Dell

Let me first say that I think Dell makes reasonably well built proprietary PCs at a very reasonable cost, and I think their monitors are just about as baddass as anything I've used before including NECs, Sonys and Apple Cinemas.

Now that we got that bullshit out of the way....here's a warning for anyone looking to buy from Dell here in Hawaii.

1) Be very cautious with their "Free Shipping" option. They don't offer free shipping here to Hawaii. For some reason their sales reps don't understand that UPS and USPS both offer ground shipping rates to Hawaii just like anywhere else in our nation. Sure, perhaps it costs them a little more because of physical distance, but they only offer the more expensive 2-day air here.

What really grates under my skin is the fact I know some reps at Dell know this. Some of my friends have received free shipping here on the exact same products during the exact same promotions. I don't know what they do -- perhaps they have a sweeter voice or they offer free naked webcam shows to the Dell reps or something, because I've tried every trick in the book to get free shipping (short of doing the webcam shows) and I can't get it.

So it's not necessarily the fact I'm paying for the 2nd day shipping that gets me pissed off so much as the fact they may be showing preferential treatment to some customers more then others. Either fuck us all over Dell, or give us the damn promotion like everyone else.

2) When you pay for one of their financing options, I learned you have to keep an eye on their statement due dates. I had just sent in my final payment over this monitor I purchased a few months back thinking I'm all golden. Come to find out Dell had slapped a $30 late fee in my account.

"WTF! Had I been so stupid as to submit my auto-payment schedule 5 days late?"

No! I had payed my bills on time as I had with all my other previous statements but they had shifted this one a few days ahead. It wasn't just one or two days ahead....I figure there are a few short months, plus daylight savings time always messes me up for something or another, so I can see a day or two shift on my due date. But this was 5 or 6 days early.

Had I not checked, I would have had this late fee, PLUS I would have defaulted on their free financing option that would have expired on January 1st and been slapped with all the interest going back to my original purchase.

ALWAYS check your bills with those bastards.

Yeah yeah, somehow I doubt reps at Apple are any better, but I'm tempted to try something else next time.