var json_comments = new Array("

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Canino

October 23, 2008 6:58 PM

Moderate | Flag for review

Call and act like you're a new customer ordering a new one in the same configuration and ask the rep what the ship date will be. If he gives you a date closer than the date on your existing order, tell him to switch it over to that order...and when he can't then escalate to a supervisor and get an explanation.

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kthxbai

October 23, 2008 6:59 PM

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You should have just bought an EEEPC, Better, More bang for your buck, Not made by dell... its win after win after win, But you can hack the mini-inspiron to no end... I reccomend the EE(E?Anyone?)CB. Good Luck, and dood, you might be getting a dell.... or you might have to wait until next year...

3 replies

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Dooley

October 23, 2008 10:01 PM

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@Etaripamai (XBL):

I actually just got my EEE -- the 1000H, w/ 160gig HD and I bought the 2gig RAM upgrade for $39 more.

I must say, I am quite impressed at this little gadget. Small, but powerful. Beats the hell out of dell. (Hey, that ryhmes)

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DH405

October 23, 2008 7:51 PM

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@Etaripamai (XBL): Having played with the EEE, I'm not impressed.

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October 23, 2008 7:12 PM

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@Etaripamai (XBL):

I, too, recommend the Asus EEE, especially with \"EEEBuntu\" installed. Fabulous, relatively inexpensive, pint-sized PC. I've had mine for a few months, zero problems, decent battery life, and lots of curious glances from on-lookers.

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DeleteThisAccount

October 23, 2008 7:06 PM

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cancel order, buy Hp instead?

3 replies

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October 24, 2008 5:24 PM

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@AngrySicilian: Bad idea. HP was OK until they became a part of Compaq. At that time, HPs and Compaqs became basically the same thing. Sadly, that thing was Compaq crap.

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goodcow

October 23, 2008 7:11 PM

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@AngrySicilian: Cancel order, buy Mac instead.

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October 23, 2008 7:25 PM

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@goodcow: Cancel order, Come up with several hundred more dollars, buy Mac instead.

There, fixed that for ya!

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DreamTheEndless: Death's little brother

October 24, 2008 3:41 PM

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@heltoupee: Yeah - but think of all the money you'll save on antivirus software and all the time you'll save not dealing with malware and not reinstalling your operating system 2 or 3 times a year. Plus the added benefit of having a computer running unix instead of windows....

:)
Sorry - had to jump in for this completely off topic comment. Someone has to defend the macs...

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Anonymous

October 23, 2008 7:13 PM

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I had a similar problem with Lenovo when I ordered an S10, another really small notebook. I complained to their customer service for a while and they are giving me $25 back on my order, makes the wait a little easier to swallow.

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October 23, 2008 7:15 PM

Moderate |Flag for review

Cancel order, buy pizza and beer.

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October 23, 2008 7:18 PM

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Cancel it. They don't deserve your custom, and better machines can be had for cheaper.

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Jnetty

October 23, 2008 7:27 PM

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I wonder what the specs are of the machine if he changed anything? I just went to Dell's site and the $399 XP version has an estimated shipping day for 11/6 and the Ubuntu version for 11/13.

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xhx

October 23, 2008 7:28 PM

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I ordered the 910 and I'm in a similar position; they just haven't bumped my ship date yet. Ordered 10/17, expected ship date 11/17, which is pretty close to the latest date you have. From what I've been able to gather they've had trouble sourcing cases.

I just went through a new build for a 910 and their expected ship date is 11/6... maybe they'll ship existing orders early?

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October 23, 2008 7:28 PM

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Cancel order and buy an acer aspire one. 1g RAM, 120HDD, WinXP (which can be changed)- $349-$429 on amazon.

3 replies

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October 24, 2008 1:33 AM

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@crouton976: Yep, my husband lusted after the Acer Aspire One for several weeks and finally bought one from CDW in October and as soon as it came in, I fell in love with it. He has it in black and just bought me one in white, due in next week!

