I've been in discussion with a bunch of people on the Creative boards about the Advanced MB for some time now. I needed Vista Ultimate, which is not available in the Express Upgrade, so I purchased it on my own through retail. My XPS M1710 also came with the Advanced MB software add-on that I purchased at build time. I sincerely hope that Dell does not leave customers in the dark that chose a different Vista upgrade path than straight through Dell, especially since Ultimate wasn't even an option. The software won't activate without a key and talking back to Creative anyway, so as far as recent Dell purchases, I think the download should be made available through the usual Dell driver update locations for the involved PC/notebooks. At the very least, an upgrade disc should be provided, even if shipping is charged, since our machines are labeled "Vista Capable".

This is great news.

Is this first-come-first-served system running worldwide? So will UK customers be processed simultaneously to, for instance, US customers? Or will all US orders be processed, and once they are all done, moving on to international (eg UK) customers?

 It would be great if you could clarify this.

I purchased a Dell Dimension E521 system (with Windows XP Pro) on September 9^th 2006.

 I then submitted my information for the Dell Express Upgrade to Vista on September 29^th 2006.

 I tried to obtain the order status for the upgrade at https://www.dellvistaupgrade.com/orderstatus.aspx, when I enter in my information, I get a message saying “Please enter correct order number and email address combination.(or similar)”

I have tried all combinations using my Vista Order number, Service Tag Number, Ship-to email address, ship-to telephone number; taken from the order confirmation page that I printed out at the time I submitted my order.

 I have also tried to submit a new Upgrade Order; it says that “This Service Tag has already been used.”

I have submitted multiple email requests for to americaenglish@d1.dellvistaupgrade.com and called the 1-866-634-7426 number. No one has been able to assist me.

Please have a customer care rep. contact me to resolve this issue.

Jeremy

I received an email today telling me to update my credit card info which i did because i got a new debit card since i did the upgrade.  They will not debit my account again will they.  Also because of this will it delay the shipping of Vista.

JB

Thank you Mr Menchaca for updating us on the Audigy software and Vista! I know I've been a bit of a pain in the butt on this issue, but I'm very appreciative for the information, and will look forward to getting this application running on Vista again- now if I can only get an answer on my Vista Express Upgrade situation - afraid this still hasn't been answered yet but the customer advocate states that IT is working on it..... and I remain hopeful that it will be received eventually.

 Todd Russell

I purchased a Dell Dimension E521 system (with Windows XP Pro) on September 9^th 2006....

I don't believe you are eligible for a free Dell Vista Upgrade. As stated on the Dell Vista Upgrade website it says:

In order to be eligible for this program, you must have ordered an eligible Windows Vista Capable¹ computer from Dell between October 26th, 2006 and March 15, 2007 with Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition, Genuine Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 or Genuine Windows XP Professional pre-installed.

I was wondering if the customers who bought Dell before october 2006 and also bought Audigy Advanced would get the updated version of Audigy.

I am not eligible for free Vista upgrade, but I do need the Audigy Advanced driver and software for my notebook which has been already upgraded from XP to Vista.
 

I ordered a Dell Inspiron E1705 on Dec 8, 2006.  I tried to input my COA# on Jan 2, 2007 into the Dell VistaUpgarde website page and got an error message that my COA # had been previously used. I reported my issue to Dell and was instructed to try it again.  However, I recieved the same error when I tried it again.  After numerous calls to Dell I was told that Dell would contact me once they have resolved the issue with Microsoft. I have yet to be notified that this issue has been resolved for my COA#.

Please advise.

Thank you,

Robin Reaves-Mallory 

I have been unable to register for the upgrade on the website.  I get the standard message that my system is not eligible when it obviously is.

I've been trying to work through customer service for a month now and cannot get the issue resolved.

I keep hoping one of the many people I've spoken to will come through.  Overall I'm very dissapointed in the whole experience.

