I chose a Dell. It's a great computer (I think) but I note the facts below as they might be of interest to those contemplating a similar purchase.
I ordered the computer on line with two hard drives (lots of images to store) on 8th Feb.
Got an email receipt telling me to expect an order number within 72 hours.
On Mon 14th Feb I thought this "72 hours" was a bit overdue and phoned to enquire. I was told the order had been cancelled by the system - I hit the roof and was told it had been re-instated. Big mistake.
I never did get the order number by email but, after several increasingly fraught phone calls to Dell, I did get the computer on 21st Feb with the second hard drive not fitted but in a separate box. Next day I got a delivery note in the post listing the second hard drive as a "kit".
I was quite OK with this, if a little miffed, so eventually I got the case open (no instructions for this provided) and found there is a bay for the drive - there is even a power connector available - but no connector cable for the mother board in either consignment box.
A week was spent in fruitless phone calls to "Customer Service" and in sending emails requests via the site which got me nowhere.
Eventually today (25th Feb) I did get to speak to a nice Dell engineer who was as baffled as me at what I had been sent but confirmed that it was all as it should be according to the parts lists he had. He is, he tells me, sending a cable. His boss would not authorise an engineer to come and fit the drive (I have 3 Yr next day warranty service - or at least thought I had.)
All I can say and avoid being sued is that I feel sad about all this.
26th Feb 2005
In all fairness I should update. Latish yesterday I got a phone call from a very helpful young Irishwoman who agreed that I didn't seem to have been treated right and offered me the delivery charge to be refunded. As this now gets me back to about where I would be if I had bought the second drive as a self-fit part I am, if not exactly satisfied, at least able to go forward. She was also able to confirm I would be gettng the cable I need on Monday - we shall see !
6th March 2005
Fairness to Dell - they make good computers and you can spec to your desires. I'm happy with it now. But they are completely let down by customer service (particularly the difficulty to escalate to someone who can do anything).
