Ok, here's the situation: I'm a college student who goes to school in N.C. but lives in T.N. on breaks. For Christmas this year, I was building a new system for myself and another for my friend. I went through all the research and started ordering parts. I was going to use 8800 GT's for both systems, but I was going to get an eVGA card so I could step up later. One night (In late November) as I was trying to track down a place that had 8800 gt's in stock and for a reasonable price, I found one at Dell for $250 after tax and shipping. I immediately ordered it for my friend and had it shipped to my school in N.C.

Dell ended up delaying the order until I realized that I would be back in T.N. before it arrived ( I left on the 14th, to give you an idea of how amazing Dell's promptness is) so I called them and told them to ship it to my home address instead. They changed it and said everything had been updated. I wanted to make absolutely sure that it was correct, so I called back the next day, "Your order will be shipped to Tennessee" they assured me.

So, of course, I track the item and watch as it gets delivered to N.C. two days after I leave. Annoyed (but not furious yet) I called them and talked to them, saying I needed to have it rerouted to my home. They reply by doing me the favor of just sending me a new card and not making me wait as they retrieve the old one! Anyone that followed these cards in the month after their release, and even now, knows that there were no spare 8800gt's just lying around. I tried to explain this but the tech support guy could not have cared less and just inquired if there was anything else he could help me with today. No. Thank you.

I called on 3 separate occasions during break, each time with the nearly-impossible-to-understand person on the other side assuring me that the card would make it to T.N. by the 8th (when I returned to school).

So, of course, I head back to school having never received the video card and with a friend very annoyed that he could not play his brand new computer at all over the break. I call Dell once more to see if there is any change, and I am told that it will be shipped as soon as they get it in, the same old message as before. I ask if I will be getting any sort of discount after having my order delayed for over 5 weeks and counting; nope, not gonna happen. I told the guy that I was really getting tired of waiting and wanted to know if he could guarantee my card within a week. He said no, but said that if I wanted the card that soon, I could cancel my order and get the money back. Hooray! Dell provides the option of being back in the same place you started, but with the added frustration of dealing with them for over a month, now that is quality customer service.

I think about it for a while and tell him that yes, I want to cancel the order. After a few minutes of waiting he comes back and tells me that everything is taken c are of and I'll have the money credited back to my account....in 13 to 15 business days. This was the point where I made that transition to furious. I quickly got off the phone to avoid blowing up on him.

I find myself stuck with no card, no promise of a card arriving soon, and no money to buy a card from a legitimate site.

But the twist came yesterday, when I went to check my school mailbox and saw that I had received a package. I assumed that it was a late Christmas gift from a relative, but once I signed for it saw that it was a box from none other than Dell. The original videocard sent nearly a month ago had been sitting there this whole time and now I had accidentally picked it up and signed for it.

Now the card is en route to my friend in T.N. and I'm lost about what I should do. I thought the card would have been retrieved weeks ago, so I didn't ever imagine I'd be in this situation. First off, I want to say that I'm not trying to get a free card out of this, I just want to make a real transaction and be done with it.

So should I:
A. Call Dell and somehow explain that entire situation to a Middle-Eastern customer service agent who will ultimately get nothing done?
B. Use the card until they contact me about it? (I would prefer doing this because as I see it, for right now they still have my money, so I should have what I paid for.) I want them to contact me and for me to be able to say, just charge me for the card, I have it and want to be done with this. But I don't know if this is an option or if this will be considered stealing.
C. Just hope they never say anything about it? I realize this probably won't happen, and it grates on me morally to keep a card that I didn't pay for, but I will have a hard time bringing myself to calling them and spending more hours of my time on this because they messed it up so bad.

Thanks to anyone who actually reads that whole thing and responds.

So you have two cards for the price of one?
So you have one illegitmately received card with the promise of a refund? Did I read that correctly?


IMO, they messed up, not you. Their mistake, not yours. They lose, you win.

Certainly your morals may be under fire, but...."Dell" has no morals, specifically in this case.

And the EVGA 8800GT is in stock a ClubIT and on EVGAs website, at least when I last checked...so at least you can be assured that you will be able to get one if the need should arise.

I think I would call back, ask for the highest supervisor there until you get an american, or someone who speaks good english that is easy to understand. Then explain the situation and see what they say.

Yes, I do have the original card and my money is in the process of being refunded to me. And you're right, they're not that hard to find now, the only problem is not having the actual money to buy if Dell still has it.

I definately think I should be allowed to do as I please at this point, but I'm willing to bet there are a handful of laws that could get me in trouble if I just acted like nothing ever happened and kept the card...

You may want to look at it as a compensation for lost time and undue anguish. but that is probably just the cheap side of me talking. LOL.

im with ohiou_grad_06, and option B is against the law; taking something that isnt yours is larsen. Every time i call dell i get some person in the philliphines, i ordered the same laptop 6 times and on the last attempt they actually decided to send it to me.

Option B is your best move. Option A is a bad move because most corporate salespeople have short attention spans and, even if they wanted to, can't listen-understand-resolve your particular situation. Option C is bad because YOU will know that you got over on someone. It will bug you until you make things right. Option B allows you to sit back and wait until everyone sorts out the situation. I'd use the Card like I own it until Dell processes my refund and then I would decide to keep the Card and pay for it, or return it. It's nice to have Options in any situation. Freedom of Choice is a good thing. When the time comes just do the right thing!

I always deal with good ole Americans when I call Dell.

Of course I am calling the small business division so that might make a difference.

Call the sales dept at Dell small business. They will understand ya and work to quickly fix the problem.

b most defiantly. they might not even contact you about it.

There is not any question or options. The only honest thing to do is contact them and explain what happened. Anything else is dishonest. Poor Abraham Lincoln must be rolling in has grave.

lol thanks for that image RockyJohn, I think I'm going to try calling the small business since StevieD made it seem like I would talk to someone I can understand. Thanks for the responses, if you have anything else to add, feel free. I have a feeling this will drag on for a while

i would never buy i pc done by a company like dell, acer and hp you get pc that aren't able to overclock easily it is cheaper to buy parts and build it myself

This is why I don't buy things from companies that assemble things.
I only buy from stores that sell components.
Newegg, Zipzoomfly, and Frys.com something I noticed on the Dahell site is that each section has different prices for the same item, wtf's up with that.

Could you post some examples so we can see what you are talking about and how much the differences are?

Yes there are different prices all over the Dell website. Different prices are primarily due to support and service issues.

For example, business customers will seek the "best price", but business customers also need a different level of support and are willing to pay for that support. Thus the business side of the website have many different pricing options.

The business websites usually add freight charges, while the home websites will usually include freight charges. The reason for itemizing the freight charges on the business side of the Dell website is the simple fact that businesses can order mutliple computers that can have volume freight savings options. In addition businesses can specify small orders to be shipped on the business' UPS account.

Pricing is complicated. But home buyers can buy stuff from the small business side of the Dell website. Sometimes pricing is better on one side versus the other side.