 

I also got the email from DHL with tracking, but on the "Order Status" page still says pending. Will have mine on the 5th!!

Thank you Dell for shipping these out!
 

You said your order is being shipped.

Did you purchase the Sound Blaster Audigy Advanced MB?

Let us know if you manage to install it and get properly working sound / software.

Anthony; Thanks for catching the date, I meant to type "November." It has been so long, I have lost tracks of the month, I guess it just feels like I have been waiting 6 months for Vista.

I am very dissapointed that people are geting their upgrades and mine is still pending. My system was ordered on 10/26, and the upgrade registered on the first day the site was up.   I feel that a lot of people were suckered into the "" EXPRESS UPGRADE""  nightmare, that would have waited for systems to ship with vista preinstalled.   Now not only are we having to wait, way past the ms ship date, but i could actually get it delivered sooner even now, if I were to return this system to Dell, for a refund, and buy from someone else!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to personally and publicly thank Lionel and Jackie for checking into my situation with the Express Upgrade. They found out that my order is still in line and that it isn't being delayed because of any driver issues (these were the ONLY answers I could get from Dell).

Although I don't have the upgrade yet, I have noticed that MS Vista has charged my charge account $10.80 on 2/28/07 and this was posted on 3/01/07. I would imagine that I will be hearing about shipment shortly.

The treatment I received from the Express Upgrade telephone number listed on the Vista web page was very poor (they hung up on me and the second time basically just said "sorry") but the response from Lionel and Jackie was top notch and more what I have experienced with Dell in the past.

 Thanks again,

Mike

I am, in a sence, relieved to find that there are a lot of others who have had the same difficulty trying to aquire the Vista upgrade as I have had, not that I would wish this kind of frustration on anyone else.

  I too have been trying, as per instructions, since mid January with no results.  After exhausting all of the available avenues over and over, one begins to mistrust the integrety of the company.  With so many of us still trying in vane, I am wondering if we will all see the March 31, 2007 deadline come and go, still with no results.  I truley hope not.

I had placed an express upgrade order for Vista earlier in Feb...everything went smooth. But today, when i was checking the order status to see whether the order has been shipped or not...to my surprise...it shows  "Cancelled" status!

First of how did it get to that state? and secondly, if it had then why wasnt I contacted with details as what went wrong? I have written to Express Upgrade service but havent heard anything back as yet.

I will highly appreciate if some Dell rep here could get me connected to the right customer support to fix this issue.

Hi, i have a doubt about installing the vista upgrade (i haven't got it yet, still pending status).

Do i have a certain time limit to register my vista copy? It's mainly because i dont plan on installing Vista until service pack 1 or something is released, you know windows first versions always have trouble.

I'm not that excited into installing vista, i just selected the option because sooner or later, vista will become a standard, and ill have it "free".

Gee,

I suppose it would be a big deal to put up a note or a counter on the " Your order is pending " page that would give us a clue or at least false hope of where in the "pending" we stand at the moment.

Still waiting

I recently bought two dell inspiron E1505 in January and was told that I would get the vista update for the two computers.

Is the update going to be provided electronically or via a cd.

Thanks,

Sam

Lionel, I have been trying to find out if Dell will be shipping X64 versions of vista and how do your customers request this. I have emailed customer services and tech support but the email they sent to me was simply a link to the vista upgrade site and did not answer my question. I have an Inspiron 1501 and MCE but would very much like to use vista X64 instead of the 32 version. I intend to do a clean install instead of an upgrade as I've heard so many horror stories about installing the OS via the upgrade route (and experienced this myself when testing vista RC1 & RC2). As I stated earlier I have emailed Dell Vista upgrade my request but have not received any feedback. I know from reading this blog that several other customers have made the same query and received no direct answers from Dell. Could you look into this and lt me know when I am likely to receive my upgrade disk.

