Thanks...

I just learned even more disturbing news at NBR.  Apparently someone that ordered on July 16th is now in the testing stage (and soon to be boxing stage in a few hours).  How can someone skip people who have been waiting since June 26th (and they are still in pre-production)?!?!  It doesn't make sense at all nor is it fair!!!

Hi

I have been waiting for nearly a month for my laptop, the customer service teams are useless and are now resorting to lying in order to get you off the phone even when you prove them wrong on the phone. After my order being in pre-production since 07/07/07 I have now seen my online status change a delivery date from 30/07/07 to a date in September. This is riduculous as the PC spec will be 2 months old and the price will be out of date.

Also your terms and conditions state that the pc will be delivered within 30 days from order date!

I can get the truth from anyone. Also head office reception wont transfer me to the customer service director and so I keep getting transferred to an Indian call centre which is very frustrating.

Perhaps you have some news on these systems.

I am giving Dell one more day to get my order into Testing/Boxing or I am canceling.

 

I tried today to call in and see if the new "get a free Timbuk2 bag with the m1330" deal could be applied to my order I'm already waiting on.  They said I would have to cancel and re-order which would push my ship date back even further!

 It seems that this would be a simple thing to apply this deal to orders for people who are waiting since these ship dates are so long and we have to endure new coupons and deals coming out while we wait.

 Just a suggestion, but it might make life better for some of these people who are still in production, stuck in the Build stage.

Lionel, it's a bit more than "several people" that are waiting for an update.  Y'all released a notebook, didn't ship it, and didn't really tell anyone why.  You've got some pissed off customers, compounded by the fact that people who ordered in the last couple weeks are getting their orders earlier than people who ordered on release day or thereabouts.

 Fix your SKU problems.  Fix your supply chain problems.  Fix your design problems.  Fix your customer service and order status problems.

 And do it before you release a new product next time, not after.  Dell isn't a young company, and they should know better.

I am fairly upset as well when I see nearly identical builds ship while my June order sat in pre-production. Dell's CS has been abysmal in communicating the reasons for the delays. 

I second Ben's suggestion.  Sending the Timbuk2 bag to the poor souls that ordered early would go a long way to smoothing ruffled feathers. 

My 1330 Order was placed last week-- estimated ship date Sept. , that's almost 6 weeks time.

If I waited till spetember to get a laptop i d have a much better one for the price I am paying now.. there shoudl be some reimbursement of some sort like a 5% money back.

I agree. I've had it now with waiting for updates on my order.

And i completely agree that some form of compensation

would be in place. I've got a DELL representative replying

to my emails telling me its being buildt, and i shouldnt trust

the online "order status" website as it was not reliable and

allways had technical difficulties.. What load of crap.

Why does it not state on the webpage that its not reliable

or working??? Your customer service is a shambles, and

its obvious they are reading from a manuscript every

time you call them (indian callcenters) I've got nothing against

having huge callcenters in India, but its just a farse being sendt

from one person to the next where noone can take a firm descision

or tell you what is going on. My system is in planning stage still (after being ordered in june, and i kindly asked if its still possible to upgrade the processor stage as it havent been buildt yet. NO NO and NO again,

Cancel your order please, do yo want to cancel? I really had to reply carefully so they woulndt cancel my current order, god knows how long it would have taken then to get the system.

I agree  with Joseph. This launch is a joke and a major mess,

and its the last time im going to do business with DELL. 

Maybe i'll get it for Xmas,, who knows? Not even DELL I think.
Im starting to think its being buildt by santas little helpers, and by that it won be available until xmas. If you've been good that is.......
 

I ordered my system on the 30th of June. I recieved confirmation of my order on the 3rd of July. On the 4th I recieved an email from Dell that stating: due to my configuration they could not include the biometric finger print reader (I still dont understand why?). They could proceed without the item or I could re-order with a different configuration. They also stated that due to the inconvenience they would process my order as a priority. I proceeded with the order and I recieved confirmation the same day. On the confirmation they had an estimated delivery date of the 20th of July.

On the 19th of July I recieved an email from Dell stating that there was a delay and I will recieve my order on or before the 14th of August.

 Now after reading everyones comments, I'm beginning to seriously doubt that I will get my order on or before the 14th, even though my order was supposed to be processed as a priority.

