Well, finally good news. Checking my Order Status, the laptop shows as "Shipped" and I got a Fedex tracking number. To help other people who may have the same issue, here is what happened: The order was received on Feb 8 and showed "In Production" on Feb 9. It left production with "Build Complete" status on Feb 13.  Well, at that time, I received an email saying the product "has shipped" but with no tracking # and no carrier. And the "Order Status" did not show Shipped but showed "In Production". What was really happening here, the product was indeed shipped via air shuttle from China to the US. I did not know that at the time and the email was confusing, as it was not corresponding to the Order Status "In Production". On Feb 17 the laptop arrived in US at Dell. At this point I received another email & text saying the order is "out for delivery". I didn't know what to make of it, as the online order status still showed "In Production" and customer care reps were telling me it will be another 4-6 days to reach the US Dell base. In reality, it was already at  the Dell US warehouse and it was being handed over to Fedex. Finally, in the evening of Feb 17th, after I posted this thread, I checked again the Order Status and , lo and behold, it was changed to "Shipped" and a Fedex tracking # and delivery date were available. It was actually all run OK from the processing POV, the delivery date is still the one specified when I ordered the laptop and it is now on the Fedex truck expected to be delivered on time. What was super confusing, though, was the miscommunication via these emails, the discrepancy between emails and Order Status and the fact that the customers reps I talked to, while trying to be so helpful and nice, didn't have any visibility into the process.
My order status does not show Shipping yet, but I just received an email saying my laptop order is out for delivery. Anybody else experienced this? What should I expect? The email I received from Dell doesn't show any carrier and any tracking #.
Dell Delivery Email/Text vs Dell Order Status