 PS I have checked compatibility with all my exsisting hardware and all will work with the 64 bit version. I have also tested Vista 64 bit on my system and every thing worked fine although I could not initially find the drivers for the R5C832 media card reader on the Inspiron driver page but by chance it was listed as a driver for the XPS systems. I've downloaded them today & touch wood they appear to work with my system.

Dear LioneI and Dell, I would  just like to  say how disingenuous  Dell and Microsoft have been in duping the public into this Express Upgrade scam!!!. Like many others who have posted notes on this site I purchased my system in good faith believing that I would have a speedy upgrade to vista when it was released on the 31/1/07. I sent my upgrade request to Dell on the 3/1/07 when I received my new laptop and have made countless calls and emails to Dell as my status remains pending. The initial official response was that there have been driver issues which  needed to be ironed out and this  was delaying the upgrade DVD's and OS being shipped to customers. Then I've been told that Dell have been waiting for the new Vista CD's to be shipped from the US. Dell do you take your customers for fools!!! Had I waited until the 1/2/07 for my system I would have had Vista preinstalled on the very same system. (Question) Are you saying the new systems are faulty and that customers should not buy them!!!  (Question) Are you saying that Dell are not shipping new systems with the reinstall Vista DVD's and this is why customers who purchased systems pre January 31st can not have their promised upgrades? (This would be the only plausable reason why I and others have not received at the very least the Vista OS) I would take an educated guess that the answer to both these questions would be no.  This was clearly a pre Xmas push by manufacturers and Microsoft to get the public to part with hard earned cash to buy new systems before xmas instead of waiting until the new year. I speak for myself and say I feel insulted  and cheated by the poor service.

I chose Dell as I was led to believe that I was buying from a reputable company that prided itself on good customer relations and delivered as promised. I am beginning to feel that that assumption was wrong. 

 The responses from Dell to customer queries about the delay in the express upgrade program is an insult to your customers who see the identical systems to the ones they have purchased posted with vista premium preinstalled while they wait for their promised upgrades. 

I  know I have not been waiting as long as others but this is far from satifactory and the excuses for the delays weak and cheap. I was also told that the disks would be sent out in Mid Feb. It is now March and still no upgrade. I will be giving Dell until the end of this week to send my upgrade or I will be backing up my current system, wiping the hard drive and restoring it to it's original state  and then sending the system back and demanding my money back. THIS IS NOT A THREAT unlike Dell I keep my promises. This is not the way to deal with customers and hope to retain them.  It seems that now you have my money you dont give a d**n.  I like others on this site want no more excuses but the products that I paid good money for. Dell will loose customers over this debacle.

 In addition to this I would like an answer to the two emails I have sent to dell in respect as to whether customers with 64 bit systems will receive the 64 bit versions of the operating system by default and if not how do customers request the 64 bit version as their chosen upgrade path. To date I have not received an answer to this

I do not want to be insulted by Dell and want a speedy response to my queries

This is a joke i have purchased a xps ova 4,000 aussie dollars and iam still running windows xp media centre 2005, This is very poor customer service.

Like everyone else i registered my express upgrade in the middle of january iam still on pending

I thought the whole point of express upgrade is enjoy windows xp today and windows vista tommorow well tommorow has come and i ain't enjoying nothing

this is my second dell pc and possibly my last unless something happens very soon dell has just added another disappointed customer to their express upgrade list.

And what is this about first in first served everyone should get the copy they ordered.

 I tried to obtain the order status for the upgrade at https://www.dellvistaupgrade.com/orderstatus.aspx, when I enter in my information, I get a message saying “Please enter correct order number and email address combination.(or similar)”

I have tried all combinations using my Vista Order number, Service Tag Number, Ship-to email address, ship-to telephone number; taken from the order confirmation page that I printed out at the time I submitted my order.

 I have also tried to submit a new Upgrade Order; it says that “This Service Tag has already been used.”