So far my experience with Dell has not been a favourable one. I'm spending alot of money with Dell and I feel not only I, but everone should be treated better than this.

 Take it from someone who runs a customer service department. What's happening here is a sham and should not be tolorated.

I ordered and XPS m1330 worth around £1180 on the 27th June UK  [Promised delivery within 10 working days!]

Next day i was e-mailed to say the EDD was 20th July! Not 7th July as promised

3 days later I was e-mailed to say the finger scanner was not compatable with the CPU (What the hell?)

Same day, I called and asked to clarify, the rep said no, it is okay dont worry and put the order back through

A week later I called again to see how it was going "Sorry there has been a delay until 8th August" (No reason given)

A few days later I called to see what was wrong "Glass shortage until 27th July"

29 days from my original order and im still in pre-production acording to the website.

Whenever I e-mail, my questions are never fully answered or I get some excuse. (It took 5 e-mails to find out how much the 0870 number cost to call, finally found out it was 8p per min ~(This is not mentioned anywhere on the site, and consequently, I assumed it was local rate)

I do not like to e-mail due to the lies I get, so I now call, despite the hefty call charges, which Dell make a profit on.

3 days ago I called to check things again (Since the order status website had broken and wasnt/hasnt refreshed since) I was PROMISED a shipping date of 27th July (Great Thanks!!), I called again toay to see if it had finished build stage and was being tested or boxed ready for tomorrow "No was the reply" I asked how long and at what stage the laptop was at "We can not tell you that here, no one knows" I also asked if they can call the production team to ask them "No was the reply"

I now find out that people who have odered after ne, are getting into boxed stage!!!!

Dell: Its not good enough, I have ordered from you before many times and had NO problems and its been a great service, now, its terrible, I have been lied to on several occasions, I get inconsistant excuses every time I call and consequently, if the order is not in boxing tomorrow, I will cancel the order and never buy a Dell again.

Sorry, but as im sure you can understand it is not fair to be treated like this or even have a delay as long as this and have to wait AT LEAST 42 Days for a laptop which is worth in excess of £1100 !

Graham

Are we going to have an update?  The day is half way over!  :-)  

 

@ Jimmy

I completely agree with you.  You might get a better chance that way.  FIFO policy?  It feels like their implementing the FILO policy!  (First-in Last-out).  

I just spoke with a store kiosk rep and they said that if people ordered the system mid july you probably won't get it until a month and a half later... the xps m1330 at the store kiosk themselves have not arrived .. how can the ones that home owners order arrive first?

 Speaking to the customer service reps on the phone are also useless. I called twice today and got two different responses... I think they are being trained to "pretend" to check the status of your system.. .when really they can't do n/e thing about the status... One said yea u'll get it on july 30th.. the other one said mid august.... both said they were checking their "logistics page"....

 At least the store kiosk reps were honest....
 

Lionel: its Thursday... where is our update? 

guys,

 seems like we are talking to deaf ears ..

 the day will go by ,

the month will go by , we ll all receive our laptops , but if anything should be done is put some pressure on these guys to get a reimbursement of like 5~10%.

 at the end of the day that is the one and only thing they could do at this point in time to keep me and most of us under the impression that we are dealing with one of the biggest corporations in the world.

I've had quite an experience as well... My original order was placed on June 27th. I say original because after being on pre-production for 3 weeks my order was cancelled. When I called I was told it was because of SKU problem and that the order would be recreated that day for me. When I called again the next day because it still hadn't been recreated I got lucky and reached an excellent rep. She recreated my order and offered to call me weekly until my order was shipped to keep me informed. What she couldn't do was change my new shipping date which was now set for mid Sept.
Lionel thank you for your time trying to keep us up to date. It seems that even you're having trouble finding out the whole extent of the problem though.

What a shame that the launch of the XPS 1330 (and to an extent, the Inspirons) got off to such a poor start.  It's clear that the "cart was put before the horse."  I'm a long-time Dell customer that's watched from the sidelines (fortunately) and I feel for the frustrated customers. 

