Jason Dunn
07-27-2007, 09:00 PM
A little over a week ago, I did something for the first time: I ordered a Dell laptop. I've recommended Dell laptops to others in the past, but Dell has never put out a laptop that really caught my attention and held up to the scrutiny of what I look for in a laptop. That all changed with the introduction of the XPS M1330 a couple of weeks ago. This laptop looks simply <i>awesome</i>. Great design, cutting-edge hardware, solid battery life, and it's still thin and light.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/XPS-M1330-cancelled-order.jpg" /><br /><br />My primary goal for this laptop was to have something that could process RAW files properly, and also do a bit of video. I'm mostly using Adobe Lightroom (which is great, for the most part) and on my 1.2 Ghz Fujitsu P7010D it takes about 10-15 seconds to render the RAW file, and even if I know it's a bad photo and I want to delete it, I can't until the rendering is done. It's just too slow and too painful. I needed something fast and powerful for keeping up with my RAW editing. Here are the specs for the unit that I ordered:<br /><br /><b>PROCESSOR:</b> Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)<br /><b>OPERATING SYSTEM:</b> Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium Edition<br /><b>SYSTEM COLOUR:</b> Crimson Red Casing with Microsatin Finish XPS M1330<br /><b>LCD AND CAMERA:</b> Slim and Light White LED Display with VGA Webcam<br /><b>MEMORY:</b> 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz<br /><b>HARD DRIVE:</b> 200GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)<br /><b>GRAPHICS CARD:</b> 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8400M GS<br /><b>OPTICAL DRIVE:</b> 8X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW Drive)<br /><b>WIRELESS CARD:</b> Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card<br /><b>BATTERY:</b> 85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)<br /><b>SOUND:</b> Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition<br /><b>BLUETOOTH:</b> Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)<br /><br />Not too shabby! Not too affordable either (it came out to about $2700 CAD), but hey, a geek's gotta' have the right gear, right? Rather than ordering it online I called Dell online sales and told the representative that I was irritated that all of the 15% off coupons I was getting were only good for the Inspiron line. The salesperson explained that Dell XPS computers never had coupons, but he could give me a 5% discount. 5%? That seemed very un-Dell-like (I'm used to seeing bigger discounts), but I figured it was better than nothing. I placed my order, and ended up selecting the Dell financing option because the salesperson claimed I'd get a free upgrade to a three year Dell CompleteCare package for doing so, and I could still write a check in the first 30 days and pay the whole thing off without paying any interest. We'll see if that's true - if it's not, Dell will have a huge fight on their hands from me.<br /><!><br />So imagine my surprise when I checked my order status late last week and found that the order number was suddenly invalid. I phoned Dell customer care, and they informed me that my laptop order had been cancelled. <b>WHAT?!?</b> She said that there was some sort of an invalid part number, and that caused a bunch of orders for this laptop to be cancelled. She could do nothing for me but phone my salesperson and ask them to re-do the order. I eventually got a hold of my salesperson and he said basically the same thing: my order was cancelled due to a Bluetooth part number problem, and that he could not place my order again until the part number issue was sorted out. Frustrated, I had no choice but to wait. Late the next day, I received an email telling me that my order had been placed again. The ship date? September 10th. If I wasn't so hot on getting this laptop I would have cancelled my order right then and there.<br /><br />So how should have Dell handled this? Here's my handy checklist for keeping customers happy:<br /><br />1) Communicate with the customer as soon as it's evident there's a problem. Send them an email explaining what the problem is. Don't let their first heads-up about the problem being a cancellation notice or their order number not working when they check on the shipping status.<br /><br />2) Give the customers something to make up for the screw-ups. A small discount, or maybe an accessory like a carrying case. Do something other than say "We're sorry" (the salespeople in the India call centre are especially bad at anything approaching remorse...they're like the worst used car salesman stereotype you can imagine).<br /><br />3) Work hard to deliver the product. Stay in touch with the customer even more than usual until the product arrives, give them details on any changes in the ship date (good or bad).<br /><br />I'm hoping this laptop is as good as I think it will be, and that Dell doesn't make any more mistakes in getting it to me. This whole situation has an exercise in patience. Maybe I should have bought that <a href="http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Usage&v1=Travel%2Fmobility&series_name=tx1000z_series">HP tx1000z</a> I've been eyeing...<br /><br /><i>Jason Dunn owns and operates <a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com">Thoughts Media Inc.</a>, a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys mobile devices, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog.</i>