Waiting for the free 2002->2003 upgrade?, read this.

aximsite@savio · 10-02-03, 11:28 AM

Folks,
I purchased an AXIM on 6/12/03 and hence qualified for the free WM2003 upgrade. I promptly called DELL to get the free upgrade and they placed an order for me (SKU: 310-4212). I've been waiting ever since. Whenever I called CS about the order they simply say that the product is back ordered.
I recently found that if you place an order for a paid upgrade you get it delivered in 2 days flat. How is it possible for the same product to be immediately shipping for one set of customers and back ordered for others ?.
Turns out that the upgrades that are shipping have an SKU of 310-4214. My guess is SKU 310-4212 has been completely forgotten and is probably never going to ship.
So, I called CS and explained that the upgrade CDs are shipping except that they got the wrong SKU for my order. CS said she would place the order with the new SKU given that I've been waiting for so long. Now my new order shows as shipped via Airborne.
You can also try this. If CS says that 310-4214 is going to cost you just remind them that you are entitled to a free upgrade and that the other SKU seems to be a lost cause.
If you succeed with this do post your experience here. Good luck.

Aero · 10-09-03, 07:53 PM

I too was eligible for the free upgrade as I purchased my Ax in June. I originally ordered the 2003 upgrade at the end of July, the order showed up as pending on dell.com (pre-production), payment was shown as rev adjustment, and then it was suddenly cancelled. I called Dell CS and they could not explain why this order was cancelled. I ordered again, the order shows up on the website, and once again it shows up as cancelled a week later. Folks, I went through this exercise 3x (ordered/cancelled), and the last CS rep I spoke w/ last week got it right.

It does have to do with the correct SKUs. The rep says that problem is that they need to order ~2~ SKU's (if only 1, their system says not a valid SKU and auto cancels it).

Well, today I finally got my "purple" PPC 2003 upgrade CD and the "blue" PPC 2003 companion CD. On the website, this order is shown as shipped, and it's description is "PPC2K3 Tech Guarantee,Roy, Customer Install".

I still have an outstanding order shown on dell.com (the description is "PPC2K3 Tech Guarantee,CustomerInstall")

The Dell rep says that there will be a notice to all other reps of this cancellation problem, so you might want to mention it if you are owed a free upgrade CD.

poppajon · 10-10-03, 08:34 AM

i was also avalible for the free upgrade, but i got mine like sept 18th, or 19th. right before sept 17th, i really got on dell's case, because i knew they would forget about me. so i did the chat option like every day. they told me that there was some paperwork that i needed to fill out, but that they would do it for me or something, and that those order numbers were no longer valid. i got it right on time, though. squeaky wheel gets the grease.

poppaj

as77 · 10-15-03, 02:33 PM

Several people on the Dell forums say that they have called Customer Service ten times, and the CS people never seemed to know anything about a free upgrade. How did you folks order it?

Aero · 10-15-03, 03:00 PM

I don't recall exactly, as my initial call was back in July, but I did keep notes (on my Ax!) on all the various case numbers and orders that were auto-cancelled. I found a posting on this site back in early July and started my process using the following:

"anybody who bought theirs may 23rd or later is entitled to a free upgrade. The phone for the free upgrade (as long as you bought on may 23rd or later) is 800-624-9897 x66966-option 2 then option 4."

If you speak with a Dell CS rep, give them your customer # (created when you purchased your Axim), confirm that you purchased the Axim after 5/23/03, and that it arrived with PPC02 on it. You are entitled to a free WM2003 CD, and tell them that other Axim owners have had their orders cancelled due to the wrong SKU's entered. Again, the last time I spoke w/ Dell (after 3 cancellations), the CS rep said she needed to enter 2 SKU's. When I look at the order on the status page on dell.com, it does not show which two skus she entered, but whatever she entered, it worked, as I got the CD a few days later. The CS rep said that all reps have been notified of this "auto-cancellation" problem (detailed in my previous post), and if the person you are speaking to has no idea, ask for a manager.