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October 23, 2008 8:10 PM

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@crouton976: ya thats pretty decent. i think this might be my new netbook.

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October 23, 2008 7:28 PM

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@crouton976: BTW, my mother in law LOVES hers...in fact she hasn't shut up about it for 2 months...

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Dacker

October 23, 2008 7:29 PM

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There were many of us who pre-ordered Lenovo S10 netbooks (which competes with the Dell Mini-9) in August and were given an estimated ship-date of early Sept. As the Sept ship-date came and went, we found that shipping was being slipped to Oct and Nov. This is basically what is happening to you Mini-9 buyers.

My solution, (which I sent to Consumerist but was not published) was to carefully craft a targeted email to the top-dog in Lenovo Operations. It was a direct hit!

To make a long story short, the Lenovo CEO's Chief of Staff shipped me a $5000 laptop to use until my sub-$400 netbook was delivered. I was also bumped-up on the delivery schedule from Nov. to Oct.

No, I am not a bigshot in a Fortune 50 company -- I'm just a regular Joe (Plumber?) .

2 replies

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Skunky

October 23, 2008 8:47 PM

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@Dacker: It's not just Dell, and it's not just the netbooks. I have a Lenovo X200t convertible on order, and none of the orders for that laptop are making their ship dates either.

It's annoying as hell (I wouldn't mind a crappy ship date if the one shown was simply more accurate), but I'm not in desperate need for the laptop (I'm writing this from my Eee 701) and there's absolutely no way to get exactly what I want any sooner, so here I'll be patiently waiting.

I'd say to those that are shopping for a laptop and need one immediately-ish, shop local or with a reseller like newegg.com, find what's closest to your desired configuration and buy what's in stock. It's a tradeoff, wait for what you want, or ditch a few features for instant gratification.

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Dooley

October 23, 2008 10:04 PM

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And they say nobody's spending money and the economy has gone to poop... Look at all of us buying new laptops!

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Skunky

October 23, 2008 10:28 PM

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@Dooley: Nobody can say I didn't do my part. :)

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October 23, 2008 7:42 PM

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This unnerves me since I ordered a Inspiron Mini about a week and a half ago...my account initially showed that I was billed for them item, but then it was like I had never been billed just a few days later. Did they independently cancel my order? What gives? I'm thinking I should probably give them a call.

1 replies

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thesmallwonder

November 12, 2008 5:48 PM

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@happysquid: I had one heck of an experience with dell recently for the minis that included my order being canceled due toa reason no one could figure out. Hung up on, called back and insulted and many other really horrendous stuff.

In short, Dell doesn't charge your account until your item ships. they check your account which is why you saw \"pending\" charges, and then leave the money there. Apparently they consider it \"standard practice\" which is interesting considering after I canceled my order and ordered from HP they miraculously were able to charge me account before my item shipped!

Also not charging to shipping combined with massive delays on shipping meant that for my order I was going to be charged on 11/10, 11/24 and 12/26, frankly that's ridiculous. Cancel your order and find something else.

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coren

October 23, 2008 7:49 PM

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This is typical of Dell. They have a habit of constantly delaying/placing on back order items that they oversold or underestimated until they cancel it, as a \"favor\" to you. Very popular to get around having too many price mistakes in any given period, something else Dell is infamous for

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October 23, 2008 7:54 PM

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I ordered one in mid October, and it's ship date is currently 11-11, so there must be some sort of parts delay.

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Anonymous

October 23, 2008 8:04 PM

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I ordered a Mini with Ubuntu around the same time and actually received mine around a week ago, though it was plagued with problems right out of the box. From what I understand, the delays are only with the Ubuntu version of the netbook and are due to software configuration issues that are documented thoroughly on the Ubuntu Dell Support forums. Particularly in this thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=910487

(On or around page 28)

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Phreggs

October 23, 2008 8:05 PM

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If they are moving your shipment date back and back they are REQUIRED to provide you with the option of canceling your order with a full refund, or agreeing to the new ship date.

