Direct2Dell

Today 27/9/2007 I got a leaflet fom dell advetising the vostro 1000 it stated it had 160gb hard drive not so only has 120gb it also stated FREE delivery  not so £60 in the ad it would have cost £386 in reality £440 you would be better talking to a brick wall as opposed to the call center you would get more sense tomorrow I am going to trading standards every time I get one of these lealets it is allways wrong & misleading

Dont' know why everyone wants Vista!!  I dislike it...I also have been very unhappy with my Dell Inspirion 1505....a LEMON.  I have had to do several restores, one COMPLETE restore.....nothing but trouble trouble trouble.  This will be the LAST dell product I will purchase.  I purchased March of 2007 and wish I had not.  Been a very disatisfied customer....

Vista is a total NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ordered my Pc December 06 and have still not recieved my vista upgrade, After sending several E-mails to dell and having several responses and waiting for dell to send me my disk (suprise suprise did not recieve) many months later I sent them another E-mail to which i had a response of "we have no record of you contacting us" I can no longer be bothered to contact Dell with such a bad run program as no one at Dell seems to know what they are doing with this Vista upgrade program. Why did Dell put this offer up when they clearly can not deliver what they advertised?

Am I the only one that has a problem with the fact that the "free Vista upgrade" costed just as much as the OEM version?

I had to pay 79 euro in total for the "free" vista upgrade. it's a scandal! I have contacted dell about this, but the support team does not know what they are talking about and nobody could give me a proper answer on why my "free" Vista upgrade costed me the same as an oem vista.
 

Hello!

 Is anyone listening?

Wheres my Vista!

The website www.dellvistaupgrade.com is no longer working. Is the site temperarily down or has it been removed?

How am I supposed to check the status of my order?

 Someone from Dell please contact me via email!

PC purchased.  Done all that was asked of me but still no upgrade though money was taken on 17 may 2007. 

Like others DHL made an arse of the delivery (could not find me) so returned upgrade to US.  Having contacted Dell support and custoer services I still have no upgrade.  By anybodys standards we are now in to breach of contract?  An no dellvistaupgrade site doesn't help!

Unimpressed and responsible for 100s of Dell PC purchases at work - Dell you have some making up to do to keep me as a customer!

I bought a Dell in Feburary with the understanding i would receive a free vista upgrade. Well I did receive my free upgrade finally in march trouble is they sent the wrong one right off my serice tag I got office and tried to install it and guess what, it wasnt compatable. That was three days and hours on hold getttin my hard drive back after it messed up my system. Called Dell and was assured they would send Home Premium to me ASAP! Here it is July and nothing yet. I see Im not alone in this. My advice is to never do business with Dell again!!

Freddie in Missouri

• Check their order status
• Update credit card information
• Update or change the shipping address for order

Unfortunately no one is available on the weekend to take calls at 866-634-7426 or 866-409-9542.  Email does not provide any relevant customer support either.  Can someone from Dell respond to this matter?  Especially the websites that appear no longer exist. This is my last Dell purchase.

• Check their order status
• Update credit card information
• Update or change the shipping address for order

Unfortunately no one is available on the weekend to take calls at 866-634-7426 or 866-409-9542.  Email does not provide any relevant customer support either.  Can someone from Dell respond to this matter?  Especially the websites that appear no longer exist. This is my last Dell purchase.

An email from Dell says this:

We do apologize for the inconvenience. The shipping has been delayed till the end of June.

 And that's it. No reason given - just a statement.

Will Lionel tell us why?
 

I must agree with most of you that this website is a waste of time.

Not to mention it is CENSORED!

My post describing my experience has been removed even though there was nothing offensive in it.

Now for the real reason I came here to vent.

My dad registered 2 PCs for upgrade and now Upgrade center is telling me that 2nd PC was NOT registered and they cannon help him.

bordeline on ridiculous.

Now 1st. June and status page is "in process".

COME ON DELL - GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!

Bob Collins said:

Again I write in the vain hope of contact from Dell

and being rude to their employees to jolt them in to some sort of action !

Lionel useless Menchaca nothing from him !! emailed him ,no reply

More than happy to report I finally got my Vista Upgrade this past Weds (on my birthday ironically).  No email was sent from Dell but the DHL tracking number did work.  Didn't use the Dell Upgrade Assistant since I wanted to do a clean install so that whole wait was unnecessary.  The upgrade was very smooth.  The only items I needed from Dell was a RICHO driver, my ATI Readon drivers, and the Sound Blaster Audigy.

Just a tip -- You have to install the Sigma Tel drivers FIRST before the Sound Blaster upgrade software otherwise you get a "drivers not found" error. 

Also, let me just say that the lack of information from Dell, the constant delays, and the uncharacteristically poor service that has surrounded this upgrade was frustrating and disappointing to say the least. I have used, installed, manged, and troublshot hundreds of Dells and related Dell products and this is the worst experience I've ever had with them.  Hope this is the last time I'll have to say that.

Bob Collins said:

I think Scott is right, this forum is usless, but it does let us blow off some steam.  Nothing is fixed.  I am so glad that I wrote the whole thing off and installed my own Vista, but I am sorry to see so many others still getting no where and frustrated.   It is hard to understand why Dell would let this problem go on for so long,  It  is bound to influence sales.   ???

Wow…things just keep getting worse through this process.  I have been in contact with a Dell Customer “Advocate”.  I first heard from her on May 1^st, requesting the service tags of the machines that I would like the Vista upgrades for.  I responded to her on May 2^nd with all of the service tags.  After not hearing anything back for 5 business days, I emailed her on May 9^th to see if there had been any progress.  The afternoon of May 10^th I get an e-mail back saying that she now needed the COA number off each computer…not easy seeing how 3 of my systems are laptops for mobile users.  I managed to get the number for 3 of the 4 systems and e-mailed those numbers to her on May 11^th.  I managed to get the number for the 4^th system that night and e-mailed it to her that evening.  She spoke to me briefly on the 11^th and said the 11^th was the deadline for the COA numbers, and that she needed a company credit card to place the order…all the people in finance were out of the office for the rest  the day.  I tried calling her May 14^th but ended up having to leave a voicemail, which I followed up with an e-mail later in the day telling her that I got the credit card number.  I left her my mobile number incase she got it later in the day.  At 10:12am (EST) this morning (May 15^th) I get an e-mail from her saying that the site is now closed and that she cannot register my systems since the deadline has passed.

What I want to know is, why did something that should have taken ONE day, end up taking 11 business days to complete (if you consider being told you are too late complete)?  I am EXTREMELY unhappy with Dell and this Customer Advocate.  I expect Lionel to forward this to the appropriate managers, and to no longer use Customer Advocates that let customers slip through the cracks.

Zomax...I have researched a lot of on-line complaints and Zomax has many people snowed into thinking they threw out their product keys. 

Would you throw out your product key? Unless someone has not dealt with windows ever before we know all about product keys. Shame on them for convincing people they threw their keys in the rubbish.

They were poorly packed...simple as that.  Clearinghouse dirt cheap. Never again Dell.

I despise your poor customer service. I would not work there. I would be too ashamed.

I still have no product key  Lionel is like all the others...a bunch of empty promises. I hate Dell. I am so sorry I bought this PC and did the vista upgrade.

2 days and my computer will stop working. Even though I bought Vista from Dell, I have to go BUY a product key. Shame on Dell. Shame on you Lionel. 

FINALLY!! ! ! !  ! ! 

Reposted from other discussion:

 Well people I finally got my Vista Upgrade today. Was charged 2 days ago on my credit card and it was sent 2nd day by DHL. I am very happy I have finally received it but just wished the communication had been better. This is my first Dell and would hope that it wouldn't be my last. We'll see....

p.s. I initially ordered my e521 the beginning of December.

Ok, so on 5/2 I posted here that someone from Dell had gotten a hold of me,  and told me that if i wanted they would send me the Retail Vista Upgrade.    and I have been waiting 6 days for a reply from the Email i sent them accepting that offer,  and also requesting someone higher up the management chain get in touch with me.  NO REPLY.  NOTHING.  Same as every other escalation attempt, and promise made to me.

 BUT...

