AW/DELL Ordering Advice - How to save $$$

how was my quote form alienware?

 

Buyers remorse is setting in pretty hard right now lol. I tried to get some discounts but I couldn't get any even after talking to 3 different reps telling me 'I can't reduce the price any.' So I couldn't get anything more than a 1-year accidental warranty cause nobody would work with me....I was shooting for at least 2 year, the only discounts I got was the ones the website gave me which was 15% off gpu upgrade, and a 2 or 3 % off for 'members get the best prices' nonsense.

Basically the only things I changed was to get X-fire 7970m, to get the non-overclocked 3920XM, and the Killer wireless card. Upgraded warranty to accidental which was just $40. It cost me before taxes $3,425.59 and after taxes $3,748.59.

This is in the US as well, so I can't help but feel I got ripped off considering some of the deals people are getting on here.

 

Those CPU's go for about a thousand dollars more then the base one, so don't worry about it. It's a nice config.

 

I was able to get the following quote for an M14x:

3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3610QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.3GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)

6GB DDR3 at 1600MHz

14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight

2 GB DDR5 NVIDIA GeForceGT 650M using NVIDIA Optimus technology

Killer Wireless-N 1202 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO for Gaming and Video and Bluetooth 4.0

Total price: $1143.42 + tax = $1249.47

Jump on it or can I get it even lower?

 

pretty good if u want to do casual gaming, just dont expect to be playing games that are coming out soon,
go for m17x, tell me how u do from there.
7970m is totally worth upgrading and will last u, an extra year if not even more than a year vs your m14x.

 

There's no way I'm moving past a 15" notebook. I need this mainly for class, gaming is just a nice bonus.

 

Can anyone pm me the email of a good alienware rep. I've been trying go get a good discount on my m17x priced at 2,200 but I can only seem to get 2%, even through EPP. Thanks

 

I also need alienware sales rep that can give a decent discount. Thanks in advance!

 

I have been reading this thread a few days and it seems very strange that some Dell sales agents are willing to discount and deal and others won't at all. Why is this? I understand it from others that they get commission so it seems that if they are known for giving good deals that their name would spread and the reps that do this would have volume business to make up for the loss of profit. Hmmm...

Anyway, I am looking to order an Alienware as well and I would appreciate anyone who would give me (PM?) the name of a rep that gave them good discounts and also it would be nice to know from you roughly what the discount percentage was.

Thanks!

 

Long story short: Dell rewards their reps for referral sales, and to encourage these kinds of sales they allow the reps to offer deeper discounts for DIRECT REFERRAL SALES as in you call directly to that rep's telephone number... not calling the main number and being assigned a random rep.

You need to call a Dell rep directly to get significant discounts. This is how it works. Trying to work with a rep you randomly get on the phone will not get you anywhere.

 

So, call, get a quote and then call the rep back directly?

 

I was able to get $100 off, stacked on top of the 2% off as well as 5% back from dell advantage. Probably not that great, but better than the website pricing

 

Not necessarily. I didn't have a referral for a good rep so called the general EPP Line, as suggested at the beginning of this thread, (also, my company has an EPP w/ Dell), and even though I had to hang up and call again few times, I ended up with ~16% off, and a free cooling pad. It wasn't 18%, but was still pretty good, and if I had kept it up I think I could have gotten the deal I wanted. I lost patience though.

If you don't have a referral because no one volunteers one, you have to start somewhere - heck, the people who got hold of a good rep that they could refer to others in the first place had to start somewhere. Referrals are good, but even without one you can get a good deal. All it takes is persistence and time, assuming you have the time and the patience.

 

I talked with a rep who offered me a $50 discount (sigh). I then told him the price that Mythlogic offered me for a Clevo and said match it or I'm walking. I never heard from him again.

 

I tried to get them to price match a competitor system (Sager/Clevo) on several occasions. They won't, they don't do that at all.

That said, you might be able to get them to price match an AW of same exact spec from a reseller, maybe. I've read that people have had success that way, and also that people have had success getting a price match on a Quote from Dell/AW for a different customer for the same system. But I've only read that in threads, so it's anecdotal.

Unless you can get your hands on an quote for a better price on the same exact AW system you want from a reseller (maybe), or someone else's quote from Dell/AW, or someone else's good Rep, you have to haggle your own price, and it's not easy but it is possible.

 

I scored a pretty solid deal through haggling. Called in and had a system spec'd at $1949 (without any additional warranty) after a $50 Alienware promo discount.

Got the price down to $1599.74 (with a 1 year Accidental Warranty) before tax and $1692.78 after.

