Dell's slow ass shipping

Dell: "Hi, we're Dell. We build your laptop and desktop as you order it to benefit you."
You: "Oh? That sounds really neat, what kind of benefits do I get for having my PC built to order?"
Dell: "Well, it has everything in it that you wanted like that extra stick of ram and bigger hard drive... but you'll have to wait another two weeks to get it... even if you pay extra for next day shipping"
You: "Wait.. WTF?! So I get everything I was shopping for in the first place and my package is now delayed? I'm going to newegg.. later."

Dell, you fucking piece of shit. I could care less if you are building my PC as I order it. This does not benefit the consumer at all, it benefits you and your pockets. You save money by cutting costs on holding on to inventory and possibly buying too much of one product at a time. Then, you try and market this as if it it's something special. You don't even give the consumer many options to begin with. Maybe if you had a decent list of different types of video cards etc. then this may be more justifiable but it's not, so screw you.

I just recently purchased a dell mini 9 for myself (my wife already has one) and I'm going to attempt to put OSX on it (more on that later when I get it). This is about the fifth time I've purchased something from Dell and about the fifth time I've been extremely frustrated and disappointed by their slowness in shipping the product. Three weeks!? That's right, I'm not exaggerating... three weeks. I ordered my dell mini 9 and got a delivery date of three weeks from the time that I ordered it. I added some extra ram and a bigger hard drive. I mean come on, does it really take THREE WEEKS to add an extra stick of ram and a bigger hard drive into a laptop? No. I know it doesn't, not even with the large amount of orders that Dell goes through.

It's ridiculous and Dell needs to do something about it. Don't get me wrong, Dell has some pretty good prices and products overall, and their customer service is not that bad (if you can understand their accents). However, shipping is your first impression of a company and if you just dropped down a large chunk of change on a new laptop, and paid an extra fifty bucks for next day shipping, only to find out you're getting your laptop next month... I think you are going to be a bit miffed. Do you walk into a store to buy something, bring it up to the counter, hand the lady your money, and then say "See you in three weeks"? No. If you are purchasing something (and I know this is not just me) you want it now, not later. You are giving up your hard earned cash in trade for goods or services. The cash leaves your hands long before you get your final product in Dell's case.

I also have to argue how this can be beneficial to the consumer. Is there really that many different configurations for a laptop? Would anyone really want that many different configuration options? The choice of whether you want to add that web cam or extra stick of ram is not that far off from the standard build that it would take that much longer. Dell knows this, and I wager that this can't go on much longer. Especially as more and more people start to move all of their shopping online, the average joe is not going to just deal with this. They need to include some options for those that choose a semi-standard build. A choice between extreme customization that takes three weeks to build and deliver, or a pre-built system with some specs that the majority of the masses would choose with standard 3-5 day shipping, or next day, etc.

All in all, yes I'm frustrated with Dell, yes I'm taking this a bit too far, yes I know that this probably won't change (at least anytime soon), but I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Everyone I have talked to, or the several stories I have read online all point to the same frustrating scenario... that Dell has some slow ass shipping. nuff said.