A few months ago, I took advantage of a special offer from Dell. It still has not shipped. The deal? A 2 GB Memory Stick PRO Duo Card for $120. Amazing, eh? What'll be amazing is if it ships before the end of this year. Date of purchase: 9/22/2005. Estimated ship date was “on or before” 10/7/2005. However, every week, I've been receiving notifications from Dell via email – they're trying to welch on the deal. With every message, the delivery date slips back a few weeks. This morning, another notice came:

Dear Valued Customer, Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have experienced another delay with your order number XYZPDQ123456. Our new anticipated ship date will be on or before 01-13-2006. Due to this additional delay, the Federal Trade Commission requires we receive your consent to continue with this order. If you wish to continue the order, please contact us immediately, with your consent.

Basically, if you don't respond to the message, they cancel the order automatically. I'm sticking with it on principle alone – not to mention the hellacious savings on a 2GB Memory stick. So, if you were really considering ordering anything through Dell for the Holiday season? Think twice.