Thank you Lionel for the update. All that we have asked is to be kept "in the loop" so to say. Any information is better than no information, don't you think?

So basically it is a NVIDIA issue and the fact that Dell has to support this process, not Microsoft. Fair enough. Dell could have just informed us instead of this utterly ridiculous ritual of us (Dell customers) doing this song and dance with Dell requesting information about your product that we purchased and are entitled to. I hope this is a lesson learned about Dell's customer service image that at the moment needs a little polishing up. This is meant for the higher-ups in Dell's food chain that have tied your hands in this situation you've had to deal with. Nothing personal Lionel, I hope it is not taken as such.

Thanks again Lionel and keep us posted.

                                                     Kevin Owens

Lionel,

Thanks for the update, and background on the hurdles Dell has faced in getting the Dell Vista upgrade to us. Hopefully explanations such as this will be more forthcoming when things go awry in the future.  As a customer, it helps greatly to have an idea of what's going on behind the scenes, if for no other reason than to even superficially feel acknowledged by the company we're forking over good money to.

So, when the naysayers show up here later, just know that being forthcoming with your customers is greatly appreciated. Please do it more often, and hopefully, before frustrations rise.  I already pointed your post out to a few people, and their overall reaction was akin to "Well, now that makes more sense, why didn't they say so earlier?"

Kudos.

Thank you Lionel.  We appreciate information. We appreciate that Dell can't create a customer service nightmare for themselves. It does help alleviate our frustration to acknowledge there are issues and keep us informed.

Thanks very very much... that's all we needed...

So, a fix i could download in minutes if I would of bought my system in Feb 07 is making me wait 2+ Months seeing as i took "advantage" of the Dell Vista EXPRESS Upgrade.

Please have someone from Customer Care call me,  I need to get this resolved,  this has cost me time and money as I was hoping to have Vista shortly after its release as I do run a side business as a Computer Tech for home users, and have wasted my time and customers time as i stumble foolishly around Vista trying to do simple tasks, that i would know if i had it on my own PC.

 I feel like a fool and like we have been treated like fools. I dont need any drivers,I can download those.  I JUST NEED THE VISTA UPGRADE.

Thanks Lionel,

I'm waiting on a couple of upgrades and it's good to finally get some info on the problems Dell are having getting them out. Had to laugh at your comment about working with other companies to fulfill upgrade orders.

I wonder when someone from Dell is going to point the finger at the only company that has sailed through this fiasco unscathed, although it is the one pulling all the strings (and holding all the licences). In recent months disgruntled users (like me), who've become frustrated with that company have started playing around with Linux as an alternative - I chucked when I saw a couple of weeks ago that Dell was beginning to play around with Linux too.

Thanx for the update i own a xps 710 iam happy to wait till may i only hope there no further delays.

I've already received my Upgrade Kit.  My question has more to do with the technical aspects of the installation media itself.

1)  Are all necessary Dell-specific drivers on the Operating System dvd?

2)  When in the installation process are they installed?  During the OS installation, or during the Pre-Install phase? 

3)  I preferred to use non-Dell installation media rather than the Dell Kit.  Which drivers specifically will I have to download from Dell, and which ones will I have  to install?

4)  Is there a way to obtain the necessary Dell drivers from either the OS media or the Pre-installation media.

5)  If so, what specifically is the method, and where may I find it on Dell's site?

Donald McDaniel

Lionel,

Thanks for the update and explanation. At least I know were I am now although I do not agree with why we are where we are now and with some of the explanations.
That I now have to wait until the end of May (the current worst case scenario) is just sad and a major departure what has been communicated to me when placed my order.

Thank you for this information. As the other posters said, this was all we needed to know Dell isn't just sitting on their thumbs while customers wait.

I believe if Dell had maintained this level of transparency from the beginning, 90% of the customer service issues caused by the upgrade would never have occurred.

This is a great improvement, keep it up!

Thank you

Thank you for finally giving us answers, that's all we wanted. Though I still do not like the fact that we have to wait so long I understand it.

In the future you guys should be more forthcoming, these scripted answers are seen as BS.

Thanks,

.......

Dear Mr. Menchaca,

I bought a Dimension E520 in late October 2006, redeemed in January 2007 (V2105618).

I see all the (german) Vista-Drivers for this system on support.dell.com, with the exception of the AverMedia USB digital TV tuner, but then there's no XP driver for that device available either.

So what's holding back my Express upgrade?

