Dude where the hell is my dell, i need some help

[vancouver4]

Well i ordered my axim about two weeks ago and it still isn't ready and the shipping date was just pushed back until march :twisted: ! I am trying to prepare myself as best as i can for it, i already ordered a bunch of stuff for it. now i am looking for programs that will help my with finances, daily scheduling and gaming. What are the best programs? and where can i find them. Preferably cheap if not free, any ideas?

[Brad Adrian]

www.handango.com is the site I always look at first for software. Another great one is www.pocketgear.com.

[Foo Fighter]

I would steer clear of Handango for a while. There has been a wave of complaints about undelivered real-time software, ZERO customer service, and shopping cart errors. Something is rotten in the State of Denmark. :bad-words:

[dkim]

Placed order night of Jan 19th. Just been pushed back for the second time to March 3. If that is indeed the ship date, I will have waited 10 weeks for my Dell. Talked to a customer rep over the 800 number. He said he would try to expedite my order. A friend who ordered his 2 hours before me, go his 2 weeks ago. I am beginning to think that Dell does not know what it is doing. If this is a sample of customer service, I guess some other company is going to get my next laptop!

[TheBacklash]

From what I heard/read here a few days ago.
Dell has already taken a HUGE chunk of the PPC market... (for the price range, and huge compared to what they initaly thought they would be at this long after launch) So I tend to think that Dell has grown too big too fast, and is really trying to play catch up right now. How many awards and positive reviews has the Dell recieved in the last 2 months? more than they planned on I bet. They will catch up, but It will take them time to grow.

Dell wanted to be a PPC player, they just may have gotten their wish... Sooner than they expected.

Most everyone has had very good service with Dell, so don't worry. It will get here. sadly probably later rather than sooner... :(

By the time I got around to ordering a knife I really wanted, It was named Knife of the year. I waited 4 months on a waiting list..... Just got it.
Yet a freind bought his 2 days before they announced the award... and was able to choose the one he wanted... I waited a week after seeing his, ended up being 4 months later before I could have my own. Thats what happens when things get popular.

Did you order any Dell extra's with it? We have found that the accesories tend to really slow down the Order right now... Best to buy them afterwards... Axim first, then order the KB and stuff.

[dkim]

RE: TheBacklash's comments. While that might be good logic, Dell is a business. Dell's responsibility is to service its customers. I guess they do not subscribe to the notion of first come first served. They have the responsibility to serve their customers in a timely way. How can they justify serving one customer after they abandon another just because of supply issues? This is especially true if other customers whose orders were similarly held up for supply issues were shipped the product as soon as the product became available. This is just plain bad service. it is an expediant decision process that penalizes a few early responders in favor of late responders to prevent being labeled as a "slow shipper!" and increasing market share. The emphasis here is maximizing shipping at any cost! I am at wits end because there is nothing I can do except wait it out. I am sure this is the last product I will buy from Dell. I do not like being manipulated in this manner. At the rate they are going, in terms of shipping, I suspect the rebate may ultimately become useless. Sad, sad, sad.

[PetiteFlower]

Man, people can't do anything but complain!

First of all, your rebate will NOT become useless, your ship date has nothing to do with it. You're eligible for the rebate based on your ORDER date. The only thing that the ship date has anything to do with is that you have to mail the rebate form in within 30 days of the ship date--but that shouldn't be a problem since delivery is just a few days after the ship date.

Second of all, there are many factors that influence when a unit will ship. For example, perhaps the people who are getting them soon after ordering are ordering the 300m model and the ones who are waiting are getting the 400m model. Or perhaps, as mentioned, the people who are waiting ordered an accessory which is on back order. If at all possible, Dell is going to try to ship everything together. There is more to it then simply first come first served.

Your wait time does seem a bit excessive but that's not the common experience; it's entirely possible that you just got unlucky; no system, no matter how good, works perfectly 100% of the time. If Dell is able to correct the problem now, that's what matters. You may even be able to get a free accessory out of them if you play your cards right; Dell is usually very good about compensating inconvenienced customers. When I ordered my desktop, I ordered a 64mb video card that I later found out was discontinued; for my inconvenience I ended up with a 128mb upgrade for no additional charge.

I just think it's silly to write off an entire company that has great products at great prices just because you ordered the most popular item it sells and you had to wait for it.

[dkim]

Just a reply to petiteflower: First of all, I am usually not a complainer. I resent the implication. I have posted this comment after watching person after person comment how quickly they have received their Axim's in what seem to me to be record time. The implication that I am a slacker is unwarranted and just plain impolite! Second, I already own a Dell laptop. I am looking for a replacement. I will and certainly should consider the crappy leadtime as a consideration for purchase, especially in a very competitive environment! Finally it is easy to some one who already has a unit to make comments like you made. Those kinds of comments just hide the truth.