I get an Email today, that my Express upgrade shipped yesterday, and should be delivered tomorrow.  The funny thing about this,  is I find out the "Dell Fulfillment Center" that it is shipping from is literally 2 miles from my house,   but seeing as they paid for DHL 2 day shipping, I get to wait 2 days to get it.

At least I SHOULD have Vista soon,  but that still doesnt end my crusade..

Ben:

I am in the same boat. I was charged for the upgrade on 3/30/07. I got a shipped email confirmation with a DHL tracking number that never worked.

 Still no upgrade!

Hey,

Just got my upgrade pack yesterday, after ordering it on the 11th of January.  One thing is though, the website still says "In Process" and I didn't get any e-mail?!?!?  Just so you know I'm here in Ireland, so i guess they are going through. About time.

I purchased the M90 for my small business.  It was to have VISTA shipped, and I ordered it from Dell.  VISTA was released on 31 January; it is now 4 May and I STILL don't have it.  I'm tired of seeing PENDING in the order field.  Can you get this for me before Christmas?  (Pardon the sacasm; I'd like to have it ASAP)  Here are the details, though I think this will be shuffled around Dell for weeks for an answer:

  Order Summary

 Order Number: V2185***
 Order Status: In Process
 DHL Tracking Number: 
 Product Description: Windows Vista Business-English 
 Product Price:  $ 0.00 
 *Estimated Sales Tax, if applicable:  $ 0.64 
 Shipping & Handling:  $ 10.00 

 Order Total:  $ 10.64 

I'm more disgisted now that I have been searching the net with google.

Most posts stop in early April -- at least this one goes through a few days ago.  Will this really ever happen?

Art

I recieved an email saying that my upgrade shipped back in March and my credit card was charged.  Still haven't got anything in the mail.  I go to DHL website and check my shipping number and it says number not found.   Anyone have the same problem.  Any ideas what has happned. 

Ben

I'm still waiting too.........................................

When will i get an answer, 8 months and not a word since purchase

Back in feb. you said were being delivered

then in march

then in april

then in may

then in.....

When is it going to come

Oh and i live in europe on a island beside the uk

called Ireland heard of it?

With so many asking for xp instead you should have more copys available

 

I own a XPS system my vista DVD should be coming this month we are already in the third day of the month and no word from DHL. I am so upset i was a big dell fan, however now i question about purchasing the furture HP gaming system. And witht the expected date of shipments for these vista upgrades i don't think they will make it this month.

Dell please prove me wrong otherwise u lost another dell customer

Well someone finally got back to me from Customer care,  they have offered to cancel my vista upgrade order and send me a retail upgrade version of xp.   EXACTLY what some of requested multiple times over a month ago... well we will see how long it takes to get that.

Still does nothing for the lies, broken promises and complete disregard of us customers that has been going on since February, but its a start.

Thanks Lionel for finally getting somethgin going to resolve my concerns.

May 2, 2007 

STILL WAITING! ! ! 

Just send me a Vista Disc and I will gladly install it without the Upgrade DVD. I will search on my own for the correct drivers.

I am getting sick and tired of this. At this point I will never buy a DELL product again. I will cut up my dell credit card and go elsewhere for my future purchases.

Thanks for nothing DELL.

Its May now and I'm still waiting for 2 x upgrades I ordered last November. The status of both is "In Process". A 3rd was delivered early April.

Please can Dell contact cutomers with outstanding orders and let us know the status of our order - you have our contact details. Or publish a timetable for the remaining deliveries.

regards
  CHRIS

Well, Mr. Dell,

I really wish I had a product key for my Windows Vista. I am one of many who never received a key only to have Microsoft tell us the key is already in use. Who has my key? Someone at Dell? An employee of Zomax?

Will you eventually have your giant legal department go after Zomax.

Will you help the Dell customers who have been harmed by Zomax?

I really wish there were a way to escalate a complaint up your hapless and hopeless customer service network. You see, I have had one email and one answering machine message. I replied to both but no one from Dell has contacted me in two weeks. Is this acceptable?

So this problem with my product key, according to Dell, is in Zomax’s hands?

Read below how Zomax is not helping me.

Why did you pick Zomax? Their CEO is in prison, they have a wretched record and their customer service is as appalling as yours.

I know the answer, the bottom line, of course.  The joke is on me as I will have to buy a new product key. To whom may I send the bill?

Please read below. Zomax tells me they have some in-fighting.

Kelly - Thank you for the explanation. Now that I understand what has happened, I understand why you've been having so many problems. This will not be comforting to you, but the problem you have described really falls into a gray area between our Sales and Support (Zomax)/Dell Customer Care and Dell Technical Support.

I am pretty experienced on this project, and until your explanation below I could not determine what the exact problem was.

I cannot email you a new product key. This is not something Zomax controls. Product keys are strictly controlled by Microsoft, and our access to the replacement keys in still being determined. I do have you on the list for your call regarding the missing Product Key (the name listed was Hannan Chuba, and since I did not have your Service Tag number I was not able to confirm that this was your record).

You do not need to contact any contact center (Zomax or Dell) any longer. I will be your point of contact, but there will likely be several weeks before you have the Product Key in your hand.

I know that the continued delay is not what you want to hear, but I will follow-up with you as things progress.

Jeff

From: Kelly Chuba [mailto:khchuba@comcast.net]
Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2007 3:32 PM
To: 'Jeff Brady'
Subject: RE: Dell Vista Upgrade Problem

NO ONE had contacted me at the time of your post,  Another lie from the great dell machine...

I got my first contact on Sunday evening, I responded yesterday AM,  and of course am now waiting for a response.

I have been down this road 4 times with Email support,  and have never gotten a response to my replies. 

Can you get a more current update on the whole situation for everyone?   Its close to a month since you posted this thread, and maybe there is more information.

When Vista launched (and prior to that), Microsoft and other companies were just handing out hundreds of free Vista copies (and Office).  Why don't I have my discs yet? 

This is from a Microsoft Press release (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/mar06/03-21WindowsVistaDeliveryPR.mspx):

"Microsoft is on track to complete the product this year, with business availability in November 2006..."

Vista Business (a.k.a the final release) was made available to Businesses in NOVEMBER of 2006.  Is it realistic to use the excuse that there was not enough time to test drivers, etc. when it was available for testing 6 months ago?!!!

I submitted my information on Dec 27th...I believe everyone makes mistakes and no one is perfect but this is just beyond absurd.  I can't believe that I may have to wait until June before I ever get to install Vista on my laptop (assuming Dell doesn't push the date back once again).

I finally received my upgardes. No email that it was shipped or any other contact.  I checked the status upgrade page every day and that is how I found out. Dell said it was shipped but DHL said only 3 days later that it actually receive it the package. It took only 3 days to transport the package from US to my home in Germany which is very good and DHL online status page gives a very good overview here you package is and when it is going to be delivered.

I installed the upgrade (business version) without any problems which is a first for a Microsoft product. I like the look and feel of Vista but it is nowhere near a revolutionary product more mainly visual and some small underlying improvements.

1. Has anyone tried to return their computer to Dell, based on the fact they have failed to comply with their earlier statement when the Vista Upgrade would ship?

2. I sent an email to michael dell michael_dell@dell.com and actually had a real person call back about the Vista Upgrade for my E521. He was actually from the U.S.! He stated that the E521 Vista upgrade would ship the last week of....................April Oh well they don't even know.

He was very reasonable, gave me many reason why the OS is not shipping (I do believe Microsoft is part of the problem) but could not tell me why Dell does not do a better job in informing their customers. Pity.

Moral here, I did not get my upgrade so email michael is probably not a solution. 

This message is a reply to John's message. I have followed your tip and called the regular dell customer service a couple of times. However no luck. Each time the rep said Zomax fulfills orders and they have no access to ship CDs. The 2nd time the Dell rep conferenced me in with Zomax after I insisted I was not going to call them again since they don't do anything.

Well this Dell rep heard first hand Zomax's answer after taking the information yet again. Wait 2 weeks and if I don't receive call again. This is after 6 previous calls of the past month. He told me and the Dell customer service rep that there is nothing they can do but enter in the info to an escalation team. When pressed to get his supervisor by both me and the Dell customer service rep he said the manager was in a meeting and that I should call back in 2 hours.