Any help on this issue is highly appreciated.

Martin Altschwager

Tim the Computer Guy,

If you are a computer guy, why are you relying on Dell?  Why not just go buy the retail version and use it?

Just curious...I do what you do but would never rely on an OEM version of an OS for support purposes.  You could have entered into their Beta test program and tried out the release candidates to get familiar with it.

Just a business suggestion.

hallo
Could problem be fixed by sending the full program or is c521 not able to run vista.I cannot find the status of my order.It seems that 1 of your staff has been
misleading on upgrade line on more than 1 phone call.the last person i talk did not know the status order the rest never checked the status.It is easy to see that same of cost of express upgrade has been paid already.the price of my pc drop when the opion ended.Microsoft say that only feight sould paid.i not sending this on dell pc as drop of line randomly
 

so us xps 710 customers are not getting vista untill May. Why has Dell not emailed us to tell us this and way when i emailed dell did i get the standard reply

    Thank you for your interest in the Dell Express Upgrade Program for Microsoft Windows Vista.

The Microsoft Windows Vista Software Kits orders are shipping in the order that they were received, and we expect to ship all of the pre-ordered Vista Upgrade units world wide by April 15, 2007.

An email will also be sent that includes the carrier tracking number once your Express Upgrade to Windows VistaT has shipped.

As a dell customer i want to tell the hard truth that dell is not able to satisfy its customer....i hav dell inspiron, purchased recently and found that the web cam they provided is not compatible with vista. they promised to send the cd but till date i hav not recieved.

Not only this the roxio creator 9 installed by dell is also incompatible with vista. I found no online solution as whenevr i tried to upload the updated version it is being prevented by the vista. Everyone is not expert in this field...and with vista the problems r too much, so i think that dell should send its enginneers who can satisfy their customer.

I think dell should be very alert while installing the softwares.

I recently installed Vista and have many misgivings about switching from XP-SP2. First, ther was no mention about loosing Outlook Express for mail. The instructions for completing the upgrade was very limited and lacked the basic instructions to prevent a user from loosing much valuable data as well as programs from XP.

The look of Vista is not as comfortable as XP and it takes a lot of exploring to find if at all possible, the programs and items readilly available from XP.

There are no instructions for users who have upgraded from XP to Vistaer  via a CD for the same computer. All information is designed for users who upgrade from one computer to another computer. The majority of upgrades will be from customers who are upgrading their operation systems only and not purchasing a new computer. Dell and Microsoft take note.........

Further more, there is no technical support for this upgrade unless you purchase a support agreement for software technical support at an exhoribant fee. This fee for $250 will only cover six (6) issues for an entire year. Guess what, there will be many questions that you will encounter and will not have access to any help that can be understood by researching information yourself. Dell has in my estimation taken advantage of a situation and exploited an opportunity for them to gain revenue by charging for technical support for a major upgrade. Don't  look to Microsoft for support without paying through the nose either. The first question they ask is what is your credit card number. You are then on the clock and they are not that technical profecient at answering your questions.

Please understand, you are technically on your own and at the mercy of Dell and MS to figure out why the programs you used to have use of no longer function properly. This is the biggest rip off in the history of any major upgrade by a software manufacturer and computer manufacturer to date.

Personally, I do not recognize any major benefit from switching from XP-SP2 to Vista Home Premium.  The sorriest day of my life is switching from an operating system that was functional to Vista which is a real mess.  Vista forces you to use all Microsoft programs and will put roadblocks for anyone trying to use other programs including Dell...... Vista is a real nightmare and will not get any better without the major manufacturers forcing them to offer better technical documentation and support at no charge for the first year.

There is no documentation that I know of published by Dell or Microsoft on how to uninstall Vista and reinstall XP-SP2. Why?? This is not right.

So let me get this straight I should have recieved a VISTA upgrade by now????

 I brought My XPS700 in oct last year and have not heard anything about an upgrade vie e-mail or letter, I have been away and the last thing I heard I was receiving was a MB upgrade and a 25% discount on Quad core, nothing about Vista.

Could someone let me know what is suppose to be happening please.

cheers

Rob C-

I do it as a side business,  for home users, and am slowly growing it into a larger operation, I have to do what i can *Afford*,   I needed a new PC and Vista,  and the pricepoint of the Dimension e521, with the FREE vista Express Upgrade fit all i wanted/needed in a PC,  I increased Ram and Processor power, , I bought on that offer rather than waiting for a system to come with Vista pre-installed for tax purposes.

