Dell complaints

[harmen]

The following is a letter of complaint I sent to Michael Dell after a serious incident that occurred with Dell Customer Service in the Netherlands in 2003. It is a bit of long story, but it is simply unheard of. To date I have not even received a simple excuse or “we are sorry”. I have drawn my own conclusions, Dell will not gain any of my business until they clear up their act. Moreover, can I seriously recommend anybody going in with Dell after what happened to me? You draw your own conclusions. Here is the letter I sent to Michael Dell to which I have not received any response whatsoever to this date.


To: CEO, Dell Computers, Michael Dell

Subject: Order Number IRxxxx-xxxxxxx made on online 11 August 2003

Dear Sir,

The following matter leaves me utterly disgusted and angry at the treatment of myself as a customer of Dell Computers and as such I am bringing it to your attention as well as the relevant government bodies assigned with investigating ethical trade practises, or lack of, as is the case in this instance.

My present project in Brazil is very time critical. As part of the resources needed to complete this project the necessity arose for the order which was placed with your company on the 11th August 2003. Due to your company's marketing as being a reputable and efficient organisation, I did not have even the smallest doubt in my mind that I would not receive the highest standard in service, which of course, is a common expectation in today's business world.

My order on August 11th was valued at 3567.68 Euros and was placed with Dell Computers in the Netherlands online. Payment was authorised on my credit card. The order having been confirmed had an expected delivery date 10days hence. In addition I was advised online that all will be taken care of and ironically in this case, to relax and wait for prompt delivery. My order had been specifically timed to allow me to travel to the Netherlands for collection at my Dutch address.

Not having heard from Dell in 11 days, I decided to contact Dell Netherlands by phone on the Friday 22nd of August while still in Brazil. I spoke with Rani, I-Orders department to confirm the delivery date. I was very surprised when she informed me that I had not paid for the product yet and as such the order had not been relayed to the factory. When I queried her about why I had not been contacted earlier regarding this, she had no answer and was of the opinion that it was my problem and not hers. She was absolutely emphatic that Dell Computers had not taken payment and there was no pending order in the system. I had made it very clear to her that I was currently in Brazil and was travelling to Holland to pick up the consignment and was under tight time constraints. I was also very clear that the order needed to be delivered by the 4th of September as I was travelling back to Brazil and would have no use for the notebook if it could not be delivered by then. She was unable to tell me when the product would be delivered, if delivered at all. She promised me that she was going to send an email to Customer Care to look into this situation on Monday. I immediately sent an email to Dell Netherlands to notify them in writing that delivery of this product after September 4th would be unacceptable for me.

Having arrived back in the Netherlands I spoke to Melani Kooiman, Dell Customer Care Netherlands on Monday 25th of August. She too repeated that same story as Rani, about non payment. She said that payment had not come through order and was most likely due to a problem with the day limit on my Credit Card and that if I still wanted the Notebook I would have to submit a new order request and perform the payment this time by bank transfer. Asked the question if the product would arrive before September 4th she answered that the logistical process alone would require minimum 8 days and as such the product would most likely not arrive before my departure to Brazil. I was not satisfied with this situation as I was confident that there could have been no problem with payment on my credit card and especially due to the fact that I do not have a day limit on my credit card. I therefore requested a written statement from Dell confirming that the order had been cancelled as of the 25th August and that no transaction would be made on my credit card. This simple request was received with annoyance as Melani felt it was not necessary since the order suspended due to a failed payment. I was assured that no further problems were going to develop at a later stage. Still I insisted that I wanted a written statement to which she agreed. No such statement has been received by me as of this date.

As I was certain that there could not have been a problem with payment on my side, as indicated by two staff members at Dell, Melani and Rani, I contacted my Credit Card Company later on Monday the 25th of August to request an up-to-date status of my credit card account. I was informed that Dell Computers had taken a total of US Dollars $4146,84 from my account on the 13th of August, 2 days after I submitted my order with Dell Netherlands. Dell insisted they had not taken any money from my account 9 days after transacting on my credit card.

I contacted Dell again on Tuesday the 26th of August to demand an explanation as to how they could process a transaction on my credit card for that sum of money but have no record of it in their system, no order pending for payment taken and then have the audacity to suggest that I make a further payment direct to their bank account for a brand new order. Melani was unable to give any explanation and advised me that she would have it looked into again and to hold the line. Moments later she came back on the phone having miraculously located my order in such a short time and apologised for the situation and informed me that the product would, and could easily, be delivered before Wednesday the 3rd of September after all. I was totally confused by the whole turn around but relieved that the situation was going to be resolved

My confidence in Dell having been somewhat shaken and still not assured in my mind that everything would work out before September 4th, I contacted Dell Netherlands by phone again on Wednesday the 27th of August to ask for an update on my order. Patricia Cornet of Customer Care was happy to inform me that the Notebook had been taken into production and would be delivered to me around the 10th of September! Taken aback, I informed her that this delivery date was totally unacceptable to me, to which she replied that there was nothing she could do about this. She further informed me that there were problems getting all the components for the order, hence the delay. She did not know anything about the previous explanations given to me by other staff and she insisted that the only reason the order had been delayed from the start was because some parts were not in stock. Now I was faced with a totally different explanation as to why the order had initially not been processed. I requested to be put through to a senior manager, to which she refused point blank.

