Probably not...

How do you figure this? Being that you're ordering a system online, probably from a different state or the other side of the country, its going to take a couple of weeks.
I've also had a Dell system fail on me after 3 months due to a bad hard drive and I ended up having to wait about the same amount of time, and this was way back when they offered on-site support without much hassle and actually sent someone to your house to replace a bad part.

Most likely one of your system components was damaged due to mishandling during the shipping process. It doesn't take much for this to happen; or it could just be a component went bad/failed when you tried to start it up. I know it really sucks when you don't have another system to fall back on, but it can and does happen, regardless of who you order a system from.

Keep in mind that Dell:
1) Is a much bigger company.
2) Outsources its tech support and can be very irritating to navigate through.
3) Much less flexibility in its systems.
4) Has its own custom diagnostics tools built into their systems.

Dell has its own much larger share(simply due to the larger diversity of customers they handle) of customers that had systems from them arrive DOA. To my knowledge, Dell does not use expedited shipping either. So you would basically be in the same boat with a DOA system no matter who you order from.

There's only 2 other options:
1) Build your own.
2) Have a local shop build it.
And even then, there's always the chance that "something" fails and you're still left waiting and either at the mercy of the local shop or having all of the responsibility of troubleshooting and fixing it yourself.

It all comes down to opportunity cost and what you're willing to sacrifice to get what you want.

The reasons I would choose DS over Dell for my next desktop are:
-If and when something goes wrong, I'm going to be talking to someone on the phone here in the US that I can understand.
-I will have the choice of purchasing a system that has more upgrade options instead of being limited by mass-produced models like what Dell builds.
-No proprietary nonsense or bloat-ware on the system.

This is not saying either one is any better than the other. This is my personal preference based on my experience with Dell systems. They are reliable, but I want more out of a desktop than what they offer. If it means having to wait longer on build & shipping times, so be it.

I have owned hp, dell and lenevo's and they have all served their purpose well as basic productive machines and some have had failures during their lifetime. My main frustration came when I wanted to upgrade beyond the basic RAM and vid card- it was near impossible!
DS serves a different kind of consumer- one who wants to have a custom built machine to focus on gaming without the hassle of building his/her own rig. Like with anything we buy in life- components can and will fail to our disappointment. Anyone who has owned a car knows this feeling :) Having built my own rig 5 yrs ago- and having the motherboard fail within a week was not a reflection upon my build- but a manufacture defect. Hopefully the team at DS will make this right for you

A computer from Dell is not the same as a high-performance PC from us. The hardware we use are built from quality brands, but each one is different, a system from Dell has a Dell power supply, Dell motherboard, Dell memory, Dell hard drives, etc...

We do as much as we can to stress-test every system (I can send you reports showing that your unit ran perfectly here before it shipped).

It's in our best interest to ensure our customers receive a working product, trust me, as we have to provide warranty and support service.

I'm sorry you've had an issue, we will try our best to get you up and running, as you've seen with our support staff. I know it's not ideal to be without your system, we wish we could offer loaners, but we are a small business that offers a specialized solution.

Hang in there, feel free to contact me for updates via email "[email protected]". Thanks!

P.S.
I'll be moving your thread to the "Customer Service" section shortly.

Edited by Alex - 22 Mar 2017 at 9:31am

Five Dells (six if you count the Dell tablet I bought a few years ago with the Atom processor - works okay for young kids, but I don't suggest it)...no issues. I still have a Dell laptop I bought 11 years ago that still works, though it's a little slow with Vista on it.

Yes, Dell has many Dell components. However, my XPS 8300 (the one I'm attempting to replace with a DS system after 6 years) came with an ATI Radeon 6800 series video card (still a good one after all of these years) Intel chips, a Seagate hard drive (2 Tb), 16 Gb of RAM, an i7 processor (quad-core, 3.4 GHz) - which is not a "Dell" branded item...so on and so on. So, my experience, once again not to knock anyone else's experience, has been good with Dell. I took a wild shot into the dark to try out a Digital Storm system. I've taken these sorts of risks before, buying my wife a Lenovo desktop this past year...good computer so far. Honestly, I liked what I saw on YouTube concerning Digital Storm and these computers and I'm looking forward to actually getting to use the computer.

But...
1. I realize things happen...but DOA almost immediately out of the box? Fine - maybe UPS didn't handle it the way they should have. Could have something to do with ground shipping?

2. That ground shipping...a WEEK one-way. Holy cow, really? I guess this frustrates me as much as anything. A one-week shipping time one-way means two weeks total both ways - JUST for shipping.