I didn't go the Beta route, as I didnt have a PC that was anywhere near vista capable to work with Aero and other things, and knowing my core customer base, i wasnt expecting anyone to go out and jump on Vista right away, so playing on my own with Vista upon release would be all i need to do. 

And why should I go out and buy the retail version of Vista? When in good faith I bought THIS PC, expecting to HAVE Vista, I figured it would be by the end of Feb-Mid March, as to me Express means QUICK.

What about if you own a XPS 700?  I order my system in Dec and redeemed the upgrade to Vista the first week of March.  When I check my order status, it shows pending.  Any reasons for the delays for the XPS 700 system owners?

Thanks,

I am in the same boat as Tim the computer guy - I run a small business from my home supporting at home PC users.  I purchased an E1505 to be my Vista machine, and I placed my Vista order on November 29th 2006.  My client base is not cutting edge, and will only slowly migrate to Vista, so there was never any reason to take my computer and put a Beta operating system on it.  I could afford to wait until Vista was available to all - but NOT months after its arrival.

In answer to Rob C's question, why should we small operators be forced to go out and purchase retail a product which we already own??  I have been asking since the beginning of February if there will be any unusual delay in my Vista upgrade - and have been continually assured that there is none.  Breaking down and going out to buy Vista at retail seemed to me like the old line about how to make a city bus appear at your stop - light a cigarette and it will come.  Even so, I would have just gone and bought it retail months ago had I not been told again and again that my copy will be here on a timely, first in first out basis.  However, even had I been prescient enough to not trust Dell and had bought a retail copy of Vista at launch, this would leave a bad taste in my mouth, because the version Dell will eventually send me would not be of any value to me at all, since it is only licenced to be used on the actual computer I purchased from Dell in the first place.

I have purchased several Dell computers for my own use, and steered my client base to dozens of Dells.  This delay/stalling/lack of information approach by Dell has completely soured me on Dell and I am now steering my client base in every other direction.

This is now starting to get ridiculous, how many more times are you going to push back these shipments.  I have an Inspiron 6400, and I want to just get mine and get it done with.  They were all ment to be shipped by the 15th of April right??  Any idea when I'll get mine??

I do regret that I bought a brand new Dell computer in December with the assumption that I would get a Vista upgrade included in the price. Dell has "promised" that I will get my Vista upgrade before end of May, which is almost 6 months after the OS was released. The launch of Vista couldn't have been a surprise for third parties to Dell.

I also think's it a bit remarkable that international customers has to wait even longer for the upgrade kit as I was forced to buy an English version of the OS in order to be entitled to the upgrade.

To Ronald Clausen:

I suggest a great book if you are having trouble with Vista..."Vista for Dummies".  Great basic user guide for the OS.

The scenario you describe is the same with every OS upgrade Microsoft has released and is no fault of the hardware manufacturer.

 You can switch the look and feel of Vista to mimic XP.  The benefits of Vista may not be readily noticeable and I agree, the new OS is not as drastic of an upgrade from when XP was released over ME.

As for Outlook Express...there are plenty of alternatives.  Vista incorporates a mail program, it's just called something different.  Also consider the full blown Outlook suite or the free Thunderbird email from Mozilla, makers of Firefox.
 

Cheers. 

what really gets under my skin, is the lies that are told, i was promised it will be delivered by 15th april, now the site say end of may....

 how many more lies furthermore i got an inspiron 6400, it doesnt have an nvidia controller so what is the delay.

WHY DOES DELL LIE SO MUCH!!!!

I'LL NEVER BUY A DELL AGAIN

Well at least I know officially what the delay with my system (Dimension 521) is but there is no excuse for it taking so long for this information to be provided nor for this level of delay in dispatch. I refuse to believe it can possibly take this long to come up with a driver for the disk controller and incorporate that into the upgrade DVD - if Dell really gave a damn about upgrade cusotmers it could and should have been with me long ago. You seem to have had no trouble getting it on to new machines pre-loaded with Vista many months ago but then I guess you don't already have those customer's money. Anyway, the product I purchased was advertised as being Vista capable in 2006 - now you are telling me that it is not so capable - smells like false advertising to me. It would seem that, as a UK customer, I am now looking at an ETA as late as July 2007 allowing for the ridiculously long delivery time and even that's assuming that this date doesn't slip further like all the other dates have. I'm sorry but that is not acceptable.

