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dell woes

post #1 of 28
9/7/06 at 4:26am
Thread Starter 
8 days after ordering and having absolutely nothing happen, (I haven't made it to pre-production yet) inexplicably Dell opts not to charge my credit card and releases the hold for the funds, essentially meaning that they didnt charge me anything. i've been calling all week on my cell phone, racking up minutes (I live in residence at a university and dont have a room phone) and have recently resorted to using a public phone for 45+ minute hold times... but I always just hang up because I can't get through.
Quote:
Dear Dell Canada Customer Service: Please refer this email immediately to a manager. I would like immediately to be contacted by phone at ********** or by email at *************** Please leave a message on the phone if I do not answer. Okay, basically, I am extremely pissed off with my entire experience with Dell at this point. I apologize for the angry tone of this email, but so far, basically everyone I have talked to working at Dell with the exception of two representatives has been completely unable to help me with any issue. Being polite and patient has got me nowhere with Dell Canada. Firstly, when I ordered I spoke with two sales representatives. The first was completely unhelpful and wouldn't apply my coupon and although he wasn't rude, he was very persistent in not giving me my discount and swore that he would have to pay from his own pocket if he were to apply the discount. He promised to call me back so I could speak to a manager after refusing to let me speak to one, after insisting that all the managers were in a "meeting" that would last at least two hours. He never called back which was quite upsetting since I waited at home for the call. He even made me send him a copy of the coupon I wanted to use to the following email address: srikanth_******@dell.com He was bad rep #1. Anyways, I called back and got another sales representative who promptly applied my coupon and sold me the computer without giving me any trouble. He was helpful and polite. He told me that both credit cards had been charged and that everything was okay. He also told me that Dell might call me to confirm the order which never happened. He was good Dell rep #1. I called again to get a copy of my invoice emailed to me. The first customer service representative never sent the email even though he said he did. Bad rep #1. I called back and talked to another representative who sent the email, finally. He was good rep #2. After this, my order has been sitting in "Order Processing" for many days. I ordered on August 31st and it is now the evening of September 6th and my order has not even been processed. On Friday, September 1st, I called to ask a customer service representative to ask if everything was okay with the payment and she said that it was after talking to the finance department. She said that my order would go into pre-production the next day. Bad rep #2. That has not happened. Actually, my estimated arrival date has been pushed back by 4 days now from the 18th of September to the 22nd of September. I have tried over the weekend to call, but the office was closed. Since then, I have called EVERY day and waited on hold for 45 minutes using my cellphone and have not been able to get through once. All I get is a recorded message very 60 seconds saying that "We are currently assisting other callers," and that's it. After wasting all my cell-phone minutes and getting nowhere, I tried calling from a payphone today and waited at the payphone for 45 minutes with no response. The reason I have to use a cellphone is because I am a university student. I emailed customer service as well a few days ago and got the response "Once we have more information we will email you back after 9AM EST today." from *********. The customer reference number is **********. The email never arrived. Bad rep #3. Today, I checked with my credit card company and noticed that the hold that had been placed on my credit card has been dropped. This means that Dell has cancelled reception of credit card payment from their end. I have received absolutely no explanation for this, just outrageous wait times on the phone and customer service replies that mean absolutely nothing because they provide no information whatsoever and offer no resolution to my problem. I ordered from Dell expecting prompt assembly and delivery of my computer. I started classes yesterday and my laptop has not even entered production. If Dell expects any further business from me then this situation had better turn around immediately. In fact, I will make a specific effort to recommend against Dell to everyone I know. At LEAST, I am expecting a shipping upgrade to make up for the time that has been wasted as well as a further $200 discount on the computer. After my order for $1942.47, all I have to show for it is an order number referring to a computer that I have not even been charged for (How can you build it if I haven't been charged for it...), a huge amount of wasted time and energy and the worst customer experience of any company I have ever purchased from. PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT YOU PLAN TO DO ABOUT THIS!! ALL I WANT IS THE COMPUTER I ORDERED TO BE MADE AND DELIVERED. I HAVE GIVEN MY CREDIT CARD INFORMATION. NOBODY IS HELPING WITH THIS PROBLEM. THEY JUST PROMISE MORE INFORMATION AND NEVER CONTACT ME. I CANNOT GET THROUGH ON THE PHONE. MY COMPUTER IS NOT BEING MADE. PLEASE ADVISE.
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post #2 of 28
9/7/06 at 1:12pm
I hate voice mail systems. I am especially hostile to the ones that require you to speak to them. I hope they can get you some info soon, but more importantly get your laptop to you soon. Good luck with the battle. It's a shame you have have to pay for such frustration.
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post #3 of 28
9/7/06 at 2:35pm
Dude, be more patient. You ordered the 31 of August and we are the 7th of sept.

