Dell hits all the wrong keys – again
You say tomayto, we throw tomahtoze...
Dell isn’t having much luck with keyboards this summer. The computer giant admitted Friday that some of its XPS One machines have been wrongly shipped to the UK with US keyboards.
We were alerted to Dell’s latest embarrassing keyboard blunder after El Reg reader Chris told us about a friend who recently bought a Dell XPS One computer from PC World.
Chris’s chum discovered that Dell had mistakenly shipped a US rather than UK keyboard with his new “stunning, all-in-one” machine, so he took the unit back to PC World to get a replacement.
However, the computer retailer couldn't help and told him to contact Dell direct about the cock-up. Dell advised that he sit tight because UK keyboards were not available for that model yet. In the meantime PC World coughed up a Logitech keyboard for Chris's mate.
Dell admitted Friday that this less-than-stunning customer experience wasn’t an isolated incident. It told us in a statement:
“A small number of XPS One units in the UK were shipped with US keyboards in error for a short period of time. Dell has since rectified this issue, and all XPS One units are now shipping with UK keyboards.”
Unsurprisingly, the company hasn’t revealed how many XPS One units were shipped with the wrong keyboard. Dell said replacement keyboards were now available for any customers getting into the annoying habit of typing " when they mean @. And vice versa.
The firm’s latest shipment gaffe follows an embarrassing fiasco with an unspecified number of its Vostro 1310 and 1510 laptops in Europe being sent out with the wrong keyboard layout in May this year. ®
COMMENTS
Wots wrong with US Key boards
I have had US Keyboards supplied with my computers for some years now.
Mind you that is because here in New Zealand we now have more in common with the USA than England/Britain. Your may recall about 1970 you went into the Common Market and told us to get stuffed .etc, etc.
Peace be with you, and with her
Dell Keyboard Fiasco - it continues....
I recently bought a Dell Vostro 1510 - BIG mistake.
They supplied it with a non UK BS Standard keyboard - where the \ key is down the bottom right - between / and shift. It should be down the left between shift and Z.
Dell are refusing to do anything about it - they admit that they are supplying keyboards into the UK that do not meet the British Standard. Their arrogance has to be seen to be believed - I am currently trying to get a full refund from them - blood and stone come to mind. As a heavy business user I'll ensure that many Dell orders will be lost because of this - they deserve it
Dell and PC World
The reason that PC World would have advised the purchaser to contact Dell is that they don't hold stock of spare parts from the manufacturers - so any replacement keyboards etc will have to be ordered from said manufacuturer. Now although PC World sell Dell machines they don't provide any support - Dell do, so any customer with any fault with any Dell machine has to call them for help.
I think that the person that got the Logitech keyboard from PC World got a good deal!
PC World
PC World? That is possibly the worst IT retailer on the planet bar none (IMHO). Over the years I have sampled the delights of DSG and consistently found them wanting.
I am astounded that they are still trading, they arn't that cheap, the staff in the main are somewhere between brain dead and incompetent and th a counre customer service is truly dreadful.
It is said that a country gets the government it deserves, likewise with technology retailers too!
Won't touch Dell with a 10 ft barge pole
I won't touch Dell with a 10 foot barge pole. They are overpriced, you can never be sure if the product is going to be faulty or not as more than one time Dell have been caught selling kit knowing it was faulty, and their customer service is so crap that they closed a part of their customer forum so that they did not have to have to see the flood of complaints about their lack of service.
A friend of mine was looking at a ew gaming PC loking at a Dell with a bundled low end video card and a 40Gb HD. We were able to spec up a PC using far better components for 1/2 the Dell price using retails stores!
My employer went through a computer hardware and support reappraisal not so long ago. Dell were the bottom of the heap.