And Dell is at a crucial point right now - this is the last thing Dell needs to "grow the home-user market."  It seems that short-term stockholder satisfaction got in the way of Dell's vision.  To quote directly from Dell's values (Soul of Dell): 

• Direct Relationships: We believe in being direct in all we do. We are committed to behaving ethically; responding to customer needs in a timely and reasonable manner; fostering open communications and building effective relationships with customers, partners, suppliers and each other; and operating without inefficient hierarchy and bureaucracy.

It's not too late Dell - Communicate to your customers.  Most will be much happier if they just receive some honest, consistent information in a timely manner (and perhaps you'll free up your sales reps from answering so many complaints).  Make it up to these customers when this is over.  "Escalate" this to the top.  And do it now before it is too late.

Just my thoughts from the sidelines. 

I am getting REALLY frustraited! I placed my order on June 27th! I paid the full prie of $1900 for my notebook. I have been patient. Since the day I ordered my online login has always said the status is under maintenance so I have had to call every day. My est Ship date is July 29th (a sunday), less than 3 days to go and I am still in the build stage. I wrote dell an email 3 days ago, 54 hours ago I got an automated response saying most emails are answered within 6 hours but here I am going on 55.... I called dell yesterday and the rep was VERY curt with me, gave me no answers to anything, and tried to get me off of the phone as fast as possible. I was told almost 3 weeks ago by a rep that I would recieve a phone call and/or email on July 23rd if my order had not yet been shipped but that day came and went without any contact from dell.

My patients has all but ran out and the Macbook Pro and Sony lines are starting to look better and better. I'm giving dell 1 more day to update my order.

I ordered one 1330  on June 27 and ordered 5 more on July 6....I knew it was going to be a bit before I recieved the notebooks,not a problem !

The problem I have is...........other 1330's being shipped that were ordered after mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The amount of crap that comes from your CSR ppl

I own and run a small Biz................and If I was to run my Biz that I would be living on the street!!! But Big Biz get away with I guess.

I think what Matt said needs to be said again since its soo spot on.

"Matt said:

I've been debating whether to buy a Dell XPS 1330 and was on the verge of picking up the phone to order today. However, all I've heard are negative things about Dell's customer service, delays on shipments of the new Vostros, Ispirons and XPS notebooks, especially for Canadian orders. There's lots of talk of Canadian orders being cancelled for no appararent reason and also no educational discounts for Canadian university students (or general discounts), like that in the US. I probably will settle for an Apple Macbook 1GB RAM and 120GB HD (which also includes an univeristy discount and free iPod!*yay*). Dell, once again has disappointed us.

It's not just the M1330. I ordered a 19in Monitor, and the Black Timbuk2 Bag!!

The 19in Monitor still says shipping in 2 days on the Dell.com site, but my order has said Aug 1st ever since I placed the order on June 28th. Why does it take a month to ship a monitor, and why does the website not reflect the delay when you buy it?

So far I have not been getting angry though because, unlike other people, I have some time to wait, and I knew the estimated ship date of my laptop when I placed the order.

But what is making me angry for the first time now, is the Timbuk2 Laptop Bag. I had ordered it with my laptop back on June 28th, and it had an estimated ship date of August 29th!!! That was over 2 months and 1 month after I was meant to get my laptop. So this week I decided to cancel the bag, and order direct from Timbuk2.

Well today I see that Dell is giving away the exact same bag that I ordered for FREE. And people placing orders are getting estimated ship dates of August 8th! So not only do people ordering over a month after me have about a 50/50 chance of getting their laptop before me, they also get a free bag and will get it 3 weeks before I would have.

I have sent a request to customer service for a free bag to be added to my order, but I expect I will get a canned response about this not being possible without canceling my computer order and adding another 4 weeks to my ship date. 

I do not mind waiting if Dell is having supply problems, but I feel that I am being made to wait because Dell is fulfilling orders placed after mine. It just makes me feel like I am of no importance and that is not a nice feeling.

Once again I don't understand what all the fuss is about.  I ordered my Laptop on 6/27.  I added the LED and the SSD and I knew the second I clicked to buy it that it would take awhile.  It is a brand new product with brand new parts that I knew was going to be wildly popular. 

 So, it did not surprise me that I didn't get an email confirmation until a day later (when other systems I order from Dell I get confirmed within 5 minutes).

 Also, and I think this is a big thing, can the vast majority of you people not read?