I ordered mine and I have receive it 2_and_half weeks later, and the first 2 weekds, it was in order processing all the time.

Dell online status website for canadian customers is never working, note that somewhere where you can remember on your next order. It very rarely works, and it's not very accurate.

I would say, be more patient, I know it's killing you to wait... but be patient... One day, purolator guy will show up and you will be happy like a kid again.
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post #4 of 28
9/7/06 at 3:36pm
Thread Starter 
What I'm so pissed about is the fact that they don't answer the phone after I hold for 45 minutes, yet I can call tech support or sales and they pick up right away.

Also, I still haven't determined why they haven't charged me for the order yet.
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post #5 of 28
9/7/06 at 4:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sublime69
What I'm so pissed about is the fact that they don't answer the phone after I hold for 45 minutes, yet I can call tech support or sales and they pick up right away.

I understand the frustration, I hope all works out for you.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sublime69
Also, I still haven't determined why they haven't charged me for the order yet.

I dont know about Canada but here in the US the hold is temporary, usually 2-5 days just to confirm funds are available. Then they release the funds until the system is ready to ship at wich time they actually charge you for the computer. In fact on my last purchase from Dell they didn't charge me till about 2 days after I got it.

When I configure a Core 2 Duo system like the one you ordered it tells me the expected ship date is ~14 days from now. Based on that and my experience I would say be patient and your system will arrive in due time.
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post #6 of 28
9/7/06 at 4:56pm


He is right.

When you order, Dell will "talk" to your credit card company electronically and ask if the funds are there. They wont actually bill you until it is shipped. And you wont see it appear on your electronic statement before a couple days after it is billed.

Once again, I know its long and frustrating... Be patient and stop calling them. when I asked for order status, I emailed them, it takes one full day for a response, but you wont have to do the waiting on the phone and can do your things.
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post #7 of 28
9/7/06 at 5:17pm
Haha I have a very similar problem to yours. You know what I learned, they are just too damn busy. It took me about 5 hours total calling them up. All they do is transfer and transfer... They love to transfer and say we are not responsible for this part. YOu gotta talk to them. Then when they transfer you, they transfer you to the wrong department then then trasnfer you again.. how fun.

Also the website is quite inaccurate. I called in and they said it's in production now, and have confirmed it with 3 other representatives. But the website still reads, pre-production. Who do I trust?

For some reason, I don't see anything on the Estimated arrival date now. Maybe they heard me complain too much about shipping dates that they've decided to take that section away haha.

dL
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post #8 of 28
9/7/06 at 5:20pm
I would check your online order status. If it says that your order has been cancelled, then I would freak out.

I work for an online company that ships out a few million dollars in merchandise each year. Any time a company does an AVS (Address verification check) on your card, it freezes the fund at your bank until they collect on it.

Most places will not collect until they actually ship your order, so it sounds like your bank gave up after a week of waiting for Dell to collect the funds they froze, so they released the pending charge (also called an Autherization charge).
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post #9 of 28
9/7/06 at 6:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sublime69
What I'm so pissed about is the fact that they don't answer the phone after I hold for 45 minutes, yet I can call tech support or sales and they pick up right away.

Also, I still haven't determined why they haven't charged me for the order yet.

there are certain state laws that prevent companies from charging until the item is shipped.

you should also read the order stipulations about amount of time for production and shipping. 8 days is absolutely ridiculous to be complaining about. Moreover, 3 of those days were holiday weekend (Labor Day in the U.S.). So figure 48 hours for processing, 72 hours for weekend, that leaves one day in pre-production. That to me is something you should have considered. moreover, if you absolutely needed it for school, you should have ordered it earlier (again look at dell's annotations on production and shipping times).

it seems you simply want to get more discount for the computer than you really deserve. I'm all for it, but to snivel about it to us when in reality the computer has only been pre-production 1 day absolutely makes no sense.
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post #10 of 28
9/7/06 at 8:46pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dL.
Haha I have a very similar problem to yours. You know what I learned, they are just too damn busy. It took me about 5 hours total calling them up. All they do is transfer and transfer... They love to transfer and say we are not responsible for this part. YOu gotta talk to them. Then when they transfer you, they transfer you to the wrong department then then trasnfer you again.. how fun.