3. Digital Storm builds the hype of receiving the system with the "stress testing," etc. Okay, I know you folks are working hard to make a great computer system and you want to be sure I get a system that is great out of the box. I'm actually not really coming down on you for this, except to say that something went wrong. If it's the shipping process that caused this, is there another way? Maybe it's shipping by ground that's the issue? UPS does offer better avenues for shipping. And yeah, it's more expensive. But I got a damaged system, whether it was before or after the shipping process doesn't matter to me. I just want to receive a system that I can use for the next 5-10 years (as I have the Dells I've owned) without the hassle of spending several hours on a phone trying to download another copy of Win 10 and put it on the computer before discovering that doesn't work.

4. And finally...props to the guy I talked with on the phone at Digital Storms. He was great. Absolutely great. And yes, he was American and spoke fluent English (that's a nice point). He went through everything step by step and even took control of my wife's computer to go and get a copy of Win 10 to try to load back on the DS computer. The guy deserves a raise...he worked really hard. However (you knew this was coming, right?) - Why not put a USB drive in the box with the computer that contains everything needed to completely restore the computer to factory? It would have saved a LOT of time, and I'm guessing would have been cheaper than having your guy on the phone with me for several hours trying to get things downloaded. Maybe there are issues with having a copy in the box like that, such as with Microsoft and their copyright issues, but surely some sort of recovery disk or USB with everything on it would make things easier. I didn't even have time to do a backup or recovery disk before the system died. It was on my "to-do" list with the computer, but I was busy installing the McAfee that came with the system and getting it ready for my use. Then blue screen not long after - ugh.

So, once again, I realize there are LOADS of happy DS customers around. I can certainly see why. However, it's the only system so far (except for an HP I bought from Sears in the mid-nineties...what a poor decision that was) that I've had this sort of problem with. The shipping times add to the aggravation as well, along with the fact there is no recovery method other than relying upon either the Windows "recovery" after the blue screen or going and downloading another copy of Win 10 from Microsoft's site. Anyway, I'm finished ranting. I will wait until Digital Storm assesses the computer and comes up with a solution. I've made the first payment already, so I guess I'm in this for the long haul.

Okay, UPS ground is notoriously slow - all the more reason I'm a little irritated by the fact that the system arrived and almost immediately began throwing a blue screen.

Like I've said throughout, this was a disappointment in that I ventured away from a brand I have had success with since the early 2000's to try out DS. First impressions are meaningful, and the first impression I have of a system that two hours out of a box is unusable is pretty poor. My mind may very well be changed on this eventually - I sincerely hope so. I'm hoping that I'll get the system back and that it will roar to life like the computer it should be and continue to be a great computer for years. But what if it arrives with the same or other problems? What then? THAT would really cause me to blow a gasket, but I'm waiting to see what happens. I think they'll find the issue and fix it and more than likely it will work great. It will have to work great for a few years for me to feel that I've gotten the same service from it I've gotten from multiple Dell computers. If problems persist and I continue to have to deal with shipping there and back...well, something will have to be done at that point. Continuing to make payments on something I don't have or that I can't use won't be an option any more.

As for Dell shipping (I think they have multiple locations they ship from) - I looked back in my emails from 2011 (yes, I keep all emails related to purchasing) and it took seven days from the point of order to when I received my last XPS system. The shipping was UPS and took 3 days. However, it might have shipped from Texas, but I can't find that info in particular. I also had a one-year service contract that automatically came with the system for in-home repair, but I never used it. Didn't need to. Not that I expect the same from Digital Storm; I've always found some promises of service a bit overrated. But, that's my experience with Dell.

I am HOPING for a good experience with the DS computer when if finally gets back to me. From what people have said in the forums I'm assuming that I will - once it's back to me. Until then, if someone in my family came to me and asked about whether they should get a DS system or if one of my kids asked for a DS system for college - I would at this point reply, "Nope." If I end up with this system working well for three, four, or five years with no issues - well, then I might be swayed to say, "Sure, why not?"

My worst experience with a computer before this one was the HP I bought at Sears. I had a bad feeling about buying one from Sears in the first place in the latter nineties. My first computer came from Radio Shack in 1992, and I had figured I would be back at Radio Shack to get another eventually. However, in about 1997 I went for the HP on sale at Sears and about a month later it just died...completely and utterly went black screen and never came back. It was more than likely a bad power supply (I didn't have a clue about pc's so much at that time)but all I had to do was box it up, go to Sears a few miles away, and exchange it. That's it. The same day it died I had another in its place for the cost of about forty miles worth of gas. I've had no other problems like that with the other systems I've owned - apparently blessed in this respect as I read others' comments here.

