Dell's "Express Upgrade" to Vista not so "express"
By Paul Miller 
posted Feb 12th 2007 5:27PM
posted Feb 12th 2007 5:27PM
Dell-using Vista hopefuls are expressing their frustration at Dell's continued delays and problems with their Vista upgrades. The fiasco started right when the Dell Vista Upgrade site opened for business, with the sudden flood of visitors being blamed for site crashes, delays and error messages, and downtimes lasting as long as 24 hours at a time. Even after Dell stabilized the website, reports were rampant of the site not recognizing certain service tag numbers, or informing users incorrectly that their system wasn't eligible for the upgrade. Phone support was little better, with one phone jockey telling a customer "Your machine's processor is only at 667 Mhz speed. You will have to upgrade it before you can get the Vista upgrade." Turns out Dell's guy was reading the RAM speed off the spec list. In the midst of all these problems, Dell has been slowly pushing back the ship date for the upgrade discs, with the latest official word being late February: "We expect to begin shipping upgrade kits to customers within the next couple of weeks." That might be well and good, but Dell is processing orders on a first-come first-served basis, and some users are being told to expect a 6-8 week wait for their discs. Dell blames these added delays on continued testing of driver compatibility, along with continued site kinks, but they do claim to have eligibility problems ironed out, so at least that's a start. If your experience with Dell's upgrade has been any different -- or just as hellish -- we'd love to hear it in the comments.[Thanks, Roy B]
Read - Dell Vista Upgrade site
Read - Official word from Dell
Read - The story from a disgruntled forum member
If ever you wanted to see how to completely f*ck up your dominant business through greed, apathy and corner cutting, just have a look at Dell from 2000 onwards. Would make a good B-school study. Not even Sony has shot themselves in the foot so completely.
If you're a business you just can't cut corners on customer service. You will pay for it, one way or another.
Yeah this sounds right, had to get a Dell for the new semester and the upgrade has sucked. 4 times I tried and 4 times it failed, I try to call on the phone and they tell me "this service tag has already been used, ill put you on the escalation list" That was a week ago and no phone call. I guess it doesn't really matter because I wasn't going to put Vista on until the first service pack anyway.
... wait... their a vista hopefulls.
I called Dell and asked when my upgrade disk would ship...LATE MARCH! WTF its called an express upgrade, late March is not express. I even threatened to send the whole machine back and they kindly reminded me of the 15% restock fee. I have been a Dell customer for a long long time and I don't like being treated like this. On the bright side with so many problems with Vista it might be wise to wait for a few critical updates. : )
It's not just Dell that is having issues! I have been attempting to process an upgrade request directly from Microsoft, but after 8 attempts and 3 phone calls I am still without any solution! First my credit card gets denied (my bank says the transaction was approved), then my COA number is invalid, then my address can't be verified..............soon they will say that my name is incorrect. Love Microsoft, Love Vista, HATE UPGRADE PROCESS.
Funny... I just saw a commercial about how Dell servers/services can run your business, your website, your this and that but from the looks of it, Dell can't even keep it's own site up. Way to set an example Dell!
same thing going on with hp. my order says shipping in early march, 6-8 weeks after my order was placed
People should be grateful for this kind of screwup. By the time their disks show up, the first service pack might be ready!
I recently purchased a Dell XPS M1210 and applied for the free upgrade but tbh I'm in no hurry to upgrade so I don't care much and I don't really understand people who do. I've read the reviews and they've all been great I know but still......
i have not done the upgrade through dell myself but i did try with the actual retail disk. the ironic thing is that i installed vista on 3 computers: a dimension, an inspiron, and a macbookpro. the macbook went flawless and vista was up and running perfect in 20 minutes. for each of the dells, I had countless BSoD's and EACH one too the better part of six hours (after backing everything onto externals and then clean installing, etc). it was a nightmare
maybe you're stupid?
my friends and i have updated vista on a wide range of laptops/desktops with dell's included.