Let me know what you guys think. Here are the specs:

1
225-2999
Alienware M14X R2
$1549.74
1
319-0072
3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3610QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.3GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
1
319-0079
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
1
331-7324
English Keyboard, M14X R2
1
320-3629
14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight
1
320-3618
2 GB DDR5 NVIDIA GeForceGT 650M using NVIDIA Optimus technology
1
342-4497
64G mSATA + 500G 7200 rpm
1
330-6106
Personalized Nameplate Trigger
1
331-2070
Custom Nameplate
1
313-8791
AlienFX Color, Mars Red
1
421-7652
Alienware Command Center Software, M14X
1
421-5789
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media
1
318-2321
Nebula Red with Soft Touch Finish
1
410-0548
Adobe Acrobat Reader
1
319-0081
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
1
421-5106
Power DVD 9.6, 3D
1
421-4818
Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
1
430-4726
Killer Wireless-N 1202 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO for Gaming and Video and Bluetooth 4.0
1
331-7218
Alienware M14X 150W A/C Adapter
1
331-7219
Placement, M14X R2
1
331-6865
Alienware Documentation
1
342-4500
Shipping Material, M14X R2
1
461-8389
NO VIRUS PROTECTION REQUESTED
1
331-7223
Resource DVD, M14X R2
1
331-8045
Windows 7 OS Label, Alienware Notebooks
1
420-9691
DataSafe Local BackUp
1
420-9956
PC Restore
1
421-0092
DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
1
421-3874
Camera Software 2.X, Factory Install
1
421-4289
Dell Support Center Software 3.0
1
421-7648
Quickset, M14X R2
1
312-1341
63WHr 8-Cell Primary Battery
1
995-5423
Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year
1
995-5443
In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year
1
951-6400
Accidental Damage Service, 1 Year
$49.00
1
950-9797
No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
1
421-1719
Soft Contracts Consumer Accidental Damage Agreement for Alienware
1
421-1723
Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware
1
994-3730
Warranty Support, Initial Year
1
469-0500
No Wireless HD Selected
1
421-1586
Alienhead Chrome Red
1
421-1596
Alienhead Chrome Red
1
421-1360
Steam and Portal Factory Installed
1
330-5090
Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare
1
469-2456
$200 Dell Promo e-Gift Card - Arrives in 10-20 days via email, carries a 90 Day Exp. Terms at Dell.com/giftcard
1
A5750525
Your Dell Advantage benefits have been applied

 

It looks like you got a pretty good deal, but you could of got it even lower if you upgraded the RAM yourself because they overprice it by alot. Can you please pm me the email and phone num of the the Dell sales rep, I'm looking to get an m17x. Thanks.

 

It actually wasn't all that bad. The total cost of the RAM upgrade from 8GB to 16 was only $100.

I'll PM you the info for my rep here in a minute.

I'm trying to PM you but I'm getting a permissions error.

I'm a noob to this forum so do you need Administrator access to PM?

 

I'm a noon to but I can send private messages, just click on my name and send private message, it should work.If not just email it to me. [email protected] . Thanks a million

 

You did got a good rep there I would also like his info I plan on buying in a few months when I get the money

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

Haha, absolutely no option to send you a private message after clicking on your name. I guess they don't like me here.

Email incoming!

 

You need five posts before you can send a PM.

As for haggling, this is what I did: My company offers a discount on Dell / Alienware computers (a measly 2%). BUT, based on info from this thread I knew to call them to negotiate. Got a U.S. based rep on the line, told him what I wanted and what I wanted to pay. He countered, I rejected, he countered again, and I rejected again. He said that was the best he could do and I said OK and ended the call. About 10 minutes later he calls me back with the price I wanted. Done. All told, I got 16% off the system price. It was still more expensive than what you can get at XoticPC et al., but that is mostly because I have to pay sales tax (stupid Dell being located in Texas).

In short: Have a firm (and realistic) price in mind, stand firm (but be nice), and be willing to walk away if they can't get your price (but thank them for trying).

As with all things, your results may vary.

 

This is essentially what I did as well. I ended up getting 18% off the total cost of the machine. He wanted to try and make me reduce some of the specs I had outlined and I told him I didn't want to do that.

Finally, when he said that was the best he could do, I told him I might just wait since they had had a 15% off deal for Alienware PCs at the beginning of the month. After that, he put me on hold and met me at my price (plus taxes, of course).

 

This was my tactic as well. And the 2 keys, I think, are having a realistic price in mind and being polite about it. That said, they only come down when you walk away. I did so twice. Once it took almost a day before they called back, but they did.

Nice machine, Airstryke, and agreed it was a good price too. Congrats! The hard part now is waiting for it to arrive.

