Wow, Dell is fast

I just ordered this setup from Dell yesterday morning:

Inspiron E1505, Intel Core Duoprocessor T2300 (2MB/1.66GHz/667MHz)
15.4 Inch UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-screen WSXGA+
1GB, DDR2, 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1400 HyperMemory
100GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0
8X DVD+/-RW Drive
CyberLink PowerDVD v5.7 Decoding Sofware for DVD Drives
Sonic Digital Media, v7.0, My DVD
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth Module (2.0+EDR)
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Corel WordPerfect 12 plus Trial of Quartro Pro and Presentations
1 Year Limited Warranty
Warranty Support,Initial Year
Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Initial Year
Type 12- Mail-InService, 24x7 TechnicalSupport, Initial Year
Backup media for XP Media Center,Inspiron
Basic digital Music,Photo and Game experience

Checked on Dell's site today and it's already done with kitting, build, and testing! I had an estimated ship date of May 1, which is now changed to May 5, but all they have left to do is box it and ship it! This is surprising given the hard drive which they said would delay shipment, as well as the video card which I had heard were in short supply. I hope I get this soon!!!

Btw, I paid $1150 total for that w/ the 40% coupon I got in the mail.

 

My new E1505 shipped about that fast as well. I bought it, and had it in less than 4 full days. It's a pretty nice computer, you'll enjoy it. I got mine with an 80GB hard drive and a 1.83 GHz Core Duo, though.

 

Just an FYI... Boxing takes on average 3 days... the problem is the computer is in overseas and the box is in Tennessee. ;-)

Btw, Ive had my e1505 for a couple weeks now and love it! Its almost the same configuration as yours... everything the same except I got the 2ghz processor and TVTuner and paid $1311 after $750 off coupon. I probably would have went 1.66 but needed to boost it over $2000 for the coupon to work... so im not complaining. In any case... the screen is great, the unit is solid, and it lasts a good long while with that 9 cell battery.

 

I ordered my e1505 on 4/16 and it was delivered today, 4/21.

Dave

 

I caused all my own delays and have no one to blame but myself. I canceled my initial order 2 times because I kept changing my mind after the order was placed. Then my total cost was over the daily limit on my ATM card I used so they had to process my card over a 3 day span (the third day was for $4.00 because I was $4 over being able to run it through in just 2 days).

I went with the B820 and since it's a brand new model they said there would be almost a one month delay for this model.

I was worried since I canceled 2 orders all ready that they would be mad and purposely hold my order 2 extra weeks before starting just to make sure I wasn't going to change my mind again.

Fortuneatly, it looks like they went with option B, hurry up and get that thing out the door before I do change my mind again and cancel another order on them.

They still gave me May 17th as an expected ship date, though the day after my payment went through according to my online Dell account the thing is already built and tested, just waiting on that box from Tennesee to meet up with the overseas laptop so they can package it.

I should get it well before the expected ship date, which is fine with me, it's great to get something sooner than you were expecting it. I like the way that you can track your entire order from their web site too, that's really cool, if it's actually true and not just a program they run on the web site to pacify impatiant people and has no corolation what so ever with your actual order.

You have to wonder that, it can't be just me, it takes them less time to get the parts together, assembly it, load software and test than it takes them to then just stick it in a box. Their assembly crew must be either really fast or their shipping crew is really slow?

 

Yeh really fast!!! I ordered my on Apr 14 and their web site says it's still in production!!
Estimated delivery date is now May 03 (order confirmation mail stated Apr 24), and btw I paid 2200 CAD$!!! I was too busy to call them, but tomorrow !!!

 

Moler,
What model did you order?

By still in production does it show it's gone through testing and everything already and just waiting to be boxed?

I've ordered ALOT of systems from Dell for work and home over the years, they've always delivered before promised for me, like suprisingly before promised to where I almost caused my systems to get shipped back before because no one was there to accept the delivery it came so unexpectantly early.

 

It’s Inspiron 9400, without any parts that would delay shipping. I am not exactly sure what the status of the order is - arrow under "in production" is green (no check sign though) and it says that production date is Apr 18 (although it stated Apr 17 yesterday ).

 

Why are all your laptops being built overseas? I'm in Canada and mine was built in Texas and the box was in the same building.