Dell got into a huge amount of trouble with this before and almost had their online vendor license pulled because of it. Instead they were slapped with a billion dollar fine. That was a fun week... Our support centers had to take over email support that was normally left to people in Indian (which were the first couple of places let go) along with Canadian support.

If they do not provide you with this option, or have never provided you with this option - Bring it up with them on the phone, or report them to the BBB along with a EECB.

Unless of course you responded to this already and said it was cool. Otherwise they should have contacted you via email or telephone.

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October 23, 2008 8:06 PM

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Stephen: I ordered a Mini9 and had it for about a week before I sold it. I got the XP version and boy was it slow! Luckily, they sent me the Mini about 3 weeks after I ordered. I did call and escalate. I found the Asian based agents to be very helpful. They upgraded all of my shipping to next day (I got two laptops and a printer). Why don't you cancel and buy on eBay?

1 replies

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Unchained

October 24, 2008 7:57 AM

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@harryhoody:
The Mini is slow? Dude come on. It has a single core 1.86GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. Of course it's slow. You expected it to some how be magically faster? It's just a Wi-Fi device, not meant to be used for full out computing.

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October 23, 2008 8:06 PM

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The ship date for the top of line one in black is....

Preliminary Ship Date: 11/20/2008

I believe they are having a problem obtaining the parts.

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Samets

October 23, 2008 8:10 PM

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I no longer deal with Dell. They have screwed up my order for the last time.

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October 23, 2008 8:14 PM

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this happened with my wifes 1525. i wound finding the email info from this site and sending them a letter threatening to contact the bbb and the attorney general and consumerist. they emailed me back the same day and said it would ship tomorrow. it actually shipped that same day and i got it tomorrow. very fast after about 6 weeks waiting. when i got it, it had an upgraded processor in it. so i take it they were waiting on processors and just put a better one in to make me happy. but im a dell whore, they better keep me happy.

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October 23, 2008 8:15 PM

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i have a mini 9, (Meh, real tiny, needs more ram IMO, check into the keyboard b4 buying) purchased it before they started shipping it. They seem to play games with their shipping, i got the 1 day shipping (i REALLY wanted this comp) and it took a week to get it to me. why? because 1 day shipping means to them it will be kicked around the warehouse for 6 days and than sent out.

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Anonymous

October 23, 2008 8:19 PM

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It's most likely due to a problem with one of their suppliers. I think you'll run into that across any laptop type computer you purchase right now. Google Dell and HP semiconductor chip problems and you'll find more info about what's happening in the laptop world :)

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Anonymous

October 23, 2008 8:22 PM

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Happened to me with the Studio laptop. I called to tell them that I'm leaving the country and if it can't be shipped by end of the week to cancel the order.. Laptop arrived later that week.

What super annoyed me was that I paid for Next day shipping. What is the purpose of paying for next day shipping when your order can be delayed indefinetily..

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gatewaytoheaven

October 23, 2008 8:34 PM

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I had to wait about a month and half for my Studio 15 to ship. I would've raised hell had it not shown up the DAY BEFORE I left for the new school year. I wasn't planning on taking a desktop to campus and I didn't want to cancel my order (a number of Dell errors in my favor) because of an awesome price.

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Anonymous

October 23, 2008 8:36 PM

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I had this happen last year around school starting.

I called everyday and eventually they gave me free overnight shipping and then when i sent a random nice but explaining to the michael dell email or w/e it was I got another 50 bucks off.

I was happy because they even let me use all my coupons together the 2nd time i called. $2500 laptop for around 50% off after the 2 coupons, the dpa signup and then the complaining.

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October 23, 2008 8:40 PM

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I'm in the very same boat here! I ordered one in mid-September for my girlfriend, and it's been delayed at least twice. Supposedly it'll ship on 10/28, but somehow now I'm not counting on that anymore.

I've been looking at getting an Acer Aspire One for myself, but wanted to check out her Mini and see if I can get used to the netbook size. Now I'm thinking I should do it the other way around -- drop the mini and just get a pair of AAOs.