The Dell rep took it upon herself to followup and call a supervisor at Zomax and will supposedly conference me in.

This is ridiculous. How hard can it be to get an upgrade pack shipped? This excuse that it is outsourced is nonsense. Dell entered into this relationship with this vendor and sold PCs with the express upgrade as a selling point so as not to hurt their holidays sales. It is Dell's responsibility to get these issues resolved.

1 month left !

 
I redeemed my Vista Upgrade on December 22nd 2006. So according to Dell they have 1 month exactly to ship all orders from December thru March 31st.

 
1 month and they're haven't yet completed December's orders!

Why does it take days to update credit card details? I just don't understand why. E.g. when you buy something on amazon or somewhere else, and if the order isn't shipped, you can change the credit card inf, and get a response right away, also if the credit card doesn't work.

I tried updating my credit card info, and it took weeks before the site did show any update.

Problem is now that my credit card is lost/stolen, and therefore I've locked it, but then I have to change my order once again, but don't want to, and hope my card will find its way to me again before the upgrade ships, because the shipping is so slow for international orders!

This whole process has become a giant joke.

Still waiting for Customer Care,   2 times i have been told they will contact me in the last 2-3 weeks by Lionel.

 STILL NOT A SINGLE EMAIL.

Lionel,   drop me an email so i can send you all my contact information, as the only way CC can get me now is via Email.

Has anyone had any success getting issues resolved through Dell or the "fullfillment center"? My upgrade supposedly shipped 3 weeks ago and my credit card was charged. A DHL tracking number was sent however it is not in DHL system.

I have tried multiple times calling and email the numbers listed on the upgrade site and contact info on this site as well. The response is always we will research and get back to within 3-5 business days. Yeah right. My issue is probably no different that other that have posted here.

Dell needs to get their act together. Even if they are dealing with a 3rd party it is their responsibility to have a clear escalation path with that vendor so their customers can get issues resolved and quickly.

This is the response I just received from the Dell Express Upgrade team. A few points:

1. They still insist it is EXPRESS

2. They still insist orders are being shipped in the order they were redeemed.

3. They tried to palm me off with an excuse about OTHER systems.

 I was enquiring about an upgrade for an Inspiron 1501 redeemed on Dec 22nd.

On 27/04/07, emeaenglish@d1.dellvistaupgrade.com <emeaenglish@d1.dellvistaupgrade.com> wrote:

Thank you for your interest in the Dell Express Upgrade Program for Microsoft Windows Vista.

Dell has begun shipping the Windows Vista Upgrade Kits based on the order in which redemptions were received. If you purchased an eligible system and validly redeemed your Windows Vista Upgrade during the noted timeframes, you will be notified via email when your Upgrade kit ships.

If you ordered a Dell Dimension C521, or E521, Dimension XPS 710, or Optiplex 740, your upgrade is planned for shipment in May. In order to provide a more completed version of the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system for the XPS 710, and to ensure your access to an updated critical driver for integrated NVIDIA Chipsets, Dell chose to remanufacture the operating system DVD that you will receive.

Unfortunately I don't think Dell actually knows, or cares, what is going on with the Vista Upgrade. They saw it as a great way to sell PCs in the latter quarter of 2006 with the incentive of an Upgrade (EXPRESS UPGRADE) to Windows Vista for the small price of S&H, but you must buy now. Otherwise with the pending release of Vista only 3-4 months away, why would anyone buy a new PC with just XP, especially with the festive season approaching.

Then they palm the upgrade distribution off to a third party offering the lowest charge for the process (whether this be deemed by Microsoft or not) and forget about it! They got the sale, what do they care!?

I BEG to be proven wrong but when all Dell can tell me is what they see on a website, that my upgrade order in 'In Process' what else can you think?

Go on Dell, I dare you to prove me wrong! 

CAN SOMEBODY FROM DELL CONTACT ME ABOUT UPDATING A CREDIT CARD AT DELLVISTAUPGRADE.COM     IT HAS BEEN OVER A WEEK AND NO CHANGE IN STATUS OF UPDATE OF CREDIT CARD INFORMATION ORDER NUMBER V2104727  THIS IS MY THIRD POST TO THIS FORUM ABOUT THE SAME ISSUE, THANKS DELL FOR IGNORING ME AND THOUSANDS LIKE ME. TODD MARTIN.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COMPANY? DO I HAVE TO PAY OR SOMETHING TO GET SUPPORT, OR KNOW THE SECRET PASSWORD?

ALL I WANT  IS FOR YOUR COMPANY TO SHOW AN UPDATE IN CREDIT CARD INFORMATION, SO I KNOW THAT MY ORDER WILL NOT BE DELAYED ANOTHER 3 MONTH'S DUE TO YOUR COMPANY'S INCOMPETENCE, OR WHOEVER ELSE YOU BLAME IT ON.

I contacted this blog, Dell and Zomax about having never received a product key.

Customer care returned my original complaint but got me confused with another customer and now my problem has dropped off the planet and as far as Dell is concerned, so have I.

Dell isjust simply too big to care. I really should have never ordered a product from them to begin with.

I will stall the activation of my windows vista with the clock hack but waiting for Dell or Zomax is futile. Zomax's CEO is in prison for God's sake.

My employer bought thousands of laptops and desktops from Dell three years ago. I hope to exact revenge on Dell by contacting my Deputy Secretary to beg her that we never use Dell again.

That would make having to buy my own copy of Vista at a retailer even though I already paid Dell worth every bloody penny.

Good-bye Dell, you lost a customer forever. I hope to take my State Agency with me.

Dell/Lionel,

I think it would help calm the masses if they would update that very annoying scripted email.  It keeps saying how orders are being shipped in the order they are received.  Well, many people ordered 2 systems (like me) and have received one Vista disk but not the other.  I got the first one a month ago.  If they in fact are shipping in the order they were received, I would have both of my orders.  All they are doing is moving the date in the scripted email.  This is making many people very upset.  On a site I am member of, there are quite a few upset people about this delay.  They are especially upset that the system they bought is now being sold with Vista and all the drivers are available on the site.  This is just making more people upset at Dell.  So, if it isn't Dell's fault, it is in Dell's best interest to clear this up with all of us. 

Mike 

Just a heads up --

If you've been playing around with Vista RC1 or RC2 while waiting for your Vista Upgrade discs....you've got until the end of May before they expire. So back everything up and either move back to XP or, God willing, maybe by then you will have received those upgrade discs you've been waiting for since January 30th.

You know I was actually thinking of using RC1 just because of this whole unfortunate Express fiasco...now I am seriously just thinking of buying the thing in the store (sadly).
 

I agree with Allan.

Especially as Dell asked for our email address and telephone number for the SPECIFIC reason on keeping us updated!!!

Actual wording from the dellvistupgrade.com site:

"Your telephone number and email address will be used only for communication regarding Dell’s Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Program. If you choose not to provide an email address, you will not receive updates regarding your upgrade order."

 I have yet to see ANY update regarding my upgrade order for my Inspiron 1501 on Dec22nd.

 

oooo - Customer Care!

My money is them saying 'you order is in process Sir!'

 i.e. USELESS!!
 

Lionel -

Still waiting..

what will come first?

My contact from customer care,  my getting the Vista Upgrade discs, or Santa?

 I am leaning towards to jolly old elf.

If they are waiting for drivers for my E521 bought in December before they can ship my Vista upgrade, how many new PCs ordered in the last month are sitting waiting for the drivers to be provided before Dell can load Vista and ship to new customers.

 I think Dell have purchased a lot of buses and coaches so they can take us all for ride. If I treated my customers like this I would be out of business - but they have my cash so who's the mug???

Hi all,

I just received my Vista upgrade.

I placed my order in Jan.

On an Australian forum lots of people have said that theres is also shipping and/or received at the same time.

My guess is they shipped a whole batch for the country at the same time. Slo it really doesnt have much if anything to do with the order date. For those in other countries you probably have to wait till your country it batched together an shipped.

Its interesting to note the the COA sticker that we are supposed to peel of and attach to our Dell computer just rips, So be careful, you will probably have to just leave it on the cardboard it is stuck to.

