Very true...you'll see many stories of this on this forum and I myself ran into it multiple times. I finally canceled my orders and took them some place else. About the only thing I order from them anymore is maybe monitors.

100% true on all accounts. I finally went to a large online vendor (can't name it here or they will just delete the post) and did a search for what they had in stock that closely matched what I was going to order from Dell. I had 2 of them (one for me and one for my wife) in less than 2 weeks. That while the orders I had with Dell dragged on for months with little or no update on realistic ship times. I used to order Dell machines in bulk when I was the IT manager of various companies. Not anymore.

Before purchasing...you need to make absolutely, positively, leaving no doubt whatsoever, that you are NOT on Dell.com....If you are, leave immediately and shop somewhere else, honestly, anywhere else...JUST SAY NO TO DELLS!!!

Yup...I ended up going with a certain vendor (with Egg in the name) and bought 2 laptops from another maker that they had in stock. Little less expensive...pretty much the same exact specs (better in a few cases), but the cases on these are better and I had them in barely over a week. The one for me has been a rockstar. The one for the wife had a glitch in the cable that attaches the display to the motherboard. I contacted them and they sent me an RMA immediately...I mailed it back...they fixed it and we had it back ALL of that...from ordering to receipt...to sending one back...to getting it back repaired was ALL still in less time than I spent waiting on Dell.

I was looking at other vendors and regret not going with them. Specs were pretty much the same if not better at a slightly lower cost as well. Plus the vendors provided honest dates and had more options when it came to customization.