Thanks for posting this story! I thought I was just one unlucky sap this time, not one of many..

1 replies

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jaderobbins

October 24, 2008 3:21 PM

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@brainologist:
I canceled mine and bought an acer as well. It's a great machine! Hopefully Dell will figure this out :(

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Distahs

October 23, 2008 8:53 PM

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Get an MSI wind... I worked for Dell for three years and after seeing what kind of crap they could put people though first hand thought the reliability of there products I would never recommend them to anyone.

Also unless you order though an employee purchase program or a corporate contract you Will speak to India for support.

Two key Specs.
Display dell 8.9in vs Msi 10in
Memory dell max 1GB vs. MSI 2GB

4 replies

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thesmallwonder

November 12, 2008 5:57 PM

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@Distahs: I ordered through an employee purchase program for a very large well known company and still got India : /

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majortom1029

October 24, 2008 3:02 PM

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@Distahs: YOu did not work for dell. IF you have an xps system you will not talk to india.

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BizTake

October 23, 2008 9:14 PM

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@Distahs:
I put a 2gb stick in mine, works flawlessly.
I received my Mini four days earlier than quoted.I ordered mine the first week they were out. Sorry to hear you guys are having to wait so long for yours.

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frink84

October 24, 2008 12:06 AM

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@BizTake: same here, using a 2gb stick, works fine, ordered in the first week, have it. good luck!

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Anonymous

October 23, 2008 9:15 PM

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I recently got my mini 3 weeks after I ordered it. When I submitted the order and AFTER dell charged my card, I was told that the item would not ship for three weeks (until 10/15). I was pissed but I can understand its a new product. What I was mostly upset was that when you are in the process of ordering and done configuring your device they don't tell you that the Mini will ship in 3 weeks. I think once you are done configuring and BEFORE you make the purchase that there is a warning that the device is not available.

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bnet41

October 23, 2008 9:24 PM

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I ordered the fully spec'd out Windows model with all the goodies on the release day, 9/5 I believe. My order is still open actually and it just keeps getting delayed.

I bought the MSI Wind and absolutely love it. I would suggest it as it was actually cheaper and has a real 120gb hard drive vs. a 16gb SSD drive.

I still have the Dell order open just because my Mom said she wanted one and I plan to give it as a gift hopefully. I might cancel it, but to be honest I was kind of curious to see how long it'd take them to ship it.

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October 23, 2008 9:42 PM

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I too ordered on 9/5 but mine came in about 4 weeks. XP version loaded out. If you want to make these guys run faster turn off the disk compression. Mine boots in about 50 seconds now.

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Anonymous

October 23, 2008 10:28 PM

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My husband placed an order for a laptop from Dell and they kept delaying the order. After the 3rd call verifying that there was going to be another 2 week delay (he had already waited 3 weeks up until this point) he got fed up and canceled the order. When the Dell customer service asked him why he was canceling the order, he told them \"I have no faith that your company has any intention of shipping this product\".

He instead ordered a new laptop from Tiger Direct and got it in THREE DAYS.

CANCEL THE ORDER and get a laptop somewhere else.

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Anonymous

October 23, 2008 10:53 PM

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I ordered mine 9/14 but it was bumped one week at a time until the last date they gave me was 10/27 but they could not tell me they would not bump it again.

I went to cancel the order but they only let you do it by calling them. I hate it when companies let you do everything online except cancel.

Warning - I called and and was transfered to India over a poor phone connection where I canceled the order, I said I went and bought a Eeepc at a local store since I could not wait any more.. I logged in the next day and they still showed the order open. I called again and they confirmed the order was still open, just as he said do I have you permission to cancel the order I was disconnected. I did check back online later and saw the order showing canceled so I printed it for proof it it became an issue again.

I wonder if the phone reps are punished if they can not talk someone out of canceling the order.

