Shipping on new i7 laptops - an amusing conversation

Since before Christmas last year i've been looking forward to getting one of the new Sandy Bridge i7 laptops Samsung were bringing out.
I checked dealers webpages regulary for news of the RF711, and was dissapointed when the Sandy Bridge chip issue hit and the products would be delayed.
Now thats been fixed, and the SAmsung website is showing the specifications for the RF711 on their website i thought i would start looking into when they would be available in the UK.
Most websites i visit show either "out of stock" or "x expected in 1 to 2 days" and have done so for weeks.

So, i thought i'd tweet SAMSUNGSERVICE.
They have said they dont now.

I thought i'd email Samsung directly.
The response i got was that they don't know.

I find this incredible, a company the size of Samsung and they dont know when their own factories are going to have items rolling off the production line?

I managed to raise a live chat session earlier and it went like this:



Please wait for a Samsung Agent to respond.

You are now chatting with '****'.There will be a brief survey at the end of our chat to share feedback on my performance today.

****: Hi, thanks for reaching out to Samsung tech support. How can I help you today?

Nev: your website is advertising the new Sandy Bridge i5/i7 laptops - but i was wondering if you know when they will actually be available

Nev: i've tried tweeting/emailg Samsung, but nobody seems to know. someone in marketing or supply chain must know when they will be available?

****: I see that you are not chatting from U.S. Are you referring to the U.S unit?

Nev: well, i'm thinking about the UK unit specifically - but i'd expect us to be a month or so behind a US launch

****: Currently, chat support is for US products only. Though our information on non-US products is very limited, we will try our best to assist you. Please note you may need to contact (0845 726 7864) for further assistance if we cannot help you with your query.

****: However, we don't have any particular time frame on when it would be available.

****: I apologize for the inconvenience.

Nev: when is the US laptop released? the RF711 for example?

****: Sorry, we don't have the information on your question.

Nev: so your website is showing a product: RF711-S02 Notebook | Samsung NP-RF711-S02 but nobody at Samsung knows when it will be in stores?

****: Samsung doesn't sell any of its products directly. All of its products are sold through the authorized dealers.

****: It depends up on the dealers.

Nev: but Samsung doesnt have a timeframe for shipping from the factory to the dealers?

****: No, there isn't.

Nev: ok.

Nev: thank you for your time!

Crazy isn't it?
I guess i'll just keep waiting...

 

You may do better to ask one of the e-tailers who has NP-RF711-S02UK listed ( this one says 2 to 6 weeks). They may know who in Samsung to ask about its ETA. There's the possibility that there's some component that is delayed because of Japanese earthquakes.

John

 

I've been contacting etailers a lot - but i must confess it hadnt occured to me that the earthquake would possible affect things. D'oh! Cheers John