there is nothing he can do about that, so I tell him I would like to cancel the order. He places me on hold, speaks to internal accounting and comes back to say the funds will be in my account within 7-10 days and that the transfer will show on my preferred account in one billing cycle. I ask if that is 7-10 business days, and he says it'll be 3-5 business days.. Not entirely sure if I will actually get my funds returned to me within the 3-5 business days or 7-10 days, but I felt like this was horrible customer service and no one seemed to know what they were doing or understand the situation. I was placed on hold frequently and I am still unclear on how this transaction will work out. I am certainly not impressed with the quality of service I received from the website or their customer service for mistake that was obviously Dell's. I certainly wouldn't recommend them to anyone, considering I am ordering this Dell to replace a Dell that is only two years old and the screen just quit working, but fell outside their limited warranty. And if I don't see my credit within the time period the supervisor gave me, I will certainly cancel the order and never order form Dell again.

Bought a e6400 laptop and works pretty well. no complaints. although speakers are a bit weak. customized it and received it in 2 weeks. a bit slow but good overall.

The hard drives that we ordered came very quickly and were exactly what we need. They are very good and serve our purpose.

told me when I bought it they would give me windows 7 upgrade free because they expected it in june. when it wasn't said too bad so sad. now I was not eligable. they will lIE to you to ell you a computer.

I ordered some hard drives, and they didn't want to honor the price they sold them at so they just cancelled the order. Do not trust getting anything that you order. Customer Service, after being on the phone for 40 minutes, didn't care.

Mostly wanted to put a review on here regarding Dell sales and customer service.  
I own my own PC repair and sales business and have sold over a dozen of their machines in their past without me being a reseller. Now I am interested in being a reseller and nobody in their company wishes to discuss ANYTHING about their resellers program on the phone, a phone call to them simply generates a "just go to this page and read about it" if I wanted to read about it, I would not have called you on the phone.  
I rank the customer service and sales as poorly as I can.

I called up to cancel a hard drive that I had ordered earlier in the day (I found it at a store nearby for the same price) and it took me nearly 4 hours of calls to get it done. Very frustrating.  
 
Dell can be extremely hit or miss. If you ever need to contact customer support, you will inevitably run into trouble. They will transfer you to several different departments who will ask you the same questions over and over again. You WILL get disconnected at least once. And there is apparently no direct number to the team you need to talk to, so you have to go through their time-wasting phone system and go through the entire process more than once. Save the hassle and order from a different vendor.

This review was modified by its author, whacked17, on 10/6/09 10:53 AM.

Purchased a Netgear WNDR3700 router from Dell. It was almost sold completely out, but I ordered one anyway. Shipped 10/1/09 and arrived 10/5/09 at my house. Seems that many people have bad experiences with Dell, but my first order was just fine and without any problems. Their discounts are really great on certain items.

Absolutely horrible! I tried to buy an HDTV from Dell, but they changed my ship date three different times, pushing it out from the original 3-5 day estimate to over three weeks. Further, they did not provide an updated date after the first delay, causing me to have to check with them for updates. I finally ordered a similar unit from JR Music, it shipped the next day, FOR FREE! Dell, never again.

terrible company to order from. I bought a nintendo wii from them for $237. then the wii had a price drop approx. 22 days after i bought it. i requested a refund for the difference from the price drop and they refused it because they offer no price guarantee. any other retailer would have given me the difference, but not dell. apparently refunding $50 was too much work to keep a customer.

Dell sells USED CAMERAS! Would never buy again from Dell. I’ve been waiting for this camera for 3 weeks since I’ve placed my order for digital camera Sony DSC - W290 and I’ve got is USED. It has dirty sports on LCD screen, full charged battery and attached wrist strap to it, which is never apply for a new cameras. The new one has uncharged battery and wrist strap sitting by itself in the box. (I have tried several Sony cameras before, so I know how the new ones look like.  
Plus to that my order was delayed. I placed my order on 09/03/09 with the estimate delivery date 9/17/09, on 09/ 15/09 got letter from Dell that my order will be delayed and new estimate delivery date was 10/01/09. On 09/18/09 I got another letter from Dell that my order has been shipped, got it 09/23/09, which is almost 3 weeks since my order have been placed.  
I just wrote to the customer service, but didn’t get the answer yet.  

Great Price!!!  
I don't know why other buyers come with a lot trouble. For me so far, I bought a lot items from dell, everything are fine.

This review was modified by its author, terencelcw, on 9/22/09 12:48 PM.