Requesting Vista DVD - the email chain begins

Got my Vostro 1400 yesterday and of course I did not receive the Vista DVD. So I emailed Dell's customer support and here's the first message I get back today:

Dear ,

Thank you for contacting Dell Technical Support.

I understand your request for the Windows VISTA.

I will request you to please check the system box for the CDs as the CDs are sent with every system. Also if in case you have not received the CDs I would like to request you to please refer to the following link to download the relevant CDs.

http://support.dell.com/support/systemsinfo/documentation.aspx?c=us


The case number for this interaction is xxxxxxxxxxxx. The case has been documented and the contents of this case are available to all Dell support representatives. If you need additional assistance with this issue, you may utilize our phone or chat support channels, please provide them with this case number. You can contact our 24x7 phone support queue at 1-800-456-3355.

For additional assistance via e-mail, simply reply to this e-mail.

For contacting us via alternate channels, please visit the following website:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/contact_us_options


Thank you for choosing Dell.

Respectfully,

Well....I resonded back that of course I double checked the box and no CD/DVD's for Vista. Also, that link just takes you to the manuals. Why would they even think you can download the OS from the net???

BTW...I used the link provide in this thread.

We'll see how long this goes on....

 

mate im in the uk but i got my dell xps m1710 like a few weeks back. it came with preinstalled vista (what i wanted) but it also came with xp home backup instead of vista. i phoned up and they were happy to send me a new one. Just recieved it today (only asked about a week ago because i didnt rele need it...). I know for sure that they are awful over email but on the phone they give a damn...

 

If you don't want an email runaround, just get over your agoraphobia or anthrophobia or whatever and actually talk to a person on the phone till it gets done.

 

With XPS, you get the Vista DVD and with others you dont. The 'System Restore' feature is why you dont in regular systems and they will direct you to hit the F11 (or F8) button, as it is now to restore to factory settings.

Other than that, call customer support and explain its not reinstalling properly...they should send you one.

 

I don't think this is true. Plenty of people have said here that their Inspirons and Latitudes came with the OS install disc, and some of the reviews on this site mention it too.

 

an inspiron E1505 I got last year had an OS disk...it was one of the options when building the notebook...for the 1330 I ordered..I specifically asked about the vista disk..she said she would send one..and the order summary email says:

420-6436 Vista, PC-Restore, Dim/Insp

It didn't seem like it normally came with it..or the rep i talked to could have been confused..I gues I'll find out when i get the laptop. I would think that because you are technically buying vista from dell..if you call and demand the disk..they kind of have to send it to you...but I also work at best buy and a lot of the laptops that are sold in retail stores also come with the restore partition that you can boot into and restore the OS (but thats kind of a waste of precious hard drive space) and also, a restore disk can be created in the OS itself...most people never even consider reinstalling windows but those that do would obviously prefer an actual dvd.

 

I got one with my Latitude D630 and my Inspiron 1705, but NOT with my Vostro 1500. I did the email thing today, too, rather than sit on the phone for an hour. Let's hope.

"If you don't want an email runaround, just get over your agoraphobia or anthrophobia or whatever and actually talk to a person on the phone till it gets done."

Uh, that's ok for someone who flips burgers part time and spends the rest of their time in Mom's basement, but most people don't have hours on end to spend on trying to get a lousy disk through phone "support."

 

I actually sent the India DELL sales rep an email asking whether they would give the Vista DVD along with the 1520 and today morning a sales rep called me and said yes indeed they would give the Vista DVD (not an OEM but a Vista Restore DVD which is more than sufficient to do a fresh install too)....

 

Just confirming that yes the Inspirons do come with the OS disc.

 

i spoke with a rep today he said the vostra's do not come with the vista disk..he said its part of the restore process.. not sure if he is right or not but what he told me

 

Hahaha...that is so true!!! ericyp needs to go out and get a real job...he has too much time on his hand...:laugh: Anyway, I did get an EMAIL response from Dell yesterday. They have already shipped out my Vista DVD but I think they made a mistake. It appears they sent out a copy of Vista Home Premium...at least that's what the info says.