Also the website is quite inaccurate. I called in and they said it's in production now, and have confirmed it with 3 other representatives. But the website still reads, pre-production. Who do I trust?

For some reason, I don't see anything on the Estimated arrival date now. Maybe they heard me complain too much about shipping dates that they've decided to take that section away haha.

dL


dL, EXACTLY!! I just can't stand that they contradict themselves. In the "my account" section it says "pre-production" and in my "order status" section it says "order processing"

WTF!? And every customer service rep tells me something different.

When I promise a client or a friend or a professor that I will do something, I get it done. So far, in my experience, Dell has about a 25% success rate at doing things they promise they will do!!!!!!


I really appreciate the posts guys. Everyone on this forum solves my Dell customer service issues for me by simply explaining things that Dell should have explained. They still have not responded adequately to any of my information requests.

Idiots, total idiots they are!!

I didn't know that I should be expecting such poor service! Now I know that!!

lol
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post #11 of 28
9/7/06 at 8:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by laffingbilly
there are certain state laws that prevent companies from charging until the item is shipped.

you should also read the order stipulations about amount of time for production and shipping. 8 days is absolutely ridiculous to be complaining about. Moreover, 3 of those days were holiday weekend (Labor Day in the U.S.). So figure 48 hours for processing, 72 hours for weekend, that leaves one day in pre-production. That to me is something you should have considered. moreover, if you absolutely needed it for school, you should have ordered it earlier (again look at dell's annotations on production and shipping times).

it seems you simply want to get more discount for the computer than you really deserve. I'm all for it, but to snivel about it to us when in reality the computer has only been pre-production 1 day absolutely makes no sense.

laffingbilly:

WTF? I'm not sniveling to you. I'm explicating the issue I'm having with Dell so that anyone else who has little Dell experience and is going through an order right now may be able to offer assistance or gain insight.

What I'm pissed about is not so much the order time, but really that:

-- It's impossible to reach customer service on the phone. Three times for a total of about 140 minutes I've tried to call but had to hang up because of exorbitant hold times

-- Customer service is curt, sometimes rude and always unhelpful. They simply tell me it will be working in 12 hours which is never true. The truth is better than bullshit even if I have to wait a few days more. I was told explicitly by my sales rep. after I ordered that it would go into production within 12 hours and a week flew by without even getting out of "order processing"

The issue about the payment being held, released and re-charged was something that I knew nothing about until explained to me by forum members in this thread. If customer service had done their job and explained this to me, I wouldn't have assumed my order had been screwed up and written the big long nasty hate mail... (Well, I'd have written one anyway to bitch at about their bad customer service)

The reason I waited until close to my semester starting was so that I could get a C2D, if you've read any of my other posts that would be obvious. I didn't want to end up like one of these poor folks who paid the same but got something inferior.

Finally, I'm an exceedingly polite and respectful person, but repeatedly being told something that turns out to be false and not being able to speak to anyone about the problem really pisses me off and makes me feel like they don't deserve my business. I can't understand people like you who are willing to accept sub-standard customer service for any reason.
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post #12 of 28
9/7/06 at 8:58pm
Thread Starter 
If I am paying with two credit cards and I specified a specific amount of money on each card, do you guys know if they will remember each amount on each card and charge them that way when the time comes?
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post #13 of 28
9/7/06 at 9:01pm
I totally agree, ive been waiting from the 28th and my order is JUST getting into production.. as a note, the order status, is off by a while.... My notebook (m1210) went into that at about 5:00pm.... so i was happy. But ive been waiting over a week and a half, and i expected better from dell, I needed this laptop Tuesday, and expected to have it monday.. but nope, it wasnt even being built, so, im with out it for school.... for the next week or so.... but enough of me complaining... i'd say just to wait... its a dell, cheap, and nice.
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post #14 of 28
9/8/06 at 7:02am
there is no other way of describing it but sniveling. I read the note you wrote to dell that you posted and the message you wrote here. A vent is a vent which is sniveling. Aside from that point, if you have been posting and read this forum, you would understand that order, production, and shipping times are all variable. If you needed it immediately, of course dell was not necessarily the best option, going to a store where they have lappies already made and ready to buy was the best option. you chose to buy through dell. dell's policies are clear, of course we never read them.

as i said before, what was essentially 1 day in pre-production/production, was absolutely ridiculous to be shooting scathing notes to dell about. I'm sure you are the saint of personality and were not short with the CSR's either.

