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Dell Vista CDs not shipping until late February
Dell has said it won't be sending out Vista upgrade CDs until late February. The delay will affect customers who bought 'Vista capable' Dell PCs with Windows XP installed after October 26th 2006.
The news comes after a series of failures, previously reported by PCW, owing to a massive uptake of the Vista upgrade CD which saw Moduslink, who handles most manufacturers' Vista upgrades, telephone line go down and Dell and Toshiba's websites halt for more than 24 hours.
In a statement to PCW Dell said it "expects to begin shipping the upgrade in the latter part of February. The upgrade availability for some systems like the XPS 710 and 710 H2C will take longer. We're still validating some drivers for high-end graphics cards and gaming peripherals, and still testing compatibility with some gaming software.
"[Dell will] focus on shipping orders based on when they are processed. If customers are not sure whether their order was processed, we suggest they visit www.dellvistaupgrade.com and click on Order Status. If their order was not processed, they should return to the home page at www.dellvistaupgrade.com and resubmit the order."
A disgruntled PCW reader first gave an indication of delays when he was told by Dell that it wouldn't begin shipping the Vista CDs until 'late February'.
Dell apologised on its blog and said it will extend the period for cashing in the Vista Express Upgrade voucher until March 31st instead of the 15th.
We have been unable to get a comment from Moduslink about the similar problems it has been suffering.
Update 15/02/07: We've published Moduslink's response, denying that delays are its fault, here.
Update 8/03/07: Microsoft has apologised for the delays customers have been experiencing over this fiasco. In an interview with PCW Microsoft wouldn't say if Moduslink had done a good or bad job distributing Vista disks. It is also happy about the fees retailers are charging for the 'free' upgrade.
I bought an Acer laptop in early January with the promise of the Vista upgrade. Moduslink's website refuses to let me upgrade. I have telephoned them and emailed them repeatedly but still no joy. Useless bunch.
Posted by Simon Page | February 13, 2007 5:58 PM
I can't believe this stuff I purchesed a new dell computer, paid extra for it to be vista capable and for the program it's self then when I got the computer was told that I had to pay an additional $10 for them to ship the cd to me, that after almost 2 months is still not here so much for customer service !!!!!
Posted by Dave Hammar | March 5, 2007 9:58 AM
bought computer 12-9-06
ordered vista upgrade 1-28-07
have not received it yet!
Posted by Wayne E. Hannon | March 13, 2007 7:01 PM
If your smart you'll stick with XP and forget Vista! I just bought a new Dell with Vista installed. For 3 weeks I have spent most of my time in safe mode trying to figure out why nothing works. Take my advice, stay away from Vista. I am still waiting for Dell to figure out what is wrong. I have given up on this new computer and am about ready to shove it in a box and ship it back. Until Dell makes good on it, they won't receive any more payments on it from me. That's how frustrated I've become.
Posted by cindy | March 14, 2007 2:08 AM
It is now March 21/07
and no Vista yet.
I would like very much to get an actual answer from all my e-mails.
Posted by Judith Wagar | March 21, 2007 1:20 PM
Hi everybody.
A short note here, Moduslink have had to deal with over 2 and half million requests for the upgrade. They are working as flat out as they can, and have now started to ship the products - for your vista upgrade request to be successful, you need to have submitted to them not only the order, but a copy of the receipt for your computer, a copy of the e-mail confirming the order for the Vista upgrade and a proof of the money being sent to Moduslink by credit card or bank transfer (a scan/copy of your bank statement with all personal details and all other transactions removed) will suffice. Send all this as a scan or PDF to mstupvistaemea@moduslink.com (for all people in Europe) making sure you quote your moduslink order reference in your e-mail subject, e-mail body and on all scanned documents (both the file name and the scan itself). Until they receive all this - they will not process your order. After this, they take about 2 weeks to verify the information supplied. You should then receive it by May 1st at the latest - this is when they will stop sending them out. If you have not received your upgrade by then (they allow up to 6 weeks for delivery), then you request will be cancelled. - I got this when I spoke to Moduslink directly by telephone and after I wasn;t getting anywhere I spoke to a manager who told me all this....
Posted by James Malcolmson | March 26, 2007 9:50 PM
still waiting!
Posted by Aus | May 30, 2007 3:52 PM