Murder of a Dell CSR justified?

First off, I'm just going to say you guys are awesome... I've been lurking around this entire time looking for info and opinions on exchanges and general support issues.

Now then, to the fun part. I bought an M1530 for cheap probably about a year ago, and paid over $300 to have the warranty re-instated for a motherboard repair due to heatsink failure. I border-line regret it. Ever since this thing's been in and out of commission, this marking the 7th repair in about 9-10 months. Finally when my VGA port wouldn't work one day when I was trying to connect to a project at school, I decided I'd had enough.

After 3, maybe 4 days of arguing, getting digitally hung-up on, being told I had no idea what I was talking about, and being all but spat in the face... I got an online chat rep who was actually willing to help. 15 minutes of persistence and she upped my 1530 to a new, (well, refurbished,) Studio XPS 1640. It's gone down-hill from there.

After about 2 weeks of contacting support for updates and being told nothing, I was finally able to get some hardware info from another online rep. Due to the fact that I've heard multiple sour reviews of the HD3670, I tried to see if I could upgrade to the 4670, and even after offering to pay was rejected. This mainly angered me because I was told I'd receive an email with the part-list before ANYTHING happened so that I could give my approval. Of course, I never received an email.. that would require EFFORT.

Anyway, about 30 minutes after I talked to this CSR, I was notified that my "assigned" CSR was currently unavailable, so one of his colleagues emailed my back after 3 days with my order number. Went to check, and the order had been canceled and re-ordered. Ever since then no one can tell me why after almost 4 weeks I have not only received my laptop, but why I'm not allowed to be told WHY I don't have my laptop. The closest I got was being told it was "probably a part delay." Even better in my eyes, no one can tell me why I'm not allowed to request a part-upgrade because the system "has already been processed." (Which I now feel compelled to mention, it apparently hasn't been, because if I call the automated phone system it says the order is "currently being processed."

I don't care if the system is late, but I don't like being lied to about the status of my system, (I've been told post-production, pre-production, in-production, and in processing... all in the same day!)

Here are system specs and my most recent chat with tech support. I can't decide if it's worth it to push for my video upgrade, or if I should just be content with the upgrade as it is. Ideas?

CHAT TRANSCRIPT REMOVED - SEE FORUM RULES

...I started out trying to act like it was a normal order to see if I could get any more details than normal. As you may be able to tell, at the end of the chat I could see I was getting no where, so I just courteously gave up.

Specs Below:

Old System:
1 PK653 Processor, T5450, 1.66, 2MB, Core Merom, M0
1 MM545 Assembly, Adapter, Alternating Current, 90W, Cost Reduced, DeltaAc Adapt, 2P, World Wide
1 NK750 Keyboard, 86, United States English, Single, Pointing Barents
0 01323 INFORMATION..., NO ITEM
1 DF771 CORD..., Power, 125, 1M, C7, 2P Dual, United States
1 RU345 PLACEMAT..., GETTING STARTED..., EXTREME PERFORMANCE SYSTEM..., M1530, DAO/EMEA
1 FW331 Kit, Remote Control, Notebook Mobile 2008, Philips
1 XR215 Assembly, Palmrest, Aluminum W/FPRDR, M1530
1 DP157 Assembly, Camera, 2M, Integrated Manufactured In China, Latin America, M085
1 RU671 Bezel, Liquid Crystal Display Plastic, W/CMRA, M1530
1 CU871 Kit, Software, Dell Media Direct, 3.3, Digital Video Disk Drive, HAWKE
1 HT141 Assembly, DVD+/-RW..., 8, Slot, 1530 Teac
1 DW507 Kit, Software, Works, Plus, 2K8 English
1 FY203 PLACEMAT..., SETUP..., MOBILE BROADBAND..., DW57XX-S, FACTORY INSTALL...
1 XM359 Modem, Wireless, DW5720, Sprint Minicard
1 CR235 Kit, Software, Overpack, VU32, A01Digital Video Disk Drive England
1 XT816 Battery, Primary, 56WHR, 6C Lithium, SANYO
1 MU118 Hard Drive, 250GB, Serial Ata 9.5, 5.4K, SA125
2 Y9530 Dual In-line Memory Module 1GB, 667, 128X64, 8K, 200
4 2864D Screw, M3X3, K SCREW HEAD..., MICROSOFT..., BLACK OXIDE...
1 XR148 ASSEMBLY..., BASE (ASSEMBLY OR GROUP)..., DISCRETE..., 256M, M1530
1 TM121 Liquid Crystal Display 15.4WXGA, Video Elec. Stds. Assoc., True Life, Latitude Cpt
1 XR855 Bracket, Support, Metal, 15.4 Liquid Crystal Display, L, M1530
1 XR856 Bracket, Support, Metal, 15.4 Liquid Crystal Display, R, M1530
1 XR857 Assembly, Cable, Liquid Crystal Display, M1530
1 UP819 KIT..., Software, Trend Micro, 14 English
1 MK933 Card, Wireless, Minicard, 4965 Most Of World 1
1 CM794 Assembly, Cover, Liquid Crystal Display, ALP WHT Magnesium-Alloy, M1530
1 XR216 Assembly, Heatsink, Notebook MEROM, M1530
1 XR217 Assembly, Cover, DASHBOARD Plastic, M1530