Est. means ESTIMATED.  In other words, that is their best guess as to when it will ship out.  At no time does anyone from Dell ever say that it WILL ship out by that point. Show me screen shots of emails and pages where it says that Dell WILL get you anything by a date.

Next time I hope that Dell gets a little more stock in before taking orders or has a system in place that will stop orders from being taken when they are out of hardware.  However, don't act like Dell killed your mother and raped your dog. You don't get your new toy so soon.  Boo hoo.

PS - To the people who are moving, etc... Do a chat with Dell and they will change the new shipping address.  Also, all you have to do is ask for next day delivery and they give it to you. 

Lionel,

    We do appreciate the job you are doing but this 1330 business is becoming a joke. Ever extending shipping estimates, people who ordered earlier still stuck in pre-production while those who ordered much, much later going into boxing and rude customer service are just some of the many problems.

    I am seriously wondering whether this was the most botched product launch in recent history and to be frank, it is kinda surprising why any news outlet has not jumped on the story yet. Will make a great headline for Business Week or WSJ, I would imagine! Finding angry customers for a good quote or sound byte would not be a problem at all, I can assure you.

    If by any chance you don't know the extent of the problem, head over to notebookreview.com. One of the threads about 1330 delays has more than 5000 postings, almost all of them critical of Dell. You must realize that for every person who posts on these forums, there are probably 20 others who don't but are at the same level of frustrations with Dell.

    You must realize that the negative publicity Dell is getting through the forums and through word of mouth isn't going to be too good for business. Case in point, 3 of my roommates have already sworn never to buy a Dell after hearing my rantings.

    You should make a serious effort to fix things, posting on this blog once in a while should just be a start. Think about going over to NBR and posting a response. Think about rewarding the customers who are stuck in line. Oh also, please, improve your customer service!

    Whatever you chose to do, I don't think Dell has anything to lose at this point. Maybe you will be able to change some minds but I am sure many others have sworn off Dell for a long time to come.
 

   oh man, these horror stories got me on the edge about ordering a laptop from Dell when they finally get serious about GNU Linux instead of treating it like a toy. Looks like that's not happening even if they do get serious

   I thought with the return of Michael Dell to the helm, things at Dell were supposed to improve, Dell would be interested in listening to customers. Sounds like things are just getting worser and worser each passing day.

   I'm a little nerved that it would take a month to deliver a monitor. For crying out loud, it's not like you have a assemble the darn thing. You pretty have no excuse for not shipping a monitor on time.

 
   Mr. Dell, your desire to be like Gates is pretty much making your customers miserable and could be sending your company belly up into the gutters. You must think pulling all these MS style vapor ware promises while jerking customers around will get you back on top, some how I seriously doubt it.
 

Every one of the customers who have been waiting for weeks and weeks should be gifted by Dell with one of those Timbuktu bags just for not cancelling.     Ship one bag when each M1330 order actually ships.  We're paying a premium price for this product and getting runarounds and dealing with long phone calls and misinformation.   I should mention I actually got an M1330 and it was assembled incorrectly with the wrong screen.  I now have to wait who knows how long to get the replacement.

On a positive note, the support people who are handling the exchange did a super job. It's not their fault the parts are not in stock.

Jeff: I think that is what is getting to me. I ordered 1 day after the laptop was made available to buy on the site. I am going on faith pretty much that Dell will make a decent product, and that it will meet the specs hype etc.

 The people who order early like us should not be getting brushed aside, and have all the people coming in late now after reading our thoughts about this great product and word of mouth to get the system before we do. It's upsetting to see people ordering on July 10th or July 14th and going into Boxing already.

Everything is just so messed up.
 

Problems Dell needs to correct (ALL ARE IMPORTANT):

1. The shipment date fiasco. I don't need to explain this one.
2. Management of the available parts on the system configuration utility. The available parts should be planned out way in advance before ever posting them. Figure out whats compatible, and whats not. Dont' tell the customer their order is invalid AFTER the fact.
3. Don't try to rush it. Rushing leads to #1 and #2. If you specify a launch date, make sure you can meet it.
4. Don't lie to the customer. That is the numero-uno fact of doing great business. There were lots of people giving varying experiences with customer service on why their order all of a sudden was delayed an extra two weeks, or even worse, not even telling the customer their order had been cancelled. Now some people had to scramble to get alternative laptops in order for them to use for school or work.

