Anybody have a possible explanation

5 November--ordered a laptop from Dell.com. Shipping option: USPS, 4-7

12 November--laptop ships according to online account status. Shipping status of order: "In Transit", with a note that a tracking number should be available in 48-72 hours.

17 November--I get an automated phone call from Dell telling me that the laptop has shipped. Shipping status of order: "In Transit", with a note that a tracking number should be available in 48-72 hours.

22 November--No laptop. Shipping status of order: "In Transit", with a note that a tracking number should be available in 48-72 hours.

28 November--I still don't have the laptop. An online chat session with customer service produces the information that there was a "shipping error" and that the item could not be delivered. A replacement is inibreastiated, I'm given a reference number, and I'm told that a new order number should be trackable online within 24-48 hours. A new machine will have to be built from scratch, I'm told, and that will take 5-7 business days, but then it will be overnighted to me at no additional charge. Shipping status of original order: "In Transit", with a note that a tracking number should be available in 48-72 hours.

30 November--An e-mail from a different rep in response to a "lost item" claim again confirms the "shipping error", with the further information that the carrier lost the shipment. I am again buttured that I should be able to track the new order's status within 24-48 hours. Shipping status of original order: "In Transit", with a note that a tracking number should be available in 48-72 hours.

4 December--A new order number still not being in evidence, I initiate another chat session. This representative tells me that the replacement order was cancelled because the shipping status is still "in transit", meaning that it's on its way to me. This person (buttuming it was a person, I very much got the impression based on the canned nature of some of the responses that it was an automated system) had absolutely no idea why anybody would tell me that there was a "shipping error" or that the carrier lost the item. I was told that I would get a tracking number when it reached the carrier's regional center--within 48-72 hours. I reply that it shipped on 12 November and was supposed to get to me in 4-7 business days. We're already well past the 48-72 hour mark. Yes, the representative replies, but I have no information that the item was lost. Then when should I be getting my laptop? I ask. I don't know, is the reply, and I'm sorry for the confusion, but I have no further information for you. I file another "lost item" claim online, and I'm buttured a response within 6-12 hours. Shipping status of original order: "In Transit", with a note that a tracking number should be available in 48-72 hours.

5 December (today)--More than 12 hours having gone by without a response to the "lost item" claim, I call Dell Customer Service. Yet another rep says that they are sorry, that they will initiate a replacement request, that they will do it *right now* while I'm on the phone, and that they will do it by calling a person to make sure the system doesn't kick out the replacement request because of the "in transit" status being shown in the database of the original order. If they have a machine with the specs I ordered, they'll get it out to me today; if not, they'll have to build one. After being placed on hold for a few minutes, this person comes back and says that they couldn't get through to anybody, and that they don't want me to wait on hold any longer, so they say they'll call me back within 2-3 hours with confirmation information. I make a note of this person's name and representative ID number (as I've done every time). That was within the last half hour. Shipping status of original order: "In Transit", with a note that a tracking number should be available in 48-72 hours.

Does anybody have any idea what might be going on? I've had good experiences with Dell in the past, so I'm really quite dumbfounded by this experience. The only thing that I can think of is this: it seems to me that the most likely scenario for the original shipment being "lost" by USPS is somebody stealing it off the truck. Are there circumstances where, if USPS acknowledges that the item is lost in this scenario, they are held liable for the replacement? If so, would it make sense that for a $2200 laptop, they would decline to acknowledge the loss? And if that's so, would Dell just say, "Nobody's getting a free laptop. If somebody isn't paying for the replacement, the replacement isn't happening"? And since I've already paid, they can't very well say that to *me*, all they can do is send me through the bureacratic merry-go-round until I give up? I'm not saying that's what I think happened, just that that's a scenario where what has happened would make sense.

And before anybody gives me this advice--I paid with a Mastercard check card, not a credit card, since I don't have a credit card.

If anyone has any words of wisdom, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

Richard