When this first happened, I called the upgrade support number, and after about 10 tries I finally got through.  I was told to expect a contact in 5-10 business days from a "tech" who would clear my tag and I could try again.  Never happened.  I called again on 2/22/07 and was told the same thing.  Still no contact. So it appears that the support number can't help me. Where can I go to get this resolved? 

I spoke to a rep using the hotline for Australia on the Dell Express Upgrade Site to see if he could tell me where I was in the shipping queue and if he could give me any date at all.

He said "4 - 6 weeks". Yay! I was told that in January.... thanks for the added information.

He told me he did not have access to the files to see where I was in the shipping queue and I asked if he could put me through to someone that could - but no, of course he can't as no one exists that can in his department or anywhere. Geez...

I told him the entire program has been pretty poor. Didn't abuse him as it's not his fault but to be honest and frank he was no use at all after waiting for 15 minutes with just a bring bring sound as the "on hold music".

Hopefully I'll get my upgrade kit soon as others are starting to receive theirs.

I purchased my third Dell, an E1505, in December 2006.  I began trying to register for my Vista express upgrade at the dellvistaupgrade site in late January 2007 .  To date that site refuses to recognize my service tag as eligible for upgrade. Nor will the 'order status' screen accept my pertinent information as valid. I have tried repeatedly to resolve this issue through online chat and multiple telephone calls to Dell.  So far I have received nothing more than pleas to "be patient" that Dell was aware of the problem,  excuse after excuse, and promises of follow-up e-mails that never materialize.

If I do not receive a prompt rectification of this problem I will be contacting my credit card company to contest the charges for my laptop pending my return of the equipment to Dell.

There is absolutely no justification for the depths of abysmal customer service to which Dell has sunk.

I bought my pc in november because of that free offer... Because my original plan was to wait for Vista to be release to have it... and now i'm still waiting..... Got a Dimension 9200 (or XPS410)... I just found now it's really start to be annoying and a bad service.....

Order for Vista is still Pending and no news... and even if you call the SUPER (LOL) dell service, they have no idea... C'mon... you should at least have an estimate date.... to give us....  Because what will happen if you dont provide service, people will group together and buy Vista in store and we will all send the bills to Dell for not providing what they told us.

To Scott James,

 As i know that XPS1210 doesn't carry a SB sound card.

 XPS1210 is using a Sigtel Sound Card.

 The SB upgrade is a SOFTWARE upgrade, which is not a driver for XPS1210 sound card.

re-posting...hoping that this time someone in Dell will actually read and respond to it!

I had placed an express upgrade order for Vista earlier in Feb...everything went smooth. But today, when i was checking the order status to see whether the order has been shipped or not...to my surprise...it shows  "Cancelled" status!

First of how did it get to that state? and secondly, if it had then why wasnt I contacted with details as what went wrong? I have written to Express Upgrade service but havent heard anything back as yet. 1-800 number for Vista Upgrade service is a joke. I wonder if there is even a human responding to that number?

I will highly appreciate if some Dell rep here could get me connected to the right customer support to fix this issue.

To Peter L.,

 I am aware that it is a software upgrade, my question is since I installed Vista myself, how can I get the software upgrade from Dell?  Will they send it out to all XPS users with an Audigy system?

How about an update as how many have shipped,  approx how many you have to ship.

 I understand its a slow process,  and beleive me, I am not happy about it,  you hid  the 4-8 from the release of vista information deep within the fine print.   

But it would do a lot to smooth over the issues if yuo can give us periodic (a couple times a week),  as to how far into the shipping process.

Say you are shipping those that registered in early Dec, Jan, etc..  just so we can see PROGRESS Being made...

