Anyone bought the new Dell?

[LULU]

Really tempted by the new Dell desktop being promoted at the mo - but put off by the fact that despite all the money they've pumped into the ads there is no provision for actually viewing the thing in Singapore as all orders are taken by phone or online only! Although the spec is great, I'm a bit worried that the casing will be tacky and cheap looking like the HP for example - and it's a lot of money to spend on something you've never seen.

Has anyone by any chance already bought one - if so, can you recommend it? If not, has anyone seen them on display anywhere?

Want to go for the flat LCD screen, but again it's not the kind of thing you buy without having first seen it.

[BoardManager]

My last experience with Dell was HORRENDOUS.

1. Placed a phone order. He promised to call back within the hour - to confirm my telephone number, order taken etc. Fair enough, I thought.

2. 2 days later, still no calls. I had to call them again to track the guy I spoke with, who first took my phone order. He could not remember speaking with me. Never mind. Ordered again.

3. This time he took my credit card details and said that after payment is cleared, they will call, usually within 7 days. I was not impressed, but again, fair enough, they wanted payments in first. I had to ask for a confirmation of the order (P/O with the confirmed specs), and that the credit card payment had been effected.

4. No calls after 10 days. I thought I'd better call. And I did. They could track my order this time, since I had the faxed P/O. But they can't tell me when delivery was to be made.

5. Two more days later, I called, this time a lot more agitated. Payment was made almost 2 weeks ago, and there was still no clue as to when the delivery could be made. I spoke to at least 3 different people from 3 different departments: a) The Sales Manager of the guy who took my order; b) The Small Enterprises Dept who oversees such orders; c) The Operations Dept who apparently has to organise with their transport agent in Penang where DELL is based, who must in turn liaise with the receiving delivery agent in Singapore who will do the physical delivery!

6. After all the big deal, delivery was promised to be on a certain Friday, 2 weeks later. No choice but to wait, since we needed the new computer, and also because we had made payment, and having come so far, thought it was best to give them one last chance.

7. The big day came. Waited at home all morning. No show. Called DELL up. They had no answer for me since there was the Operations Dept, and the Penang Forwarder, who must contact the Singapore Forwarder who must search for the one particular person who had left the warehouse in the morning. Waited till 4.00pm before the one delivery person showed up. Wow, okay, it must be worth the wait, we all thought.

8. Quite proficiently, the agent who was also the driver-delivery-technician-installer, set up the whole computer. Was rather impressed with his multi-tasking ability. So, as usual, I started asking a few questions about the system. Did NOT get ONE reply from him since his only reply was for me to call DELL in Penang! Talk about customer relations, PR.

9. The computer was TACKY. Very plasticky, joinings had lots of gaps. Well ... never mind; DELL is a good name. Started loading up the software which were packaged but not factory fitted. This I was definitely not happy with. I mean, they have come so close to delivering the product, yet they put the customer throught the hassle of self-installation. Well, never mind ... this was something we could do, we thought, and proceeded to install.

10. At 6.00pm, just as we were installing the software, the computer failed. Nothing moved, no light, nothing. So had to call DELL in Penang. Sales put me to Operations, who put me over to Small Enterprises, who said I must speak to Technical Support. It was 6.03pm when I spoke to a lady at Technical Support.

11. "Sorry, sir, your purchase is not covered by the worldwide 24 hour technical support ... please call back during working hours the next business day." Yes, you guessed it right. The next business day would be MONDAY, another 2 freaking days!!

12. No choice. Waited till Monday. When Monday came, I spoke to their Technical Support. Followed every step given on the phone - trouble shooting; removed the mother board, took out the various cards. "Sorry sir, the computer is not working as it should be. We will have to speak to our Engineer, and then come back to you. We suspect the mother board has to be replaced. It will take about 2 weeks for us to order it, and then arrange for it to be delivered to you. We can't tell you when you will get the parts replaced or delivered."