To top it all off, I had ordered the $30 bag for the mini on a different order number. They shipped that right away. I told them I want to return the bag because I could not get the computer. The response was that it shipped over 21 days ago so no returns for any reason. I said it was their fault they could not provide the computer but again no return allowed.

I understand they are having production problems but the way it was handled has turned me off ordering a computer again.

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October 23, 2008 11:57 PM

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Ordered the Mini 9 in mid-September and received it three weeks later with no delayed ship. While three weeks seems a ridiculous amount of time to ship, I was not strung along with delay notices.

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Anonymous

October 24, 2008 12:23 AM

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I just canceled my order for a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 yesterday. Well, actually the day before yesterday, but that cancellation didn't take and I had to cancel it again.

I suggest you cancel and get a different netbook. I got a Lenovo S10 and compared it to a friend's Mini 9. I was shocked at how much larger the Lenovo screen looked, even though both systems weighed about the same. I wanted two netbooks, so I'm going to order another Lenovo when they start offering blue ones.

There's a big difference in how Lenovo and Dell treated my orders. Both had heavy demand and shipping delays, but Lenovo behaved more honestly throughout.

I ordered the Lenovo S10 on August 19, and the predicted a ship day of September 15. Oh, well, there was a huge demand, so I understood. On September 15, they told me it was delayed, perhaps to mid-October. But they then shipped in on September 24, which wasn't a very bad delay. And during the time they were having shipping delays, they STOPPED taking new orders. Presumably, they didn't want to take orders under false pretenses. I didn't like the delay, but they behaved pretty well.

The Dell Mini 9 was a different story. I ordered it September 13, and they predicted a ship date of September 29. On September 29, they predicted a delay of a week to October 6. On October 6, they predicted a delay to October 13. On that day, they predicted a delay to November 10. I was hoping they'd beat that date, but finally gave up, and decided I liked the Lenovo S10 better. During the delay periods, Dell kept advertising the Mini 9 as shipping within 4 business days and kept taking new orders.

I really like the Lenovo PC, and it's cheaper than the Dell. It has a traditional hard drive instead of SSD, but that hasn't been a problem and it gives me a lot more storage. I installed Ubuntu and dual boot with it and XP, and have plenty of space for both. It's easy to increase the RAM and or replace the 2.5\" SATA drive if you want. And it's shockingly fast, even in XP.

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libbybee

October 24, 2008 12:33 AM

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I ordered mine on 9/17 and it was here in early October, but I sent it back a week later. :( The keyboard is useless for typing notes in class.

We ordered two at my office (for staff) on the same day, and they have yet to arrive.

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$\"user-pic\"$

October 24, 2008 12:40 AM

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Remember that Dell's business model is to build ONLY AFTER the computers have been ordered. This creates a huge delay during busy times (like the beginning of the school year or Xmas) or when parts are constrained. Last year there was a problem with the company that provided one of the Dell model's LCD screens- at the beginning of the school year no less- and orders took about 2 months to ship.

If you want it fast, you need to order it from a company who has already built it. This business model saves Dell a lot of money by not having computers sitting on shelves at EOL, but it means it might take a while to get to you if there are ANY problems.

1 replies

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Unchained

October 24, 2008 8:01 AM

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@The_IT_Crone:
It also means that you get to customize the system instead of having to pick a pre-boxed system. Which I rather enjoy and why I will always buy from Dell.

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cccdude

October 24, 2008 1:15 AM

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When it comes to a full powered notebook, I'm a Dell diehard. Nothing but good luck with them and they have a great support website. With that said.. their netbook (mini 9) is overpriced for what you get.

I got an Acer Aspire one with WinXP, 160GB drive, 1GB RAM & a 6 cel (5.5+ hour) battery for 399 at Amazon. (They currently have the white one in stock and are taking orders for the other colors, but you can find the blue & black models elsewhere now for a few bucks more). I LOVE my AspireOne. It's the perfect size for a simple travel notebook.

My advice - kill the Dell order and get the Acer.

