I feel the urge to blog about this.

On the 25th November 2009 I had the feeling that I need to get myself a netbook. After reading the article “How To: Hackintosh a Dell Mini 10v into the Ultima Snow Leopard Netbook” @us.gizmodo.com the choice was clear. I went over to the German Dell website http://www.dell.de/ and quickly found the Mini 10v to be available in Germany. There have been two options one of them was “Fasttrack” which told me that if I order this I would have the system in my hands within 48hours.

I selected the default configuration with a price tag of 249€ (+shipping) and while in the checkout I noticed that the shipping address was outdated — I had moved 2 1/2 years ago. I aborted my checkout process and changed the address to the current one. To be sure that nothing can go wrong I cleared my shopping cart and started from the beginning.

I selected the default configuration again and now the shipping address in the checkout was up-to-date. I paid the whole thing with my credit card and quickly received an email at 04:34pm that told me that my order got received. Everything was fine and I was a happy customer.

Dell acts incompetent

The next day shortly after 08:00am I checked my private email after I arrived at the office and found out that Dell sent another email at 10:59pm to confirm that the sale is now final. I quickly checked that confirmation against the one I had received after I placed the order.

I was shocked.

• The shipping address was reverted back to the place where I used to live 2 1/2 years ago — they had listed the correct address in the first email.
• The operation system was listed as: English Windows XP SP3 — it was correctly listed as German Windows XP SP1 in the first email.
• The keyboard layout was listed as: Internal GB/Ireland QWERTY Keyboard — it was correctly listed as: Internal German QWERTZ Keyboard in the first email.
• The power supply was listed as: GB/Ireland 30W power supply — it was correctly listed as: German 30W power supply in the first email.

I quickly searched for the customer care phone number just to notice that phone support starts at 09:00am. I called back at 08:59am and was placed on some waiting loop for 15 minutes.

Eventually some call center girl took the call. She had some eastern europe accent and asked me about my order number which I was able to give her. She double checked my personal data so that I could prove my identity.

I asked her about the differences in that two emails and if the system will be shipped to the old or to the new address.

She was able to confirm that the shipment will be sent to the new (correct) address.

She told me that in her computer system it is listed that I actually ordered the GB/Ireland stuff which I declined. I offered to forward the email messages that I had received to prove that something must have gone wrong in their order system. She refused by telling me that if it is listed this way in her computer, then I have ordered it this way.

Meanwhile the order tracking listed my Dell Mini 10v as “in production”.

I asked the girl if it would be possible to change the order to a German keyboard and power supply. She said it is not possible.

I asked her to forward my call to her superior. She refused to do this but offered me to send him an email to call me back but she said that she is sure that he will not call back.

I asked her what I should do now. She answered that I will have to wait until the wrong system got shipped to me, have to take the shipment and then have to return it to Dell to reconfigure it.

I was not happy anymore but well what should I do? I sent a complaint “email” to Dell via their stupid web interface writing down what has happened and asking them to please change the order so that the system that still did not get shipped gets changed so that I do not have to pick up a wrong system and sent it back and then wait to get the correct one. The webinterface told me that I will receive a reply to my complaint within 24hours.

I received nothing within the next 24hours.

Dell is incompetent to be incompetent

On Monday, November 30th, the shipment from Dell arrived at my place (well not exactly within 48hours like promised). I carefully opened the package to check what was inside.

Wow it was exactly what I had ordered. German keyboard, German OS, German power supply.

I thought that someone at Dell must have taken care about my complaints.

Dell is incompetent to be incompetent to be incompetent

The next day, December 1st I received a letter from Dell with a printout of my order. It again listed the system to be shipped as GB/Ireland version (which it wasn’t). I didn’t waste any more energy in complaining since the hardware was fine and as ordered.

