Got Dell to honor a "Fatwallet.com" offer for $875 off of a Vostro 400 (after a second phone call) plus free overnight shipping. Order was supposed to take 2 weeks to fill due to ordering their 22" Ultra Sharp Widescreen, but here it is only 5 days after ordering sitting on my doorstep. Well done Dell.

We purchased 2 Dell laptops on 4/21 in anticipation of our tax rebates. My wife wanted a pink Inspiron and I went with a Vostro 1500. Both machines arrived on Monday 4/28. No shipping problems - the machines arrived about 3 days sooner than promised. They both seem to be pretty decent computers although the Inspiron, purchased out of the home and home office menu, was loaded with crapware. Once I stripped the useless programs from the machine and installed Open Office and AVG, it runs pretty well. The Vostro seems to be a very solid low end machine and certainly is a tremendous improvement over the old Compaq N150 I was running at work.  
 
I know that Dell is the company everybody loves to hate, but I've got to say that I'm pretty satisfied with my buying experience. We took care to buy something "off the rack" (the only addition I made to the Vostro was a bluetooth card)and we didn't change our minds two or three times about what we wanted after we had placed our order. So it looks like Dell got it right in our case. I don't know if we'll be as lucky if we need service, but that's another story if and when it happens.

This review was modified by its author, DaveLewis, on 4/29/08 5:43 PM.

Be cautious to place order at Dell. My order was cancelled because they claim it was a price mistake. Oh, well, as a seller, dell can always do that if they feel that the profit margin is not to their satisfactory. It is good for them, bad for us. When a seller keeps this policy, how could he get a good review??

I purchased a Dell monitor, and later they sent me a $25 coupon with the only restriction being I had to make a Electronics & Accessories purchase without a PC (ie a separate order from a PC), and that I was still required to pay taxes and shipping. I purchased an item that was $24.99. The online system accepted my coupon code, gave me a confirmation page that said the item was $6.34 (what shipping and tax came up as--it subtracted the 24.99 as I expected, not $25 from 24.99). My email confirmation [which is manually sent by Dell when they fill the order] had the coupon listed as being -24.99, but then the total price was still $31.33. I called and asked them about it, but they said the order had already gone through and they could not issue me a partial refund because the coupon was not applicable to the purchase, even though there were only 2 conditions, both of which I had met.  
 
I ended up returning the item, which cost me $6, and they gave me a full credit (including original shipping charge), but initially they were only going to credit me the $24.99 purchase price and re-issue me a coupon that expired in 3 months. I really only purchased the item to purchase something, since everything in their store is overpriced compared to buying on sale somewhere else, after you factor in that they don't ship free, and that you still pay tax.  
 
Basically billing is terrible. They couldn't issue a credit even because shipping already sent out the item. Really, it's two different departments.  
 
To make matters worse, they didn't have my coupon code on file even though it was applied to the order, and they were not familiar with the current promotions. I offered to send them a PDF of the email in which the coupon code was sent, but they declined, stating I should take that issue up with Marketing.

Not 1420 Inspironed  
Feel a bit like a lemming marching off the cliff as I listened to friends talking about the wonderful deals they were getting from Dell computers on great machines and how much money they were saving working with this great company. Of course most of these people do not have electricity in their homes and a computer is something that counts. Blinded by the obvious fog and lack of inspiration I purchased a Dell Inspiron 1420 without reading any reviews on the machine (just looked at the processor) and I do know all that follows is my fault. When my machine reach 80 centigrade or 176f as measured with a digital thermometer under the machine I figured it was time to read about the machine and in Dell’s words:The 1420 is a consumer machine not to be used all the time Feeling insprioned about this info I contacted customer service but found out Dell customer service was a consumer machine not to be used all the time. They asked me my operating system and all kind of stupid questions and I kept telling them the machine was throwing a spark five inches when plugged in. Guess it was drawing a little current. Not quite hot enough to pouch an egg but give it some time. They hooked me up with an engineer in India after about 25 phone calls and a few hours on the phone. She took over my machine and sped up the fan. What a great idea. Now I can use it as a foot warmer. By the time I finally convinced someone at Dell the machine was a fire hazard it was running at 100c or 212f hot enough the coatings were coming off the cover and the hard disk was fried loosing data and of course you know I had to cook a couple of eggs just cuse I could.  
 
Dell in its infinite wisdom sent me a new computer as I have the four year door to door international warranty. The trouble is I was working as an engineering consultant in Thailand at time and the only contact Dell gave me was the numbers published on their International Dell Service website and these listing were for phone sex. Dell has to be making some money on this as I have told them about the numbers repeatedly for over a year and they have not corrected it and only expanded the number of countries service by this phone number. So for a really good time just contact Dell International SERVICE! (Great Name!) at http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/services/en/international_support?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~section=numbers#asia_pacific for that titillating tango you have been searching for. To be specific the number is 800-22893355 and you will notice most of the countries in Asia use this number. I never actually used the phone sex number so can not tell you if Dell is Supporting phone sex with Asian or Caucasian women. You know it is over the phone and they could be faking Asian.  
 