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$\"user-pic\"$

October 24, 2008 1:37 AM

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Okay you need to cancel the order... The act is that Dell probably doesn't have the stock and will never have it. They are notorious for this. I work for a Computer company and we usually order things from dell. We were trying to order a power supply and after four phone calls over two months we were finally told that the product is no longer in production.

2 replies

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Unchained

October 24, 2008 8:03 AM

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I'm sure they will have the stock, its a brand new product, something just probably got delayed.

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October 24, 2008 2:54 AM

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@LightningSt: Lenovo did that to us this year. Though it was more like a half dozen phone calls and a full dozen emails. Service FAIL.

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$\"user-pic\"$

October 24, 2008 6:01 AM

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Want a suggestion. Do as I did I canceled my order. The heck with Dell tell them to ship their mini's when they do come out to the same place they shipped all their tech support jobs, India.

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Unchained

October 24, 2008 8:10 AM

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Stop whining. If they are notifying you the order is being delayed they aren't stringing you along! You're free to cancel your order. Plus, Dell hasn't charged you for the order yet, they don't do that until it actually ships out.(they just put it as pending in most cases, which falls off until the ship date when they push it through). This isn't even really a story, manufacturing delays, really, that's the story? Back-orders are pretty common, and while this one is a bit long, it sounds like Dell is notifying him of the delays (so not violating the mail order rule)so there's not really anything fishy going. Dell doesn't even have his money yet!

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Anonymous

October 24, 2008 2:36 PM

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I ordered a Dell Mini on 9/26, the default $449 version. I received a ship date of 10/17. However it actually shipped on 10/10. Maybe they do pre-build some of them?

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jaderobbins

October 24, 2008 3:18 PM

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Actually the immediate refund thing is bull as well. I canceled Monday the 13th and have yet to recieve it, even after a call to them on Wednesday.

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Anonymous

October 24, 2008 3:35 PM

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It's happening to everyone. Not only was my Mini delayed the desktop I ordered is delayed too. I wonder if they're short on a chip set for these specs. Best of luck, keep us updated!!

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Anonymous

October 24, 2008 4:14 PM

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I ordered mine on 9.12 and it is still in the \"build\" stage. Dell has offered Dell has offered ZERO customer service, and will not tell me what is taking so long. If i didn't want this mini so bad, i would cancel. This will be my last purchase with Dell tho... there customer support is horrible.

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Anonymous

October 24, 2008 4:41 PM

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I ordered my first mini on 9/11 as well. As of Monday, 10/20, it was still in the build stage with an ESD of 11/6, after being pushed back 4 times.

On October 10, I ordered a second one (after speaking multiple times with customer service & an escalation rep that got me absolutely no where - free shipping only works when they actually ship something!), with the intention of racing them to see which one got here first. I received the second one on October 21. I've now canceled the first one. Dell has really screwed the pooch on this one.

I was given various excuses for the delay of my original order, with the first one being that orders between 9/4 & 9/13 were originally specked out with Adobe 9.0 (which hadn't launched at that time). After that, it was teh battery, then the LCD screen, then the 16 gig SSD drive. Now, I hear that the black cases are back-ordered (my second one is white).

However, you can go online to their outlet and buy the exact one you want now - they have over 160 available now on the outlet and save $50-80! Why on earth Dell didn't offer these canceled orders/returns to the group of people still in the terminal build stage, I will never understand. Horrible way to run a business, Dell.

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Anonymous

October 24, 2008 5:15 PM

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So he gave us no other information. Which OS did you choose. People who chose Windows were getting the units in a few days, but if you chose Linux - they did warn users on the website in big letters that it would delay your order. I should know, I bought one and work at Dell, so mine was ordered the day they released and it still hasn't shipped.

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8one6

October 24, 2008 7:42 PM

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I had nearly the same issue. I ordered the 910 on 9/12, and they delayed the shipping on it three times until I finally called them up and found out that after four weeks it had not even left the first build station. When I found that out I canceled my order.

