I Love Dell -- REALLY

I ordered a Crimson Red Dell XPS m1530, T7700, 2GB, 200GB 7200 RPM, 8600GT, Vista Home Premium, Wireless-N, 9-cell laptop. What happened was that DHL (which is the WORST SHIPPING COMPANY IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE ), gave my laptop to someone else with a signature I did not recognize. Dell's website didn't offer any tracking for me ("service temporarily unavailable") so it wasn't until 3 weeks later that I realized ... 'wait a minute, where's my laptop?' In any case, I gave them a call and with little to no explanation, they just sent me a replacement within 3-4 days with upgrades in RAM from 2GB to 4GB, Vista Ultimate (which is not noticeably different from Home Premium), built-in bluetooth, bluetooth travel mouse, and a screen upgrade (from what, I'm not even sure)!!

Oh, and I maxed out the warranty with accidental protection so I feel pretty relaxed about my purchase.

I originally ordered an HP 6700t, which had a t9300 processor but ... it broke within a week. I am not joking. It wouldn't turn on just randomly one day, I nearly died of a bleeding ulcer. I was out of a laptop for a couple of weeks which sucks for a college student, I had to use my outdated desktop for a couple weeks as I shopped for a new one. I haven't had any good experiences with HP, my mom's HP laptop's wireless burnt out within 2 months and it's a long and complicated process to get it fixed only to have it break again. Her Dell Inspiron 6000, which is so heavy it could kill a dog if used as a projectile, is still chugging along just fine. I definitely prefer Dell over HP, barring any disasters from this point on, I will always recommend Dell and never recommend HP to anyone. Both Dell and HP have Indian customer service reps but apparently Dell's Indians are more coherent than HP's (my experience, that is). Dell's build time and shipping is also superior to HP's in terms of speed, if only my laptop had gotten to me in the first place, lol. Oh well, I have it now and it works like a charm. I'm a relatively easy to please consumer, I just want something that works.

Well, that's my Dell story. I love you, Dell.

I was thinking of purchasing another laptop-- a M1330 for travel purposes, but I'm not too bothered by the weight of the M1530 for now so I guess I can wait. My question is ... anyone know if the 1330 will ever get a bump in graphics card? The 8400 is offputting.

I'm also thinking of buying my brother an M1530 to reward him for doing well in school, but do you think black, blue, white, and red will be the only colors available for a while? He's a big fan of green. I guess I could always hire someone to paint it.

Last question, I swear. This LoJack stuff ... anyone have it? Does it work? What is it exactly?

Thanks, guys.

 

You could always get the white and paint it green

 

How can DHL just give your laptop to someone and there be no repercussions? Dell should just drop them and go with UPS or FedEx.

 

Oh to the contrary. DHL will pay for that mistake as they (DeLL) have records of where the laptop was delivered to and who signed it. It's on DHL to find the problem and correct it or they have to pay for the mistake.

I have never had a problem with DHL formerly Airbourne Express (knock on wood) but yeah they don't have a good reputation before and after the name change.

 

Good story. Yes Dell is great at trying to get you what you want. It might take a while but I think they have one of the best policies for customer support. Their customer service organization is a much different story.

Lojack is a piece of software used in case your laptop gets stolen. If your laptop gets stolen and someone tries to access the internet with it, Lojack will coordinate with the police to try to retrieve your laptop. It seems useful, but im not sure the lojack software survives a reformat.

 

DHL is just weird, I've had no problems with FedEx or UPS, which I can recc 100%. DHL won't even leave a sticker on the door when you're not home, it's up to you to refresh the tracking page as much as possible ... what is THAT? When I got my replacement laptop, it didn't even come straight to my door, I had to drive far to pick it up because the courier couldn't get through the front gate of my apartment even though the door is wide open (the lock is broken) and just left. I have no idea if he even attempted to get into the complex. Either way, I was just glad I got my laptop and it WORKED. I thought the shoddy service from DHL would lead to a broken item. When I went to pick up the laptop, the desk people were the surly, unsavory types. He made a comment about wanting to 'jack [my] cellphone'. I was like "Um ... yeah, okay."

They really do make the customer happy, I'm not sure what the complaints about their customer support are about. Organization wise ... I think I do agree with you on that because while I did get what I want, there was a lot of shuffling from person to person to achieve it. And thanks for the answer. =)

 

Yeah that sounds bad but then again i'm not sure if other businesses in the area are like that. I live on an Island in SW Florida so I guess people are more laid back over here.

 

I think for DHL, it all depends on the delivery person.
I live in Florida, and I missed my initial delivery which was around 10 in the morning. I came home, saw the slip on my door, called them and they re-delivered on the same day. Pretty happy with their service here in Florida...

 

DHL always left me notices, but one or two of their delivery guys would leave my laptop (I exchanged mine five times) outside my door for the entire day. But there's no great solution because if they didn't do that, I'd end up having to drive to their processing center a few miles away to get it. After all, almost nobody is at home at 11 AM or whatever.

I don't personally have a beef with DHL, but it seems to me silly that a shipping company delivers a package to a random person. I mean, come on, how easy is it to figure out that you're at the wrong address? Or at least go back and reclaim it once you report that you never got it? Because otherwise, couldn't you just CLAIM that you never got it, even if you did?