So got the new machine and it has Windows Vista on it (God) which I did not order of course as a person who actually uses a computer would be crazy to have this operating system on a functional machine. Three weeks of work on getting vista off the machine, the right drivers in and to XP and of course I am back to the fact this machine was not designed to be used more then as a paper weight. Check out the Micro Express IFL9025 now that’s a machine, Top Rated! Moral of the storey read your Reviews before you buy and best of computing to you! T  

This review was modified by its author, tbokich, on 4/25/08 10:05 PM.

Ordered XPS 1330 laptop from Dell Outlet, got great price with all the specs. I wanted. Unit arrived in perfect condition. I've ordered four PC's from Dell in the past six months. All working just fine. BUT, I have noticed that Dell has recently changed customer service demeanor and is not offering as much "service". Example: 4 mos. ago ordered outlet desktop. Day after order, Dell offered 15% off same outllet unit. I called Dell (India-chat) and was credited that 15% off of my purchase. Most recent laptop, same circs., called Dell (unknown voice)was told Dell no longer offering to apply day-later discount.

I purchased an inspiron 1720 laptop from dell for my husband for christmas. After 3 and a half months of use, it just turned it self off and would no longer turn on. They are nothing but a problem to deal with, they transfer you numerous times when u call with nobody being the right person until they just hang up on you. No one wants to deal with the problem and nobody care or even knows anything about computers. They are rude and stupid.  
We also purchased in january a hard disk carrier. when ordering my husband made sure to ask them what does it come with. we made sure that it came with the screws and connector. It came with nothing, and shipping cost $15.00. we call them back and they tell us we have to pay for the screws and connector despite them telling us earlier that they all come with it. They go on to tell us that the screws are not in stock and they will not put an order in for us. They say that we could call back in a few months if we like, they may have them then???? and then we would have to pay shipping again, another $15.00.  
I regret purchasing from Dell, and will never purchase from them again. Their products are terrible, their customer service is worse.

Well despite what was said on this board, i found dell to be a good place to buy from. (although my review is simply based around the purchase and delivery of the item)  
 
I purchased a inspiron 530 on 4/10 around midnight. i received it on 4/16. I found this deal on a forum i belong too, and people were mentioning that if you order the 24" monitor, you will probably get a delay on the build.  
Dell emailed me when my item shipped with a tracking number.  
i installed a few programs and speed tested everything to make sure i got what i ordered, and everything was as stated on the order.  
As others stated, dell does pump the machine with gobs of spyware, so run a few programs on it to fully remove them, but this isnt such an issue due to the fact every major manufacturer will do this.  
After reading the horror stories of dells cust service, i will mainly be doing any non major repairs myself out of pocket, but i will update this with any further information.

Ordered an SLR camera on 4/2 for my upcoming vacation. After one week, the order was still in production. During the week, I sent Dell three emails, only the first email was replied.  
Then on 4/9, I called DELL. The CSR said she would put a request to expedite the order. But later that day, when I checked my order online I saw my order was cancelled. I've never received any email regarding the cancellation. Dell even didn't say a "sorry".  
This should not be a price error for several reasons. First, Dell had priced same or even lower several times for the same product within one month. Second, it's EPP price. Lower prices make sense. Last but not the least, Dell shipped many many orders.  
I had been waiting for the camera and then buy lens/cards. Dell just wasted my one week time and ruined my 8-month baby's first vacation.  
The worst experience with Dell ever!

Unbelievably, you cannot cancel an order for an off-the-shelf consumer electronics item that will be out of stock for over two weeks!  
 
I placed an order on 4/4 for a camcorder. The website noted it was not in stock; the website requires placing an order before an actual ship date is provided. I placed the order and saw that the estimated ship date was 17 days out. I called customer service to see if they could provide some information on the actual range of ship dates. They indicated that 17 days was the best estimate at this time; I could check back in a few days to see if it might change.  
 
I called back two business days later, when the product was still out of stock and the ship date was still two weeks out. I wanted to cancel at this point and look for the item elsewhere. They told me I could not cancel. I would have to receive the item, have my card charged, and then process a return at my expense.  
 
Their reason? "The order has reached a point where we cannot cancel the order." For an out of stock item that can't ship for two weeks? A company that has one of the most modern ordering systems?  
 
As a consumer, you must understand that Dell is manipulating you. Some % of returns won't come back due to the hassle, so they make money, and they make money on the float on your money between the time they charge your card and the time they refund you.

I wholeheartedly CANNOT recommend Dell due to their underhanded tactics.  
 
I placed an order with Dell at 5:18PM on a particular day. About 2 hours, 15 minutes later I tried to cancel that same order and was given a run-around about the system being down and to call back in 4 hours. I asked about the hours of operation and the fellow said they close at 9PM central. It happened to be about 7:20PM central at the time.  
 
I was told I could cancel online by sending an email, I did so. I later received an email stating the order was in the shipping process and could not be canceled. I replied to the email my concerns and stated I would no longer be doing business with Dell because of the dirty, underhanded treatment. In the email Dell sent to me they tried to relive me by telling me they cvan setup a merchandise return process. They not only want me to be out the money for the undesired order, they also want me to out the product itself by it being lost in the mail or at their processing center. That's pretty low. I know how disreputable retailers are with returns, they are very prone to losing things.  
 
As far as the order being in the shipping process, that means in about a week the order will be shipped and in another 4 days to a week I'll have it.  
 
I despise retailers that resort to these kind of tactics and won't tolerate them. Their gain of less than $200 has caused them to lose thousands from all of the business I would have done and, hopefully, all of the