flawless flawless flawless. other than BT phone support
"EXPRESS" Upgrade? I purchased 2 Dell computers when the Upgrade became available. I am VERY satisfied with both of those purchases. I registered immediately for the Upgrade and didn't have any problems there. I still have my "DELL VISTA REGISTRATION CONFIRMATION" emails. I called the "Express" 1-800 number to see when my Upgrades would arrive and I was steamed when the guy told me sometime in MARCH! Dell should think VERY hard next time they name a product that they advertise... EXPRESS Upgrade it is NOT! The whole "waiting for the drivers" issue is a lame excuse. How long have they known Vista is coming out? Just be honest with your customers. I'm sure there are 1000s of people running Vista just fine...Someone there at Dell has dropped the ball. They still aren't preloading Vista on their machines... oh but HP is.
My sister ordered a Dell laptop last week and we wanted it with XP but their customer service told us that that is no longer an option. Also for some reason it is going to take almost three weeks for the thing to ship with the Bluetooth module being the only hardware piece that we customized. Ordered an iBook a few years ago from Apple with nearly every option available being customized and it shipped out a few days after the order was placed. I tried to get my sister to get the Macbook and I told her I would set it up to only run XP but she just had to have the Dell even though the Macbook ended up being faster for the same price as the Dell and even though her Dell desktop has given her nothing but problems (and don't even get me started on her Dell printer). I figure I will be reformatting the HD on the Dell laptop and installing XP about two days after she gets it.
I decided to not do the Express Upgrade, when the site launched I went and it said I wasn't eligible (even though I bought an XPS 410 system within the eligible date range) so I just purchased a retail copy of Vista when it was released. It seems to work great with the drivers available from Microsoft, so I think Dell's excuse is bogus. They really messed this one up.
I put in the service tag for my laptop and it worked fine, until it got to the payment, and they tried charging for a copy that was apparently free (not including postage, obviously). It took 3 days until someone on the phone would refund me for the costs that shouldn't have been there in the first place.
We were told it would ship then, and it's been 10 days...
Oh, so Acer (or the company that's handling their express upgrades, Moduslink) isn't the only company that's taking forever on the upgrades....... They haven't even sent my upgrade out yet.
I too purchased an acer laptop. And I applied for my upgrade through Modusk link and to say the least what a nightmare ! It has been 3 months now and i still have not gotten my upgrade . My status says approved and has said so for about two months and about three weeks .
I emailed modusk link to ask for some help in speeding up my order and was told that there was nothing they could do that at this point it was all in the hands of the manufacturer of the pc company. I thought this was odd so I called ACER Global
and they had assured me this was not the case , that they were not happy with the statement and they would look into it for me and get back with me . To say the least I have not heard back from ACER Global yet~!~ Suprise suprise ,suprise~!~
Good Luck All
WE NEED IT NOW
RICH
good thing i went with oem instead of going through dell
Nice change of the logo. Maybe Michael Dell coming back as CEO will turn things around for the company. It's no wonder with service problems like this and outdated, crappy looking desktops with little inovation like HPs or even Gateways that Dell has slipped to the No. 2 computer maker spot. Problems started about the time they axed the Dude guy.
aaaahh microsoft. the amusing thing is they've already announced they're working on the "next" OS. havn't they learnt anything? they havn't even finished the current one yet, seriously. i have a "vista capable" branded notebook, but yet when i run microsoft's own vista upgrade software, i discover i numerous hardware components that are currently not supported by Vista. i hereby take back any Mac bashing i have done in the past, microsoft take the cake.
Remember, Vista and many applications don't behave well with one another. The wait might actually be a good thing (I am waiting from HP for my upgrade... will I install it as soon as it arrives? Nope.).
I've been dealing with DELL for the past 6 months and it has been a nightmare. Took over 6 hours straight in one day (and about 8 phonecalls) to resolve an issue that I had been calling about for over 3 months. It does not suprise me that Dell has had so many issues. My trouble was with a warranty applied to the Service Tag of a PC I returned to them. Took all that time to get them to correct it.
It took me a week and 4 phonecalls to actually spend a coupon they sent me as a credit and BUY products from them. Dell lost my confidence a while ago.