I too have wasted many hours on the phone with dell as many other people have. Many other people who have experienced this, have recommended on this board to email as the quickest means of communication. I for one email, live chat, and wait on the phone if the matter is of exigency.

I've had uneducated CSR's, but never rude ones.

if you are this charged about it, then cancel the order and buy something else.
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post #15 of 28
9/8/06 at 3:01pm
My friend is going through some serious flaming hoops to get his 1705 fixed get this

He bought it in April 1st (I kid you not) and although they did swap out his 7800 for a 7900 he has a dead notebook since the mid august till now. Ive read the chat logs its pretty funny where the supervisors promise the world to him and then he never hears from them again. I told him to try giving the unresolved issues link a shot and he does.. Everyday at this point I feel so sorry for him cause Ive never seen anyone have to work so hard to get his notebook fixed. So far they have yet to fix his notebook howeve rthey upgraded his warranty from 3 years to 4 years which at the moment seems like a joke to him. Anyone have any suggestings what he can do? Ive heard of people hitting up the BBB but it seems a bit extreme.
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post #16 of 28
9/8/06 at 3:44pm
heck no, BBB is not extreme at all. Whenever I run into any resistance, BBB is one of the first bookmarks I click. Not an end all, it does help in establishing records in case you want to pursue further recourses.

I'd also check local laws, which may assist him in putting pressure on dell or any other company for that matter.

since he has chat logs (which is a good suggestion for folks, that works much better than telephone calls which is basically he said she said), I'd submit those to whoever as well. Don't be afraid to go snail mail on letters to HQ either.

did he have NBD at home service or did he have mail in warranty? if mail in warranty, that will definitely take longer. if mail in, i could see that mid-aug til now to resolve seems about right, unless he still has the lappie and hasn't sent it in. if NBD at home, then i can't see any justification for dell not to have replaced it by now--that is, unless of course it was non-system related (i.e. accident), and he didn't have CC coverage.

when my dell's have been down, i normally am on the telephone, live chat, and emailing tech support and customer service at the same time. live chatting helps pass the time away while you are waiting on the telephone.
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post #17 of 28
9/8/06 at 3:53pm
excuse me but what is BBB? I live in canada, maybe its a us only thing, sounds like a consummer protection or something?
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post #18 of 28
9/8/06 at 5:48pm
BBB=Better Business Bureau http://www.bbb.org/
which also does canada.
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post #19 of 28
9/8/06 at 9:55pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by laffingbilly
there is no other way of describing it but sniveling. I read the note you wrote to dell that you posted and the message you wrote here. A vent is a vent which is sniveling. Aside from that point, if you have been posting and read this forum, you would understand that order, production, and shipping times are all variable. If you needed it immediately, of course dell was not necessarily the best option, going to a store where they have lappies already made and ready to buy was the best option. you chose to buy through dell. dell's policies are clear, of course we never read them.

as i said before, what was essentially 1 day in pre-production/production, was absolutely ridiculous to be shooting scathing notes to dell about. I'm sure you are the saint of personality and were not short with the CSR's either.

I too have wasted many hours on the phone with dell as many other people have. Many other people who have experienced this, have recommended on this board to email as the quickest means of communication. I for one email, live chat, and wait on the phone if the matter is of exigency.

I've had uneducated CSR's, but never rude ones.

if you are this charged about it, then cancel the order and buy something else.

you're a total moron; you completely disregarded everything i said. there is no excuse for terrible, horrendous customer service. go tell someone else how great dell is. i can form my own opinions.
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post #20 of 28
9/8/06 at 10:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sublime69
you're a total moron; you completely disregarded everything i said. there is no excuse for terrible, horrendous customer service. go tell someone else how great dell is. i can form my own opinions.
Dude, dell has NEXT DAY'ed me System Exchanges.. you just have to buy the warrenty, and from small biz and.. your set... otherwise, perpare for a bumpy ride.... im woundering how dell home w/the warrenty will do me... so far... SLOW ORDER! But my m1210, just finished the Testing stage :P
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