 

I think shipping company preferences vary from person to person. I freak out when I have to use UPS ... they delivered a computer of mine to the wrong town.

 

Sorry to hear about the shipping mistake, but kudos to Dell for fixing it to your satisfaction.

Good luck with the new purchase.

 

Yes I have had more miss ships with UPS than with DHL.

 

Don't get me started with DHL... never had anything good to say about their services...

 

^ Yeah I agree...I have had bad experiences with DHL. I guess shipping company performance also depends on your region...I know some areas where DHL is god aweful, but others where they are amazing...

 

maybe the bad reputation of DHL is the reason for Dell doing business with them lol

 

As bad as DHL is, the laptop itself is great. Whereas HP uses FedEx, which was great, but the laptop was horrible. Apparently. we can't have it all. Thanks for everyone's responses, I'm ordering a second M1530 and I hope I can choose what company ships it. I really want to opt for FedEx to avoid dealing with this company again.

 

Well it looks like I spoke to soon lol. I was supposed to receive my laptop today and now it looks like it will be Tuesday instead. I live in Sarasota Florida. My laptop was shipped from the Orlando hub to Bradenton, Florida on Saturday. That meant it was local and I would definately get today on Monday. WRONNNNNG !

They sent it back to Orlando, WTF. So I called them this morning after reading the OP's comments and not wanting it delivered to someone else and they said I should get it Tuesday.

 

Good thing I called this morning. It got sent back to Bradenton Florida and is out for delivery. I hope to get it today.

 

Glad you hopefully resolved that issue, Rodknee. I know how excited I was to get my laptop as soon as possible.

I've ordered a second M1530, Midnight Blue, T9300, 4GB, 200GB 7200 RPM, 8600GT, Wireless-N, Bluetooth, 4 year full coverage, etc etc. and I requested to have it shipped FedEx instead of DHL. The lady said she made a note of it, as well as the LG screen so hopefully everything went through 100%. Very nice, very easy process. I'm giving the red one to my brother, and keeping the penryn M1530 for myself. Still love Dell. Haha.

 

Sorry buddy...the likelihood that Dell will ship it by Fedex is quite slim. If you want them to ship it by a particular carrier, your best bet would be to create an account with that carrier, and have Dell bill your account. The downside is you will have to pay for t he shipping.

 

DHL just delivered my Vostro 1700 ahead of schedule I might add.

 

I painted mine. See my sig.
I also love my XPS... you can tell by my review in my sig.

Mine was shipped via FedEX and I didn't pay extra.

 

Was it really?! Yayy. Okay, I hope they'll ship mine with FedEx, DHL has to dazzle me to win back my love. Did you get your laptop okay? On time?

 

DHL...how they are still in business is anyones guess lol. I had an electric guitar delivered by them, first time they 'came' they didn't bother knocking and just presumed I wasn't in and walked off without leaving a 'sorry we missed you' note. I only found out they came by looking on their tracking site. So I arranged redelivery on a day and time when I was both in and waiting right by the door, they didn't come, though they did come the next day when I wasn't in and did deliver it this time - to 'someone'. Their tracking site said delivered - but to who? - they left that part out, and of course they didn't leave a note to say where they left it either, so I had to walk down the street asking my neighbours if anything had been delivered... they'd delivered it 10 houses down my road...I mean wtf lol...you ask them if they can leave it in a safe place behind your house, they say no it's not safe and yet they will happily to delivery it to some stranger and not tell the person it was actually for where they've delivered it to.

I'm in the process of buying a 1530 today but dang, lets hope it isnt DHL who delivers it.

 

Exact same issue, almost verbatim. The Dell salesperson asked me if I had a preference for the shipping company-- I said FedEx and she said 'no problem'. I asked if there was extra charge and she said 'Nope!' Easy stuff, so try asking them.

 

But order over the web and you'll get DHL, no option. Unless you call and request shipping company change.

 

Speaking of the XPs 1530.....is it true the screen is super glossy and cannot be viewed clearly when the lights are turned on?

 

Well, the guys who are saying Dell ships ONLY with DHL are wrong. I got mine via Reno, NV with FedEX and I got it 10 days early and in great shape... no flaws. See my Review on what it looked like a few minutes after I got it:

http://corvettec3.com/dellXPSm1530review.htm

 

Not true, I have the LG screen and it looks fantastic anywhere. I'm seriously so satisfied with the M1530's screen, I've been fortunate to never get the Samsung, never have to talk to tech support, never had to arrange an exchange.

This is true. I asked my mom why and she says that of the three big shipping companies (FedEx, UPS, and DHL), DHL is the cheapest. Go figure.

Dell uses all three of the major shipping companies (DHL, FedEx, and UPS), but to expedite shipments, the lady says it'll go with whoever happens to stop by for pick-ups at the time your laptop is ready for shipping. Since DHL is cheaper, it's no surprise the majority of them fly with DHL.

 

Hmmm..that explains it then...maybe the bad quality on samsung screens affect its glossiness too..