I'm in the midst of this little debacle right now. I sent Dell an e-mail about a week after Vista was released, asking them how long it would take. Whatever moron replied told me that MS wouldn't be releasing the product until the end of February, and I would then have to wait 4-6 weeks after that to get my upgrade. They still haven't responded to my reply to that, in which I basically asked if they were retarded (not in so many words) as they are selling machines right now with Vista. I bet when I get it, the driver disk they send with it will have the wrong bios. Then it's off to the races :-)
Your article doesn't fully capture the nightmare of the Express Upgrade. I got my new XPS 410 (of course eligible for the upgrade)around the first of January. I went to their site and entered my service tag number. And what do you know, it didn't recognize it. I called customer service a few times for an answer but never got one. I used their online customer service chat and was informed that it takes about two weeks for the service tag number to be recognized after the PC is shipped. Two weeks passed and it still didn't recognize it.
I called customer service so they could process it correctly, I was transfered multiple times. Each department wanted to transfer me back to each other, then I finally got a number that dealt with with the Express upgrade. They shipped my information and complaint to the department (forgot the name) that takes care of the upgrade info. Still hadn't heard back from them for a week and a half.
So I went to direct2dell.com and complained in their blog comments, and the next day I got an email from a Dell consumer advocate. Two days later, after the Dell express upgrade site got back up and running; I finally got my upgrade order in.
So it only took a month to get it ironed out. Fantastic!
i want my vista!! but i can wait.. more drivers will be released, updates will come out. its a good thing a in a way...
SHOTT3R is absolutely correct. I wish I recorded my exchanges with Dell customer service. In hidsight they are hilarious although at the time they made my blood boil with the amazing incompetence of the people who answer their phones. Once a woman tried to convince me that my LCD screen didn't need a power cord (which was missing from the box). "It's all one piece" ... meaning there was mistakenly only one part number in their system for a device that comes in two pieces. I only managed to convince her by asking her to reach in behind her screen and see what I mean. Af
Ha! We got our Dimension E521 THE VERY DAY BEFORE the upgrade was offered - and I had no clue it would be offered the next day! I believe we ordered on October 25th, 2006 at 8PM Pacific Time - 11PM EASTERN TIME! I swear an hour or so later and we could have the upgrade. Oh well. It doesn't seem to be going well anyway. It would be better if I just bought Vista separately.
Not newsworthy.... This is what I expect from Hell.
Quite possibly the worst computer manufacturer ever. I would take a commodore 64 over a hell XPSuck.
was a DELLaholic and loved their stuff and all my experiences have been good ,imagine my discust to find out dell supports republicans ..and chimpy Bush ..ruined my day totally and was the last day i ever order anything from DELL... ever . worst president ever! oh and upgrade site was down first three or four visits but then took my order and all was good ..far as i know its in the mail ..
BTW, it's disgust. Discust is what happened when someone apologizes for dropping an F-Bomb.
I upgraded a while ago (not through the Express upgrade thing) and had a few issues with bluetooth drivers but that was it. I did back up all my stuff tho just in case.
I'm one of the customers waiting for their upgrade. Now, if I go to the site and click on order status and enter my information and then click continue, it just clears out the information box and doesn't do anything! I guess it'll arrive eventually....
Yup, this was my first Dell computer and will be my last. If they have had this many problems with a simple thing like this "express" upgrade, what happens when I need my computer repaired. My biggest complaint is that after waiting 20-30 minutes to talk to a rep, I have a hard time understanding him through his thick accent. Though, I am able to understand them enough to realize that they tell me a different date and make different promises everytime I call. Thanks Dell
I requested for a free update, when to realize that my computer was not accepted. My computer is an XPS 410, but I purchased my computer about 1-2 weeks before the deadline. I asked if they could extend the service, but the customer service guy got my question totally wrong so I just hung up. Then I sent in an e-mail asking if they can still give me vista for free, and they said no but I can have the upgrade for 50 bucks or something like that. They told me to register at the following link. The link just goes to the same vista page I started at. No place to register, and my system is still not accepted.
I'm running Vista. With a homemade computer. Got if for free from Power Together.