 

I'm willing to bet most of you are teenagers, geeks with a social phobia who just are afraid of human interaction except through the internet. It takes 20 minutes to do the phone call. It could take a week to do it all by email. Even if it took an hour, which is very unlikely unless you're put on hold for 40 minutes, it'll still be faster than emailing and waiting for a response. Even Bill Gates has an hour's worth of free time out of the day.

 

Yes, I'm a teenaged trial lawyer with social phobia. I think someone just got into his 20's. hehehe

 

I requested the VISTA DVD.... and they sent me just a new Vista product key label... WITHOUT the CD. I guess I have an extra product key I can use for another system..

I'm guessing the CSR messed up the request... because the CD's doesn't normally come w/ A new product key?

 

I would think that OEM would match the one on the bottom of the lappy, and a replacement would be sans key.

 

I don't necessarily agree with that. I tried both methods of emailing and calling and emailing was actually quicker for me. I think it is just a hit and miss deal i.e. depends on what kind of CSR you get. Through email, my CSR responded within the same day, sent out the Vista OS that day and it arrived within 2 days. On the phone, the CSR refused to give me the Vista OS DVD after talking for them for over 1 hour...just some food for thought and goodluck to everyone trying to get a Vista OS DVD.

 

What I REALLY want is a copy of Vista Ultimate for the 1420 because that would make it 10x easier for when installing my MSDN/TechNet copy. I don't need a license or anything, just the installation disk and I can take care of everything else on my own...but they won't give me anything! Does anyone have any special contacts or anything?

 

All i can say is good luck matey,

I called up dell today, spoke to 3 seperate reps and they all couldnt understand that i wanted the Vista Dvd.

I tried telling them i was going to be installing unix and then reverting back to vista, they said yep that could be done. I was like "ermm i know it can be done, but if you havent given me the media i cant do it. What would you like me to do? send the laptop back to have the factory image put back on??"

Was getting a bit annoyed after that. They said on my invoice my new laptop will ship with vista. But its not really clear,

i have the following listed.

Vostro 1700 resource dvd (diagnostic & drivers)
Software Drivers Vostro 1700 no mention if this is on a cd or installed
English - Vista HP, again no mention of dvd
MS Works 8.0 with recovery cd.


So im hoping i may get a restore dvd for windows, but not gonna hold my breath. Im lucky i do have a vista home premium dvd but this is retail license, not sure if it will install with an oem key, havent tried one yet.

 

there is a link in this forum somewhere, that has an online form on dells website. You just enter your service tag, and you get vista shipped to you.

ill see if i or someone else can find it.

 

Here's the thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=148593

 

I got it. It's not a "Vista" disk per se, but a system restore disk (dell proprietary). No key code whatsoever. Oh, and I did call ... took half an hour, and DIDN'T help. Man, I gotta get rid of my fear of people, eh, Eric?

 

So i got the VISTA DVD.... it says premium on it. Vostro 1400 came w/ basic installed.

Will the oem cd ask me to activate ?

 

Aren't all Vista install disks the same? Thus if you plug in your CD key, it should only be a key for Vista basic, and won't let you install the Premium/Business/Ultimate features.

I haven't worked much with Vista so I don't know yet, but I thought that this was how it worked.

 

I installed it.... NO CD KEY needed... and it was VISTA PREMIUM.

 

They are all the same

 

My Dell OS restore DVD is different from the regular Vista DVD. It's clearly labeled Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit.

The anytime upgrade DVD has all versions but this seems to have only what was ordered.

 

How did you ordered it? through the email or called someone?
Do you have premium running now? with aero and all?

Weren't they were not offering the premium on Vostro1400 and you had to beg them for it. Now they just give you for free what gives : )

 

I don't think they have restore disks for Vista Basic, which is why they are sending out Home Premium restore disks.

