Dell laptop replacement battery takes 3-4 weeks in India

If you order (that is pay up all money for the product) a Dell laptop replacement battery from India, it takes 3-4 weeks before you get it. It seems they have to procure it from Malaysia and ship it to India only after the customer pays up all the money. It may also get stuck in customs clearance and hence they proactively inform the customer that it will take 3-4 weeks to deliver and may delight them by delivering within a week ! And even for a battery order, you need to call a sales guy and give the credit card number over the phone, there is no way I can order it from their websites in India.

Absolutely pathetic - and the stupid customer who bought the laptop from Dell doesn't have another option but wait.

It is amazing that Dell has not been able to change their processes that suits customers in different regions. They are just imitating others by going the channel partner way that others have been doing in this region without fixing the root cause. A customer who pays up full money for a product expects it to be delivered quickly and doesn't need to be exposed to Dell's supply chain limitations. May be they should push the inventory to customers by giving an extra battery free to their customers in regions where they have limitations in the supply chain.

At the end of it, it appears that Dell is not really a lean company at its roots, they are just a smart middleman pushing inventory to its suppliers and making money. They are just not willing to change their processes for the customers in this region. The fact that they are just following others in the region by using channel partners shows their belief in lean.   Customer doesn't seem to the be central piece in their books.