What a fiasco the Dell Visat Upgrade programme is. I've been waiting now for 6 weeks and I see they have now extended the deadline to end May. No-one can tell me where my order is in the pipeline. The Dell Customer Service dept were useless passing me from department to department and when i asked to extend my warranty by the 3 months I'll end up waiting it just blew their mind and they passed me to the warranty department, who promptly cut me off.

At a national rate premium phone line they make a fortuineout of my complaints, haven't delivered anything Free. If you buy an upgrade it gets shipped within two days. How come they can't geta  few DVD's out in a reasonable time. It's pathetic, as is their offshore support centre.

DONT BUY DELL is my advice. Shame as I was one of their biggest advocates.

Jmarto...why don't you build your own systems for your clients?

That's what I do.  I am only on here as I bought a Dell by request for someone (I have no idea why but they insisted...they must love talking to people from India).  They have been asking about the Vista upgrade.  But...I am in no hurray and conveyed that to them.  Patience is a virtue when talking about an OS!!  Anyone who blindly made the jump to ME from 98 can tell you!!!

First I have 5 dell computers. I have purchased 4 (E521) in the last 4 months. 3 have Windows XP and 1 with Windows Vista.  The other Dell I upgraded to Windows Vista in Feb.  I have been attempting to bring all of these computers onto the same platform  since they are networked together.  

I am very tired of the generic email I am getting from the Dell Vista upgrade center when I have asked where is my upgrade. I have called numerous times and every time they keep putting off the delivery date of the vista upgrade. They assured me this morning again that mine would be shipped by April 15th. But after reading the opening statement here by Lionel Menehaca that my E521 computers will not get their upgrades until the beginning of May.  Unfortunately Dell has failed the owners of Dell products this time.  If the opening statement at the beginning of this blog by Lionel Menehaca was sent via email to all Dell owners awaiting Vista upgrades I think I would not be as upset as I am now with Dell. 

Dell must also look at the outsourcing of their services to third world nations also.  This morning I was talking to Vista Upgrade Center and the woman did not have a good working knowledge of the English Language.  I asked her what country she was in she stated that they cannot tell me it is against their policy.  I asked her if she was at least in North America she refused to answer.  I then asked to speak to a supervisor located in the United States her comment was that her supervisor was in the same location with her.  I then asked if a supervisor from the United States could call me back and her reply was "we do not return calls from this center you must call back or talk to a supervisor from this location"

Expecting international orders to be shipped by the end of may?

It's April now and still no word as to what is happening. Customer services give us no help and when looking at the order on the web site it's just displayed as "in progress"

Yes you may have to deal with third parties but it shouldn't take four months to keep your customers informed

I can't imagine how much business this will loose Dell long term. Yes you can place the blame on other people but the consumer sees it as a Dell logistics problem.

Rob C.

Why dont you just quit telling everyone what they should do, and if you build systems, why are you here?

Its not cost effective for us to build systems and sell them on a small scale,  you cannot match the pricepoints, plus deal with the hardware malfunctions and other OEM issues there would be no money in doing that.   I seriously considered it, but at the rate of 1-2 PCs a month I could never buy anything in quantity to make it worthwhile, its better to help them find a PC that meets their needs, and charge them a fair fee for your services (for me, I charge $100 to help them find a new PC, set it up and migrate the simple files they need from their old PC) everyone is happy.

I was planning on building my Vista system, but i could get everything i would build for about $300 CHEAPER by going this route,  and yes, I now realize i got what i paid for.

Now the Indian Customer Service Representative has told me that according to the information given to them from their US headquarters, all Vista upgrades will be shipped by the 25th of April and not by the end of May. I thought it was 15th of April... They also told me to not pay attention to the Vista Upgrade site and the notices posted their.

The end of May seems to be a realistic shipment time to me, considering this is the 6th delay they've given to me.

Hello, I emailed the Mexico vista upgrade support center.. or whatever... which, ironically, I'm almost 90% sure that is in the US... not India.. and ther told me this:

"ud. debe de resibir sus pedidos los ultimos dias de Abril,   La bodega esta experimentando un volumen mui alto de Actualizaciones,  Tinen un plazo extendido asta el 15 de Abril para enviar los pedidos."

Anyone who knows just a little bit of spanish can notice that it has horrible orthography...

