My attempt to buy an Ubuntu Dell

[Martin Owens]

that is nasty business; not only about the care package but keeping your
money without honouring your order is theft.

On 05/06/07, Kristian Hermansen <kristian.hermansen at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> An interesting attempted purchase of a Dell machine with Ubuntu...
>
> <snip>
> Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 17:04:43 -0500
> From: "Patrick Green" <patlgreen at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Wftl-lug] My attempt to buy an Ubuntu Dell
> To: "The WFTL LUG" <wftl-lug at salmar.com>
> Message-ID:
>        <bea279eb0706041504u7247f00p11a2a876658cd1d7 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> On Friday, my laptop died.  It was an Acer.  The screen was damaged.
> Replacement cost of cracked screen is more than halfway to the cost of a
> new
> laptop.  So I decide I will support the new Ubuntu Dell Laptops.
>
> I go online to Dell's Website and go to the Ubuntu page.  I choose the
> E1505n.  I upgrade to a GB of Ram, I get the Nvidia 256 MB graphics card,
> I
> get the DVD burner optical drive.  So far so good.  I am happy with the
> default processor and the screen.  Now, another driving factor is that
> Dell
> has the nifty cool complete care (tm) plan.  With this bad boy, a random
> brick can fly through the air, hit my laptop, shatter it to threads, and
> Dell will cover it.  Think of it more as an insurance plan than a service
> plan.  I have a friend with 3 kids who has had to take advantage of it not
> once, but twice.  Both times Dell took care of them no questions asked.
> Now, the first time the Dell laptop had XP on it...the second
> time..gentoo.
> Still, no problems here.
>
> So, I decide to get it....just in case I get burned twice.
>
> On June 2, I get an email telling me my order has been acknowledged and I
> will get another email shortly giving me a order number (I also paid for
> next day shipping).  Well, the rest of June 2 and all of June 3 goes
> by.  No
> new email.  I check my spam folder...nada...just the usual assortment of
> male enhancement and refi deals.  So on June 4 I call Dell.  They can see
> no
> order...they can see they debited my account...but no order.
> Hmmm...confusing.  Very sorry, sir.  Let me talk to my supervisor, please
> hold.  She has no explanation for the lost order, but she will reprocess
> the
> order and I will get my next day shipping for free since I lost
> time.  YAY!
>
> But wait!  When we "build" my Dell, there is no longer a Complete Care
> (tm)
> plan for Ubuntu.  She puts me on hold.  She find out that my order was
> bumped out since they changed the policy on offering Complete Care (tm) on
> Ubuntu Dells.  Why?  She puts me on hold.  Now comes the fun.
>
> "Sir, Ubuntu is a third party software and applications come from sources
> not from Dell."
>
> "Vista is a product of Dell?"
>
> "No sir, but we have a relationship with MS."
>
> "So you do not have a relationship with Canonical, the commercial company
> that sponsors Ubuntu?"
>
> "Hold.........Yes we do, but the software for other things comes from
> third
> parties."
>
> "So what if I buy a game for a Vista laptop from Best Buy?  As that is a
> third party software..does that invalidate a Complete Care (tm) policy?"
>
> "No, sir."
>
> "What if I download an update from Microsoft to keep my Vista Current, how
> does that differ from an update from Ubuntu other than the fact the Ubuntu
> update actually helps my system?"
>
> "I do not know sir.  See, sir, Linux comes from all over the place and as
> such cannot be supported."
>
> "I believe Redhat and even Microsoft differ with that opinion.   I am not
> looking for support, that is another option I can click on another screen
> in
> your website.  I am looking for protection from bricks.  The laws of
> physics
> do not differ from one OS to the other...do they?"
>
> "No Sir."
>
> "Talking to your superior will not help my cause, do you have the phone
> number and email address of an executive do you?"
>
> She gave it to me.  I wrote an email.  I expressed my concerns politely
> and
> professionally 5 hours ago and am awaiting a response.
>
> Just be warned, they tend to change the deal, kill your order, and keep
> your
> money with no order on file making it difficult for the CSR to track the
> debit on your credit card account.
>
> Cheers
> Patrick L Green
> </snip>
> --
> Kristian Hermansen
>
> --
> Ubuntu-us-ma mailing list
> Ubuntu-us-ma at lists.ubuntu.com
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-ma
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-us-ma/attachments/20070605/feb91ae5/attachment.htm