13. It was obvious to me then that this DELL thingy will not work. More than 3 weeks and some S$3,000 poorer, the system could not be used. Called up to cancel my order and asked for a full refund. Was sent from sales to operations to small enterprises to accounts!!

14. Three days later, another agent came to collect the computer. Know what? He would NOT collect the computer this time. He INSISTED that *I* dismantle the computer and put it back in the box, since his duty was only to collect!!

15. Boy, they really got me mad this time round. I gave those guys in Penang hell. Insisted on being refunded in full before they can come again to my home to collect the set. Without my having to pack the computer back into the box for them.

What can I say? Sure no more DELL (HELL) for me!  

[LULU]

Wow, thanks BM! Dell hell indeed.

Hmm, will certainly have second thoughts - very uneasy about having to phone order anyway as I said, because I'm one of these people that likes to touch and see something before I buy - especially when it's a 3k purchase!

Have been quite impressed by their ad campaign - loads of stuff in Straits + TV etc but can't believe that they are distributing only from Penang and that you can't see/try out anywhere in the Funan/Sim Lim.

Anyone else got any Dell stories?

Thanks again.

[want_to_believe]

Have an HP story . My e-vctra failed after 1 and 1/2 year of good work. Called up hp and have to bring it to theyy service center in Singapore .Well, first thing was ..parking in front was avalible. Than , very professionla stuff, very friendly. Had my e-vectra back wiyhin 24 h , deliverd to my office and installed , problem report ( hp replaced the mother board ) and ..all for free. Well HP is a little bit more expencive but as everywhere in the world , you get what you pay for. And..had very good experience with IBM as well.

[SkidMark]

My experience with Dell couldnt be more different. I have bought machines both in the states and here, and have had great delivery and aftersales service (important you get the next day onsite service option, as with any computer). I cant comment on their Home (Dimension?) computers, but the Optiplex models are solid machines in my opinion in terms of the hardware. The look is not tacky, and they are well put together - whether or not you like their 'midnight grey' colour scheme, that's for you to decide. Took me a while, but now I quite like it. Beats the new Mac on looks easy (ok, Im joking).

[Not worth the $$]

I don't think Dell units are good vaule for money.  They only advertise the base model so when you actually get around to putting in all your specifications (LCD monitor, DVD-ROM etc) it ends up costing you an arm and a leg.  Better off buying locally from Funan or Sim Lim I think.  Or better still, DIY!  That's what I did.

[swordfish]

I am also a user of Dell systems. I have purchased 6 computers from them both via telephone and internet, although there were a couple of hiccups (expected in Asia), I have not had any problems.

I have had to call support several times, and very helpful people. I even sold my laptop to a friend, and he in turn was able to get technical support several times.

So, I am a huge proponent of Dell and can't think of how the BM had such a hard time as I've had great success. In fact, the last 2 machines I have bought have not had a problem at all in over 1 1/2 years. (except for when I accidently broke the CD Rom drawer and they replaced it free of charge even though it was my fault)

[Bill A. Bong]

I bought a new DELL not that long ago 8100 it is good for what it is and not cheap or nastier than any other PC.  If however, I was to do it today I'd go for the new Apple Mac as I am fed up to the back teeth with Microsoft and anything that runs Windows... Maybe on Linux a new Dell would be a charmer but I doubt it.

Take a serious look at Apple before deciding.

[Arry]

I ordered my computer from Dell two years ago and had quite a good service from them. Delivery was prompt and I could set up the whole computer myself anyway so I didn't need them to do it. The machine still works wonderfully and I would have no hesitation in ordering computers online. I'm pretty much into eCommerce - have ordered books, clothing, computer, portable MP3 player, flowers online without seeing/touching them first and have no experience of fraud.

I am seriously considering to switch to Mac or at least have an iBook, however (which I would probably order online as well). Can't go on with a "wife" (read: Microsoft) who I don't love  

[ishtar]

I type this very message on my Dell Dimension 8100. My dad ordered it through work, so I don't know much about that process, but it showed up promptly, set up easily, and it a lovely machine. Not as stylish as the Mac line, but they have tried.

