Delled: Dell, Inc., was reported the number one seller of laptops in the United States, as measured by market share in
August of
2007. Dell is known for build-to-order computers; lead
time of two weeks as published on their website. In June of 2007 Dell, Inc. went trendy with color laptops and launched a major marketing campaign. Apparently, Dell wasn’t prepared for fashionable laptops; painting issues caused
massive delays. In addition to painting issues, some components were reportedly back ordered. Customers that ordered laptops in June were still waiting in
August. According to thousands of blogs, a combination of the Dell2Dell blog and various technology related blogs, 30-50% cancelled orders, some replacing orders with Dell and most others purchasing from
HP, Sony,
Mac, and Toshiba. None of the customers were informed of the
paint and backorder issues when they ordered. Most customers have received e-mails notifying them of an unspecific delay, from one to three weeks per delay notification; many customers received two to three delay notifications. Customers who attempted to contact Dell via telephone and Dell
Chat (instant messaging with Dell customer service representatives (CSR)) hit a
big brick wall. Customers were informed of the delays by CSRs that were not fluent in the English language. One CSR
said to a customer “we apologize for the incontinence.” Obviously, the word he/she meant was “inconvenience". Customers that ordered a dell laptop during the
time period beginning in June of 2007 and are still waiting as of this date August 28, 2007, that waited more than a month and/or received multiple delay notices, have been delled.