As I purchased a Dell XPS 400/9150 to be sure I could run VISTA, I purchased it to be Vista Ready,  During the Custom build your system process,  DELL influenced several Upgrades in my purchasing decision, which now appear DELL was fully aware that these Upgrades would not be supported in Vista.  DELL sold millions of these upgrades in software, hardware knowing that thier customers would have a Useless computer in 1 to 6 months.  I was on the phone for an hour and transferred twice by tech support and the result was to go find my own solutions.  Finding my Soundblaster Audigy Advanced MB upgrade was just a small software program on a Sigma Tel card,  Roxio software is not working with no patches coming, my ts-h292C cd drive doesnt work,  Cineplayer, Creative Media Source dont work as well.  Is it that difficult to have information and any software updates be made availible via download on your tech support site.   

Thanks for Choosing Dell

I have repeatedly written to Vista Upgrade Support, but have not received any answer as yet. I would like someone in Dell to contact me regarding my Cancelled orders for vista upgrade. We purchased a total of 10 machines back in January '07 for which I promptly filed upgrade request in February. Since last week the order status screen is showing "Cancelled" status for about half of these submissions...with no explanation of any sort. I would like to be in touch with a concerned authority so that this issue be resolved.

This really has been an example of worst customer service ever!

They're shipping out of order.  I have my Vista request confirmation dated 1/4/2007.  A collegue of mine purchased a Dell the end of January and completed his request 1/27/2007.  He just got his confirmation.  I'm still pending.

 Let's get it right Dell

just read through this site and i want to add my name to the disappointed customers of Dell. I just bought my third Dell. I WAS happy to buy a Dell for a previously bought Vista upgrade. I specifically bought a system (reburbished) with XP on it to upgrade with my Vista Ultimate. I know not the suggested proceedure, but my system died just after installing Vista (hardware failure). I bought a Dell XPS 410 with sticker and listed as Vista capable.

The point is, I am having the same problems as above with Audigy Advanced MB software and Cineplayer error that will pop up three or for times at random times.

as a side note, trend micro found a trojan while still in XP.

I bought an E521 dimesion that is vista capable.Will it be able to handle the Home premuim edition of Vista that dell is sennding me. I have 512 mb of ram. the windows vista advisor said that I have a windows aero capable graphics or video card. Will have to buy more like a Gig so that it work Please respond.

Thanks

Dear Jackie,

http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=vista&thread.id=16012

I ordered express upgrade on 12-09-07

This might answer some of your questions!

"customers who qualify for an Express Upgrade also qualify for OEM support for Windows Vista, even if their machines came with Windows XP. The last thing a Dell, Gateway, or HP wants to do is start sending out upgrades to customers who might have video cards that do not have particularly stable drivers yet (or sound cards, or RAID controllers, etc.). This could be a support disaster. So the delays appear to be driven, in part, by OEM efforts to essentially whitelist hardware components and configurations, which becomes a matter of testing."

I called the dell vista customer service 7 bussiness days ago and still I'm in """""PENDING STATUS"""""""""""""" come on people this is not customer service. I bought my pc in November when the upgrade was first started..............  

Mickey -

 I'd buy that excuse if I couldn't buy the same machine with Vista installed. If they can support that they can support an upgrade.

I finally got an email from DELL about my vista upgrade. According to it I should be receiving it tomorrow.

 I applied for this upgrade on Feb 5. So it took me about a months time.

 Hope you get your upgrades soon.

Tried changing my credit card and it said it changed but would take 24-48 to show.....That was 2 weeks ago and it still has my old card info.

I found this today which has a lot of information that I was not aware of.

 http://www.tgdaily.com/2007/02/22/windows_express_upgrade/

Hi,

Could you tell me how much should I pay for vista upgrade?
 

Dan

 The fact is if you bought your computer in OCT or NOV then you dont have the same parts as if you bought it TODAY or even a month ago !

The OEM's didnt even have a copy of vista then So how did they Check to see if the parts and drivers where VISTA CAPABLE!

Think about it!!!

Well, I just received an email that I am being shipped my "Express Upgrade" Office 2007, but Vista is still pending...............

Mickey -

I get your point, but OEMs have had Vista for a long time.  I've been testing our products on Dell machines that have run Vista since the first betas without issues and trust me, this is stressing the equipment more than the typical home user.  Vista was officially released through its business channel in late November. If I could test on Vista, Dell could and they did.