Anyway they say

"You should receive your upgrades (plural??) by the last days of April. The warehouse is experimenting a very high volume of upgrades. They have an extended deadline to April 15th to ship upgrades"

What catches my eye is that it is not an automated response... So this is actual real information... I think.. so, I think Zomax, Microsoft and/or Moduslink still have the deadline of April 15th, but Dell is asuring that no more delays occur after the deadline they state and no more complains from people... (well...)... so... in that case, just five days and ticking...

 Hope my theory is correct... any thought of what the email and statements might mean??

Thanks for the update, however it does not alter the fact that we have been given "Date" before starting with March, then April now May, I feel really conned by Dell,

Despite all the reasons they give why express does not mean express, they where very quick at pushing it in there pre- sales vista launch in order for people like me to order a machine and then get my money in the bank.

Do Dell really think that when I bought my machine in January I would be happy waiting till May for the "Express" upgrade, when I could buy a unit off Dell in March with it already installed, ( note that they managed to sort the driver problems out prertty quick in order to get new customers.)

 I certainly feel cheated and will think twice or maybe three times befoe buying from Dell again,

Well what can I say,

All the while I have been waiting for my Vista upgrade, I have not bothered putting anything on this page( despite the frustration), but this morning I gave in and posted my observations ( being polite), then 2 hours later a knock on the door, and it was a DHL delivery with my upgrade, so do I know moan about the fact that I was resigned to having my upgrade in May , and they have delivered it early (April), only joking.

Just glad that it has arrived. If it helps anyone else in the uk, I ordered my E520 system in january.

I'm in the UK.

I received an email on March 17 saying my Vista upgrade had shipped.

Nothing has been received yet. Can I assume, in view of all the comments about delays, that (despite the email) it hasn't actually shipped?

If it has shipped how to I report non-receipt - the DellVistaUpgrade page doesn't seem to help.

Thanks. 

Here is a simple, elegant and ethical solution which Dell could implement as a genuine step toward stepping out of this Vista upgrade customer relations nightmare.  (Microsoft, I hope you're listening too)

Compile a list of EVERY customer that you PROMISED a Vista upgrade- and SEND IT TO THEM.  Or...is that too simple?

There is no doubt Dell has made many mistakes with the roll out of computers and Vista over the past few months. A few of them are:

• They should have identified the problems in the systems before their upgrade disks went into production. They certainly had time since Vista had a long beta period and was released to corporate customers the end of November.
• They didn't communicate problems with their customers. Lionel admits that problems with these machines were identified in Feb and it was April before they acknowledged the delays.
• They delivered incorrect and inconsistent messages.  An organization, no matter how big, must speak with one voice to be effective.  These posts make it sound like users are still getting inconsistent messages which just frustrate people.  The Dell Vista upgrade site still says that the upgrade will ship in the order they were received - something everyone knows is incorrect, even if Lionel tried to explain why they're out of order.

I see this blog post from Lionel as a possitive step. Hopefully Dell will analyze their upgrade program and make adjustments in the future. 

Man, all the information in the world can't fix this fiasco.  The end of May?  Seriously.  It was promised by the end of March when our money was given to you.  Blaming nVidia for the driver update?  I call shenanigans.  nVidia has been a terrific company for delivering timely updates to drivers.  There were drivers available for all nVidia products during the Beta and Release Candidate stages.  Why wasn't Dell working with these?  Why wasn't Dell examining its systems during the extensive Release To Manufacturing Period?  If you factor in the available time, it's been almost six months for Dell to get its act together and ship us the product as promised or at least offer to recall the affected systems so that we can buy systems from companies who deliver on their promises.

To those who say that Dell isn't resting on it's laurels; Dell is just playing the blame game.  They have stated that they're not the problem, over and over and over and over again.  But they are.  You see, simply because Dell relies upon external "outsourcing" does not absolve them of the responsibility to deliver the product.  I think it's terrible the way Dell is shifting the blame off on everyone else.  If they chose poor companies to do business with (and if you believe their finger-pointing) then they are at fault as much as the other companies.

To delay shipment of a product by two months even after the gracious shipment period of three months is ludicrous.  It takes mere minutes to slipstream drivers into installation media - and then you can spend days testing it as you like.  It does not take months to perform such a simple task.  Or is this to speak poorly of Dell's technical abilities?

Tim,

Not telling people what to do...just making suggestions.  I find the whining on here kind of interesting as people should have known what they were getting into in the first place.