Placed my order in early January and received a confirmation soon after. About a week after Vista was released, I checked on the status of my order but found out that there was no record of my order being placed. After several emails to support staff that barely seem to understand what I was trying to ask of them, I was told to reorder at their website. No surprise, my service number was already used and would not allow me to continue. So I placed a telephone call to the support number provided. After waiting 20 minutes for someone to answer the phone, I gave up.
Strange, i installed RC1 just fine on my dell. it's probably just bullshit to stall time.
Boycott Vista.
I have a Dell Upgrade...
Numerous requests to support on an estimated date of shipment was met with "Check the website."
IM CALLING YOU< WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO CHECK THE WEBSITE.
After numerous attempts to get someone who spoke the language of english (No joke, theyre based in India, and the accents are so thick, sometimes I dont think theyre speaking english), I got a manager. He stated to me that the Vista upgrades are backed up because of numerous users trying to get the upgrade, and in fact, it goes in numerical order on a list.
just to warn you guys... if youre waiting for your upgrade, and got in a bit late, you might not see your vista disc until well into the year.
F Dell.... F them in their stupid asses.
NOTE TO DELL:
Stop fucking around with the OS disks. You guys don't know what you're doing. A complicated and incompatible "blue Dell OS" disk is what cost you any future business from myself and my family.
Would you people quit complaining about the late-march-isn't-express crap? You do realize that that's just some marketing terminology bs from Microsoft and nothing to do with the manufacturers themselves?
Free copy of Vista that installs on every Dell machine? That's how I roll.
Engadget, pick up the story of HP as well! I've been waiting for over a month for the POP to happen on my order. No one answers emails on the EU side of things!
I ordered my upgrade to vista as soon as I could on the site. It went well, and I'm able to check my order status now; it still says pending last time I checked. I ended up downloading an RTM disc of vista and installed that and I'm using it in evaluation mode until I get my disc. I have like 115 days left. Dell posted the drivers for Vista for my XPS M1210 sometime in mid January. I just can't use some of the programs that came with the computer because they aren't compatible with Vista, such as my PC-Cillin, and burning software. Also had an issue with Office 2003, kept bringing up a window saying "Please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Office 2003" with every program I open, or new tabs in IE. Ended up downloading the Office 2007 60-day trial until I find a solution for the 2003 thing. Why couldn't companies had just made stuff work by the time Vista came out. They had so much time. nVidia drivers still suck. Yeah Apple doesn't have these problems because they control EVERYTHING. They don't have to worry about 3rd parties.
I dont know about Dell, but my HP express upgrade for my PC that was a christmas present has a ship date of March '07, I would be happy with a delivery date of february
@ Nickk
My company uses Dell's @ work. Today we had our UPS shipping computer have a "thermal even." A bunch of caps had popped. I got on the phone with Dell, explained the situation, and in 3 hours a tech came and fixed everything. It was great and a true lifesaver. Thanks to the super quick response we were able to meet are shipment demands for the day. I personally have an M1710 and when the screen was giving me problems I had a tech come out the next day and fix everything. In both situations is was perfect.
Of course, I should also mention that I have no received my Vista upgrade, but I am in no hurry. I am gonna wait until SP1. Still, sucks for people who want to upgrade now. :(
http://www.spreadshirt.net/shop.php?op=article&article_id=1115611
I'm annoyed, because I ordered a quad core extreme Precision and got it two days before they started shipping out Vista preloads.. Now I'm here dealing with this "second or third week in March" crap on Vista. Give me a break.
Only reason I went with the Precision is because they mentioned it came with "dedicated North American Technical Support." Amen to that. Let's see how long they stick to that, though.
Well I never had a problem with Dell site taking my service number or credit card info. It still says PENDING, and I applied for the upgrade several days before Vista's launch. So I guess we will see when they ship. Now the OFFICE2007 upgrade program on the other hand was a bitch. The site charged my credit card twice and didnt put he order in. I finally got someone on the phone and they worked it all out, but that was a nightmare for a few days.