Dear Lionel

I own a XPS 710 while iam waiting for upgrade disk to ship next month i have come accross this users post

Jerry Arslanian said:

I noticed Michael Dell's new laptop has a Linux-based operating system.

 He must be having trouble getting his copy of Vista too...

Hey Craig, mine just shipped too!

Not bad at all.

BTW: mines shipping to Melbourne aswell

 

Craig, when did you order your so called Express Upgrade...??

 It's because your situation is kind of the same as mine...

I have a m1210 with MCE and live in Mexico, and it seems our countries have not the same importance to Dell than US Uk or Canada....

I redeems the upgrade February 2nd....

Regards....

Lionel,

I just called the vista express(?) upgrade phone number. I asked where my upgrades were for my three E521.  I was told that they will be shipped by the end of May.  I asked what I thought was a simple question and that was Why is it taking so long for the upgrade.  The person on the other end started to read her generic answer about conflict with drivers and problems with creating the DVD. This was the first time I was told this when I called vista upgrade. I then asked another question and that is.  I already have a E521 I ordered in March that has Vista and is was configured the same as one with Windows XP and it is working fine.  She had no answer for me.  I also talked to the supervisor and asked why now are you finally telling me this in that I was first told by the end of Feb, then the end of March.  Last week I was promised that it would be shipped by April 15th. The supervisor had no answer for me. I also asked the supervisor why didn't Dell send out this information to all individuals that are waiting for the orders in that they have the emails address. Again the supervisor had no answer.  I found both individuals I talked to did not have a good working knowledge of English.

If Dell had sent to all customers an email like your statement at the begining of this blog it would have gone a long way in helping Dell image on this matter. An email would have been a excellent way to keep the consumer informed.  Dell has no problem in sending out weekly emails announcing sales.

Bob A-

I have an Email that states  Dell will have all Vista Upgrades shipped by April 15th, (Emailed to me on 3/27) so don't hold your breath.

 Lionel -

Still waiting...  no one has contacted me,  almost 48 hours since you said you would have someone get in touch with me.

Hi,

Just after my prior post I called the dellvistaupgrade support number in spain, but this time I choose to spoke with an English spoken representative.

She was able to track my tag number and tell me that my order was processed the first time by Mr Andrew Green, and it will be shipped in the next 4 or 6 weeks?.

 But the worse part it is going to be shipped to ANOTHER country. So I will need to pay the shipment to Spain.

 Well I am speechless about all the problems your causing to your user base.

 Best regards,
David
 

Hi,

I see Lionel is still looking this thread. But in my case after my first post here  in April 15, 2007 7:18 AM I am STILL waiting for someone from Dell to contact me and give me an answer.

I tried to go to the dellvisteupgrade.com website and it is not woking. Firefox and Explorer couldn't find the web page. I made a Ping and it is alive, but looks like AGAIN you are having problems with your servers.

What do you expect we think about Dell? They didn't have any problems on selling and charging on the card the laptop.

I could wait as well if at least someone from Dell contacted me telling me about this delay.

With all this mess you are losing clients. A lot of them, because the ones with problems are not going to tell anything good about the company you work for.
 

Best regards,

David 

Lionel,

I like this coiincendence, its a bit spooky.

I just checked my order and it has shipped!

Maybe you pulled a few strings for me, after checking the DHL tracking records it shipped 4 hours BEFORE I made the above post. I noticed all this after watching the movie Daja Vu.

Maybe you have one of those time warping machines!

Funny thing is my credit card hasnt been charged, maybe in takes a while for the money to be transfered down all those tubes.

Looking forward to receiving it.

I see it has left Wilmington - Clinton Field, does anyone know how these shipments are done and how long in might take to reach Melbourne, Australia?

Lionel, you have stated a couple of times that Dell "expects to ship all orders out by the end of May".  Dell has stated those words on the upgrade site as well.  That word "expects" makes me nervous.  Is that an absolute guarantee?  If so, I can be patient a bit longer.  Although this experience has put a bitter taste in my mouth towards Dell.  If there is, though, ANY possibility it could stretch into June (or even July) then Dell has sealed their fate IMO.  So again, am I (are we) absolutely guaranteed that my (our) Vista upgrade will be shipped out by the end of May?

I think I'll start saving £1 for each day until my Vista Upgrade arrives. After a year I'll be able to buy Vista Ultimate retail edition!

Still waiting (Inspiron 1501 in the UK - registered for upgrade Dec22nd)

Lionel,

Including a link back to the top of the same page is in no way helpful.

This article talks about specific models. But what about all the other models? This is not addressed at all. We have no reasons why their is a delay for other models.

I have an M1210 why is my shipment delayed this delayed? These can be bought on your web site with vista and all the drivers are available for download.

The standard email back from Dell now talks about the delay for the above models but they dont actaully respond to my question about my model.

I too am in Australia.

What really annoys me that dates are promised and then only a few days before that date suddenly the date is pushed back 6 weeks. Dell must know about these problems well before then.

Craig

I don't understand.

I bought a Inspiron 6400 in December and redeemed my upgrade on Jan 5th

To my knowledge, my computer doesn't have a NVIDIA disk controller, it is not an OptiPlex 740, Dimension C521, E521 or an XPS 710

So the only reason for delay left is that I'm Australian.
According to the upgrade site, I would receive my upgrade in 4 to 8 weeks.
There was no indication that international orders would actually take 13-14 weeks just to ship.

How is it that it takes so much longer to begin shipping the same disks for a system perfectly ready for the upgrade, just because it's in another country?

My issues have gone so far beyond the fact that I havnt got my disks yet, I understand and believe what you told me.

My Issue is the LIES that we have been told, and the fact your company would  not disclose issues that were obviously known for literally 6 Weeks or more,  With the exception of here,  nowhere is that information communicated, even TODAY.   Just deadlines are pushed back with no explanation.

My issue is the lack of ability to ESCALATE issues within your service department,  to sit on hold only to have the same answer regurgitated to you or  be promised a call back and never get one,  and the fact that many of your phone representives have a hard time understanding SIMPLE questions in English, and you make it impossible for anyone to reach someone in the US, that might understand what your are trying to ask.

Emailing questions only bring the same non-answers in broken english,  I get junkmail wanting me to buy prescription drugs written better than some of the Email responses i have recieved from your company

 I feel the lack of communication, outright lies and PROMISES made to me that have not been kept need to be addressed, and I as well as many others should be compensated in some way for the BLATANT mishandling of this situation by your company.

Why does Dell keep telling me "one more week or so" when they could tell me the truth? I have a C521 and recently found out about the NVidia driver issue. (Like today). They have been giving me the line "your order is in process" for over three weeks now.

I purchased the computer on Dec 6, 2006. This forum has more answers than "all of Dell". This will probably be my last Dell purchase. The bigger they are the harder they fall. They charged me for the shipping a month ago. I complained because they didn't really ship the Vista order, so they removed the charge the next morning. Nothing since.

 After reading some of these stories, I can say with assurance that I will not do any business with Dell again.

4/6, 4/11 and 4/14  requests were made here to have someone contact me,  still no contact.

 Just like when you want to "escalate" past the first level on the phone,  no one calls you back.

Or when you Email an escalation request,  No response.

I guess its more important to tell people that Mr. Dell has a new notebook than to try to resolve issues and honor requests of customers.

Finally received my upgrade DVD... ordered it in january, still waiting on another 1,  sending it with the first this 1 would've been too easy and would also save postage charges.

This "Express" upgrade program is reminiscent of the XPS 700 launch last year.   Clueless reps, misinformation, unexplained delays.   It is a nightmare all over again.  I really hate the scripted emails.  They are getting under my skin as much as the delay itself.  I asked a question.  I get the same email back no matter which question I ask.  The email says that orders are being shipped in the order they are being received.  Well, that obviously is a straight up lie.  I placed 2 "Express" upgrade orders on the same day....5 minutes apart.  I received one of them 3 weeks ago.  I called the customer service number only to get someone who could not understand what "shipped in the order they are received" means.  She kept verifying that that was indeed a correct statement in the emails.  Yet, would not explain to me how orders which were placed 5 minutes apart could be weeks apart on delivery.  How do you have people answering phones that cannot understand what I am asking?  It's pretty simple.  I simply asked her to communicate with me on a basic level.  I said to her "If there is a delay of my order, I would like to know what the delay is".  Clueless.  Absolutely clueless.  I am also very unhappy how I was charged for this 2 weeks ago.  Once again, Dell has let me down.  You already chased me away from your enthusiast systems.  Do you really want to chase me away altogether?  I just started to somewhat forgive you for what you did to me with the XPS 700 and then this happens.