[syphix]

I see NO WHERE in petiteflower's posts where he called you a "slacker"...THAT is uncalled for. I mean, are you TRYING to start a fight?

[blazingwolf]

Temper, temper folks. Obviously a Hall of Flame and Shame candidate.

[Steven Cedrone]

Temper, temper folks. Obviously a Hall of Flame and Shame candidate.

No, just a "lock the thread" candidate... :?

Steven Cedrone
Community Moderator

[dkim]

First and foremost, if I have offended anyone, especially PetiteFlower, I humbly apologize. I accept that the choice of words I used was either too strong or inappropriately expressed. The fact remains; however, Dell’s shipping of product remains erratic. The fact remains that I have been postponed twice without any acceptable explanation either by email or by voice contact with a customer rep. The fact remains that I have no guarantee that I will not be extended again. These are the facts. I maintain that I can only conclude that Dell is shipping product to some at the expense of shipping product to others. How can anyone overlook this inequality and try to justify this corporate behavior. Dell could do more to resolve the problem. Dell could pay expedite charges to their vendors. Dell could discount the price to those waiting for longer than, say 12 weeks ARO (after receipt of order). Dell could ship to those who placed their order first. Finally, Dell obviously could do more to communicate to those waiting the longest. Since Dell has not communicated some sort of plan to help those waiting the longest or provided any obvious effort to relieve the product bottleneck, Dell’s current corporate behavior can only suggest a deliberate decision to ignore some customers.

[PetiteFlower]

Yes, I already have mine, but I ordered it on January 2nd and I did wait almost a month(received on 1/23) so it's not like I didn't wait.

And like I said, I agree that your particular experience has been crappy and your wait has been atypically long. But rather then complaining here, you should be on the phone with Dell demanding action from them! In my experience, they have always been more then happy to make restitution for mistakes and shipping delays and I'm sure you could get satisfactory compensation for your wait if you only ask. Give the company a chance to do right by you before you write them off.

Anyway sorry if I was harsh, I've just seen so many people here and (especially) elsewhere saying "Dell sucks because I had to wait 4 weeks" and no other reasons and it just seems really...well...whiny to me. They had no way of knowing how popular it was going to be, IMO you can't blame the company for not being psychic!

[KuroNeko]

I disagree to an extent. Considering the PDA market was until very recently booming, and considering their product & pricepoint, it was to be expected that it would be popular.

Dell's behaviour is typical however. No big company these days wants to take any risks at all in business. So they underordered from suppliers.

Which isn't smart. As this thread shows, you're seriously pissing off regular and new customers. Companies should take some risks, without this, no innovation.

Companies do like to complain about lower margins, dropping sales etc. (see RIAA case), but are totally unwilling to invest in new innovations.

If you ask me, the complaining of those companies is what I would describe as "whiny".

Neko

[TheBacklash]

Something that also may have been overlooked here...

What happens if the supplier TO Dell has a snafu?

Lets say the screens that Dell has in the Axim, become unavailable for a month?... maybe the company that makes the dell has a ship sink on the way to the US. or maybe detained by the coast guard/harbor patrol for having improper paperwork, or this is a result of a worker strike at the plant in the Taiwan company. Possible that the Std batteries are underproduced, while the rest of the aximis ready. too many people bought a Std battery as an extra, and they can't fill the Axim orders yet. Or what about a poor quality batch was made? you want an Axim that burns the battery in your hand upon turning it on, because some idiot on the work room floor forgot to solder something on a batch of Axim's?... the list goes on. Who knows the real reason.

Remember Dell does NOT make the Axim, they are the branded name for the PPC device that a taiwan company makes for them. Maybe Dell in the future will build a plant closer to the US, or in the US, to make them here, so they can be mass produced closer to the US.

the point is that LOTS of factors could be the reason your Axim is taking so long to get here.

If your that impatient, then Call Dell and demand to get your money back.
Odds are you will get your axim sooner, and maybe even something to "ease your pain"

Last time I checked there is NO law saying that Dell has to ship your order on the ESTIMATED, key word there, Estimated ship date. thats why it's a estimated date. things can change, go bad, or work out perfectly and ship early.

I waited 4 months for a knife I wanted, I had to wait due to the extreme popularity. nothing to do with the knife company. they uped the production, but the demand was still higher than production. they never planed on the demand getting that high that fast.

But if you want to bash Dell, go ahead. I just don't see the justification for it. Just because it's not here the day after you order it?... your just acting like a spoiled kid to my ears. We live now in a world where we can order somthing and get it here in a matter of hours... and to some it's still not enough. they want to order it online from the comfort of our own home, and want to turn around and hear the doorbell ring with the merchandise. if they have to wait a day.... or more, they get upset.