New System:
1 224-6025 XPS 1640, Intel Core 2 Duo P8800 (2.66GHz/1066MHz FSB/3M L2 Cache) $880.00
1 310-0173 Airborne Documentation, System Exchanges,Factory Install $.00
1 311-9486 3GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz 2 Dimm forXPS 1640 $.00
1 312-0811 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion P Primary Battery, for XPS 1640 $.00
1 313-8874 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive $.00
1 313-8932 DW 5540 Mobile Broadband Built-in Mini-Card for AT&T $99.00
1 320-7337 ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3670 - 512MB $.00
1 320-8179 Arctic White High Gloss Finish with Leather $40.00
1 320-8189 15.6 FHD WLED Display in Arctic White with leather and 2.0 MP Webcam $75.00
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks $.00
1 330-1917 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP XPS 1640 $.00
1 330-6222 Windows 7 Label $.00
1 341-7911 250GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive $.00
1 410-1882 ADOBE ACROBAT STD 9.0 English-French BND $30.00
1 410-1883 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE $.00
1 410-2090 McAfee Sapphire MUI, 15-Month $.00
1 412-0148 No ISP requested $.00
1 412-0359 Soft Contracts - Qualxserve $.00
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp $.00
1 420-6576 DELL WELCOME,Software Dimension/Inspiron $.00
1 420-6585 Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition $99.00
1 420-7938 Dell Connect 2.1 $.00
1 420-9100 Dell Dock Consumer $.00
1 420-9352 Dell, Software, Wild Tangent Inc Games $.00
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp 2.0 Basic $.00
1 421-0092 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG $.00
1 421-0187 Dell Support Center Software 64 Bit 2.0 $.00
1 421-0188 Facial Recognition $.00
1 421-0323 Windows Live Search,Multiple User Interface $.00
1 421-1010 Dell Webcam Central v1.4 $.00
1 421-1193 Download Store Links $.00
1 421-1361 MOD,SW,RXO,EZCD,10.3,DE,FI $.00
1 421-1365 Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate, 64 bit, English $150.00
1 421-1582 Cyberlink Power DVD 8.3 Playback $.00
1 421-2000 Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB $25.00
1 430-2600 Integrated 10/100 Network Card $.00
1 430-3580 Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11AGNHalf Mini Card w/ My WiFi $45.00

Like I said, it's pretty decent increase in performance... but you'd think that for all this crap I've gone through they'd at least let me PAY for an upgrade, especially since the laptop isn't built yet.


...thanks for your helps guys, you really are life-savers. I know that was a long read, and I apologize. =x