Earlier this week I tried to order Dell's new "Ueber-maschine" the XPS 700. The next day I took a closer look at my order confirmation and the estimated delivery date was late September!! I sent their customer service an email asking what the deal was. I got a phone call later in the day, and the explained that there was a part on backorder because the original delivery failed quality control. I was supposed to get a call Thursday on the status of my order. No call, so I called them. Again, from the same CS facility somewhere in India, a nice Indian lady told me that there was no change on the status, so I cancelled my orders which she gracefully handled for me. She wasn't able to tell what the part was, so I didn't have an opportunity to change the configuration.
I then checked online on the model that's next down from the XPS 700, the XPS 400. Well, the estimated delivery date on that one was just 2 weeks away. So I configured one that was pretty much identical to my original order except the chipset was going to be an Intel Duo 940 3.2 Mhz, rather than the 950 3.4 Mhz. I then called Sales at Dell, got a nice lady from somewhere in the South (accent was easier to understand!!), who was able to tell me that the est. delivery date would be just two weeks and the 400 didn't have the same problem as the 700. So, I went ahead and ordered the 400.
Now, you'd think that the first guy I talked to could have helped me change my order to the XPS 400. But no. I wonder how many sales they are losing because of this supply problem and they way they are handling customer inquiries? And I just got a new catalog in the mail from Dell where they were selling some new machines with the same 950 chipset. Is it the chipset that's the problem, or some sort of mother-board problem??
Well, the machine I ordered is a nice one and should be a good one for the family. I'll report back later.
Update: Here's an article that explains the problem that Dell is having: http://news.com.com/Dells+XPS+700+on+summer+vacation/2100-1042_3-6093539.html
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