Failing in all of the above, Dell has lost potential first time buyers like myself. Buyers who might look to Dell again in the future for repeat business.

So Dell, what are you going to do to remedy this situation?

Great! Again we are ignored (go figure)!! 

For many of us, these laptops were more expensive than a down payment on a BMW.  For me personally, this is the most money I've spent on any singular item all year. 

Any of the other leaders in the industry would at the very least send out a pro-active email notification apologizing for the delay, and explaining that production issues account for exhausting lead times (come on Dell, would it really be that hard?).

Dell has done nothing but break promise after promise.
 

One more day I am giving Dell. EOB Friday, if no change I am cancelling the order and buying a Sony.

I ordered a m1330 in early july and was given a ship date of 8/31 but my customer service representative told me i would have it shipped to me in 1-2 weeks. The thing is I need the laptop for college and I would not have purchased it if i knew it would take this long.

I just wanted a quality laptop and i thought that dell would deliver. i was wrong 

XPS is supposed to be the luxury brand of computers. Per Kevin Rollins, ex-Ceo.

http://news.com.com/Dell+to+launch+Lexus+lineup+of+PCs/2100-1042_3-5730030.html

 
Do you you think Toyota would sell many Lexus'  if they mimiced Dell's approach?

I don't drive a Lexus cause I think it's silly to spend that much money on a car. But I do drive a Toyota and the service and support from Toyota is far superior to anything I have driven in the past and from Lexus owners I have talked too, it's even better over there. Dell, can't you do the same thing with XPS?

If I had image reasons (realtor, sales rep, etc.) to buy a new car, it'd be a Lexus.

 
Imagine all the sales reps, CTOs, CIOs, realtors, and other image conscious types buying this system, hearing the Lexus line and then getting Yugo level service...

I want my Lexus!!

Blah blah blah....what a bunch of whiners!  Your actions do not match with your words.  All these threats to cancel your orders hold no water.  On the surface you are saying I do not care enough about this laptop to wait for it to be completed and shipped.  However, in the same breath you go on and on about how you madly go about checking your status 10x a day.  It reeks of desperation and it's obvious the company has you by the b***.  No one there cares as it is obvious you are way too emotionally invested to ever consider walking away.  Your only option is to pay your money, sit, wait like everyone else and see what you eventually get or walk away.  It's really quite simple.  All this frenzied whining only further demonstrates the enormous power they have over you. 

 Why should they change how they do business when they have a killer product that people are so desperate to have that the mere thought of a few weeks delay drives them into a frenzy????

Let me just say that the reason dell treats you poorly because you allow them to. I ordered on Jun 28 (originally ordered on the 26 but sales pulled this trick where they say: your debit card has a limit...why don't you apply for dell credit? I called my bank and they denied any limit or any electronic request for funds that day) Before it became available I had waited 2 months after seeing the laptop on engadget. I went laptop-less that entire time using my windows mobile pda. I had to drive to school to type documents and such. I wanted this laptop so bad I lost my sense of dignity - this last week after reading about shipping delays, I would call daily to verify that I was still scheduled for July 30. Worst off, I was rude to the support people - after all, these poor people in india have no choice but to lie about the order status. They need that dell pay check for food and medicine.

To reiterate: Don't let dell treat you this way. Pick up a new sony, hp or apple laptop. All are viable alternatives. I now have the macbook pro (see above post ). If you are a student or teacher they will give you 200 dollars off - no haggling required (again they respect you too much), free nano and everyone can get the free scanner/printer/copier. This laptop has got the 8600m GT, not the weak and crappy 8400m gs. Bootcamp 1.3 works flawlessly. I already have vista intalled. All the drivers work right out of the box. I even have my microsoft presenter mouse 8000 installed with no problems. Let me stress that this new mouse was sitting in it's box untouched for 4 weeks. I had ordered it 2 days after I ordered my dell. I could go on and on. Don't let dell treat you this way. Vote with your wallet.

There's enough of us out there willing to wait.  This is the best thing out there and you'd be a fool to cancel.

How long will the lies last?

I understand people are trying to do there jobs but how long will it take to start giving the CUSTOMERS what they asked for.