 

So, after being referred here by a post in the general recommendation forum, I've ended up reading a good deal of this thread for advice. I've tried at least 5 different times (3x by phone, twice by chat) to see if I could get maybe a paltry $75-100 off a M14X, everything base except for upgraded screen.

None of these guys will budge. I tried mentioning a competitor's system (and only recently found out this is not a viable strategy anymore). I tried telling them I qualified for a number of EPP discounts (student, AAA, company). And the best I've gotten is $26 off. And that's just with the aforementioned discounts.

I've seen other people talk around here about certain sales reps being helpful, but will it work for a Dell Business Credit account? I can't get Preferred and already have a $5000 line on my DBC, but so far I've only gotten one business rep to give me a quote, and that totally ignored all prospective discounts.

This machine as he priced is $1274, but I have a strict budget. Is there anything else I should be trying? Any specific rep that will work for DBC? Can I do this with a refurbished unit instead? (I'm slowly starting to change my mind about whether or not to go with a new M14X...)

Any advice I get is, of course, appreciated.

 

I will keep all this in mind when I go to buy ^.^

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

Thanks!

This wait is going to be brutal. It's showing the ETA as 6/18. Do they usually take that long to ship out?

Also, somehow I got them to do NBD shipping, too!

 

I tried calling the rep that was mentioned here, and the best they could do was the dell preferred member account discount. Basically 5%

 

i got a base m18x with dual 7970m's

for
$2300 with tax...
includes the 5% gift card, 200$ gift card, 2nd day shipping and alienware m18x backpack, how i do?

 

Can someone post the Reps info that will work with us or PM it please? I'm looking to get the base M17x with the 7970 upgraded and can't seem to get a rep that will work with me.

Thanks

 

Just ordered my M17X with the following specs:
3720QM
6GB Ram
Full HD 60 Hz screen
Radeon 7970M
500GB HDD
Intel Advanced-N
Stock price: $2049.00
My Price: $1808.02
savings: $240.98
Discount: 12%

I called the employee discount number listed on the front page. Got a very helpful young lady who asked my target price (1800-1900). We built the computer and she gave me an initial offer of 1858.0. I said 1800 and I'd buy, she came back with 1808 (small victory for them?) Not much bartering, they (mostly) met my target price.
Only issue was a miscommunication when I tried to order the killer wireless, but other than that, I'm happy and very excited

 

+ rep for a very well thought out post. The only odd thing I've noticed (and mentioned in another thread) is that with the EPP site in Canada an identical computer costs $30-50 more for an identical spec computer than I could buy on the regular Dell site.

 

WOO HOO! I have finally read all 324 pages of this forum lol (took me about a month =D) There are some really great advise here and I would like to give a shout out to DR650SE for creating this thread and for all the money he helped ppl save. +rep

I got some questions tho. Times have changed and it seem like the 20% discount margin is sadly gone... So my questions are...

1. What is the % savings I should aim for? Seems like 15% - 10% is what everyone else is getting now a days with the new m17x r4.
2. Also has anyone attempted to get the free xbox 360 with there discount? I know that microsoft is doing the free xbox 360 giveaway with a purchase of a laptop right now. Is alienware part of that list?

Hopefully someone can help me out here. Please and Thank You!

 

When I looked into the 360, the only Alienware that qualified was the M14X. Since I had me eyes set on the 17, I didnt think much more about it.
Seeing as how the free Xbox is one of the cheaper versions and the new consoles are due out within the next few years, I would try to get benefits in other merchandise or outright discounts. Just my two cents

 

Wow, you didn't mention you have the $200 gift card with the 5% gift card.
That's really good deal.
Will you please let me know how to contact your rep please?
Please shoot me with a PM.
Thanks

Just find out I can't send the PM either.
Please shoot me the rep information with email please.
My email is
Thanks

1. It depends how much does your machine cost without discount. If you're buying to $2000+ machine, your goal should be 15% off.

2.I think free xbox is for student only.

 

First post!
I am on the fence between AW and a Clevo machine. I really want an SLI setup due to me doing away with my noisy huge gaming desktop. Currently, AW is the way to go for me if I want a 680m SLI setup. Plus Dell has reps here that can help if you get into a pinch, which is awesome.

If I spec out an M18x for around $3800-$4000 with a 2 or 3 year warranty, what kind of discount should I be looking for? I was hoping for a decent 15% or better.

 

Awww... that was a big reason why I was planning to buy a m17x. m17x+hdmi in+xbox= o well wasnt planning on gaming on it too much anyways lol gonna do most of that on the alienware guess i'll be waiting for the xbox 720 lol

sweet! i got a maxed out m17x in mind for 2997, hopefully i can get it down to around 2500 if not then i gotta start cutting corners

Thanks you for the replies!