 

It depends - some are built in the Texas plant, some are built in the Malaysian plant, and some are built in the Chinese plant. I think it depends on where Dell has the parts available to build your specific notebook though.

On the building speed note: Mine took about a week and a half to get to my front door. I ordered mine at the end of February (like the 27th), so I was pretty scared my order was going to be placed on hold, but I ended up lucking out.

 

I just did a quick look, but didn't even seen an Inspiron 9400 listed as a regular order item on their web site untill I did a Google search on it and found this model listed that way on the Dell web site.

Once I did find it I see it's a new system, and it's typical to expect a little longer to recieve the brand new models. That's a good looking system your waiting on though with the 17" screen and all, a little to big for me and what I want a laptop for, if your final cost was 2200 then you must of also went with some pretty good options.

The dates on mine bounced around, they originaly had me listed as waiting a month, but it was the system I wanted with everything I wanted so I was willing to wait the month to get it. Refreshing (even though I don't have it yet) to find I'll be getting it earlier than expected. Your situation blows, but once you have it in your hands, you'll be so pumped you'll forget about the delay and just be all giggly about having that laptop you always wanted.

I wouldn't waste my time trying to use their phone support, the people on the phones for any company are like the least helpful you'll usually find (with some exceptions) email and chat support is better, you have the person backed against the wall with their name and a record you can svae of the conversation. On the phone they know you'll forget their name, they can give you any name and it's highly unlikely you'll be saving a voice recording of the conversation.

If you aren't seeing the kitting, building and testing available to click on in your online account yet then they haven't started building your system yet, sorry, they're busy building me mine first, you should have sent them an extra $20 to move you up in line like I did.

 

Lol!
Actually I negotiated price down instead of taking their free printer so I might be on some black list now!!!
Regarding their customer support, while trying to decide configuration I need, I e-mailed one of their sales persons TWICE and he ignored both of my e-mails!!! So I'll try tomorow by phone!
However such big delay is not fair because if I order same configuration today I could get it cheaper and with some upgrades on the top. I am guessing in May the difference will be even bigger. They should charge me for the price on the day of shipping. There must be some laws for consumer protection in that way here in Canada!!! I may look into that!!!

 

Ha ha, I thought I was going to get on some black list as well for canceling an order twice after making it, I doubt they work that way, maybe if they were a small company they'd have the time to deal with putting people on such lists, but for a major comapny like Dell dealing with thousands of people every day, they don't have the time to sort through whos made that one rep mad and who's made the rep happy. It's been my impression they pretty much want to see everyone happy.

If you can order the same configuration today and get it cheaper your right into why I canceled my first recent order. The rep straight up told me I should cancel the order I had pending and re order under the new better deal, so I did and was glad they gave me that advice.

Long story short, it ended up being good for them because I then cancelled that order and ended up buying a different system for almost $1000 more than my original order would have been for, but the system I really wanted (price didn't matter that much to me as long as I was getting what I wanted).

If I could order the same system for less today because of a new sale or better deal, I'd cancel that order again and reorder wait. It's not like I'm dead in the water waiting for a system, I have many already I can use while waiting. You find a new deal where you'll save a few hundred dollars and that's the difference of some serious upgrades for the same price. Cost doesn't mean that much to me, but better upgrades screams in my language.

 

I wonder if all that "kitting, build, testing" ect is not really real. I mean Im sure they do it, but I wonder if it really keeps track to see who's is done or not.

I ordered my E1705 yesterday, and it said there would be a 40 day delay because of the nvidia gpu, but it says its already built... I don't actually belive that. Also my ship date is still June 27th so....

 

I actually dont see all those details under my account
However current status is "delivery preparation" and shiping date Apr 22. Who knows maybe I do get it on Apr 24, as originaly stated

 

The last time I ordered from DELL, the same thing happened. Granted, it wasn't supposed to be as long of a wait. They said the expected shipping date was a few weeks after I had ordered, but it was shipped out almost two days afterwards. BTW, my order status for the E1705 is on boxing now.

 

Just to update, I ordered the E1505 on Thursday morning of last week, and I have the UPS tracking number with a scheduled delivery of tomorrow, Tuesday. I am just amazed, I had ordered my previous laptop from them and it wasn't nearly as fast as this. Every day there was a new update on the website. I just hope this doesn't mean I will have problems when it gets here

 

Fredrick_NP,
I have to wonder the same thing, I mean I'm sure they do bar code you order to track it and it's feasable that the order info could be correct, the payment info did match up with my online bank statements, but the boxing part seems rediculous.