 We chose your company and this is how we are rewarded?
 

Rosewood

of course those dates are estimations. But please consider that most of the early customers of this laptop had their estimated dates pushed back (from mid July to August or even later), and that we were told on the phone that it should take as usually around 10 days to get it. I have no problem with the current estimations, at least that's clear. On the french website it's stated "5 weeks delay for this laptop". That's normal communication: there is a delay, customers are informed about it.

But for the first customers (people who are more or less taking a risk by putting a lot of money on a new laptop), they were NOT told about the delay. If you can't trust the sales rep, who can you trust?? They kept on repeating "don't worry, the estimation is wrong, you will get it faster". Then it's delayed, and nobody knows why. And finally, to make it even worst, some customers who ordered it AFTER the early customers begin to get their laptop.

I agree with you, it's just a computer. This is going a bit to far sometimes in my opinion. But it can be a professionnal tool for some customers, and for some others it's a lot of money and savings they put on it. Plus computers value is decreasing extremely fast, so 2 months waiting for it is a waste of time and money.

I'm quite sure most of those customers were regular Dell customers, as they went on this laptop during the first few days. That's just trust in this company. I did the same. We were used to a good customer service, with quite fast delivery delay. That's why we all trustes the sales rep. So this is not something you enjoy when you trust in something and get disappointed.

I know  it does not justify some very excessive reactions, but that's just some more information to explain you why some customers are very disappointed.

First, I would like to commend Dell for its wonderful XPS M1330 design and the successful promotion of the product, with a blog like this and virtually every online laptop review site receiving a pre-production model to review.  The XPS M1330 has widely received high marks and admiration from whoever the heck reviews these laptops.  The ads are cool too.

Unfortunately, I have to admit, I feel suckered in to placing an order, even though I understand that the laptop is top of the line.  I seem to be in the same boat as many.  I need a laptop for my first year of college, but the XPS M1330 I ordered has such a long shipping time that I doubt I will be receiving it in time.  Now I will A.) be quite broke after buying this laptop and B.) be without a laptop for college for a while.  Plainly, this sucks.

My first experience with Dell has been extremely unpleasant (the search process of coupons, deals and promotions, the inaccuracy of the online order site, contacting customer service (although, many representatives were actually been helpful) and finally the seriously delayed estimated shipping date).

In the end, I believe Dell is a good company with quality computers and good prices.  (I ordered my laptop from Dell after all.)

But, I really believe that production and shipping of the XPS M1330 should seriously get going and all people who have ordered in the past two months should receive some reimbursement or special goodies automatically.  This is the only way to content heavily invested customers who have been thoroughly disappointed like me.

 I better be receiving my laptop soon... 
 

I'm a little confused about this post.

On Wednesday, July 25, 2007, Lionel Menchaca, Digital Media Manager, promised an "XPS 1330 Update Tomorrow".

Was July 26 the estimated delivery date for this update ? ;-D
(where I live, we already are the day after tomorrow...)

I see that a promised update due in a week, then a comment that it will be available in the following day gets met with no update at all. I see a trend. Apparently Dell's word is about as solid as thier promised shipping dates.

Can this be any more of a public relations fiasco?

Lionel,

I'm in the same boat as most of the above folks and am banging my head off the wall in frustration about this BUT I also work in CS and Tech Support so big hugs for ya bro. Thanks for the update and for having the balls to be the one to stand on the steps and tell us even some of whats going on.

Is it tomorrow yet?  I want to know what's going on.

I paid a $400 premium to be one of the first to order this when it came onto the Australian website.  Considering the delay I would think that refunding the excess would be the least Dell could do to keep a customer happy.  However, I'm told I have to cancel,re-order and be put at the end of the queue to get todays price!!!  Doesn't that sound ridiculous!!!!!???

When I parted with my hard earned cash for this notebook on June 30, I did so in good faith that Dell would deliver by July 16.  Now I'm told I have to wait until July 7.  But I'm not holding my breath.

I'm in italy and i'm very disappointed...

Ordered my m1330 july 3th and got billed for 1941€ jly 6th with an EDD for july 30th.

I spoke several times with my sales rep and she assured me that the order will have be shipped for that date, then the july 25th i got an email when the EDD of my order changed to agusust 29th...

