Lenovo now owns the ThinkPad name. They’re not IBMs anymore.
When I was in purchasing I alway got fabulous service from Dell. Of course, we had done the automation for all his homes and when we went under (man apparently does not live by Dell alone, but we made a pretty good try for a few years) he hired our head of programming so his home would continue to automate. And our IT guy had (for all I know, still has) the CEO of RIM on speed dial for when Michael’s Blackberry gave him problems, but I always assumed everybody else got as good of service as I did. 
When did it “used to be” a different company? My first experience with Dell’s customer “service” was in 2001 or 2002 and it was horrible at that time.
In Dell’s lexicon. the verb “service” is employed only in the way that one arranges to “service” domestic stock animals for breeding.
I’d recommend the advice given above.
Your credit card company is your friend. Call or write, explain the situation (vendor has changed the promised delivery date) and initiate chargeback proceedings. Emphasise that the reason you placed the order was the promised delivery date, even if it was technically an ‘estimate’, and make it clear the actual delivery date was only made clear AFTER you had placed the order. Then exercise your right to initiate chargeback.
The sooner you do it, the stronger your case.
The downside is that you won’t be able to use that credit card for as long as it takes for this dispute to get settled. But if you can get by without it for the next 21 days, then this shouldn’t be a pain.
Until the place closes down a year later.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. There’s lots of long lasting mom and pop shops. But if you aren’t in the local geek circle, how do you know? I’d be wary to trust a company with 10 years under its belt, whether or not one of the half dozen that crop up every year in the area.
I ordered my current laptop from Dell last year on June 30. It was initially promised to me on 7/17. The ship date ended up getting pushed back a week at a time for three weeks, and I eventually got it on 8/2 (which was a few days before the final date they promised me).
The video card went out about a year later (along with some other minor issues) and aside from the usual rigmarole on the phones, the warranty service operated exactly like it was supposed to.
All in all, I’d probably buy from them again, but I’d probably do so by phone and get a ship date before confirming the order. They have their problems, but so does everybody else.
I’m a big Dell fanatic (nearly all of my computers, both laptops and desktops, have been Dells) but I’m concerned about their quality too. My work also uses Dells, pretty much exclusively, and the harddrive in my work laptop (less than 6 months old) crapped out yesterday. I’m not impressed.
Our IT guy got them to ship a new harddrive, and we received it today, but no way it should’ve gone out so fast. However, the upside is that now I know why my laptop was so unstable, hey?
I can’t rememeber the last time anyone I know bought from Dell and DIDN’T have quality problems.
They used to be a very fine company to do business with, which is what’s sad about it.
Sadly, this isn’t a new thing for Dell
Feb, 2005 - Class action lawsuit alleging that that Dell was pulling switch and bait fraud on it’s customers
July 2008 - Class action lawsuit from underpaid call center employees
Oct 2006 - Dell settles 4 class action suits over financing fraud.
Jan 2009 - Dell settles class action lawsuit involving 45 states, involving rebates, warranty work, and financing.
It’s worth pointing out that the hard drive failure is not directly Dell’s fault. Although the drives are branded Dell, they are actually made by one of the big hard drive manufacturers. OK, I know the buck stops with them as the retailer, but the quality is dependent on the manufacturer, and there’s isn’t a huge difference between the big names. So, the hard drive in any computer retailer’s models is equally likely to suffer from a failure.
Yeah, that’s a great point. You’re much better off going with a big chain reatiler. The hell with those local fly-by-night operations!
I have to echo Fuji’s warning.
Every time I’ve purchased a computer, I’ve taken time to do the research and buy from well-established companies with a proven track-record going back years, backed up by personal recommendation from friends and industry insiders. Every time, they’ve gone out of business within 9 months. Ditto website hosting companies. I am a kiss of death.
I should really hire my services to companies who want a rival to go under. Behold, for I am Ianzin, Slayer of Successful Companies. Pay me a fee and I’ll buy something from a rival firm, thereby assuring they go out of business within months.
Of course, this doesn’t help the OP. I guess it still makes sense to try and stack the odds in your favour by going with well-established, successful companies. But nothing’s guaranteed.
Wassamatter which yoo? Couldn’t you give CompUSA a top mention? They were the poster child for big computer retailers going belly up. Computer City was just practice for CompUSA.
I have written Dell three times with a problem and I get the automated response that I’ll have an answer in 24 hours, but no answer comes, so I write them again, lather rinse repeat. Dell customer service is terrible and since we are now googleable: Dell bad customer service, Dell bad, Dell horrible, naked.
What is this supposed to prove? That if you bought from one of the stores you linked to you’ve done something equal to buying from a local computer store that shuts down and leaves you high and dry as far as warranty goes?
Your first link was to Circuit City. Are you saying if you bought a PC from CC, you’re screwed? I don’t think that’s true. They sold PCs from Gateway, HP, etc. You still have a warranty with the manufacturer. Maybe if you bought an extended warranty with the store you got screwed (I’m just speculating) but I’m pretty sure you could have opted for an extended warranty with the manufacturer or bought directly from the manufacturers’ website.
Your second link was for Gateway. They’re still around even though they were acquired by Acer.
I’m not familiar with Computer City, but the Wikipedia article you linked to says “In some states warranties on items that had been purchased at Computer City were taken over by CompUSA, in other states they were taken over by Radio Shack.” And again, you could just buy an extended warranty with the manufacturer instead of the store. I bet most would be happy with just the limited warranty that already comes with the PC and is backed by the manufacturer.
Of course big chain retailers go out of business. That’s not exactly evidence it happens at the same rate as mom and pop shops.
Pardon me if I missed this in the middle of the thread somewhere, but…
I would consider contacting my state’s Attorney General about this kind of thing. Both the Breach of Contract or False Advertising in changing the delivery date, and whether or not the entire “you refuse the delivery and we keep both the machine and the money” thing is legal in your state.
So you’re pitting them because 1) the scheduled delivery date is longer than you initially were told and 2) you read on the Internet that you can’t cancel the order? I can understand being upset about #1. #2, however, is like taking legal or medical advice via the Internet. C’mon, there’s always people complaining about every single company out there. You have no idea what the real story is. Give Dell a call, I’d be surprised if they didn’t work out some mutually acceptable deal.
I just went through this same thing with Mr. Athena. He clicked the wrong thing on iTunes and ended up buying an album that he didn’t want. “This is bullshit,” he tells me, “I clicked one wrong button, now I’m out $10! And EVERYONE on the Internet says that Apple will NOT refund you your money. They’re assholes! Companies nowadays are unethical! How can they get away with this?!?” and on and on and on.
While he was ranting away, I started up iTunes (we share an account), found his purchase, clicked two buttons, and a few hours later received an email refunding the $10 for the mistaken purchase.
Never trust people on the Interwebs. Except me, of course. 
Another example: a friend of Mrs Nine had exactly the same experience. Ordered a laptop with a specified delivery date, paid in advance, was then informed that the actual delivery date would be four weeks later, tried to cancel, was told she couldn’t…
This is in the UK, so it’s not just the USA. We do have laws about this sort of thing:
Oh, and by the way, all, Alienware is now Dell. And their service sucks (it’s very FRIENDLY, but wholly ineffective it’s essentially people being nice while they give you the runaround) and their products are overpriced by a factor of at least forty percent.