Dell has no respect for the law, and the worst customer service I have ever encountered.
On November 23rd, My husband and I each purchased a prebuilt desktop computer from www.dell.com. My order was given an estimated delivery date of December 11th.
On December 8th, I received an email informing me that my order had been delayed, and giving me a new estimated delivery date of December 18th, along with instructions to call or email them if I wished to cancel the order. I was annoyed but still willing to wait, so I ignored the email.
On December 15th, I received yet another email from Dell, this time informing me "Your order has been delayed again and we need your permission today to continue processing your order or it will be automatically canceled (as required by the Federal Trade Commission." I was sick of waiting on the machine by now, so I was happy to receive this email. I decided to wait a couple days until I got a confirmation that my order had, in fact, been canceled before I purchased a computer elsewhere.
A week went by with no confirmation, so on the 21st, I called the number included in the email, and was immediately connected to an abusive woman identified as "Cindy Smith." After some confusion (her accent was extremely heavy), she managed to make it clear that she was unable to cancel my order, as it had apparently already shipped out. I pointed out to her that the email I recieved had expressly stated that my order would be canceled unless I authorized them to continue. She read me a script informing me that my order had already shipped, and thanked me for my order. I pointed out that I had not authorized them to ship this order. She read me a script informing me that my order had already shipped, and thanked me for my order. I asked to speak to a supervisor. She claimed they were all busy, and would only tell me the same thing as she had. Eventually, she offered to transfer me to someone who (she claimed) could help me, and sent my call to the returns department.
The returns representative, who also barely spoke English, claimed his name was "Adam Smith." I quit bothering to ask for names at this point. The only solution he was willing to offer was for me to accept the package, then call them back and get a return authorization, and then pay return shipping myself. I pointed out that they had completed this order in violation of federal law. He reread his "How to return an order" script. I asked for a manager. He claimed they were in a meeting. I eventually got transferred to "Customer Care."
To his credit, Customer Care representative number one could speak mostly understandable English. This was offset by the fact that he would do nothing but ready the same "Your order has been shipped, thank you for your order" script as the first person I'd talked to. I asked for a manager, he told me none were available. I asked if he was going to do something about my order or not, then; and he repeated there was nothing he could do. So I repeated that I wished to speak to a manager. He informed me that there was no way you could speak to a manager this close to the holidays, as they were all far too busy. I insisted. He said he would see what he could do, and put me on hold for over half an hour. He eventually came back on the line, and was apparently confused as to who I was and why I was on hold. I informed him he wasn't going to get me to hang up by making me wait, and that I still wished to speak to a manager. He put me on hold again.
I eventually got to someone who claimed to be a manager (And claimed, in another thick accent, to be another "Cindy.") I recapped my situation yet again, and yet again my only response was that the computer had already shipped and that there was nothing she could do, and that Dell does not cancel orders once they have been placed. I asked her repeatedly why her company was blatantly flaunting federal mail order law. She refused to answer. She informed me that I would "be stupid" to think Dell would cancel an order just because it was delayed. I pointed out that the email they sent me had said, in black and white, that this was exactly what they would do. She informed me that if a customer doesn't respond to their emails within 48 hours, they ship the product anyway. I pointed out again that this was in direct violation of the law. She refused to respond to me again. I asked her what she was going to do to fix my problem, and her final answer was short and to the point: she hung up on me.
I considered calling back, but after the hour and a half of hell I'd just been through for absolutely no help whatsoever, I decided a different approach was in order - I called my bank and spoke with a cheerful young woman who spoke excellent English (I didn't think to ask her name, which is a pity. That woman deserves a freaking medal. Thank you, USAA.) She offered me multiple solutions, and eventually I settled on simply canceling my current debit card in the hopes that Dell will be unwilling to force a charge on the account. She politely let me know that the cancellation may or may not help me, and gave me a quick tutorial on how to file a dispute if it should be needed in the future. Heaven.
A couple hours later, I received an email from Dell informing me that my order had shipped. Later that evening, my husband received an email informing him that his order had shipped.
This morning (December 22), I note that my husband's checking account has been debited for his order, and that the tracking orders he was given show that his packages are actually on the way - while my order still has not yet been debited or physically picked up by FedEx. While I am, of course, irritated by the fact that I was so obviously lied to about my computer having shipped; I am hopeful that this is an indication that I will not end up having to deal with trying to return anything to Dell.
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