Again..this "need" for Vista is kind of crazy.  There is no real great reason for it.  XP should be running your current systems just fine.  I can understand if you didn't have an OS, period and were waiting for Vista.  But what's wrong with XP for the next few weeks?  Man oh man.

You have a valid reason, but the fact that you are relying on an OEM version of Vista for business purposes isn't logical.  Just an observation.

I am as curious as anyone...which is why I am here, for info.

 Good luck everyone!

Rob C.

Simple answer. I had access to Vista through my profession, and had been running it long before 11/29/06, when I completed my Vista Express upgrade submission and received my confirmation.

There are lots of features that are new in Vista, that I would like to use everyday at home. Adding search folders to my home machine would make life a lot easier.

 XP is not equivalent to Vista, and I could have ordered a new PC of the same model as mine with a working copy of Vista installed from the factory as of the 2nd week of February.  It would now be doing things that I can't do with XP.

But it appears that I MAY finally get to run it 4 months after I could have had it working myself if I had just purchased a retail upgrade copy on release day and hadn't delayed my machine purchase by a month last year to get the "Express" upgrade...

 On 2/16 I checked status and was told to expect receipt withing 4-6 weeks of the beginning of March. Past that time now, and no easy email notification or any other contact later, and I find this page telling me it may be another month.  Must be nice to have ephemeral deadlines with no consequences... other than lost future sales.

 I do large scale MS OS deployments and server support for a living. I deal with driver issues and such like this all the time. I get 48 hours to get product out the door from the time I receive and verify a solution.

I must admit seeing real information instead of boilerplate email, finally, is at least something.

Rob C -

What difference does it make if I use a retail or an OEM for business?  Its the same OS.  All I am trying to do is learn how to basic functions and tasks and get used to moving around in it, and while i was at it learn some of the new features, So i can show my customers.

 I am not teaching rocket science, or doing any programming or major networking tasks,  just show basic users how to use the basic functions of their new PC with new OS.    I just like to know what I am doing when I am taking someones money rather than sit there and try to figure out how to do it on the fly.  

Lionel - 

I am still waiting for someone in customer care to contact me,  6 weeks ago you had someone do it,  and all they told me was the same lies that i got off the phone,  as you can now realize,  it was wrong,  I want to speak to someone again,  perferably in management in the US.   Please have them Email or call me.

I ordered a E 521 in November.  Ordered Windows Vista in January.

Two days ago dellvistaupgrade.com says all upgrades will be out by mid april.

Now if I ordered the upgrade in January, shouldn't I technically already have the upgrade?

But no that is not the case...I had to learn on this forum, as opposed to dellvistaupgrade.com....that I will not get my upgrade until may.......?

I called your company........and NOBODY had a CLUE when it would ship.

Sent numerous emails............ALL unanswered.........!!!

Oh and the first two weeks I did try to order my upgrade, dellvistaupgrade.com website was down.

Dell has a serious communications problem. I mean seriously how hard is it to update a website??? or send an email to your employee's.......?

This was my FIRST dell purchase and LAST....I can only imagine how you support your hardware!                                 

Todd Martin

This is in reply to the Dell email I got today advertising a One-Day-Only SALE which is offering this:

E521 System (super fast) with Vista Home Premium

250.00 off one day only

So for the heck of it I configured it to my exact system specs. 100.00 some dollars less than I paid for it. Bought it 11/17/06. Redeemed my express upgrade 11/29/06. Still no upgrade!

This email really put a crawl under my skin. What is the status of the upgrades for the whitelisted systems that Dell has not taken responsibility for. Nvidia and Microsoft aside, step up to the plate Dell and honor your commitments to us.

Hmmm.... so Australian upgrades coming anytime soon??????

I've already talked to Jackie and she was concerned I would never buy Dell again, still won't. I wonder why when the date keeps getting pushed back and there is simply no real explanation for it.

No, I am not waiting for a desktop upgrade as stated above, problems have occured and been noted with the E521 systems but my Inspiron 640M has not been mentioned so simply put, where are Australian upgrades going to actually come out?

Not one single person has received a Dell upgrade on Australia's broadband forum (Whirlpool) yet other people have had their upgrades for 2 months+ from vendors such as Sony.

Having plenty of time before receiving my VISTA upgrade; reading the various DELL add-on application incompatibilites and watching my 60-day trial software deadlines pass ... I slimmed my XP partition down to the bare OS, created some nice non-windows, data and virtual machine partitions ... and carried on configuring the same.