How did it get the name "Express" anyway? 

Hallo,

I think this is my last  attempt.

I have ordered the Upgrade in the first January Week. Since several

weeks I hear only empty promises.

The same happens with my Office 2007 Upgrade.

So I think both Dell and Microsoft do make a fictitious bid and they don´t

want to deliver.

I will not buy any more Dell

Not the best regards

While Leonel's update is appreciated, I see it as nothing more than a blatant attempt to appease those of us who are just plain disgusted with the Express Upgrade program.  Delays.  Misinformation.  Lackluster support.  Confusion.  Excuses and more excuses.  The bottom line is that Dell has failed with this program horribly and cannot be trusted at this point.  I honestly can't believe ANY info posted here or on Dell's website.  When I get the Vista CD I'll install the product.  

I had to snicker at the comment about certain systems (like the Optiplex 740) causing a delay due to a driver issue.  So what would happen if I bought an Optiplex 740 and installed a purchased version of Vista?  Yep.  I'd download the driver (very easily I might add) and be done with it.  So why the lengthly delay shipping Vista to us?  Sorry.  The excuse/reason given just doesn't fly.  I'm not buying it.  Nor will I buy any more Dell computers!

Hey guys ;)

Here in Brazil, the Upgrade was really stressing, too. We had a 5-11 days max arriving date, but I received my kit after 56 days!

My Vista kit was built here in Brazil, by Dell Brazil, Microsoft and Grafica Bandeirantes [the publisher]. Everybody that I had contacted received the kit at least 40 days after the purchase.

 Well, anyway... I'm on Vista Home Premium in portuguese now! So happy!

And also Thanks Dell for your great hardware [C521], I've had absolutely zero problems with drivers.

Lionel -

On 4/6 and 4/11 in this blog i requested someone from customer care contact me,  still no contact.   I have tried to initiate communication MANY times with customer care and Vista upgrade support over the last 2 months and get stonewalled with  FALSE answers.   The one time in early March that someone contacted me due to a message in this blog,  I was also given the same INCORRECT response that you were giving at that time with no further information available.   I have done the Email method as well, attempting to escalate the issue after getting a canned response as well with NO response to that.

I cannot beleive that you have only one level of escalation on your phone Q's, and if you get a foreign phone center, and they dont even have proper information, and  there is no way to escalate to reach someone located in the US. 

Lies, lack of information,  and complete disregard of the customer once you have their money seems to be the way your company feels to treat their customers.

What a bunch of lies (from Dell).

 If the delays are caused by the "Nvidia controller" problems Lionel speaks of, then why have I not recieved my copy when I bought an XPS M1210, or my girlfriends Inspiron 6400, neither of which have such controllers?

 Registered in Nov. 2006... STILL nothing.

Dell is run by a bunch of monkeys (the same ones who operate their call centres in India).

I had the same problem as Harry N.:

1. Email received 3/30 w/ DHL tracking number, stating my order had shipped.
2. Checking DHL web site every other day, getting "Tracking Number Not Found"  Usually this means a number has been assigned and registered in the shipper's system, but the package has not yet been picked up.  I would have expected it to appear within a day or two of notification, but didn't
3. Finally called today and reached someone in India (I'd guess).  He explained that my tracking number was invalid and they'd have to re-ship, then asked for my order number, service tag, phone number.  Of course I'm at work because they only answer the phone between 8 AM and 5 PM and the computer and paperwork is at home.
4. Put agent on hold, called daughter.  She can't pick out the service tag on the bottom because there are a zillion numbers.  She gave me every one but the right one!  Sent her upstairs to find paperwork; no luck.  Sent her to the garage to find the box w/ service tag.  We went through 20 numbers and finally found it.
5. By this time, India has hung up.  Called back, reached India 2.
6. Gave order number, phone number, service tag number.  India 2 says "I also need your COA number. It's on the bottom of your unit."  Aaaaugh!
7. Put India on hold; call daughter, get number before he hangs up again.
8. India 2 promises to ship upgrade right away.  I'll not hold my breath.

In addition to the other complaints voiced here, I fail to understand why so much data is needed to re-ship.  Sure, verifying order number, phone number and address is necessary to prevent fraud, but all the other information can be referenced from the upgrade order.  They have these things called "databases" for that purpose.  I wasted a half hour on the phone and almost reduced my daughter to tears to find unnecessary information.  I hope someone at Dell in a position of authority (Michael??!) can read this.

I have an E521 purchased in January. I have purchased Vista since I can no longer wait for the Express Upgrade. My concern is with the NVIDIA disk controller drivers. The drivers mentioned in this forum are for Windows XP not Vista. I have visted the NVIDIA site to look for a Vista Driver for the controller but they do not exist there either. When will these drivers be posted on the Dell website so I can download them?

I understand the problems that Dell is having with other vendors and coordination of all the products. However Dell's website has not done a good job of informing it's customers of what is happening in a timely fashion. I have purchased Vista because of the incorrecting timeframes posted when I would expect to have Vista.

If you are shipping E521's with Vista, why aren't the Vista drivers for the E521 on Dell's website?

I think everyone needs to realize and chill about Dell not helping the customer.  If Dell "Didn't care about the customer" why then would Dell create this blog.  From a business stand point this blog offers no actual revenue for the company.  But it does offer an area for customer to receive information and vent frustration. 

Lionel does a fantastic job at keeping everyone in the loop with everything that is happening at Dell.  And at least I think we should give Lionel a huge pat on the back, instead of more work for him to do.

As far as the upgrade is concerned.  I too am upset that I haven't received mine, but at this point I'm looking at it as a mixed blessing.  The way I figure it, is that way I do receive my Vista upgrade most of the bugs should be worked out of it.  To me that is a huge bonus.   

Just thought I would add my two cents to this long list.

I have to agree with Todd - Dell should be compensating everyone who has been waiting months for an upgrade that should have been out a long time ago.

I'm really quite tired of Dell's excuses and delays, if they can't deliver on their promises, next time I'll buy from someone who can...

End of story.

Having plenty of time before receiving my VISTA upgrade; reading the various DELL add-on application incompatibilites and watching my 60-day trial software deadlines pass ... I slimmed my XP partition down to the bare OS, created some nice non-windows, data and virtual machine partitions ... and carried on configuring the same.

Now when I ran the upgrade DVD on the XP partition it said all I needed was a BIOS upgrade, which duly installed without any problems. Unfortunately I seem to have fooled the upgrade DVD into thinking I didn't have add-ons so no DVD player, no DVD rewriter, no Creative software updates, no McAfee ... just vanilla VISTA. Indeed the upgrade bypassed all the new drivers as well.

Nonetheless VISTA came up nicely so it would be no trouble at all to install each element manually. Except that the add-on application setup files are all password protected.

So my question already: how do I install the applications manually from the upgrade DVD? Any answer beginning "RUN A FULL SYSTEM RESTORE" will not be well received!

Hmmm.... so Australian upgrades coming anytime soon??????

I've already talked to Jackie and she was concerned I would never buy Dell again, still won't. I wonder why when the date keeps getting pushed back and there is simply no real explanation for it.

No, I am not waiting for a desktop upgrade as stated above, problems have occured and been noted with the E521 systems but my Inspiron 640M has not been mentioned so simply put, where are Australian upgrades going to actually come out?

Not one single person has received a Dell upgrade on Australia's broadband forum (Whirlpool) yet other people have had their upgrades for 2 months+ from vendors such as Sony.

This is in reply to the Dell email I got today advertising a One-Day-Only SALE which is offering this:

E521 System (super fast) with Vista Home Premium

250.00 off one day only

So for the heck of it I configured it to my exact system specs. 100.00 some dollars less than I paid for it. Bought it 11/17/06. Redeemed my express upgrade 11/29/06. Still no upgrade!