Mmm
you order a second rate OS from a second rate computer manufacturer.
what exactly do you expect?
keep grinning and bear it!
waddo
I got my XPS system with the highest specs and the label on the laptop reads only Windows Vista Capable. Not Premium Ready or how you call it when the laptop is supposed to be getting advantage of all the Vista's features. I got the laptop in October last year and that's when the express upgrade offer started and I registered my update kit the day it was open to public. When I checked the status of my order today it was still pending so my hopes are not very high to get the kit by the end of February and for those who just bough their Dell machine recently...well good luck to you guys
Registered for the upgrade in late december.. I get a registration email saying i'll get a confirmation email soon.... Janaury 29 rolls around.. no confirmation.
Call up Dell.. First CSR can't find my registration information and to "re-register again". Not wanting to violate anything by double registering I tell her to look again... lo and behold she finds it but says I need to talk to another department.
Call other Dept.. Find out they are "shipping late February, but shipping will take 3-4 weeks"
... How does ANYTHING take 3-4 weeks to ship? do they have only 1 truck for the US? Or somehow did they think most people would not redeem their free Vista?
HP is doing the same thing. My Vista Upgrade won't ship until March 31!
I think the whole "Express Upgrade" is a fiasco. Acer is taking their long time to provide drives and Moduslink hasn't even shipped or confirmed anything... they just keep saying, "We will get to it". I have a free retail copy of Ultimate I got from the Beta, I installed it and everything is working except for 1 driver and Acer is taking their time. I'm like Vista is out and has been planned for years... GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!! There is no express upgrade...
http://www.startblue.net
I HAVE THE SAME OROBLEM WITH MY HP VISTA UPGRADE,
I FILED ALL THE PAPERS THAT THEY ASKED FOR ALMOST 3 WEEKS AGO AND STILL DIDN'T EVEN GET A SHIP DATE ! CUSTOMER SERVICE ALSO TALK ABOUT 5-6 WEEK FROM WHEN THEY END PROCESSING MY REQUEST...
SO IT WILL COME OUT TO MORE THAN 2 MONTH!!
Dell isn't the only one, Toshiba New Zealand's upgrade site says that the site is out of order, that was only put up in the last few weeks, before that it just said opening on the 30th November 2006
HP is no better then Dell; based on some of these comments, I would say that my experience with HP has actually been worse. In early December, I attempted to order the Vista replacement for an HP desktop that I bought in late October. It took almost two weeks of trying everyday until I was able to process my order for the Vista premium upgrade. Early last week, I became curious as to when my order would ship since I haven't heard anything from them since sending in a receipt, so I checked the HP Vista website (that takes you to the Modus Microsoft Upgrade Web) for shipping status. Once there, I saw that my order processing wasn't complete (its status was listed as COA validated) and no shipping date was provided. I emailed the point of contact (MSTUPVISTANA) and received a response a few days later that my order has now been validated. If I go to the website link that they provided me, I see that my order is scheduled to ship sometime in March. I wonder what would have happened with my Express Upgrade had I not thought to email them last week; would it have waited in the processing stage indefinately? I have been very disappointed in this whole process; "Express Upgrade" -- who are they kidding.
I don't see how "Phil @ Feb 12th 2007 6:07PM" got highest ranked when he basically said he decided not to get the free (with $10.60 shipping + tax) for an upgrade to Vista and instead paid at least $100+ more for a retail copy of Vista.
I'll forego the pleasure of spending more money for the same product, thanks all the same.
For those that decided not to check the "express upgrade" option. That was stupid. You don't have to upgrade even after checking that but at least you have the option to do so. Even if you upgraded you are not obligated to install Windows Vista right away and can instead wait till a few months later (Vista SP1 is expected late 2007) and upgrade then instead when most of the kinks and bugs have been worked out. I did the same thing when Windows XP came out and just let the early adopters beta test the product for me and upgraded it later when it was more stable.