Sorry for the rants, though. I can tell folks are diehard DS fans here. The fact is, I hope that I will become one too. I'm just waiting to see if that will be the case. Oh, and again...the tech support on the phone was fantastic. The guy really does deserve a raise for working as hard as he did.

Oh and for the record... the last Dell computer I owned was an eMachine. I'll NEVER own another Dell. I'd rather use an apple product long before I'd every stoop that low again.

Comparing a mass produced item with a custom built one is not fair to either.

Just bad luck, not much else to it. It happens from time to time and it has nothing to do with the brand that sold you the PC.

All electronic manufacturers know there are some failures that make it to the market and yours might've happened to be one. Or poor handling.

Originally posted by Purpletalon55 Digital Storm has amazing customer service, My computer had a major issue which we still don't know whether it was windows or not, caused it basically not allow me to install anything and any .exe file was saying not supported. Well the guy stayed on the phone for like 5 hours including 2-3 hours past closing time to help me fix my pc even getting windows installed again from scratch. I need to get a new pc soon just cannot afford it right now, and I will certainly look at digital storm as being my #1 option.

Not often you'd see anyone staying past their closing time just to help a customer. Must've been one of the coolest guys ever.

If you still have issues, I would ensure the unit is plugged directly into the wall outlet to see if it's a power delivery problem. We've seen this occur.

Also, it could be a device plugged into the PC that is not compatible with your operating system.

Our support team can help pinpoint the problem, as of right now, the unit is running great.

I and others have "fixed" BSOD and crashing problems by bypassing their surge protectors and going right to the wall.   It does work in certain cases.

Power supplies do have surge protection but it varies with the quality of the supply. I would still recommend a surge protector because every surge takes a piece of protection out of the unit.   Whether the surge protector uses clamping diodes, varsitors, etc, they all have a limited life. Power supplies don't normally work as good as even cheap surge protection.   

I have never had the problem personally, and I never heard what the customers that had it actually did in the end, but my guess is to try a different surge protector or a UPS, uninterruptible power supply, rated to handle their particular load.

If you live in a clean, problem free power grid then a cheaper surge protector or just the psu will work.   Of course, your other components, like the monitor, should be protected.   If you live in a dirtier, more problem area then more expensive options are needed.

I would wait and see what happens when you get the rig back. BSOD can be so many things, like hardware, software just loaded or uninstalled, ....

That's the way to go.   

Just a FYI.... I had couple of BSOD just by uninstalling FanSpeed software used to regulate the system fans.   I've done it with no issues and then with crashing.   Just by unplugging the rig, holding in power on button for several seconds to "flush" the motherboard, then it was good to go.   Another time just hard rebooting fixed one.

Well, I need to change the title of my original post to "Absolutely NOT." I got the system back today after two weeks. Set it up (by the way, video recorded a lot of this) and no sooner had I turned it on and gotten to the sign-in screen but I got the SAME BSOD...over and over again just like the first time. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? When I spoke with the tech at DS a couple of weeks back she told me essentially that there wasn't anything wrong with the computer. REALLY??? It went through BSOD over and over that time as well. So, I set it up today and it's over and over like the last time. I'm so damned tired of this. WHY the hell did I EVER take a risk on this machine?

I want my money back...ALL of it, including my shipping. I want UPS to pick it up at my house. I'm not driving a 100 mile round-trip to return this hunk of sh*t. I'm done...give me my money back so that I can go get a damned DELL like I should have done in the first place.

Ohhh...and your POS phone tree is garbage too. Sat on there fifteen minutes listening to "your call will be answered in 4 minutes" over and over until it dropped my call. What little chance there was of salvaging this customer relationship is over. I'm done with you.

Sorry you were still having same problem but as you can see DS does stand behind its service to the consumer commitment. I have to wonder if you used surge strip/ups or powered directly to the outlet but irrelevant at this point. Good luck with your next system.

Originally posted by hoserator Sorry you were still having same problem but as you can see DS does stand behind its service to the consumer commitment. I have to wonder if you used surge strip/ups or powered directly to the outlet but irrelevant at this point. Good luck with your next system.

I bought a new UPS to handle any issues in that regard, paying about $100 for it. I can't and won't plug a PC straight into the wall around here.

Edited by SabreTalon - 13 Apr 2017 at 4:47am