Time flies...

I'm obviously getting old because I find myself increasingly asking those around me "where does the time go?" in the way that old people used to when I was a fresh-faced revolutionary, fuelled by ideals, cheap beer and the vigour of youth. Why do I say this? Well, despite the best of intentions I've just realised that it's over a year since I wrote anything here and I'm wondering where the time went.

Actually I'm pretty sure I know where it went - some fool keeps filling the internet with stuff that appeals to my interest in useless information and its almost impossible to resist one more click... Added to that I now have to wade through a mire of status updates & Twitter posts that introduce me to all-new purveyors of random but intriguing content so its hardly surprising that I never actually find the time to do anything worthwhile! Nevertheless I've made a promise to myself that I'm going to air my thoughts aloud (in a digital sense) more often rather than scribbling this crap onto post-it notes which inevitably get lost.

So... I'll see you all in another year then.

What happened to Dell?

For longer than I can remember I've been a big fan of Dell; I've bought plenty of their products, I've persuaded friends, family and businesses to do the same and I've told anyone that would listen about how good they serve their customers. With that in mind they were my first port of call when my current notebook started to fade. A few minutes work sorted me out with a fantastic new machine and the follow-up email assured me that I'd be playing with this baby in just 7-10 days time.

So the big day was fast approaching (just as well as the old steam-powered kit is really starting to struggle!) but then out of the blue, I get an email on the day it's due to despatch telling me that the delivery date has been pushed back by four weeks! Needless to say this was damned annoying, especially when they leave it so late to tell me so I figured I'd get in touch to check what the hell was going on. After a couple of frustrating hours trying to get answers by phone/email the best I could get was:

1. I can't cancel the order,
2. they're “really sorry about <insert nature of customer complaint>”, and
3. they hope that I'll be happy with everything.

Oh and although they can't deliver my notebook for a total of six weeks from order, they absolutely, positively can deliver an identical system in 7-10 days if I place the order right here, right now!

Seems like the super-slick Dell of the past is losing its way; all they can offer now is crappy service, long lead times and industry-standard pricing. A real shame as their kit still looks decent but I just can't deal with randomness like this so I'm finally going to have to bid Dell adieu and see what someone else can do...

Postscript: I finally decided to migrate my work stuff onto by beefy desktop-replacement notebook and go with a Samsung NC10 netbook for when I'm on the move (more on this later). Delivered less than 24 hours after ordering it and whilst I'm unpacking it I get another email from Dell to let me know that my old order is delayed further! Bad decision? I think not!