Now when I ran the upgrade DVD on the XP partition it said all I needed was a BIOS upgrade, which duly installed without any problems. Unfortunately I seem to have fooled the upgrade DVD into thinking I didn't have add-ons so no DVD player, no DVD rewriter, no Creative software updates, no McAfee ... just vanilla VISTA. Indeed the upgrade bypassed all the new drivers as well.

Nonetheless VISTA came up nicely so it would be no trouble at all to install each element manually. Except that the add-on application setup files are all password protected.

So my question already: how do I install the applications manually from the upgrade DVD? Any answer beginning "RUN A FULL SYSTEM RESTORE" will not be well received!

I have to agree with Todd - Dell should be compensating everyone who has been waiting months for an upgrade that should have been out a long time ago.

I'm really quite tired of Dell's excuses and delays, if they can't deliver on their promises, next time I'll buy from someone who can...

End of story.

I think everyone needs to realize and chill about Dell not helping the customer.  If Dell "Didn't care about the customer" why then would Dell create this blog.  From a business stand point this blog offers no actual revenue for the company.  But it does offer an area for customer to receive information and vent frustration. 

Lionel does a fantastic job at keeping everyone in the loop with everything that is happening at Dell.  And at least I think we should give Lionel a huge pat on the back, instead of more work for him to do.

As far as the upgrade is concerned.  I too am upset that I haven't received mine, but at this point I'm looking at it as a mixed blessing.  The way I figure it, is that way I do receive my Vista upgrade most of the bugs should be worked out of it.  To me that is a huge bonus.   

Just thought I would add my two cents to this long list.

I have an E521 purchased in January. I have purchased Vista since I can no longer wait for the Express Upgrade. My concern is with the NVIDIA disk controller drivers. The drivers mentioned in this forum are for Windows XP not Vista. I have visted the NVIDIA site to look for a Vista Driver for the controller but they do not exist there either. When will these drivers be posted on the Dell website so I can download them?

I understand the problems that Dell is having with other vendors and coordination of all the products. However Dell's website has not done a good job of informing it's customers of what is happening in a timely fashion. I have purchased Vista because of the incorrecting timeframes posted when I would expect to have Vista.

If you are shipping E521's with Vista, why aren't the Vista drivers for the E521 on Dell's website?

I had the same problem as Harry N.:

1. Email received 3/30 w/ DHL tracking number, stating my order had shipped.
2. Checking DHL web site every other day, getting "Tracking Number Not Found"  Usually this means a number has been assigned and registered in the shipper's system, but the package has not yet been picked up.  I would have expected it to appear within a day or two of notification, but didn't
3. Finally called today and reached someone in India (I'd guess).  He explained that my tracking number was invalid and they'd have to re-ship, then asked for my order number, service tag, phone number.  Of course I'm at work because they only answer the phone between 8 AM and 5 PM and the computer and paperwork is at home.
4. Put agent on hold, called daughter.  She can't pick out the service tag on the bottom because there are a zillion numbers.  She gave me every one but the right one!  Sent her upstairs to find paperwork; no luck.  Sent her to the garage to find the box w/ service tag.  We went through 20 numbers and finally found it.
5. By this time, India has hung up.  Called back, reached India 2.
6. Gave order number, phone number, service tag number.  India 2 says "I also need your COA number. It's on the bottom of your unit."  Aaaaugh!
7. Put India on hold; call daughter, get number before he hangs up again.
8. India 2 promises to ship upgrade right away.  I'll not hold my breath.

In addition to the other complaints voiced here, I fail to understand why so much data is needed to re-ship.  Sure, verifying order number, phone number and address is necessary to prevent fraud, but all the other information can be referenced from the upgrade order.  They have these things called "databases" for that purpose.  I wasted a half hour on the phone and almost reduced my daughter to tears to find unnecessary information.  I hope someone at Dell in a position of authority (Michael??!) can read this.

What a bunch of lies (from Dell).

 If the delays are caused by the "Nvidia controller" problems Lionel speaks of, then why have I not recieved my copy when I bought an XPS M1210, or my girlfriends Inspiron 6400, neither of which have such controllers?

 Registered in Nov. 2006... STILL nothing.

Dell is run by a bunch of monkeys (the same ones who operate their call centres in India).