Don't get me wrong, I did the whole upgrade thing at www.dellvistaupgrade.com two weeks ago and my upgrade status is still pending. It's a total pain in the rear end with the site not being up or being up sporadically. Luckily it recognized my COA numbers and stuff the first time, though that doesn't seem to be the case for everyone. They are being slow as all hell about it when they could have just charged us the fricking $10 shipping at the time we purchased our stupid Dell computers and shipped it to us when it was ready. It's a total pain in the rear end that was not necessary.
But let's not put all the blame on Dell for this fiasco. MS is to blame as well since they seem to be part of the reason for the holdup of getting upgrade discs out to customers. At least I suspect so because all the OEM's are having problems getting upgrade discs out to customers.
Yup, no so express. I bought a laptop before the Vista shipped knowing that it would be eligible for the 'express' upgrade. It is a brand new Inspiron, with a 'Windows Vista Capable' sticker on it. Though it appears that Dell doesn't realize this and it is evaluating whether or not my system is capable of handling the OS.
I posted to Dell's ridiculous attempt at customer relations they call a blog and shortly thereafter received an e-mail from a CSR at Dell asking for my service tag so they could check on the upgrade.
The first e-mail I got back said that 'yes I had requested the upgrade'. That was really a helpful e-mail from them, really. Then I received an e-mail saying that 'as noted on the FAQs' the products would ship the end of February or beginning of March. Well I checked every website I could find and the ONLY one that indicated this was in the Dell blog.
Like so many other companies they don't feel it is important to care for their existing customers as long as they can keep suckering new customers.
Should have bought an HP.
First the site wouldn't take the service code. Then after 3 consecutive days of trying. It took the code, yet would not process my order because it said I had an 'Invalid Address'. Keep in mind, this is the same address I had my XPS laptop shipped to. Against my better judgement I tried to contact thier support line regarding this matter, only to be greeted by what I suspect to be a chimpanzee with vocal skills.
The conversation went as follows:
Dell Rep: Hi, my name is _________ (we'll call him Bubbles), How can I help you today.
Me: I'm having problems with your 'Express' Vista Upgrade site.
Bubbles: Can you give me the service code.
Me: Sure it's XXXXXX.
Bubbles: Ok, now I need your Windows Authentication Key.
Me: Uh, you aren't just doing what I just did on your website, right? I mean it's broken, I just tried it 5 times.
Bubbles: No Sir, I just need your Key.
Me: Ok it's XXXX-XXXXXXX-XXXX
Bubbles: Ok, now I need your Credit Card.
(I give him Credit Card number)
Bubbles: Now your address please.
(I give him address)
Bubbles: I'm sorry sir, it says you have an invalid address.
Me: We determined that at the beginning of this call. You just went to the website and re-entered everything I did before didn't you?
Bubbles:
After shelling out 4000$ for a laptop, one would expect them to accomodate thier customers a little more accordingly. I still have not been able to order my upgrade.
Bought my laptop in November and back then they were saying Vista might not come out until end of March, so it might take 4-8 weeks after that. Imagine my surprise when Vista was release end of January. Anyway, I had no problem with the Express website and won't be pissed about the delay unless it takes longer than Mid-March to get mine as thats how long I thought it would take anyway.
I started trying to get my upgrade the first week of February. The upgrade site informed me my computer was not eligible (as it still does). I contacted Dell immediately and was told my issue would be escalated and I should be contacted within 5 business days. A month later and several more calls to Dell Hell hasn't gotten me any closer to getting registered for my upgrade. Which means I'll actually get my Vista CDs sometime in 2008.
Their customer service is getting almost as bad as Microsoft! Remember when Gateway ruled the home computer world, then they started treating their customers like Dell does. Dude I'm getting a MAC!
i ordered my dell desktop late november and received it a week or two after. a couple of days after i got it, i completed the express upgrade without any problems. i'm supposed to receive vista today through dhl's 2 day shipping.
I've called Dell 5 times about upgrading to Dell Vista and I keep getting the same responses that they will be ready in a week. I really despise Dell especially their customer service. Never buying a Dell again.