I'm sorry you have to wait to get your PPC, but without knowing the whole story from Dell, I can't agree with you. If you ordered other stuff with it, I can see the delay being correct. Dell does want to ship everything together. Do you want your Axim to ship today, the keyborad next week, the sync cradle in two weeks... or would you rather have everything at once? Or did you tell Dell to ship everything seperatly when it's available? or did you just let dell ship everything "all at once" probably their default shipping method. If you got the free shipping... Dell will only ship a complete order, not 10 seperate shipments for free...

[KuroNeko]

Hmm, calling people spoiled kids sounds like flame-bait to me.

For me, I distrust Dell at the moment, so I went with an Ipaq. I will get it March 1st or before, or else I get a (extra) discount. I got that in writing. That's how a professional company should act, either stick to your promises or pay for breaking them. It's like that for private persons, why should it be different for companies?

Dell's behaviour as described by the disgruntled guy in this thread sounds very amateurish to me, and I'm glad I went for HP at this moment. I hope Dell will get their act together in future as they have good products, but they need a bit of work on their attitude towards small customers.

Neko

[vancouver4]

I appreciate everyones feed back and it has given me alot think about. I agree that the axim is very popular, that is probably why i bought it because of the good reviews. I will though harass dell until i do get it just for the fun of it. Patience is a virtue that i need to learn. All good things come in time. :lol:

[TheBacklash]

Hmm, calling people spoiled kids sounds like flame-bait to me.


Wasn't meant as flame bait...

It just sounded to me like a spoiled kid, "I want it now Mommy"... But johnny, it won't be here until tomorrow. "I don't care, I want it now mommy" :roll:

Lots of things could be the culprit of a delay.

[KuroNeko]

"Lots of things could be the culprit of a delay."

Agreed, but the contact for the customer is always Dell. The customer knows nothing of all this. Dell should be more open to their customers about what is happening. The continuous and seemingly random changing of delivery dates by their system isn't helping.

In my experience, if I hit a problem and can't make a deadline, being open and frank with the customer is always best. That way you can work something out with the customer. Not telling the customer but not keeping deadlines, making promises you can't keep etc. will always result in an unhappy and most likely lost customer. Not good business sense.

Neko

[TheBacklash]

one thing i'm thinking is that the PPC side of dell, could be a whole new set of people, possibly not even Dell themselves... Kinda like the answering services for after hours calls to business that don't work 24/7.

A whole new division of Dell could take awhile before everything is ironed out.

[Roosterman]

Placed order night of Jan 19th. Just been pushed back for the second time to March 3. If that is indeed the ship date, I will have waited 10 weeks for my Dell. Talked to a customer rep over the 800 number. He said he would try to expedite my order. A friend who ordered his 2 hours before me, go his 2 weeks ago. I am beginning to think that Dell does not know what it is doing. If this is a sample of customer service, I guess some other company is going to get my next laptop!

dkim, I'm not folowing your math. If you orderd your unit on 1/19 today is 5 weeks. Next week it ships, that is 6. Granted, too long when you are really wanting a new toy (I speak from experience :) ) Where are you coming up with 10 weeks? As far as your friend, did he order that exact setup as you? Did you order anything extra? If exactly the same it is possible, that on a first come first served basis he got his, one of the last in the shipment, and you are just unlucky enough to have to wait for the next batch to arrive from Taiwan.

Good luck and I think you will enjoy the unit when it arrives.

[n2_space]

Strange... I ordered mine on Feb 15th and got it on the 18th... this must be very recent then....

[TheBacklash]

Strange... I ordered mine on Feb 15th and got it on the 18th... this must be very recent then....

But did you order just the Axim?

Now we are not sure if he ordered the axim, and more... and the more part "could" be the holdup.

[n2_space]

Strange... I ordered mine on Feb 15th and got it on the 18th... this must be very recent then....

But did you order just the Axim?

Now we are not sure if he ordered the axim, and more... and the more part "could" be the holdup.

I got a case and a true mobile wireless card :)

[karen]

Something is rotten in the State of Denmark. :bad-words:

Not to mention here, too.

Someone sold my handango-only e-mail address to porn spammers. Either Handango or the software vendor.

Either way, I don't use Handango anymore.

Karen

[PetiteFlower]

The porn spammers are sleazy, they could have snooped it off a page somewhere if you sent it to anyone via unsecure connection. Might not have been Handango's fault.

[PPCdev]

I will have waited 10 weeks for my Dell


OMG! I got mine off eBay for $220, guy has already sent it
2 day UPS, it should be here by Wednesday this week. Got a
free 65meg SD, cradle and shipping, $220 was my total out,
and no more than 4 days wait time to get it.

Good luck all...
Andrew

[targetdrone]

Mine took a week to get here. I ordered early a.m. on 2-18 and it got here in the early afternoon on the 25th. Perhaps it's a Canadian warehouse issue?