Close to a year ago, I received a phone call from an agent from Dell Financial Services. He claimed that I owed the company my $100 payment for the month. I told him I had just sent a check for $240, and that I was sure it had cleared my account. While he was on the phone with me, I went to my bank's website and checked my account. Sure enough, the check had cleared about a week before this phone call came in.
When I told the agent, who claimed his name was Steve, that the check to DFS had cleared, he began to scream at me. He called me a liar and a cheat. He said that I needed to give him a check over the phone right now, or they would send me to collections, and I could wind up in jail (this is an illegal debt collection practice). When I told him that his threats were not only based upon inaccuracies, but were also in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and demanded to speak to his supervisor, he said, "I will not allow you to speak to my supervisor. It would be a waste of his time to talk to you." I reiterated my statement, and told him that his refusal to allow me to speak to his supervisor was another violation. He became very aggressive and hostile, told me that Dell is a "multibillion dollar" company and could, in essence, squash me like the lowly bug that I am if I did not give him a check over the phone right that instant. I refused, he became more aggressive and threatening, and I finally screamed at him - I'm afraid some words that were not nice, told him I would, under no circumstances ever, give him a check over the phone, especially when I had already paid the bill - in fact more than double the amount due - and was not past due to begin with. Then I slammed the phone down really hard, and I hope it hurt his hears. I hope my screaming deafened him, in fact.
I immediately contacted DFS to complain about this call. They acknowledged having received the payment and denied knowing anything about this call. They refused to do anything about it. I reported it to The Better Business Bureau in Texas, and in my home state. I also reported the incident to the Attorney Generals' offices in both states. However, given that Dell has exported a lot of their financial services jobs overseas, I am not sure how much power any state would have over their actions.
So the moral of the story is, beware when buying from Dell using their financial services. My advice would be to buy from another company, or if you are committed to Dell, use a trusted credit card instead, or your bank account. Do not get a Dell "preferred customer" account. Pay some other way.
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