Background.
I was interested in buying a Dell Inspiron 8600. I called their 800 number and quickly got a sales rep named Alphonso. I made my order and everything went smoothly.
Later I realized I didn't add the one upgrade that I wanted (Screen Upgrade to WSXGA). So I called back with Alphonso's extension and no problems, I got the screen upgrade. When I received my email, it showed the free upgrades were left off the system (Free DVD Burner upgrade and free 512 meg of ram upgrade). So once again, I called Alphonso and after a 20 minutes wait he cleared it with his manager and everything was great. So far, I'm very satisfied with the service.
At this point I would like to go over the pricing for the
system.
The base system cost is $1,249 (which includes the default $140 one year service charge added to every system). The screen upgrade is $50.
That comes to $1,299 (plus $49 S&H)
I received my laptop a good week and a half before it was
expected to show up. Things are looking good.
A few days later I receive an invoice listing the system cost as $1,691 (plus $49 S&H).
Contact Customer Service.
Right away (Saturday) I contact customer service. From the preferred dell card division to the main customer service, they tell me I need to get in contact with Alphonso. So I wait until Monday to contact Alphonso. Within 5 minutes he transfers me over to customer service. And they see I have a prefered dell
account and transfer me to the financial division.
While discussing the invoice, they rep tells me I have a total of 3,000 charged to my newly opened account. That extra charge was quickly taken care of now only leaving the $1,740 charge on my account.
At this point I start working on the incorrect invoice amount, but I'm then transfered over to the returns dept. For whatever reason, the phone connection became filled with horrible static as if I was moving to an area with bad cell reception. But I was using a land line. So the rep told me to call back and just ask for the returns dept.
I call once again and go through the options. I ask for the returns dept. The rep I got this time didn't want to transfer me. So I reexplained my case. She agrees with me that the charge is completely wrong. So she goes to dell.com and makes a computer of the same configuration. She is willing to give me $300 refund (with the blessing of her manager). This would be great if the difference in the amount quoted to me and the invoice amount was in fact $300. But the difference is $392.
This rep was determined to have me take this great offer of dell only ripping me off for $92. Then she tells me that any dell rep is allowed to alter the system charge up to 6% and this was the best I was going to get. So I (hopefully) calmly explained that I was not looking for a deal, I was looking for getting charged the price quoted to me. She does not sympathize.
So I attempt to call the original sales rep, Alphonso. Maybe he can rectify the mistake he made (with the help of his manager). But all I get is his answering machine.
After a bit of telephone menu acrobatics and fun with
extensions, I got the last person at dell that I talked with.
This rep was most professional. I retold my story. Afterward she asked to confirm the difference of $392. I confirmed. The rep then told me to fax my copy of the invoice into their office and I would get a $392 refund on my dell card. And I also got a reference number.
This took 4 hours in total to do.in that time, I passed
through no less than 10 different reps. And transfered almost every time. Half the time while being transferred, my call would disconnect. Half the time I called the 800 number and passed through the menu, I would get a busy signal.
I was asked to return my laptop and order the same laptop to fix this. I was not ready to accept this option since I would be without the laptop for the next few weeks. I would have to set up the laptop once again to my liking. And in the end I would be receiving the exactly the same laptop. The problem was not the laptop; it was the billing. And I think a company of this size should be equipped with a more reasonable solution than
return and reorder.
Recap.
I placed an order and opened a dell account.
I modified the order.
The order was modified incorrectly.
I fixed the order.
The order was charged incorrectly.
I was charged for a cancelled order.
I had the spurious charge removed from my dell card.
I had the price fixed for the order.
None of that is too much of a problem. People make mistakes (sometimes several). However, The support I received from dell was for the most part unresponsive and that is simply unacceptable.
Ahmad
Lincroft, New Jersey
U.S.A.
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