I was told on the Dell General Message Board that boxing takes 3 business days even though Dell claims officialy when you look at the link that shipping happens within one day from your system completion on the build and testing part.

That's just a major inefficiency taking place if they can collect the parts, build, install and test the system in just one day, then have to take 3 days to stick it in a box and run a piece of tape across the top, something that should take less than 3 minutes tops to do.

All I can think is the system builders must be getting paid piece rate so they hammer out as many as they can as fast as they can and the boxers are getting paid hourly so they milk it for as long as they can. Otherwise it just doesn't make sense that it takes 3 business days for boxing to catch up to production. There's certainly something there someone needs to look into to make the boxing department a little more efficiant. I guess it doesn't take a grade school education to just put a square object in a square box so that department likely doesn'y pay very well and it's directly reflected in the types of people they can hire willing to fill such a no thought required position. Such a person I suppose should be expected to take 3 days to drop a laptop in a box and run a piece of tape across the top.

Even if you had an IQ of less than 70 though, I'd think within only 2 days you'd eventually be able to get the laptop into the box and just by chance from trying enough times not need a third day to seal it shut without getting the tape on backwards. I mean, it's a 50/50 shot when you try to tape a box shut your either going to get the tape right side up, or upside down, shouldn't take an additional day for them just to get that lucky managing to get the tape sticky side down.

I mean picture it in your mind like I am what it must be like watching a department full of -70 IQ employees trying to drop a laptop into a box and missing the box in their efforts for 2 straight days before they finally get it in there. The excitement level must be off the charts! I know if I spent 2 full days just trying to get a small object in a large box by the second day of trying when I finally got it in there I'd be pretty pumped!

The pressure must be intense though in thinking you only have one more full day available to try and get that tape sticky side down sealing the box for shipment. The suicide rate of their box tapers must be really high from all the pressure. You have to give them some real credit for being the box taping professionals they have to be. Just imagine what it would be like dealing with the constant daily stress day in day out of trying to figure out which side of a piece of tape gets stuck to the box and not your forehead. Clearly they must go to specialized schools for these skills, then once hired by Dell as box tapers most likely continue on with their educations going to after graduate box taping school.

Our country would grind to a halt if it wasn't for these higher education required positions like doctors degrees in boxing and taping. Just think what life would be like if we didn't have boxing and taping professionals to count on, it might take 4 days to get your new system boxed and tapped.

 

Lol esoterica...your boxing story made me laugh. The reason it often takes three days though is because the boxes are located halfway across the world from where most of the systems are built. Most are built in Malaysia or China and then sent to Tennessee for boxing and then shipping. So during those three days the computer is flying around the world.

 

Wow, I thought everything was made in the US...

Dell loses brownie points now

 

lol... thats how you get the low prices and weak (opinionated) support service in India.
-Outsourcing

 

Ordered my e1505 on 4/19. Due for delivery this afteroon, 4/25. 6 days is snappy fast!!

 

Well I knew about the outsourcing for support in India, but thought everything was made in the USA.

 

Thats nice to hear. If there is one good thing about outsourcing is that when you sleep, they're building your computer. I ordered mine around 9pm last night and they say they're already at the boxing stage. They say they are going to ship my lappy on May 2nd but I think it would get here as soon as next week. I hope 3-5 day shipping means we actually ship it to your door on the 5th day...

 

Lol boxing story is funny, but in my case it looks like Purolator is using horse drawn wagon to ship my Inspiron 9400 to Canada. It was shipped out on Apr 22 (after 8 days of manufacturing/boxing), and today they said it will, possibly, hit the border on Apr 28.

 

They got my system built and shipped super fast as well. like a week before their estimate.
.... Then they went and shipped it to my billing and NOT MY SHIPPING ADDRESS which was CLEARLY SPECIFIED... and still is even now on their website.
It just arrived today (tuesday) at my moms house. I gotta make a 3 hour drive down there on saturday. Then 3 hours backs. im pretty angry- paying extra for the 2 day shipping was such a waste.