This email really put a crawl under my skin. What is the status of the upgrades for the whitelisted systems that Dell has not taken responsibility for. Nvidia and Microsoft aside, step up to the plate Dell and honor your commitments to us.

I ordered a E 521 in November.  Ordered Windows Vista in January.

Two days ago dellvistaupgrade.com says all upgrades will be out by mid april.

Now if I ordered the upgrade in January, shouldn't I technically already have the upgrade?

But no that is not the case...I had to learn on this forum, as opposed to dellvistaupgrade.com....that I will not get my upgrade until may.......?

I called your company........and NOBODY had a CLUE when it would ship.

Sent numerous emails............ALL unanswered.........!!!

Oh and the first two weeks I did try to order my upgrade, dellvistaupgrade.com website was down.

Dell has a serious communications problem. I mean seriously how hard is it to update a website??? or send an email to your employee's.......?

This was my FIRST dell purchase and LAST....I can only imagine how you support your hardware!                                 

Todd Martin

Rob C -

What difference does it make if I use a retail or an OEM for business?  Its the same OS.  All I am trying to do is learn how to basic functions and tasks and get used to moving around in it, and while i was at it learn some of the new features, So i can show my customers.

 I am not teaching rocket science, or doing any programming or major networking tasks,  just show basic users how to use the basic functions of their new PC with new OS.    I just like to know what I am doing when I am taking someones money rather than sit there and try to figure out how to do it on the fly.  

Lionel - 

I am still waiting for someone in customer care to contact me,  6 weeks ago you had someone do it,  and all they told me was the same lies that i got off the phone,  as you can now realize,  it was wrong,  I want to speak to someone again,  perferably in management in the US.   Please have them Email or call me.

Rob C.

Simple answer. I had access to Vista through my profession, and had been running it long before 11/29/06, when I completed my Vista Express upgrade submission and received my confirmation.

There are lots of features that are new in Vista, that I would like to use everyday at home. Adding search folders to my home machine would make life a lot easier.

 XP is not equivalent to Vista, and I could have ordered a new PC of the same model as mine with a working copy of Vista installed from the factory as of the 2nd week of February.  It would now be doing things that I can't do with XP.

But it appears that I MAY finally get to run it 4 months after I could have had it working myself if I had just purchased a retail upgrade copy on release day and hadn't delayed my machine purchase by a month last year to get the "Express" upgrade...

 On 2/16 I checked status and was told to expect receipt withing 4-6 weeks of the beginning of March. Past that time now, and no easy email notification or any other contact later, and I find this page telling me it may be another month.  Must be nice to have ephemeral deadlines with no consequences... other than lost future sales.

 I do large scale MS OS deployments and server support for a living. I deal with driver issues and such like this all the time. I get 48 hours to get product out the door from the time I receive and verify a solution.

I must admit seeing real information instead of boilerplate email, finally, is at least something.

Tim,

Not telling people what to do...just making suggestions.  I find the whining on here kind of interesting as people should have known what they were getting into in the first place.

Again..this "need" for Vista is kind of crazy.  There is no real great reason for it.  XP should be running your current systems just fine.  I can understand if you didn't have an OS, period and were waiting for Vista.  But what's wrong with XP for the next few weeks?  Man oh man.

You have a valid reason, but the fact that you are relying on an OEM version of Vista for business purposes isn't logical.  Just an observation.

I am as curious as anyone...which is why I am here, for info.

 Good luck everyone!

Man, all the information in the world can't fix this fiasco.  The end of May?  Seriously.  It was promised by the end of March when our money was given to you.  Blaming nVidia for the driver update?  I call shenanigans.  nVidia has been a terrific company for delivering timely updates to drivers.  There were drivers available for all nVidia products during the Beta and Release Candidate stages.  Why wasn't Dell working with these?  Why wasn't Dell examining its systems during the extensive Release To Manufacturing Period?  If you factor in the available time, it's been almost six months for Dell to get its act together and ship us the product as promised or at least offer to recall the affected systems so that we can buy systems from companies who deliver on their promises.

To those who say that Dell isn't resting on it's laurels; Dell is just playing the blame game.  They have stated that they're not the problem, over and over and over and over again.  But they are.  You see, simply because Dell relies upon external "outsourcing" does not absolve them of the responsibility to deliver the product.  I think it's terrible the way Dell is shifting the blame off on everyone else.  If they chose poor companies to do business with (and if you believe their finger-pointing) then they are at fault as much as the other companies.

To delay shipment of a product by two months even after the gracious shipment period of three months is ludicrous.  It takes mere minutes to slipstream drivers into installation media - and then you can spend days testing it as you like.  It does not take months to perform such a simple task.  Or is this to speak poorly of Dell's technical abilities?

There is no doubt Dell has made many mistakes with the roll out of computers and Vista over the past few months. A few of them are:

• They should have identified the problems in the systems before their upgrade disks went into production. They certainly had time since Vista had a long beta period and was released to corporate customers the end of November.
• They didn't communicate problems with their customers. Lionel admits that problems with these machines were identified in Feb and it was April before they acknowledged the delays.
• They delivered incorrect and inconsistent messages.  An organization, no matter how big, must speak with one voice to be effective.  These posts make it sound like users are still getting inconsistent messages which just frustrate people.  The Dell Vista upgrade site still says that the upgrade will ship in the order they were received - something everyone knows is incorrect, even if Lionel tried to explain why they're out of order.

I see this blog post from Lionel as a possitive step. Hopefully Dell will analyze their upgrade program and make adjustments in the future. 

Here is a simple, elegant and ethical solution which Dell could implement as a genuine step toward stepping out of this Vista upgrade customer relations nightmare.  (Microsoft, I hope you're listening too)

Compile a list of EVERY customer that you PROMISED a Vista upgrade- and SEND IT TO THEM.  Or...is that too simple?

I'm in the UK.

I received an email on March 17 saying my Vista upgrade had shipped.

Nothing has been received yet. Can I assume, in view of all the comments about delays, that (despite the email) it hasn't actually shipped?

If it has shipped how to I report non-receipt - the DellVistaUpgrade page doesn't seem to help.

Thanks. 

Well what can I say,

All the while I have been waiting for my Vista upgrade, I have not bothered putting anything on this page( despite the frustration), but this morning I gave in and posted my observations ( being polite), then 2 hours later a knock on the door, and it was a DHL delivery with my upgrade, so do I know moan about the fact that I was resigned to having my upgrade in May , and they have delivered it early (April), only joking.

Just glad that it has arrived. If it helps anyone else in the uk, I ordered my E520 system in january.

Thanks for the update, however it does not alter the fact that we have been given "Date" before starting with March, then April now May, I feel really conned by Dell,

Despite all the reasons they give why express does not mean express, they where very quick at pushing it in there pre- sales vista launch in order for people like me to order a machine and then get my money in the bank.

Do Dell really think that when I bought my machine in January I would be happy waiting till May for the "Express" upgrade, when I could buy a unit off Dell in March with it already installed, ( note that they managed to sort the driver problems out prertty quick in order to get new customers.)

 I certainly feel cheated and will think twice or maybe three times befoe buying from Dell again,

Hello, I emailed the Mexico vista upgrade support center.. or whatever... which, ironically, I'm almost 90% sure that is in the US... not India.. and ther told me this:

"ud. debe de resibir sus pedidos los ultimos dias de Abril,   La bodega esta experimentando un volumen mui alto de Actualizaciones,  Tinen un plazo extendido asta el 15 de Abril para enviar los pedidos."

Anyone who knows just a little bit of spanish can notice that it has horrible orthography...

Anyway they say

"You should receive your upgrades (plural??) by the last days of April. The warehouse is experimenting a very high volume of upgrades. They have an extended deadline to April 15th to ship upgrades"

What catches my eye is that it is not an automated response... So this is actual real information... I think.. so, I think Zomax, Microsoft and/or Moduslink still have the deadline of April 15th, but Dell is asuring that no more delays occur after the deadline they state and no more complains from people... (well...)... so... in that case, just five days and ticking...

