Quote:
Originally Posted by
calim 
I have a question for you, Davivers (and anyone else who's ordered and received their W5001C)...
Can you tell me about the type of shipping Dell used? Was it UPS / Fedex? Was it a specialized carrier? Did they drop it off curb-side, or help you carry it inside? Did they schedule an appointment with you (with a window of time, obviously) or just show up unannounced?
The reason I ask is that I'm so very, very close to buying this set, but I live in an apartment building on the second floor... and there's no elevator. I'd just like to know everything about delivery so that I can have everything ready to go whenever I finally pull the trigger on this thang.
Thanks for the help, and I'm sorry if my nitpickey questions are a little bit annoying.
Hey calim, I'll give you what I know about it.
After reading through the
thread on the 42" Dell it was obvious to me that shipping was something to make sure you talk to the sales rep about. A lot of the 42" owners had trouble early on with their deliverys.
According to the dell rep who was posting in that thread, the PDP's are too big to ship with their regular carriers (Purolator, etc.) so they ship with specialty carriers. Who they are depends on where you are. Again, according to the rep, those carriers are supposed to send two people out and are supposed to carry the unit into your home... that's it.
Where I am in Ontario, they used a carrier called Epic Express. I watched my Dell "status" page like a hawk and as soon as I saw it was finished being built etc and at the shipping stage I called Dell back to find out who the carrier was and how to get a hold of them. I work 45 minutes away from my apartment and needed to co-ordinate the delivery.
As soon as I was able to get a hold of the delivery company I confirmed with them that two guys where dropping it off etc. They actually called me back a day later to see if a delivery that evening was ok! (uhhh... ya!) which was great cause I didn't have to take time off work. Apparently this was actually the call they would have made, had I not initiated things first.
One of the delivery guys actually called me during the time window to make sure I was home and would be there. He informed me he was just waiting for the second guy to show up and then they would be over. The truck showed up between 5pm and 9pm (the window I was given)... and there were two guys. I looked in the back of the truck and the order was on a pallet all plastic wrapped up together. I had a total of three boxes, 1 for the plasma, 1 for the speakers and 1 for the wall mount. They cut open the plastic and carried each box in to my apartment (which involves one half-flight of stairs).
One thing to note about the sign off for the delivery. I was so excited that I actually ended up signing the delivery document first... before checking the boxes for damage.
The way it played out was, "we need to see identification that you are the guy who ordered the unit" (they would not allow anyone else to take delivery of the unit) so I showed him my drivers license, he marked it down on the waybill and then handed it to me to sign. It happened so fast it didn't occur to me I was signing off on the "delivery"
Just make sure you get all the boxes in the door and checked
before you sign on the line.
So... what does all this rambling really amount to?
- delivery is by a specialized carrier
- there are supposed to be two guys who carry everything right into your home
- contact Dell to get the shipping company contact so you can schedule the delivery time with them
- don't sign the sheet until the unit is in your home and you've done an outter inspection for damages etc.
- don't eat the yellow snow
- don't pee into the wind
message was too much.. glad it helps.