 That's just inaccettable. I ALREADY PAID for this computer and i will get it TWO MONTHS later, when the initial EDD was less than one month (still accettable).

I don't know what to think, but i'm very angry.

Well ...

It's the day AFTER tomorrow and still nothing here from Dell.  Just like the process of building and shipping the computers.

My M1330 was ordered 6/27, estimated ship date at the time 7/27, and ever since the day after order showing as "In Production" for a whole month now, promised to ship 8/1.  I wouldn't bet my life on it, even though the only "problem" component I ordered was Bluetooth.

 With their level of openness and honesty, these guys could run the Bush Justice Department! 

Hey Lionel, no news is good news ...?

Don't worry, this silence screams loud to Gartner's and al.

Good luck !

(and now off to buying a Sony 2 weeks after a CSR emailed me "only a handful of hours before your 1330 ships, sir")

I ordered my M1330 on 6/29 with an original estimated ship date of around 7/25. Appx. one week after the order, the ship date was pushed back to 8/3 (estimated delivery around 8/10). I can only hope that this date will not be pushed back again as I absolutely need the laptop before 8/13 for law school. Now I find myself checking the site and calling the automated status number every day in the hopes that it won't be pushed back any farther. The fact that Dell has broken yet another promise by not posting the update yesterday (the 26th) that Lionel said he would just makes me question more and more my decision to buy another Dell.

Breaking promises, treating (well-)paying customers like trash, and abhorrent product release planning are not the ways to encourage new and continued business.
 

Lionel where is this so called updated which we're promised two days ago , I’m extremely disappointed with dell's poor and sometimes inaccurate feedback to their customers. I’ve ordered this dam XPS m1330 for 6 weeks now not even  one single courtesy call from my account manager to update me with my status.  I don’t see with I should keep up with this nonsense.  I’am constantly travelling around europe and don’t have the time to keep calling dell and asking for update , I’ve decided to cancel my dell order and never to referee dell  to any of colleagues/friends. DELL WAKE UP WE LIVE IN THE 21^ST BAD NEWS AND BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE GETS PUBLICIZED BEFORE U CAN SAY “DELL” ESPCAILLY THROUGH THE INTERNET. I PROMISE NEVER EVER TO PAY ANY DELL PRODUCTS.

 My ship date is 31 July and ordered on 26 June. Nothing to complain personally but certainly this product launch and others has not been handled very well.  I have been a Dell customer since the PC Limited days and got my Corp ( a top 5 defence company) to switch from IBM to Dells.  Back then the product and customer service was top rated and only since the India outsourcing has it gone from A+ to D---.

Certainly the business model has changed, and I applaud Dell's moving toward the retail outlet. However the old line INTERNET customers is still the bread and butter of the company.  DELL needs to make it right to ALL customers affected by the overwhelming demand for the product and the lack of the ability to handle.  With over 5000 posts in a notebook review forum - pretty much shows that DELL is not doing enough and with people swearing to go to SONY only your competitors benefit.

Isn't this Dell's official blog, right?  Wow, now, Dell "officially" lies.

You people at Dell have learned nothing from the XPS 700 launch, it's the same old story, no communication, people on the phone not knowing what's going on, getting lied to just to get you off the phone, I honestly was thinking that Dell might have learned from their past mistakes. You guys learned nothing.. {and you Lionel are the one left holding the bag and are the only one who tries to get the info out to these people, I praise you for the work you do on this Blog, It seem like you actually care about what has happened to these People and want to fixed it }

The people who decide to launch the new products at Dell are not taking to the people on the production side of Dell to see if they can build the new  system  yet and are ready for the launch, You guys and gals at Dell start taking to each other, get everyone on the same page before you launch something all the way from Mr. Dell himself to your customer service people, who are told nothing.

I feel for all you XPS 1330 people. I am a XPS 700 owner and it's been one ugly year for us, Finally there is light at the end of the tunnel. Good luck to you all.  DELL JUST BE HONEST WITH THESE XPS 1330 PEOPLE AND COMMUNICATE, IT"S NOT HARD TO DO.....Cheers.

Update???:
I came here hoping for an update but found none.  If you're going to offer an update on a specific date that update should happen on that date!  If there is a delay we should be told that there will be a delay in the update and given an estimate.  Ironically this is what should be happening with the m1330's!   We just want accurate honest information so that we can make an informed decision! 

