Dude, I've Got No Faith In Dell: So who is to blame for my absence?

The wonderful folks at Dell. Who I have lost all faith in.

It turns out that Dell's customer service department is in India, and isn't actually owned by Dell. It's some outside company that has absolutely no connection to Dell whatsoever. This company has basically been told, "Take care of everybody," and given some ability to offer refunds and coupons.

However, there is one area in which they are absolutely powerless to help you at all, no matter how upset you are or how much you rant and rave and scream, and that's in the department of getting an actual product in your actual hands.

They'll give you discounts and coupons and whatever you need, but they have absolutely no comprehension of the idea that no amount of coupons or discounts are worth as much to you as having your actual computer working at your actual fingertips.

So I'd suggest Dell to two kinds of people. The first are people who never have computer problems. The second kind of person is the one who likes to be appeased when a problem happens rather than actually have their problems solved.

But for those of us who actually need our computers, try a local shop that can build it for you and has all the parts in stock. The guys there know what they're doing.

Which is more than I can say for Dell.

It brings me no pleasure to announce this. The entrepreneur in me wants to see companies succeed and get big and make its owners rich.

I even like, in theory, their "Just In Time" philosophy. But, in the end, it comes out as more of a "Day Late and a Dollar Short" philosophy.

The part, which was only a plug, and which I was told would arrive on or before the seventh, finally arrived today. So my wife's business, my stories, my bank book, all of which are located on this hard drive, finally opened back up to me today. In the meantime, I got to enjoy my coupons.

So I'm off to find some kid who didn't get a date all through college to build me a computer so I'll be okay the next time the next time this one tries to force me to run Michael Dell's gauntlet again (But sir, I said on or before! It could come sooner than that!).

Yeah. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I'm not holding my breath.