 

Hey guys. Long time lurker here. I'm starting a new job soon and will be spending most of my time in hotels. Which means I have to leave my desktop at home. : ( So my old laptop just isn't going to cut the mustard.

Thankfully laptops are now good enough to keep up with modern games, so I'm dropping a good chunk of change on one. But. I've been so spoiled with 3 screens that I want to go big with the laptop, but the price for an M18x that will last a few years is ridiculous.

Could someone please PM me the name and number of a Representative so I can get in on this referral deal?

Thanks for the help.

 

Seems they're offering $145 off a M17x with the following upgrades:

1080p screen
7970M GPU
Bigfoot Wifi
750GB HDD
8GB RAM

That's about 7.1% off list.

 

Are you saying that the discount is random for various configurations? Is there any way of seeing which discounts are available for different configs?

 

No, the discount is for certain configurations. Just go to the promotions page on Alienware.com to see the configurations. You can, of course, upgrade components further but you won't get any more discounts for doing so nor can you downgrade parts and still get the discount.

 

Quantity Item Description Unit Price Extended Price 225-2945 1 Alienware M17X R4 with Soft Touch - Direct $2,702.00$2,702.00 317-9745 1 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3720QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.6GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0) 317-9740 1 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz 331-6912 1 English Keyboard, 101 Key, M17X R4 320-3275 1 17.3-inch WideFHD1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED 317-9747 1 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 7970M 342-4427 1 32GB mSATA caching SSD 342-4414 1 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 331-1350 1 Custom Nameplate 330-6106 1 Personalized Nameplate Trigger 331-6863 1 AlienFX Color, Nova Yellow 421-7439 1 Alienware Command Center Software, M17X 421-5789 1 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media 318-2315 1 Nebula Red with Soft Touch Finish 410-0548 1 Adobe Acrobat Reader 318-2005 1 Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW) 318-0424 1 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio 430-4712 1 Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming and Video and Bluetooth 4.0 430-4706 1 Internal Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 331-7193 1 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter 331-6865 1 Alienware Documentation 331-6868 1 Placement, M17X R4 331-6866 1 Shipping Material, M17X R4 - Red 461-8389 1 NO VIRUS PROTECTION REQUESTED 331-6909 1 Resource DVD, M17X R4 331-8045 1 Windows 7 OS Label, Alienware Notebooks 420-9691 1 DataSafe Local BackUp 420-9956 1 PC Restore 421-0092 1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG 421-3874 1 Camera Software 2.X, Factory Install 421-4289 1 Dell Support Center Software 3.0 421-7440 1 Quickset, M17X R4 312-1334 1 90WHr 9-Cell Primary Battery 995-6093 1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Extended Year(s) 995-6083 1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year

995-6153 1 In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, 3 Year Extended 995-6103 1 In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year 950-7447 1 4 Year Limited Warranty 928-2563 1 Accidental Damage Service, 4 Years 421-1719 1 Soft Contracts Consumer Accidental Damage Agreement for Alienware 421-1724 1 Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware 990-4683 1 Warranty Support, 3 Year Extended 994-3730 1 Warranty Support, Initial Year 421-1586 1 Alienhead Chrome Red 421-1596 1 Alienhead Chrome Red 421-1360 1 Steam and Portal Factory Installed 421-0757 1 Skype VOIP Application 330-5090 1 Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare

469-2456 1 $200 Dell Promo e-Gift Card - Arrives in 10-20 days via email, carries a 90 Day Exp. Terms at Dell.com/giftcard * -DISCOUNT/COUPON APPL A5750525 1 Your Dell Advantage benefits have been applied $1.00 $1.00