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Kekaha

October 24, 2008 7:43 PM

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I think that Dell is doing this so that they can make effective,but illegal, use of their finances and your money.

In the last few weeks, I have placed two orders with Dell for a hard drive and a TV. In both cases, I received an email saying my order would be delayed and canceled the order. In both cases, Dell's reply was that, oops, can't cancel we already shipped. (On one of them I called Customer Service, who insisted that I was lying about canceling until I pointed out the email acknowledgement they had sent me.)

They are violating the FTC Mail Order regs, which say that you are entitled to a prompt refund and can consider the merchandise a gift if they shipped after you cancel. I may end up in court on this one since I don't think anything short of a class action suit will make them change their ways.

Please post if you have had a similar experience and are interested in joining a suit.

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Anonymous

October 24, 2008 10:45 PM

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We had ordered two Inspiron 910 Mini's in September and had been pushed back twice into late November. As Dell Small Business customers our Dell rep called us and suggested we go to the Dell Outlet.

Amazingly enough, there are DOZENS of these Mini's that were in production and then the orders canceled, so they are now available on Dell Outlet. We bought two today and the delivery date is 10/30.

Just another way to beat the Dell Dudes!

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October 25, 2008 5:27 PM

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I can' stand Dell sales support. I bought a new laptop from Dell this summer, installed with Vista Business. I decided to be cheap about it, so I didn't include the Office 2007 / Adobe Acrobat package they offered, thinking I could just put my old Office XP on there. So, I get the laptop, install Office XP on it that day and realize Outlook isn't really compatible with Vista, because it won't save email passwords. Everything else seemed fine, but password wouldn't save (which apparently is due to Vista not having the same data repository that Windows XP does). Nothing is more annoying than having to constantly put in your email passwords in Outlook.

I called Dell to ask them to just give me the Office 2007 install at the price I could have had if I spec'd it out with Office 2007. They wouldn't do it, gave me a bunch of false excuses, and tried to upsell me into buying Office Ultimate and Adobe Acrobate separately for $400 more. I told them I could just buy the software upgrades at TigerDirect for a little more than the price Dell originally could have installed them for, but the sales guy told me I couldn't upgrade from Office XP to Office 2007, the 2007 upgrade \"only upgrades Office 2003\". Oh really, I told the guy right there he was full of crap, that the Microsoft website clearly says you can upgrade Office XP to 2007. They also told me that they can't just send me install CDs for Office because everything was OEM and is preinstalled and Dell doesn't give those CDs to you. Once again, really? So, I suppose I shouldn't have been given the Office CDs that came with every Dell system I have ever bought in my life. And wouldn't it be stupid to give people a computer with no reinstallation CDs for their software, just in case the laptop needs to be rebuilt. No luck with these dunderheads, so I wrote a nasty letter to their sales support team saying I was never going to buy another dell system again (which I won't). I got a call from them, offering me a $100 coupon. I took the coupon, bought some extra memory for the laptop from the Dell store, and have never been back since.

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Anonymous

October 28, 2008 5:18 AM

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I ordered first thing in the morning the day they came out. I odered the LINUX one and it gave me a ship date of Oct 10th, on Oct 10th i checked and it had not been sent out, i called for an explanation and they told me it was now Nov 17th. No explanatiion why i wasnt notified. A lot of WindowsXP ones were being sent out, but not the LINUX ones. They canceled my order without hesitation or an attempt to keep my business upon request. Usually Dell has gotten it right for me in the past, definitely a huge step backwards...

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Anonymous

October 30, 2008 2:47 PM

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FINALLY. I ordered 9/11. First ship date was 9/23. Then every week they pushed back a week. Got an email today 10/30 saying it would be delivered TOMORROW. Already got external hard drive and spare battery. Battery was only 28 bucks the day I ordered for some reason. Good deal.

Hope you guys start getting yours soon.