Good luck.

as77 · 10-15-03, 03:12 PM

Wow, thanks, this was a very informative reply!

offandon · 10-16-03, 11:10 AM

I am on the phone now. I ordered from Dell Home on 5/28 and one from Dell SB for my sister on 6/16 so I am now calling to try to get the upgrade CD for free. I followed the above instructions and talked to a fellow in the SB division. He knows nothing of the upgrade and says he cannot find it in his system. He put me on hold a couple of times and after 10 minutes I am now being transferred to Dell Home.
Now on Dell Home I am talking to someone in Customer Care. I explained the situation. (now twice).... she has me on hold while she investigates. She came back and asked if I had a product number so I gave her the SKU of 310-4214 and I am on hold again ... she came back and gave me an order # and said I should receive it by 10/23 ... let's see what happens. It took about 25 minutes of phone time ... hopefully it will be worth it.

as77 · 10-16-03, 01:39 PM

On the Dell forum a user reported that he was on the phone with Dell for one hour and he was transferred 4 times. Dell really doesn't make this easy. I remember in July somebody from Dell said that each user would receive a letter offering the free upgrade... now I don't really think this is going to happen...

offandon · 10-16-03, 02:23 PM

Interestingly enough I now see my order on the website which says the total price is $34.50 ... I guess I will see it cancelled soon seeing that they do not have any valid CC info for me.

UnicronX51 · 10-16-03, 02:43 PM

wow...I just ordered my copy of the upgrade CD with the information listed in this post and it was a breeze. It took me only 13:03 to make it happen and it will be to me the next business day. Dell made it very easy for me to complete this order and I love them as always...GO DELL!!

offandon · 10-16-03, 03:12 PM

Can you give them a call back and get one for me? I never have luck on the phone with Dell ... all of my positive experiences have been when I stick to the website only. Of course in this situation they have no way to do that.

Given that there were 16 weeks since the WM2003 launch, I think it is reasonable to expect that Dell would have a system in place for gettting the upgrade to people who bought from 5/23-6/23. If not then at least be able to treat these calls in a consistent manner.

I can't wait for my next call to try and straighten this one out ...

10-16-03, 03:13 PM

and thanks to the people in this thread for giving others that are having a difficult time with this issue a solution to getting their upgrade! It seems more appropriate to post the credit here on the site than give the credit to Dell :)

Aero · 10-16-03, 03:45 PM

offandon,

For all my orders trying to get the WM2003 CD, they initially showed a charge of around $40 on the order status page @ dell.com($42.74, $43.74, $36.24 - each order for the SAME WM2003 varied for some strange reason....) , and another day or two, the price showed up as "revenue adjustment" (followed by cancellation)
From what I can see, if they don't ask you for a credit card # when you order, they are not going to charge you for it, and ignore the initial "cost" shown on the order status page.

Interestingly enough, my last order (the one that actually went through, was not cancelled, and resulted in the CD shipping to my office) was charged just $9.00! Again, no CC info was requested of me at any point during my 3+ order requests.

At least Dell got the "free" part right :D

offandon · 10-16-03, 04:39 PM

Thanks Aero ... I now have a little hope ... I was dreading the thought of navigating the Dell phone system again!

UnicronX51 · 10-16-03, 05:39 PM

AHEM....

because of the fine research of the people in this thread, I was armed with both incorrect and correct sku numbers for the products I was inquiring about. Dell has always performed right on queue for me...thankfully I did not have to go thru the things with this upgrade that some of the other folks did. I would recommend trying any phone calls that you like to make to Dell now, seeing as they are knowledgable about the situation. The customer service rep that I spoke did not even have to put on hold one time, she did however mute the phone for a brief second to speak with her manager about the sku #. So make sure that you record the different sku's listed in this thread and you should not have any problems. No Kudos to Dell for making this easy from start...it took them more than a month to get it right.