I bought it particularly because it is the first computer to include THX certified surround sound capabilities, and in fact the sound is fabulous. I got an enormous monitor to go with it (but left it in the states) and was very pleased with it. I've got the pentium 4 and I installed some extra RAM, so mostly it's very very fast, Tragically, though, the hard drive is pretty crappy, particularly annoying since everything else on the machine is top notch. (To be honest, I almost never notice the hard drive problem, but JLC my resident tech support and all-around computer guru is appalled by it.)

In the end, all of my usual daily tasks run perfectly and instantaneously, and my computer games turn out really gorgeous. Also, I packed the thing in a suitcase and sent it through airline baggage handling on the way out here, and it held up perfectly and started right up on arrival. So it's very sturdy.

I say get one!

[SkidMark]

A little off topic, but I just finished installing Linux on my Dell. Can now boot Win2K or Linux -the machine's cruisin'. Can I go home now?

[BoardManager]

Forgot to add: Because the HELL computer attracted GST, those guys did not credit me the full amount when refunding. And they wanted to take off transport charges of S$60.00 for each trip they made to my home. Sure got me madder and madder  

As I wasn't prepared to be out of pocket for their boo-boo after suffering so much aggro, I made sure the full refund was to hand before releasing the computer back to them.

And looking back, it was not such a great value for money deal after all. I had to buy this and that on top of their basic model offer which was priced attractively.

[swordfish]

I have priced Dell against every machine on the market each time I buy one, and none is cheaper, especially with the service you get with it.

I realise you had a ****ty experience, but only one of a few I'm sure.

[Tony]

BM
Michael Dell will be in town shortly. Will let you know where you can meet him for a bit of customer feedback.
Have Dell laptop and found it much more robust than my previous one from Big Blue.You must have got a "Monday morning team" as usually their service is pretty good. Seem to recall they have three sources in Asia and I thought the guaranteed three day delivery whether you were in Tokyo or Singapore. They are regarded as top of the treee when it comes to supply chain management.
Dell technically are fine and they have a huge market share but don't expect them to be cheap. They are a big name competing with other big names and pitch their prices into that ring.
A Sim Lim shop can always put together something cheaper but you pay your money and..........
If you want a name without paying big name prices then you had better think Korean or Taiwanese. Failing that, befriend a techie, buy the parts in Sim Lim and build it on the kitchen table.

[BoardManager]

Hi Tony
Yes, I would certainly very much like to meet Mr Dell and recount my very (isolated) unpleasant experience. I have all the letters and receipts to proof the incident. The only good thing was at least I finally got all my money back - after calling DELL Penang and faxing them my grievances, and alerting the credit card company as well!

I wasn't looking at buying a big name brand at sim lim prices. No, I have always had Compaqs and IBMs and original software. Still have these good machines. Just that on that occasion had wanted a good extra computer from DELL at their promotion deal prices (for P4) which eventually, after all the upgrades and extra memory, 17" monitor, etc (ah, now remember  - also ordered and paid for the Epson printer as an extra which was NOT delivered with the set! arrgghh), came out to be not as good value-for-money. I was actually still happy to pay the price for the deal as I had wanted the extras. But these fellas messed it up so much and so big time that I can't accept that coming from DELL! Prepaid good money for 3 weeks to end up with a lemon without any technical support (even when I insisted on buying the 24 hour support on the spot, something I didn't know about previously, they said that I still have to call back on Monday since the accounts dept had closed for the day!) or clue for how long more I had to wait ... plus the aggro on the return of the set, money refund, with-holding of almost S$200.00 for GST (on an item I never had, afterall) and transport fees! Man, I thought surely that was too much for one poor consumer to bear.

[This message has been edited by BoardManager (edited 20-02-2002).]