Lionel -

On 4/6 and 4/11 in this blog i requested someone from customer care contact me,  still no contact.   I have tried to initiate communication MANY times with customer care and Vista upgrade support over the last 2 months and get stonewalled with  FALSE answers.   The one time in early March that someone contacted me due to a message in this blog,  I was also given the same INCORRECT response that you were giving at that time with no further information available.   I have done the Email method as well, attempting to escalate the issue after getting a canned response as well with NO response to that.

I cannot beleive that you have only one level of escalation on your phone Q's, and if you get a foreign phone center, and they dont even have proper information, and  there is no way to escalate to reach someone located in the US. 

Lies, lack of information,  and complete disregard of the customer once you have their money seems to be the way your company feels to treat their customers.

Hey guys ;)

Here in Brazil, the Upgrade was really stressing, too. We had a 5-11 days max arriving date, but I received my kit after 56 days!

My Vista kit was built here in Brazil, by Dell Brazil, Microsoft and Grafica Bandeirantes [the publisher]. Everybody that I had contacted received the kit at least 40 days after the purchase.

 Well, anyway... I'm on Vista Home Premium in portuguese now! So happy!

And also Thanks Dell for your great hardware [C521], I've had absolutely zero problems with drivers.

While Leonel's update is appreciated, I see it as nothing more than a blatant attempt to appease those of us who are just plain disgusted with the Express Upgrade program.  Delays.  Misinformation.  Lackluster support.  Confusion.  Excuses and more excuses.  The bottom line is that Dell has failed with this program horribly and cannot be trusted at this point.  I honestly can't believe ANY info posted here or on Dell's website.  When I get the Vista CD I'll install the product.  

I had to snicker at the comment about certain systems (like the Optiplex 740) causing a delay due to a driver issue.  So what would happen if I bought an Optiplex 740 and installed a purchased version of Vista?  Yep.  I'd download the driver (very easily I might add) and be done with it.  So why the lengthly delay shipping Vista to us?  Sorry.  The excuse/reason given just doesn't fly.  I'm not buying it.  Nor will I buy any more Dell computers!

Hallo,

I think this is my last  attempt.

I have ordered the Upgrade in the first January Week. Since several

weeks I hear only empty promises.

The same happens with my Office 2007 Upgrade.

So I think both Dell and Microsoft do make a fictitious bid and they don´t

want to deliver.

I will not buy any more Dell

Not the best regards

This "Express" upgrade program is reminiscent of the XPS 700 launch last year.   Clueless reps, misinformation, unexplained delays.   It is a nightmare all over again.  I really hate the scripted emails.  They are getting under my skin as much as the delay itself.  I asked a question.  I get the same email back no matter which question I ask.  The email says that orders are being shipped in the order they are being received.  Well, that obviously is a straight up lie.  I placed 2 "Express" upgrade orders on the same day....5 minutes apart.  I received one of them 3 weeks ago.  I called the customer service number only to get someone who could not understand what "shipped in the order they are received" means.  She kept verifying that that was indeed a correct statement in the emails.  Yet, would not explain to me how orders which were placed 5 minutes apart could be weeks apart on delivery.  How do you have people answering phones that cannot understand what I am asking?  It's pretty simple.  I simply asked her to communicate with me on a basic level.  I said to her "If there is a delay of my order, I would like to know what the delay is".  Clueless.  Absolutely clueless.  I am also very unhappy how I was charged for this 2 weeks ago.  Once again, Dell has let me down.  You already chased me away from your enthusiast systems.  Do you really want to chase me away altogether?  I just started to somewhat forgive you for what you did to me with the XPS 700 and then this happens.

How did it get the name "Express" anyway? 

Finally received my upgrade DVD... ordered it in january, still waiting on another 1,  sending it with the first this 1 would've been too easy and would also save postage charges.

This is my latest email to the awful Dell customer care dept

Hi,  
 Please investigate why I still have not received the upgrade to Windows Vista 
I registered for this upgrade in November 2006 
DHL carriers have misdirected and lost my Vista Express upgrade package (tracking number 912******* ) 
I have contacted customer care on numerous occasions and have received no definite answers 
will you confirm when I will receive my product, 
I am considering returning the product and claimng in the Small Claims Court for all costs and compensation  
as Dell have not honoured their contract with me. 

The reply is the same rubbish answer I have received on 5 previous occasions

 Thank you for contacting Dell Online Customer Care.
 
I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused due to the delay in the shipment of the Vista software.
 
I understand that you have registered for the Vista upgrade.  Please note that the software started to ship after 12 of