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I've ordered a Dell computer from dell.com and had a pleasant enough experience-- I'd say a 3 star experience.


But, when I tried ordering a non-dell item, the experience was terrible. I attempted to order a digital camera from the dell website shortly after Thanksgiving. The camera was to be a holiday gift... so it needed to arrive a bit before December 25. Just about a month for travel. No problem, I thought.

Dell.com indicated that the item "usually ships within 24 hours," and 3 to 5 day shipping was free, so I thought I was in the clear timing wise. When I received my order confirmation email, I noted that the estimated shipment date was mid-December... not only more than 2 weeks from when I placed the order, but, with the weekend, getting pretty close to when I'd be leaving for holiday travel. Estimated delivery date was December 18-20!

As I scanned the epinions reviews of dell's service, I noted that many others appear to have received similar treatment... not a good sign.

Well, when the estimated shipping date arrived, I received an automated voicemail from dell.com indicating that the order could not be shipped because it was no longer available from the manufacturer (Why couldn't they tell me this 2 weeks ago!). That same day, I purchased the camera from a competing website... even paying for expedited shipping (arrived within one day), it was the same out the door price as dell with free shipping.

I revisited the dell website and saw that the item was still listed as "usually ships within 24 hours"-- bad service dell. The item has, however, disappeared from my order page as if I never placed the order. The good news is that I don't see the order on my credit card statement (yet) either, so they appear to be doing a decent job on the billing side.