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Anonymous

December 18, 2008 7:34 PM

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I ordered 2 minis for Christmas presents for my 2 grandchildren. I did this on 11/27 and the ship date was 12/19, received an e-mail that the ship date was moved to12/23. Then it was moved to 1/08. At this time I cancelled my order and bought 2 Acer minis for them

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WantMyDellMini

January 14, 2009 2:24 AM

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I ordered a Dell XPS One computer on 12/3/08 through an incentive promotion where I would receive a Dell Mini 9 computer for $99 (which was $250 off the $349 price) if I buy the Dell XPS One computer. I received the Dell XPS One computer within a few days. I can honestly say I like it. However, the Dell Mini 9 is nowhere to be found. Dell has changed the estimated delivery date no less than eight times. The current estimated delivery date is 1/19/09 which is 47 days beyond the order date. The original date communicated to me [from Dell] when the order went to production was 12/15/08. I have asked Dell to either provide the Dell Mini 9 or provide a $250 refund on the XPS One order. Dell has refused to provide a $250 refund and continues to miss the estimated shipping date for the Dell Mini 9. Instead, they tell me that I can either cancel the order or wait.

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Anonymous

February 5, 2009 2:58 PM

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From Montreal, Canada: Ordered a fully loaded Mini 9 on 2008-12-31, was promised for 2009-01-15. Two days after the 15th, ship date was bumped to 2009-02-16 (a delay of one month). As it was intended as a gift for my wife (who picked it as the \"cutest\" netbook) I have not yet cancelled. I've called CS Canada twice, emailed them 3 times (and copied various other Dell people from the list provided here) without much success. All they will say is that if that I don't have it by 16FEB I'll then be advised of another date. What a bunch.

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rwilkins

February 17, 2009 6:53 PM

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I was actually the guy from Montreal with the previous comment ...

Things just keep getting weirder and weirder in my Dell Mini 9 quest. It's now been some 48 days since I placed my order for a black Mini /16GB SSD & 1.3 MP webcam (no Bluetooth, everything else the default).

Yesterday, the 3rd predicted ship date passed with no action. I emailed Canada CS, so far no response. But things got really strange when I called CS yesterday afternoon. The agent first of all told me that he has to wait 48 hours past the missed scheduled ship date before he can provide a new ship date. I found that hard to believe, but hey. I asked to speak to his manager, and the agent said that his manager would only provide the same information he just had. I insisted, and 5 minutes later a manager came on. He asked again for the order number, then clicked off for a few minutes, then came back a said he had some late-breaking news on my order. He said Dell could not produce the order as placed, as when the order got to the factory floor there was some component that was no longer available. He said I would have to cancel my original order and place a new one. While he was on the line I checked Dell's Canadian website, and told him that the same options I had chosen were still showing as available. He said no matter, and said he would put me through to a sales agent to place a new order. After 5 minutes of waiting on hold, I got a message saying that so-and-so had gone for the day, and to please leave a message.

I hung up. I presume this tactic is just a gambit to make me wait even longer, and to lose 40 or 50 bucks in discounts that were available at the time I placed my original order. I'll wait for an answer to my email to Canada CS, then start drafting a letter to Dell detailing my latest troubles.

Unbelievable.

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rwilkins

February 23, 2009 3:52 PM

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Well, another Chapter from Montreal, Canada. An \"Executive Support Resolver\" from Dell's \"Global Escalation Management Team\" called on Feb 18 to advise that Dell really did have to cancel my order, and place a new order, even though the new order would be for a Mini 9 of exactly the same spec. She wanted my persmission, which she didn't get. She said someone from the Sales group would call.

The next day I was out of town, and a Dell sales rep called. I never did reach him by phone, but was finally advised 4 days later (today) via email that Dell had cancelled my order and replaced it with a new one, at least at the same price, and with a new delivery date of some 3 weeks distant (March 11).

So my only options remain to either cancel--more than 50 days after my order--or sit and wait. If I actually get it by March 11 (watch for a blue moon) it will have been some 70 days (!!) from order to receipt of order. Brick and mortar seems might attractive right about now.

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