Subtotal: $2,703.00 Shipping & Handling: $15.00 Tax: $130.65 Environmental Disposal Fee: $0.00 Total Price w/Discounts: $2,848.65 Quote Number: 623622414 Item Number Quantity Item Description Unit Price Extended Price 225-2944 1 Alienware M18X R2 - Direct $3,533.86$3,533.86 317-9729 1 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3820QM (8MB Cache, up to 3.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0) 317-9704 1 6GB DDR3 at 1600MHz 331-6910 1 English Keyboard, 101 Key, M18X R2 320-3263 1 18.4 inch (467.36 mm) WLED WideFHD (1080p) display (1920 X 1080) 320-3624 1 CrossfireX 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 7970M 342-4396 1 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 330-6106 1 Personalized Nameplate Trigger 331-2426 1 Custom Nameplate 313-8797 1 AlienFX Color, Terra Green 421-7437 1 AW Command Center M18XR2 421-5789 1 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media 318-2319 1 Nebula Red Anodized Aluminum 410-0548 1 Adobe Acrobat Reader 318-2002 1 Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW) 318-0770 1 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio 430-4709 1 Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming and Video and Bluetooth 4.0 430-4704 1 Internal Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 331-6854 1 Alienware M18x 330W A/C Adapter 331-6865 1 Alienware Documentation 331-6858 1 Placement, M18X R2 331-6915 1 Shipping Material, M18X R2 461-8389 1 NO VIRUS PROTECTION REQUESTED 331-6908 1 Resource DVD, M18X R2 331-8045 1 Windows 7 OS Label, Alienware Notebooks 420-9691 1 DataSafe Local BackUp 420-9956 1 PC Restore 421-0092 1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG 421-3874 1 Camera Software 2.X, Factory Install 421-4289 1 Dell Support Center Software 3.0 421-7438 1 Quickset, M18X R2 312-1333 1 96WHr 12-Cell Primary Battery 995-6093 1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Extended Year(s) 995-6083 1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year

995-6153 1 In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, 3 Year Extended 995-6103 1 In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year 950-7447 1 4 Year Limited Warranty 928-2563 1 Accidental Damage Service, 4 Years 421-1719 1 Soft Contracts Consumer Accidental Damage Agreement for Alienware 421-1724 1 Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware 990-4683 1 Warranty Support, 3 Year Extended 994-3730 1 Warranty Support, Initial Year 421-1586 1 Alienhead Chrome Red 421-1596 1 Alienhead Chrome Red 421-1360 1 Steam and Portal Factory Installed 421-0757 1 Skype VOIP Application 330-5090 1 Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare

469-2456 1 $200 Dell Promo e-Gift Card - Arrives in 10-20 days via email, carries a 90 Day Exp. Terms at Dell.com/giftcard * -DISCOUNT/COUPON APPL 225-3127 1 Dell V725w Wireless All In One Inkjet Printer $84.99 $84.99 994-3733 1 Advanced Exchange Limited Warranty Initial Year 939-2127 1 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty Initial Year 990-7659 1 No Warranty beyond 1 year 469-1989 1 Thanks for Choosing Dell! A5750525 1 Your Dell Advantage benefits have been applied $1.00 $1.00

Subtotal: $3,619.85 Shipping & Handling: $0.00 Tax: $187.00 Environmental Disposal Fee: $0.00 Total Price w/Discounts: $3,806.85

So 6400 something out the door with 2 200 gift cards and 5% gift card I think she can do better right.
What do you guys think?

 

Fist off IMO you shouldn't of copyed and pasted everything but hey just my opinion

But you should get a good discount from a good rep but why is it in the 2700 range when I configed it the hardware that way its like 2200 or so

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

sorry was sent from phone reason for it being higher is 4 year warrany on both which is allot but im not planning on buying another laptop for that long

 

Ahh I see yea that why I only plan on doing 1 year accidental on mine as its only a 75$ upgrade I think and yea warranty's are expenssse that's for sure

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

Because I don't want to have a problem with it down the road and need to pay out the wazuu for something when out of warranty plus if something breaks I can get a replacement.
Also easier to sell down the future if I choose to sell it when buyer knows that he has warranty when buying from Ebay

 

Here's my contribution:

M17x R4 with i7-3610QM, 8Gb 1600Mhz RAM, 750Gb HDD, 2Gb 7970m, FHD 60Hz display, and Three-Year Advanced Warranty.

Original price without tax: $2532.00
Discounted price w/o tax: $2177 + $200 giftcard + $110 giftcard
Percentage off with giftcards: 26.3%
Price including cash back from credit card promotion w/o tax: $1777 + $200 giftcard + $110 giftcard
Final percentage off with giftcards: 41%

I think I did pretty well

 

I would say D: wish I could get the much off with my 2299 priced system

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

Wow who did you talk to can you pm me your rep?

 

Boy you guys weren't kidding about getting NBD shipping pretty easily. I just got upgraded without asking for it.

Long version: When I placed my order initially I got 2-day shipping and also locked myself out of my online bank account (forgot my password during the phone call). So today I called and got back into my bank account, and saw that the funds haven't been taken out yet. I called Dell to make sure the order went through and everything is okay. Figured the bank might have withheld the funds or something.

I talked to the random rep I got, confirmed everything was a go, and he just straight upgraded me to NBD without any prompt. If my machine ships on time, this means I'll get it on the 3rd instead of the 5th.

Moral of the story? Call in to check on your order. Couldn't hurt.