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120

Shipping

120 points posted to Service and Support by levin91e May 12

Products with an estimated ship date should be shipped by that date. Or at least shipped by the revised shipped date. Not having a product shipped to you when it was estimated to be shipped leaves a bad taste in customers mouths.

My estimated ship date has gone and passed 2 times already and now I am told to sit tight for another 20 days. I think I am more forgiving then some customers but this needs to change. I can't imagine how many sales are lost over this simple problem.

jackie_c
May 12		 @levin91e: Dell does not guarantee shipments as we are a mail order company and this is why we provide an "estimated" ship date rather than a guaranteed ship date. We make every effort to ship them on or before the estimated ship date. Dell does not like to delay shipments any more than you like hearing they are delayed!
jervis961
May 12		 Perhaps provide a later shipping date to start with. If a product arrives early people will be happy and if it is delayd it will lessen the impact because you already lowered the expectation.
elkar
May 12		 Perhaps a link to dictIonary.com to show the definition of the word "estimate" would be helpful to some?

Or maybe Dell should raise their prices in order to hire a dedicated team of "Shipping Analysts" that can monitor world-wide shipping trends and evaluate regional economic patterns and numerous other variables outside of Dell's control. Then they could provide the customer with a more accurate Shipping Date.

In a perfect world, I'd love to see a guaranteed shipping date, but an estimate is better than nothing. Take it for what it is.
sugarbear
May 12		 I`ve got a better idea. When quality control approves the machine for shipment, he or she can send the computer generated shipment date to the customer.
paperpilot
May 13		 E-mails at each stage of the build process giving order status would give me a better feel for what's happening. The customer likes to feel that he is in t he loop.
levin91e
May 15		 My problem is not with the shipping itself, It is with getting it to the point of being shipped. I know what estimated means but when it is a month past the ESTIMATE, then I think it is time to rethink how you estimate your shipping dates. For me it has been 45 days and still no laptop. Every time I call Dell it is always a different part they are waiting on. How can you sell something you don't have. Furthermore how could I have been so stupid as to think Dell would ship within a month of the estimate, its my fault. No wonder Dell is bleeding at the seems, and HP is in Margaritaville.
elkar
May 15		 levin91e - If your situation was the norm, then I'd agree with you. But I do a lot of business with Dell, and in most cases, items are shipped on or before the ESTIMATED ship date. So, their current process is working. Now, there's always going to be exceptions. There are unpredictable factors outside of Dell's control that can affect ship dates. I personally think it would be irresponsible for Dell to add extra weeks or months to their estimates just to cover the possiblity that something might go wrong. That would make no sense!

An Estimate is a best guess using available information. Perhaps your Idea would be better received if you could suggest a way for Dell to improve their estimates. How might they get more reliable information? How could they better control these unpredictable factors? That would be something worth promoting and something worth Dell's time to look into.
levin91e
May 15		 ELKAR - I understand your comments and they are well taken. But it seems that every time Dell misses the estimate they give me, all that happens is they move the estimate back a week. They have missed it 3 times and every time it moves to a week later. Moving the estimate by a week doesn't sound like an educated way to generate estimates. It seems to me that they just are making up a number. I understand that most people get there product shipped by the estimate. My order is very customized so I accept that it will take longer to process. I do believe the original estimate was based on current inventories and manpower, however I feel the updated estimates that I have received are bogus, and are intended to string me along week by week so I don't cancel the order.

"Are we there yet"
"No, just one more light"
:passes light
"Are we there yet"
"No, just one more light"
:passes light
"Are we there yet"
......

My solution would be to make an educated "re" estimate when on a rainy night Dell does happen to miss the original date. Not just push back the estimate a week.

Any way I can't wait for my laptop. But I can...... almost patiently.
jackie_c
May 15		 @levin91e: I sent you an email earlier this morning. Can you please reply to it so I can look in to this for you? Thanks!
n4aof
Jun 6		 So far my experience with Dell's estimated shipping dates covers two orders, three order numbers, and four estimated shipping dates.

The first order got a generic one week estimated shipping date and shipped one business day early (then arrived a week late due to DHL)

Dell divided my next order into two order numbers with different estimated shipping dates. The first estimated shipping date came and Dell bounced the estimated shipping date ahead another week -- then they cancelled the order without bothering to tell me.

The second half of my order still has an extimated shipping date, but either Dell or I will probably end up cancelling it because Dell refuses to ship the order through any carrier other than DHL and I refuse to go through another order being handled by DHL. So far the Customer Care Supervisor involved hasn't bothered to call me back, so I'll give Dell a few more days before I tell them they decided they don't want my business any more.
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