Dell is incompetent to be incompetent to be incompetent to be incompetent

On December 18th I received an email coming from Dell. The email tells me that for “technical reasons” Dell has been unable to process my complaint (which I had sent 3 weeks ago and was promised to be handled within 24hours). If the complaint still exists then I should feel free to send it again.

Yesterday Lenovo offered X200 notebooks with a 70$ saving if you took the 128 SSD option (and 830$ additional costs if you took the 60GB SSD). Today the ThinkPad R400 and almost all options are for free.

Lenovo will most likely not send you the items if you order them since this is clearly a database problem. So please don’t abuse it.

Via vowe.net:

Julien is a “Domino consultant among thousands” as he describes himself. But now he has created a side business for his wife:

Skinizi is the best solution to give your iPod a personal touch and to protect it for every day use. Our artists have created some wonderful, whimsical designs for you. Please take a moment to browse these delightful iPod skins in our photo gallery!

This is how they look like:

And here you can get them.

PS: Julien mailed me that I happened to be the first customer ;)

ABC’s Lost somehow is my favourite TV show. A set of 4 different Lost jigsaw puzzles is now available in the US but unfortunately not within Europe — the publisher doesn’t even deliver outside of the US. I found a nice set of 3 of those 4 puzzles on eBay US — for a mere of 9$ — and bought them right away. Now only puzzle #4 of 4 is all I still need. Got one spare? :-)

I just received the key fob that generates onetime passwords for PayPal and eBay. Activation was easy — you just enter the serial number of the key fob and then two successive passwords generated by the device. Works like a charm.

Update: One thing that would be great — make this thing heavy. One RSA SecurID token weights about 3 times more and is kind of indestructible (I actually accidentally rolled over it with the car). The PayPal item works fine but if you squeeze you can hear cracking noise from the plastic.

New one is bigger :-)

Read the rest of this entry »

PayPal and eBay offered onetime password solution for their webservices using hardware token which can be ordered for 4,95€ from the PayPal Website (link german). This hardware token optionally offers an addition layer of security and it’s use can be activated on the service websites.

The token is provided via VeriSign but VeriSign itself obviously gets them from another manufacturer.

My poker equipment arrived! Too bad the postal service took so long — since I just had a day off on Monday. But this is something to look forward to for the weekend. Okay especially I will look forward seeing my girlfriend :-)

PS: Meanwhile I also ordered me a bluetooth GPS receiver that should also get delivered by Friday.

Got me some nice poker chips for serious gambling nights. I like their look. Poker somehow managed to gain enormous attraction. It got more popular than anytime before. All that I still need now is some neat poker table. Read the rest of this entry »

…I got an iPod, an iPod, an iPod….

I love my boyfriend so much. Why? Not because he gave me an iPod for Valentin’s Day but because he couldn’t stand it to hide it longer then two hours. In the middle of the week Sascha phoned me to tell me that he had already ordered my present for Valentin’s Day. And so the story starts… It was Friday. Round noon the ring bells on the door and I opened it. There was a man from UPS outside. There is not too much time with my boyfriend and so I took the package for him. You are right when you think: ‘Ah, the present for Valentin’s Day…’ So did I and smiled.
Some time later Sascha phoned me to tell me that two things could happen on this Friday:
First: UPS could maybe deliver a little package. – So this has already happened. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘ then… that’s all.’ His voice sounded a little bit panicked. I mean the sort of panic when a surprise maybe wont be anymore a surprise. I picked him from the airport in the evening and the very first thing he did at home: he took the package and hurried in the sitting room. Alone… When I came into the same room he presented me his brand-new black iPod. It was like to see little children get their Christmas presents. I confess that I was jealous. But fortunately my boyfriend couldn’t stand it. So he asked me to lose my eyes. Not only to hide my face behind a opened book I read actually. So I closed my eyes behind this book. And he gave me my present. My iPod (PRODUCT) red! My very first Apple. So this is not only an iPod. With this special iPod Apple supports the Global Found to fight AIDS in Africa. (see http://www.joinred.com)