 

Yes they do, I have one <_<

 

I believe it was the ONLINE form I submitted...aero and flip 3d! =)

here's the email

"US_REL_Media
to me

show details
Aug 3 (5 days ago)

*************************************************************

Please do not modify the subject line when responding. The subject line is used to properly route your e-mail to the correct agent.

*************************************************************



Dear XXXXX



Thank you for contacting Dell Technical Support.





XXXX, I have submitted the request to have the following CDs sent to you, free of cost.

Please be assured that your account will not be charged.



1. Operating System

2. Resource CD

3. Application CD

 

I asked for the OS CD also and they placed an order for me the description is

Kit,Software,Overpack,VHP32 Digital Video Disk Drive English

Is this waht you had? It does not say restore DVD or CD anywhere so I am confused although my guess is VHP32 = Vista Home Premium 32 in the description.

I guess we get the premium for free without the hassle of begging Dell to offer it on 1400.

Any issues running Premium on 1400?

 

What is the difference between OS CD and Resource CD?

I got these 3 CD with my Vostro1400
1. Media Direct CD
2. Drivers CD
3. MS 8.5 CD.

No OS CD or resource CD?/

 

That's exactly what I got...sweet!!

 

You'll be getting Vista Home Premium. I installed mine and it asked for no key or activation.

 

Did you do a complete re-install or just poped in the DVD and it upgraded from basic to premium.

 

My theory: they do not have any vista basic cds and therefore did not ship them with the rest of the cds. Why they didnt let us pay $29 for premium from the beginning? Who knows...

 

Maybe people will now start calling for $29 refund who paid for it?
But again I guess the digged their own hole in a way, they pushed and pushed to get the premium even though Dell made it clear No premium. Some who were able to shamooze the reps might not be too happy now

 

I requested a copy of the OS and this is what is in my order status:

Kit,Software,Overpack, VHB32 A01,Digital Video Disk Drive England

Looks like they "fixed" shipping out Premium to Basic users. Not sure what "England" is though...

 

What you have there is actually a Vista Home Basic 32-bit OS DVD, it actually means the version is in English.

 

HX425 KIT, SOFTWARE, OVERPACK, VHP32, A01, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE, ENGLAND/ENGLISH 1
XM891 KIT, COMPACT DISKETTE, ROXIO, CRTR, DE, 9.0, RELATIONSHIP LINE OF BUSINESS

cool, guess i got Home Premoum

 

is it that only the Vostros AREN'T shipped with OS cd/dvd?
I see a lot of Inspiron folks getting their OS cd/dvd

 

VHP32
P=Premium

VHB32
B=Basic

 

What is XM891? Are you getting the DVD burning SW? I thought it does not come with DELL unless you pay for it?

 

Eh, I don't know. I don't even have a DVD burner in mine

 

It's actually Roxio Creator for Vista, Dell Edition, from what it says. it's preinstalled in the system if you specified this when you placed your order. These are free but you can only ask for the disk if it came preinstalled in your system. If you paid additional for it (by checking your receipt), you should probably have the Deluxe version.

 

Those who has Vista basic and was shipped Vista Premium OS DVD, did you do a clean install or just upgraded from Basic to Premium.

I was shipped the OS today but for some reason it shows 2 packages shipped via DHL, anyone got 2 packages too.
Btw, they charged me $2.11 for it, I guess I will still have to waste my time with Dell CSR some more.

 

I just did an upgrade from Basic to premium. I did not feel like reinstalling everything. In addition, they also gave me the Sound Blaster® Audigy™HD Software Edition cd with a activation key as well. Who knows why

 

lucky dog! : )

Did they all come in one package? You ask for OS and they put a whole list of DVDs for you?
you remember the DVD id etc?
I think the HD software is a $25 add-on.

 

I did a clean install of Home Premium. Did not ask for a S/N or anything else. I did have to install some of the drivers...such as the Richoh card reader and I think the NIC.

 

You used the included driver DVD for that? or download fro dell. Hard to do if your NIC does not work