33 days and counting, what a joke
What is supposed to be the cost for the upgrade? I ordered a Dell refurb laptop, specifically because it included the express upgrade. Now the Dell upgrade web site is telling me it costs $45 plus the $10 shipping plus tax. I thought it was supposed to be free with just $10 shipping. I purchased a specific laptop based on this "feature". I can still return it if I'd like. (received it last week)
I'M SO DAM MAD!!!! When I bought my dell in November, the Dell associate told me "no problems, the Vista upgrade would ship maybe middle of January. I experienced the same problems as others during early efforts at registration, so waited till mid January to register for the upgrade, never being told it was going to be a queue that could last weeks. Still feeling positive, I told my girlfriend to go ahead and order her new laptop with Vista installed. My upgrade will be here any day and I can help you learn the ins and outs of Vista. Half a dozen calls and on-line chats later, always being told not to worry, it would be shipped out any day now. Yesterday, Dells rep kept me on the phone for an hour telling me my confirmation order number that dell had sent me doesn't exist and is in no way recognizable as a Vista upgrade number. In other words, I was either lying or couldn't read the confirmation email Dell had sent me. I begged him to transfer me to a supervisor and for a half hour i heard him mumble into his phone, “why isn't this working?” to his own computer. Finally the supervisor came on and said I had to call the Vista Upgrade Center and she couldn't transfer me. Of course this was after, Dells own phone system said it was hooking me up with the Vista Upgrade Center. OK, I give up, I'll call them. But they closed at 3pm Hawaii time. Ok, call back first thing in the morning and for the very first time, I'm told end of February was just queue starting point, and actual delivery will be 4 to 6 weeks more. Oh how I wish I had given up on my loyalty to Dell and followed my intuition that said its time to switch to a Mac.
I can only add my frustration and anger with Dell too. I ordered my new Dell XPS 410 in October 2006 right after the "Express" Upgrade was announced. I registered for the "Express" Upgrade in the early hours of November 29th (the first day you could access the upgrade site).
Dell announced "first-in-first-out" which has turned out to be a pile of horseX##$ and a bald faced lie. I am still waiting while others who registered for the upgrade long after I did have already received their upgrade disks. My efforts to get a straight answer from Dell have been futile.
I suspect that my computer was "white listed" because it has a RAID 1 array but Dell just continues to stonewall and won't say anything.
I had been a loyal Dell customer (this was my fifth Dell) but I'll never purchase another computer from them. This has been one of the worst nightmares for me dealing with a company such as Dell and I am really sorry I was "sucked in" to an upgrade that is anything but express!
dell customer relationship is sucks. they trying to be polite and courteous but they have no knowledge of what they do. i called them for window vista's cd but they respond was a phone numer in france. and i called them againe they gave me a bad phon number and the third time they told me go to microsoft window upgrade not to dell upgrades site.
and i called againe I spoke to another person she told me go to the upgrade site and fill the application. which that was done by me right after the purchuse (in the circle with no destination no clue)
When I got my dell the guy on the phone told me I was eligible for the upgrade. When I got my laptop it came with fliers talking about my eligibility for the upgrade. I go to the website and the tag doesn't work. I call support and the guy says he fixed the problem, but it won't work for 24 hours. Two days later I try again and it still doesn't work. I email support and they tell me I'm not eligible because I bought the laptop 8 days before the period when the offer was good.
Why, then, praytell, did the salesman on the phone tell me it was a perk of getting the computer and did my pc ship with docs indicating telling me how to cash in?
I'm pretty sure they didn't post the dates of eligibility until January when they opened their site.
I'm pissed. It's like they frauded me out of $200.
last dell I get
HELLO DEAR READER
i have bought a dell inspiron6400 laptop from Alwafa house L.L.C in novemeber 2006 in dubai ,uae.
but now i live in iran and i want to register for my vista upgrade.but unfortunately ican,t.
my service tag is CK18PB1.
PLZ HELP ME HAVE MY CD.
My activation key is wrong. I called Microsoft, and they confirmed the key was invalid.
Dell support was horrible. There response was "The 10$.00 CD?". The only reason I bought there PC was to get Vista. They still cannot give me a ticket number. Originally they said it would be five days for a valid key. Well ten days later, still didn't happen!! I hope to god somebody sends me a new key!