My Experience:
I initially had a ship date the beginning of August, but b/c they couldn't simply adjust the previous order they had to cancel and reorder the whole thing.  Ship date 8/31. 

 My customer service experience has been like everyone else's I'm sorry to say.  Promises that never came to fruition.
 

Possible Solution:
I agree with a previous poster that all m1330's ordered should receive a free Timbuk 2 bag.  Customer service should contact everyone that ordered, give them an accurate updated ship date, and offer the bag if they're still interested in keeping their order.  Additionally, if any other "free" promotions are added between now and lets say 10 days before our order ships, we should receive those promotions for free as well, or a retroactive credit.
 

I'm sure there is a concern about going ahead with something like this financially, but my belief is that it's necessary to help take the sting out of this fiasco. 

 I just discovered that DELL has taken the money out

of my account. When they specifically stated that they would

not until the system was shipped. Has anyone else had this?

Why should i pay for a product thats not even buildt yet???

Im outraged!!!!!! 

If Dell can't even keep the date promised for an update (I thought more info would be coming yesterday), how can they keep the dates for assembling and sending out hardware?

 Sad thing, many competitors don't seem to be any better, so maybe in future one really has to go into the store and buy something off-the-shelf.

I really need this laptop before I leave to go to college this fall!

I do not want to cut in line before anyone else who has ordered before me but I just hope that they will speed up everyone's order and ship them to me fast.

 
I'm seriously contemplate on cancelling the order and purchase a Macbook pro with better specifications (yes, they have a better graphics card, similar processor speed, similar ram config, similar harddrive options for an overall lower price) I even get a student discount from my college and a FREE NANO :-) and it'll all be shipped to me in 7-10 days! Not 49 days for an XPS

My 2 cents:
http://www.philosophyme.com/index.cfm?blog=53

Mr. Menchaca,

When posting on 7/25 there will be an update on the status of the XPS m1330 and it does not happen now TWO days later, this really makes some of worry about whats going on with this product. The worst comes to mind like quality issues and lemons being shipped just to get them out, or them not getting out at all for much longer than Dell's promised 30 days policy. PLEASE, when you create an expectation for an update, DELIVER it as you state. REALLY bad customer service IMHO.

What i have to say? lots of ppl complaining, and i am one more. My family is buying dells from long time ago, lots of them for my business. From now on, they will search other computers. This is not the first time it happen, but for me and my family, will be the last one.

Cancelling my order now, cya dell, i hope other ppl open their eyes like me.
 

I canceled my order after being given the run around again yesterday. In fact, Dell told me to cancel my order and re-roder so I could get the proper 6cell battery and the free carrying case. They assured me that canceling the order and re-rordering would not cause a delay and that I might actually get the notebook faster.

Well, I did one better. I canceled the order altogether. Hopefully y'all have the act together by the time Montevina comes out.

Wassup Lionel?

At least let us know you're working on something...

Response to David:

 The Sony Vaio SZ6 is highly similar to the XPS M1330 with one exception; a mushy soft keypad that just turned me off. You know the firmness and deep 8mm keystrokes that accompanies all Lenovo Thinkpad notebook but the Sony Vaio's keypad is just plain bad. I had worries of the XPS M1330 having bad keyboard keys but after reading the CNET review, my doubts had dissolved away.
 

Update: 7/27: We're still working through some details and hope to share more soon. My apologies for the delay in communication."

 
Now that was a really informative Update and reassuring .. now I can rest that my Dell is going to get to me SOON heheheeh what a joke !

Thanks for your efforts Lionel and keep apologizing for the delays in communication, I mean that's the best part of it all

Just freakin' tell us what is going on in production.  I am so sick and tired of waiting around for a product I may never get.  If you would just be honest and let us know what's up then I would be willing to stick around until it gets resolved, but keeping us in the dark like this is making me wonder if I really should be willing to even buy a computer from Dell.

I don't even really know why I'm not going with a MBP.  Same price, better specs, and what's this deal about being the thinnest??  Sure at the thin end of the wedge, but the MBP has it beat by 1/4" on the back end.  I really wanted a light laptop for school, but at only 1.5lb more, its just as good.