17 February
Attn. Mr. Michael S. Dell
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Dell Computer Inc.
One Dell Way
Dear Mr. Michael Dell
Order No. 591386127 and 629404116
For my whole life, Dell has always been the one and only business I used for purchasing computers.
There are 2 Desktops, 2 Laptops, Server, printer, and a Dell Axim x51v that are in my room that I purchased from Dell, plus the countless Dimensions, Inspirons and XPSs’ I had enjoyed referring to my family, friends, and colleges, because of the true reliability of them and the great hassle-free experience from Dell. As a matter of fact I am starting to type this email on an Inspiron and finishing it on an Optiplex.
On Dec. 31 I went for another laptop, the impressive XPS Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Extreme X9000 (2.8GHz/800Mh, the latest and greatest laptop that Dell has.) It was ordered on Dec. 31. Got my first email on Jan 1, that was followed by telephone call on the 6th, of January, in which they relayed that my order didn’t go through, because of my credit card limit. I asked if I could pay for the laptop with 2 credit cards and the representative replied yes, but she informed me that my order number, which was 591386127, at the time would change, so I asked if there was any other way that I could pay for the laptop without changing the order number. (That way I could get a tax write off for the 2008 year) and she said no.
I said that I would have to think about it. So the order was put off until about the 11th of January when I got an email that notified me of the order number being canceled. I called Dell to see if I could make the purchase without changing the order number. That call had very good results, so that I could keep the same order number, while I could pay the bill and get a tax write off.
The laptop was to be delivered via FedEx to my house in Hampton Bays, NY. I found out that the laptop was going to arrive at my house when I was in Round Rock, Texas. I decided change the destination to Round Rock, because I knew it would be fun to boast of myself actually visiting and picking up the laptop from one of Dell’s buildings!
That eagerness fell through, when the Nidish Menon (a Dell representative) said to me that they are made overseas now and that the Fedex needed a destination other then Dell to drop off the laptop. I emailed the address to Nidish. He told me that he would notify FedEx when the laptop had landed in the US and that I could expect to get it by the following Tuesday. When Tuesday arrived I made a call to Nidish and he told me that the laptop was in Ronkonkoma, NY. I reminded him that I emailed him my address in Round Rock. I wanted this laptop to be delivered to Round Rock so that I could install VMware, OS, and programs for Motorola (my place of employment) and myself, for the following the following week’s work. He said that he would change the destination to Round Rock. I asked him if he was sure about it arriving before Friday, because on Saturday I was going to take off and fly back to NY, and he said yes, it will arrive before or on Friday. Nidish told me that they would compensate me $350 for that mistake, for the time, money and frustration. I was pleased and thanked them. Friday noon arrived and I logged in to the Fedex website and saw that the laptop was only in New Jersey.
I called Nidish January 22 said that the laptop was just in New Jersey and asked him to reroute the laptop to Hampton Bays, knowing there was no longer a chance of it arriving in time in Texas, and thanked him for his efforts. The laptop box arrived at my house on Jan 31. That was 31 days LATER then when I ordered it. I opened that box and couldn’t believe my eyes when everything was there EXCEPT my laptop. I was very frustrated by now, I wasn’t sure about cancelling the order, but I thought about it and said it could have been in a unique circumstance were nothing is coming out right and that Dell had been a great business to go through all my life, I will give them the benefit of the doubt. That Saturday I called Nidish and left a message saying that said that I’m not sure what had happened to the laptop. Asked him if the XPS was coming in another box or what had happened to it and that it wasn’t in the box that had arrived. (The box didn’t look as if it tampered with).
On February 2 the laptop was reordered and I got another order number: 629404116, this is when Nidish's Manager Neeraj Mehta had to get involved. They informed me that I would be getting another laptop in about a week. On February 6 arrived and Nidish called to inform me that the video card that I needed was out of stock and that he didn't know when the order would come in.
By now I had been without a personal laptop for about 3 1/2 weeks. (I was moving around from computer to computer and not knowing when I would be getting the XPS that I had ordered 38 days earlier. Not all of the laptops had the programs on them that I was using. (It was a mess.) So I asked Nidish if there any way in which Dell could compensate me for the time, money and frustration that it was causing in work, from this order that didn’t come yet. I also had wanted to inform my family, friends, and colleges about the excellent compensation that took place to show that Dell takes care of its customers, because by now as I’m sure you can understand, I was telling this story and Dell was looking like the “bad guys”. I was confident Dell would do right by me, and I could prove to my friends, family and colleagues that I was not wrong by going with the company that had not let me down in the past.
Nidish told me that the system wouldn’t allow for him to compensate me any more, then the $350 dollars that he did on January 23. So I asked him to talk it over with Neeraj Mehta and see if he could take the price down any, and asked him to update me on the status by Monday.
Monday, February 9 came and I called Nidish around 3:30PM EST and he said that he and Neeraj Mehta couldn't reimburse anymore then the $350 that already took place me. I felt an additional $650 (for a total of a $1000 rebate/discount) would be a fair reimbursement to ensure that remained Dells number 1 customer. We are not talking about a $500 machine, I often order Dells top of the line products, the one in question totaling about $3000.
41 DAYS had passed, from Dec. 31 2008 to Feb 9 and I would have to wait an additional WEEK, not withstanding any other problems that could arise by then. My patience had finally run out. I felt taken advantage of, and thusly cancelled the order of my laptop. I would be more than happy to send back the box of accessories I did receive if Dell would pay the shipping. Now that I have some time to think about it as I mentioned before, I really have enjoyed my products and past experiences I have had with Dell, with the obvious exception of this last one I outlined above. The incident was enough for me to consider cutting ties with the company I had used for all of my life.
Therefore, as you can imagine this story has been told to my friends, family and colleges. I am leaving it in your hands to provide the ending to the story. If it will be a happy or sad ending is up to you. I am hoping that you value me as a customer as much I valued your business over the years.
Sincerely –
Jason L
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