Dell had plenty of time to verify the machines it delivered in Oct, Nov and Dec would run Vista fine.  This is how Dell knew they had Sound Blaster Issues.

This is a fulfillment muck up, nothing more.

Think about it.

Received the upgrade from DHL today.  However, I was never sent an email that it was sent. Just a heads up to people waiting for their Vista Upgrade. It was charged two weeks ago.

I'm not sure but the statement by Dell that there will be a "First In, First Out" policy might not be accurate. I think it is dependent on the drivers your computer needs as well. I bought a simple Vista ready machine with no special perks, but I would assume that those with needs for special updated drivers might take longer. Just a thought.

I feel that this whole process was botched from the beginning, although for me the end process worked, smoothly. I think a Vista ready copy should have been, automatically, shipped to everyone who had a bought a computer that was eligible for it, based on Dell records. Having people play a bazaar tortoruos game with the registration site was unnecessary. Or Dell could have simple sent out a coupon in each computer shipment for an upgrade to be used by the customer within six months of purchasing. while there would have been a few morons out there running a forgery scam, the coupons would be checked against actual orders and customer names and IDs when redeemed.  

Now, of corse, I have the installation process to cope with, which if it is anything like this process might be at best problematic. Goodluck! 

Registered for the upgrade on Jan 25

43 days and counting.

Mickey -

 Alot of people bought the Dimension e521 and other systems,  which are the same now as it was back in October/November,  No changes whatsoever, with the exception of maybe Hard Drive size.

 Those systems are  SHIPPING with Vista,  while those of us that bought it waiting for the "Express upgrade" are stuck waiting and waiting. I understand certain peripherals need new drivers,  but the basic systems are GOOD to go.     

The only Express thing I see going on,  is me Expressing my frustration to ALL my customers, friends, co-workers, etc who always ask my advice before making computer purchase,    All I can tell them,  is DONT get a Dell.  This is after personally recommending at least 10 people to buy Dells within the last year,  LUCKILY I am the only one stupid enough to fall for "Express Upgrade".   6 weeks after I could buy Vista in the store, I am still PENDING.

I don't need the Dell DVD thats coming with it, I Just want the VISTA DVD.  I can download any of the dell stuff from the site. 

Just received this notice from DHL:

DHL EXPRESS SHIPMENT NOTIFICATION

The following 1 piece(s) have been sent by FULFILLMENT CENTER of DELL VISTA via DHL Express on March 09, 2007

Shipment Date:  March 09, 2007

Delivery Date*: March 13, 2007

Weight:         1.0 LBS

Pieces:         1

Service:        2ND Day

Reference:      Vxxxxxxxxxxx

Contents:       Windows Vista Business-English  

I bought my Dell 9200 in December and registered for the upgrade Dec. 21.  My status is still “pending”

Finally, I just received my Vista upgrade kit.  After so much frustration with the whole service tag issue, I was pleasantly surprised how easily the system upgraded with the Dell Upgrade kit.  No crazy workarounds, no major issues to really mention.  The upgrade CD did its job and got everything ready for the upgrade.  It updated the BIOS, setup the software that would be used in Vista from XP and eliminated all of the incompatible software before the upgrade started.  I knew I had a few items that would not be compatible in Vista, however all my important and most used applications transferred over to the upgrade without any problems.  These included things like WS_FTP, Office XP, Photoshop, Macromedia Suite, Remote Administrator 2.1, AVG, and a ton of other good applications that get collected over time.

"there could be a stalling tactic going on so that lots of people are unable to claim their FREE UPGRADE"

KEEP ALL YOU EMAILS AND PHONE RECORDS so You dont become one of these!!

I'm glad to see people getting their upgrades, especially the ones who redeemed them in Feb. How about the poor souls who bought their computers at the beginning of the redemption period who are now left bl