 Hope my theory is correct... any thought of what the email and statements might mean??

Now the Indian Customer Service Representative has told me that according to the information given to them from their US headquarters, all Vista upgrades will be shipped by the 25th of April and not by the end of May. I thought it was 15th of April... They also told me to not pay attention to the Vista Upgrade site and the notices posted their.

The end of May seems to be a realistic shipment time to me, considering this is the 6th delay they've given to me.

Rob C.

Why dont you just quit telling everyone what they should do, and if you build systems, why are you here?

Its not cost effective for us to build systems and sell them on a small scale,  you cannot match the pricepoints, plus deal with the hardware malfunctions and other OEM issues there would be no money in doing that.   I seriously considered it, but at the rate of 1-2 PCs a month I could never buy anything in quantity to make it worthwhile, its better to help them find a PC that meets their needs, and charge them a fair fee for your services (for me, I charge $100 to help them find a new PC, set it up and migrate the simple files they need from their old PC) everyone is happy.

I was planning on building my Vista system, but i could get everything i would build for about $300 CHEAPER by going this route,  and yes, I now realize i got what i paid for.

Expecting international orders to be shipped by the end of may?

It's April now and still no word as to what is happening. Customer services give us no help and when looking at the order on the web site it's just displayed as "in progress"

Yes you may have to deal with third parties but it shouldn't take four months to keep your customers informed

I can't imagine how much business this will loose Dell long term. Yes you can place the blame on other people but the consumer sees it as a Dell logistics problem.

First I have 5 dell computers. I have purchased 4 (E521) in the last 4 months. 3 have Windows XP and 1 with Windows Vista.  The other Dell I upgraded to Windows Vista in Feb.  I have been attempting to bring all of these computers onto the same platform  since they are networked together.  

I am very tired of the generic email I am getting from the Dell Vista upgrade center when I have asked where is my upgrade. I have called numerous times and every time they keep putting off the delivery date of the vista upgrade. They assured me this morning again that mine would be shipped by April 15th. But after reading the opening statement here by Lionel Menehaca that my E521 computers will not get their upgrades until the beginning of May.  Unfortunately Dell has failed the owners of Dell products this time.  If the opening statement at the beginning of this blog by Lionel Menehaca was sent via email to all Dell owners awaiting Vista upgrades I think I would not be as upset as I am now with Dell. 

Dell must also look at the outsourcing of their services to third world nations also.  This morning I was talking to Vista Upgrade Center and the woman did not have a good working knowledge of the English Language.  I asked her what country she was in she stated that they cannot tell me it is against their policy.  I asked her if she was at least in North America she refused to answer.  I then asked to speak to a supervisor located in the United States her comment was that her supervisor was in the same location with her.  I then asked if a supervisor from the United States could call me back and her reply was "we do not return calls from this center you must call back or talk to a supervisor from this location"

Jmarto...why don't you build your own systems for your clients?

That's what I do.  I am only on here as I bought a Dell by request for someone (I have no idea why but they insisted...they must love talking to people from India).  They have been asking about the Vista upgrade.  But...I am in no hurray and conveyed that to them.  Patience is a virtue when talking about an OS!!  Anyone who blindly made the jump to ME from 98 can tell you!!!

What a fiasco the Dell Visat Upgrade programme is. I've been waiting now for 6 weeks and I see they have now extended the deadline to end May. No-one can tell me where my order is in the pipeline. The Dell Customer Service dept were useless passing me from department to department and when i asked to extend my warranty by the 3 months I'll end up waiting it just blew their mind and they passed me to the warranty department, who promptly cut me off.

At a national rate premium phone line they make a fortuineout of my complaints, haven't delivered anything Free. If you buy an upgrade it gets shipped within two days. How come they can't geta  few DVD's out in a reasonable time. It's pathetic, as is their offshore support centre.

DONT BUY DELL is my advice. Shame as I was one of their biggest advocates.

Well at least I know officially what the delay with my system (Dimension 521) is but there is no excuse for it taking so long for this information to be provided nor for this level of delay in dispatch. I refuse to believe it can possibly take this long to come up with a driver for the disk controller and incorporate that into the upgrade DVD - if Dell really gave a damn about upgrade cusotmers it could and should have been with me long ago. You seem to have had no trouble getting it on to new machines pre-loaded with Vista many months ago but then I guess you don't already have those customer's money. Anyway, the product I purchased was advertised as being Vista capable in 2006 - now you are telling me that it is not so capable - smells like false advertising to me. It would seem that, as a UK customer, I am now looking at an ETA as late as July 2007 allowing for the ridiculously long delivery time and even that's assuming that this date doesn't slip further like all the other dates have. I'm sorry but that is not acceptable.

WHY DOES DELL LIE SO MUCH!!!!

I'LL NEVER BUY A DELL AGAIN

what really gets under my skin, is the lies that are told, i was promised it will be delivered by 15th april, now the site say end of may....

 how many more lies furthermore i got an inspiron 6400, it doesnt have an nvidia controller so what is the delay.

To Ronald Clausen:

I suggest a great book if you are having trouble with Vista..."Vista for Dummies".  Great basic user guide for the OS.

The scenario you describe is the same with every OS upgrade Microsoft has released and is no fault of the hardware manufacturer.

 You can switch the look and feel of Vista to mimic XP.  The benefits of Vista may not be readily noticeable and I agree, the new OS is not as drastic of an upgrade from when XP was released over ME.

As for Outlook Express...there are plenty of alternatives.  Vista incorporates a mail program, it's just called something different.  Also consider the full blown Outlook suite or the free Thunderbird email from Mozilla, makers of Firefox.
 

Cheers. 

I do regret that I bought a brand new Dell computer in December with the assumption that I would get a Vista upgrade included in the price. Dell has "promised" that I will get my Vista upgrade before end of May, which is almost 6 months after the OS was released. The launch of Vista couldn't have been a surprise for third parties to Dell.

I also think's it a bit remarkable that international customers has to wait even longer for the upgrade kit as I was forced to buy an English version of the OS in order to be entitled to the upgrade.

This is now starting to get ridiculous, how many more times are you going to push back these shipments.  I have an Inspiron 6400, and I want to just get mine and get it done with.  They were all ment to be shipped by the 15th of April right??  Any idea when I'll get mine??

I am in the same boat as Tim the computer guy - I run a small business from my home supporting at home PC users.  I purchased an E1505 to be my Vista machine, and I placed my Vista order on November 29th 2006.  My client base is not cutting edge, and will only slowly migrate to Vista, so there was never any reason to take my computer and put a Beta operating system on it.  I could afford to wait until Vista was available to all - but NOT months after its arrival.

In answer to Rob C's question, why should we small operators be forced to go out and purchase retail a product which we already own??  I have been asking since the beginning of February if there will be any unusual delay in my Vista upgrade - and have been continually assured that there is none.  Breaking down and going out to buy Vista at retail seemed to me like the old line about how to make a city bus appear at your stop - light a cigarette and it will come.  Even so, I would have just gone and bought it retail months ago had I not been told again and again that my copy will be here on a timely, first in first out basis.  However, even had I been prescient enough to not trust Dell and had bought a retail copy of Vista at launch, this would leave a bad taste in my mouth, because the version Dell will eventually send me would not be of any value to me at all, since it is only licenced to be used on the actual computer I purchased from Dell in the first place.

I have purchased several Dell computers for my own use, and steered my client base to dozens of Dells.  This delay/stalling/lack of information approach by Dell has completely soured me on Dell and I am now steering my client base in every other direction.

What about if you own a XPS 700?  I order my system in Dec and redeemed the upgrade to Vista the first week of March.  When I check my order status, it shows pending.  Any reasons for the delays for the XPS 700 system owners?

Thanks,

Rob C-

I do it as a side business,  for home users, and am slowly growing it into a larger operation, I have to do what i can *Afford*,   I needed a new PC and Vista,  and the pricepoint of the Dimension e521, with the FREE vista Express Upgrade fit all i wanted/needed in a PC,  I increased Ram and Processor power, , I bought on that offer rather than waiting for a system to come with Vista pre-installed for tax purposes.

