So. Refresh, refresh, refresh.

The roommate was home, so I was continually checking in with him. He kept telling me that the UPS guy doesn’t get there until 3:30 or 4pm, and that he had not in fact arrived yet. So, I left work early to go home and wait (or go home and not wait).

And, wouldn’t it figure, there in my complex was the UPS guy. Facing the wrong way.

See, we’re in the back of my apartment complex. So, to pass the UPS guy somewhere before my building, facing towards the front of the complex is not a good thing.

And being who I am, I decided to stop.

“Do you have a package for me? I live further that way.”

“I don’t think so, but let me check.”

“I have a tracking number…” (At which point I pulled out my laptop and opened the email with the tracking number in it. Amusingly enough, there was open wireless, so I even opened the tracking page and showed him that it was out for delivery.)

“I don’t have it,” he says, “But let me give you the number to the office in Pontiac and you can call them and ask. Tell them you talked to Mark Oswald.”

So home I went, with my little piece of paper and called the UPS office. I was transferred to someone in shipping (or something like it) and Patty answered the phone.

“Hi, Patty, I have a problem. My online tracking info shows that I have a package out for delivery, but I just spoke with Mark Oswald who does the route for our apartment complex and he said to call you because he doesn’t have it.”

So Patty goes into the system and checks around a bit, asks a couple more questions, and finally comes to her conclusion: “I don’t have a record of your package even having an arrival scan. So that probably just means that your tracking information is wrong.”

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the online information just a publicly accessible web interface containing the information in their system? It had an arrival scan and “out for delivery”. So… How, if it’s pulling information from their system, is it just not there.

I didn’t figure trying to argue system design with Patty was really going to help anything, so I just said ok. She said to call back again tomorrow and they would see what the deal was.

I think they just lost my package. Which, thankfully, isn’t my fault according to Dell, but at the same time… I want my laptop. : (

Feh.

6:15 A.M. It left the Pontiac facility this morning. UPS stuff usually gets to my apartment around 3:30 or 4.

Now I refresh the UPS tracking page. Over and over.

So much for June 23rd. I guess Dell goes by the expect-the-worst-and-you’ll-always-get-what-you-expected-or-better philosophy, except from the view point of make-them-expect-the-worst-and-then-you’ll-look-great-when-you-give-them-better.

Either way, my laptop shipped yesterday and is expected to be here on the 14th! (Yay!)

Now to press reset on the tracking page over and over and over and over….

This is… The Dell Inspiron 700M.

Inspiron 700m
Intel Pentium M Processor 725 (1.60 GHz/400MHz FSB)12.1-in WXGA
Qty: 1
Unit Price: $1,680.00

Intel Pentium M Processor 725 (1.60 GHz/400MHz FSB)12.1-in WXGA

256MB DDR SDRAM 1 Dimm

40 GB Hard Drive

8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability

Intel PRO/Wireless 2915 Internal Wireless (802.11 a/b/g, 54Mbps)

Extended 65 WHr 8-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

2Yr Ltd Warranty, 2Yr At-Home Service, and 2Yr Technical Support

CompleteCare Accidental Damage Service supplement to 2Yr Lim Warranty

It’s a beautiful thing.

The sneakies almost got me, but it seems that I have in fact GOTTEN THEM. Parry!

Final damage? 980$. Shipped.

Though, in true corporate fashion, they execute a riposte with the estimated ship date of 23 June 2005. Good going, Dell. But for this hawtness at that price, I can wait.

I was sitting around this morning feeling sorry for myself because it was looking like it would be a very long time before I would be able to buy a laptop, if it was going to happen at all. I was talking to Ken about my research and such, and how I couldn’t find what I wanted. He asked about whether the coupon was still any good. I told him it didn’t matter because they upped the minimum options and the price wasn’t worth it.

But, on a whim, or perhaps wishful thinking, I went back to check. I didn’t take the time to reconfigure it, I just ran through the setup to get to where I needed to enter the coupon code to see if it still worked. It did. And when I went back to check on the configuration, the default minimum had dropped again. Instead of being one year, the minimum was two years, but I was planning on getting the 2 year warranty anyway. Once again the geeks agreed that I would be stupid not to buy it.

So I said let there be laptop. And it was so.