Dell Hell [updated]

Dell is doing best to suck. I ordered a 24″ LCD display from Dell on June 21st and on the day it was supposed to ship I got an email saying there was a delay. The delayed date that it would ship by was today, but instead of a tracking number from UPS I got this gem in my inbox:

Dear Valued Customer,
Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have experienced another delay with your order number XXXXXXXXX. Our new anticipated ship date will be on or before 07-12-2005. Due to this additional delay, the Federal Trade Commission requires we receive your consent to continue with this order.

You know it’s bad when the FTC makes you confirm that your customers don’t believe they are being ripped off. I called the included phone number and it literally led to nowhere. A few seconds of silence followed by the if you’d like to make a call tone.

After managing to spend 10 minutes trying to get ahold of the right department (each time giving my 9-digit order number and sad story) I had the ear of a [American] that cared. She noted they had been having trouble getting some of their larger LCDs in stock and that she was really surprised this one was having more trouble. I’m still pissed, but she did a good job.

Update: I got an email today (one day after the above email) saying that it has shipped! And the ship date was yesterday, the same day I had to call because they didn’t have it. Gotta love it!