I didn't go the Beta route, as I didnt have a PC that was anywhere near vista capable to work with Aero and other things, and knowing my core customer base, i wasnt expecting anyone to go out and jump on Vista right away, so playing on my own with Vista upon release would be all i need to do. 

And why should I go out and buy the retail version of Vista? When in good faith I bought THIS PC, expecting to HAVE Vista, I figured it would be by the end of Feb-Mid March, as to me Express means QUICK.

So let me get this straight I should have recieved a VISTA upgrade by now????

 I brought My XPS700 in oct last year and have not heard anything about an upgrade vie e-mail or letter, I have been away and the last thing I heard I was receiving was a MB upgrade and a 25% discount on Quad core, nothing about Vista.

Could someone let me know what is suppose to be happening please.

cheers

I recently installed Vista and have many misgivings about switching from XP-SP2. First, ther was no mention about loosing Outlook Express for mail. The instructions for completing the upgrade was very limited and lacked the basic instructions to prevent a user from loosing much valuable data as well as programs from XP.

The look of Vista is not as comfortable as XP and it takes a lot of exploring to find if at all possible, the programs and items readilly available from XP.

There are no instructions for users who have upgraded from XP to Vistaer  via a CD for the same computer. All information is designed for users who upgrade from one computer to another computer. The majority of upgrades will be from customers who are upgrading their operation systems only and not purchasing a new computer. Dell and Microsoft take note.........

Further more, there is no technical support for this upgrade unless you purchase a support agreement for software technical support at an exhoribant fee. This fee for $250 will only cover six (6) issues for an entire year. Guess what, there will be many questions that you will encounter and will not have access to any help that can be understood by researching information yourself. Dell has in my estimation taken advantage of a situation and exploited an opportunity for them to gain revenue by charging for technical support for a major upgrade. Don't  look to Microsoft for support without paying through the nose either. The first question they ask is what is your credit card number. You are then on the clock and they are not that technical profecient at answering your questions.

Please understand, you are technically on your own and at the mercy of Dell and MS to figure out why the programs you used to have use of no longer function properly. This is the biggest rip off in the history of any major upgrade by a software manufacturer and computer manufacturer to date.

Personally, I do not recognize any major benefit from switching from XP-SP2 to Vista Home Premium.  The sorriest day of my life is switching from an operating system that was functional to Vista which is a real mess.  Vista forces you to use all Microsoft programs and will put roadblocks for anyone trying to use other programs including Dell...... Vista is a real nightmare and will not get any better without the major manufacturers forcing them to offer better technical documentation and support at no charge for the first year.

There is no documentation that I know of published by Dell or Microsoft on how to uninstall Vista and reinstall XP-SP2. Why?? This is not right.

As a dell customer i want to tell the hard truth that dell is not able to satisfy its customer....i hav dell inspiron, purchased recently and found that the web cam they provided is not compatible with vista. they promised to send the cd but till date i hav not recieved.

Not only this the roxio creator 9 installed by dell is also incompatible with vista. I found no online solution as whenevr i tried to upload the updated version it is being prevented by the vista. Everyone is not expert in this field...and with vista the problems r too much, so i think that dell should send its enginneers who can satisfy their customer.

I think dell should be very alert while installing the softwares.

so us xps 710 customers are not getting vista untill May. Why has Dell not emailed us to tell us this and way when i emailed dell did i get the standard reply

    Thank you for your interest in the Dell Express Upgrade Program for Microsoft Windows Vista.

The Microsoft Windows Vista Software Kits orders are shipping in the order that they were received, and we expect to ship all of the pre-ordered Vista Upgrade units world wide by April 15, 2007.

An email will also be sent that includes the carrier tracking number once your Express Upgrade to Windows VistaT has shipped.

hallo
Could problem be fixed by sending the full program or is c521 not able to run vista.I cannot find the status of my order.It seems that 1 of your staff has been
misleading on upgrade line on more than 1 phone call.the last person i talk did not know the status order the rest never checked the status.It is easy to see that same of cost of express upgrade has been paid already.the price of my pc drop when the opion ended.Microsoft say that only feight sould paid.i not sending this on dell pc as drop of line randomly
 

Tim the Computer Guy,

If you are a computer guy, why are you relying on Dell?  Why not just go buy the retail version and use it?

Just curious...I do what you do but would never rely on an OEM version of an OS for support purposes.  You could have entered into their Beta test program and tried out the release candidates to get familiar with it.

Just a business suggestion.

Thank you for this information. As the other posters said, this was all we needed to know Dell isn't just sitting on their thumbs while customers wait.

I believe if Dell had maintained this level of transparency from the beginning, 90% of the customer service issues caused by the upgrade would never have occurred.

This is a great improvement, keep it up!

Thank you

Lionel,

Thanks for the update and explanation. At least I know were I am now although I do not agree with why we are where we are now and with some of the explanations.
That I now have to wait until the end of May (the current worst case scenario) is just sad and a major departure what has been communicated to me when placed my order.

I've already received my Upgrade Kit.  My question has more to do with the technical aspects of the installation media itself.

1)  Are all necessary Dell-specific drivers on the Operating System dvd?

2)  When in the installation process are they installed?  During the OS installation, or during the Pre-Install phase? 

3)  I preferred to use non-Dell installation media rather than the Dell Kit.  Which drivers specifically will I have to download from Dell, and which ones will I have  to install?

4)  Is there a way to obtain the necessary Dell drivers from either the OS media or the Pre-installation media.

5)  If so, what specifically is the method, and where may I find it on Dell's site?

Donald McDaniel

Thanx for the update i own a xps 710 iam happy to wait till may i only hope there no further delays.

Thanks Lionel,

I'm waiting on a couple of upgrades and it's good to finally get some info on the problems Dell are having getting them out. Had to laugh at your comment about working with other companies to fulfill upgrade orders.

I wonder when someone from Dell is going to point the finger at the only company that has sailed through this fiasco unscathed, although it is the one pulling all the strings (and holding all the licences). In recent months disgruntled users (like me), who've become frustrated with that company have started playing around with Linux as an alternative - I chucked when I saw a couple of weeks ago that Dell was beginning to play around with Linux too.

So, a fix i could download in minutes if I would of bought my system in Feb 07 is making me wait 2+ Months seeing as i took "advantage" of the Dell Vista EXPRESS Upgrade.

Please have someone from Customer Care call me,  I need to get this resolved,  this has cost me time and money as I was hoping to have Vista shortly after its release as I do run a side business as a Computer Tech for home users, and have wasted my time and customers time as i stumble foolishly around Vista trying to do simple tasks, that i would know if i had it on my own PC.

 I feel like a fool and like we have been treated like fools. I dont need any drivers,I can download those.  I JUST NEED THE VISTA UPGRADE.

Thanks very very much... that's all we needed...

Thank you Lionel.  We appreciate information. We appreciate that Dell can't create a customer service nightmare for themselves. It does help alleviate our frustration to acknowledge there are issues and keep us informed.

Lionel,

Thanks for the update, and background on the hurdles Dell has faced in getting the Dell Vista upgrade to us. Hopefully explanations such as this will be more forthcoming when things go awry in the future.  As a customer, it helps greatly to have an idea of what's going on behind the scenes, if for no other reason than to even superficially feel acknowledged by the company we're forking over good money to.

So, when the naysayers show up here later, just know that being forthcoming with your customers is greatly appreciated. Please do it more often, and hopefully, before frustrations rise.  I already pointed your post out to a few people, and their overall reaction was akin to "Well, now that makes more sense, why didn't they say so earlier?"

Kudos.

Thank you Lionel for the update. All that we have asked is to be kept "in the loop" so to say. Any information is better than no information, don't you think?

So basically it is a NVIDIA issue and the fact that Dell has to support this process, not Microsoft. Fair enough. Dell could have just informed us instead of this utterly ridiculous ritual of us (Dell customers) doing this song and dance with Dell requesting information about your product that we purchased and are entitled to. I hope this is a lesson learned about Dell's customer service image that at the moment needs a little polishing up. This is meant for the higher-ups in Dell's food chain that have tied your hands in this situation you've had to deal with. Nothing personal Lionel, I hope it is not taken as such.

Thanks again Lionel and keep us posted.

                                                     Kevin Owens