Bottom line : Use HP or someone else!
I have been trying to run the Express upgrade.
I am getting stuck trying to run the Dell Vista upgrade assistant CD.
This is the prelim step before doing the upgrade.
I am only on step 2 trying to update Mcafee.
I keep getting the error "a download error has occurred [12152]. Please try running the download manager again". I have checked Google and there are forums out there with exactly the same error that I'm getting. I have put a call into Dell tech support and they have tried a number of thing which haven't fixed my problem. The technician then said they would ring back on Tuesday after Easter.
However I then received an email that says if I am still having the problem to please reply to this email giving details like call reference, phone no, best time to ring etc. However when I try to reply to the email it bounces.
I have no doubt that when they do not get a reply from me they will close the call and say the customer must have fixed the problem.
This is customer service according to Dell.
My horrendous experience at Dell. I registered sometime in January and thought everything was good. Didn't really have any problems with the registration website. Then the cycle of horror starts. I received an email confirming my order but they listed the Country as United KINGDOM instead of United STATES. I emailed them back immediately to let them know, included all the information that they could possibly need and simply asked them to change the country on the order. You would think they could do that.. Below is my collection of email messages from the morons who work there.
Message 1:
"americaenglish@d1.dellvistaupgrade.com" Mar 23
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 Vista™ has shipped.
Sincerely,
The Dell Express Upgrade Team
Message 2:
"americaenglish@d1.dellvistaupgrade.com" Mar 23
Thank you for your interest in the Dell Express Upgrade Program for Microsoft Windows Vista.
Unfortunately, the country could not be changed in the order.
Sincerely,
The Dell Express Upgrade Team
My response to the one above:
So will I actually receive anything if you're planning to ship it to the United Kingdom instead of the United States?
Message 3:
"americaenglish@d1.dellvistaupgrade.com" Mar 27
Thank you for your interest in the Dell Express Upgrade Program for Microsoft Windows Vista.
Unfortunately, the country could not be changed in the order.
Sincerely,
The Dell Express Upgrade Team
My response yet again:
So as I've asked numerous times before, my question is - Will I actually receive the upgrade CD if you're planning to ship it to the United Kingdom instead of the United States?
Please do NOT reply with another form email like below. I already have a collection. Just let me know Yes or No so I can plan accordingly.
No Response from Dell.
To add to this disaster, they have now billed my credit card for something I'm obviously NEVER going to receive, a grand total of THREE TIMES! I keep disputing it with the credit card company (I do wait a bit before disputing in case this time I actually receive something).
Yet another reason to never buy from a large vendor. They never care about the individual.
To add to the comment above, I finally got through to an INCREDIBLY RUDE Service Representative at (866) 409-9542 (8-5 CST, M-F) and got the following info. No, I will never receive the CD EVEN THOUGH the fault in on their side and I have to fax all my statements for the triple billing in order to SEE if they will issue a credit this time. Basically the guy told me to 'Kiss a**' in other words. Wouldn't put me through to a supervisor, wouldn't transfer me to another CSR etc...
Rich, I don't know if you want to do this but I went ahead and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (again the main office in TX). Haven't heard from them but felt a bit better after filing it. I have yet to hear from anyone at Dell since the phone conversation in May (also they have yet to credit my card for any of the charges)... Pooja
Contact the Attorney Generals office also. That may put a fire under their a$$ to expidite your refund.
I guess my experience with the Hell Vista Upgrade has been very similar to everyone else. Ordered my new computer othe middle of November 2006. Signed up for the Vista upgrade the very beginning of January 2007. Here it is May 8, 2007, and I have not heard a word. I emailed them once and received the same form email as Pooja placed in the comment above. Checking the upgrade website my order status has been listed as ''in process'' for several months. To be very honest I bought my new machine with the sole purpose running Vista. It is not that I needed a new machine but thought that it might be best to have a XP machine and a Vista machine. Here it is seven months later and I still have 2 XP machines. I would have done much better to wait, as every machine out there is being and has been being sold with Vista pre-installed. What a waste! There has to be something the thousands of us unhappy Dell owners can do.