After several requests to be transferred to a manager and being refused, I explained to her that a delivery date in September was not suitable for me. I had to repeat this to her several times before she accepted what I was telling her. She replied that in that case she would cancel the order and the money would be refunded. I was upset but agreed to that if, and only if, the money would be fully refunded, being $4146,84 US Dollars. Her answer was that Dell would refund 3567,68 Euros, regardless of how much in US Dollars had been deducted from my account and also mentioned that the refund would take a very long time (several months). She informed me clearly that any difference in US Dollars to my disadvantage would not concern Dell Computers. I was very upset upon being advised of this. I have not heard of an international company taking money for an order, not being able to fulfil it due to their own incompetence and then months later processing a refund that leaves the customer worse off than before the transaction took place. Is this what you would describe as being ethical or an honest business practise? Is this how your company resolves order cancellations as a rule?

Again even though I requested to speak to the senior manager, she again refused. She informed me that there was nothing else that she would be able to do for me and that if there were no further maters to bring up she would be forced to end our phone conversation. I told her that this in itself was unacceptable behaviour by a Customer Care Representative whose role I would have supposed to have been to resolve customer issues if there are problems and to provide a service of assistance when it is clearly called for. I felt like I had been dismissed with no regard for the seriousness of the situation which impacted me as a customer and one which reflected its trade practises in a negative manner.

Having had no success with the Customer Care department, I called the Dell Switchboard in the Netherlands immediately and asked the receptionist to connect me to the manager of Customer Care. Instead of doing so, she put me through to a general queue that took me back to the Customer Care department. Bianca Hassel of Customer Care took my call and informed me that she was not the senior manager or senior representative there. She also refused to put me through to a more senior person and mentioned that Patricia Cornet to whom I had just spoken to earlier was already one of the most senior persons in Customer Care even though she was not a manager. She informed me that since there was nothing else she could do for me she would be hanging up the phone on me. I made about 5 more calls to the Dell Switchboard in an attempt to speak to senior management but to no avail, and was in fact simply hung up on without the receptionist even speaking.

On the 28th of August, having given up in despair with Dell Netherlands, I attempted to get my situation sorted out with Dell Computers in the USA. But also there the Customer Care department told me that there would be nothing they could do for me. I finally got to speak to Andrew Miro, a senior Customer Care manager in the USA. I told Andrew the entire story of what had happened with my order with Dell in the Netherlands. He sincerely apologised (the first apology that I received for a order gone wrong) but he informed me that he or anyone else with Dell, outside the Netherlands, would not be able to help me and that I would simply have to go back to Dell in the Netherlands to resolve the situation. Two hours on the phone with the US had also not resulted in a single action being taken by anyone.

I am now left with a situation where:

1. Dell has debited $4146.84 US Dollars from my account.
2. No product was or is going to be delivered in a time frame that is suitable for me. Even though a concession of 21 days was allowed for
3. The refund, that Dell has informed me will take such a long time to organise, is going to leave me with a substantial financial loss.

This being the case when it is Dell who messed up my order, did not inform me in a timely manner about any problems with the order, took money out of my account but did not register it in their system to commence delivery of the product, did not inform me of changes to expected delivery dates, provided the worst customer service that I have encountered in all my years in business and has still not acknowledged that errors were made or even made any attempt to rectify the situation.

I expect from Dell Computers that if the order can not be delivered before Thursday the 4th of September, the amount taken out of my account being US$4146.84 to be fully refunded as quickly as is reasonably possible. Is there anything unreasonable or unclear about this request?

I have continuously been given the run-around by Dell with this order and have spent the majority 10 days in the Netherlands of what was supposed to have been a peaceful time being upset, angry and worried, trying in vain to resolve this situation. My valuable time, money and energy have all been wasted on a problem that could have been resolved efficiently and courteously.

Your company has displayed lack of service and respect that I would never have expected from any company that makes a promise of delivering quality. I find this very regrettable as I had previously believed that Dell is an internationally reputable company with great products and service on offer. The judgement of quality is reflected in customer loyalty and goodwill which your organisation has fallen far short of gaining, not even attempting to redeem yourselves in this instance.

======================
Footnote:

I did receive a phone call from a senior manager in Dell Netherlands several weeks after having sent this letter. This senior manager did not call to apologise at all (which surprised me). He found it necessary to call me and let me know that all of the things which had caused problems were because of my choosing. I choose to have time-constraints, I choose to pay with a USD Credit Card instead of in Euros. Second he felt the need to comment that if I had a problem with Dell Customer Service in the Netherlands I should not be so childish and take this up with senior people with Dell in the US.

I can only conclude that some of the heat did come down to Dell in the Neterlands, but it never resulted in anything substantial toward the affected customer. On the contrary.

I did receive a refund from Dell several weeks later. The amount in Euros was refunded and because of the difference in exchange rate over the amount of time consumed by Dell’s malpractice I am still at loss of approximately USD 200 to date. Unbelievable that Dell considers this acceptable practice. You draw your own conclusions. Would you?

[paul_dellcc]

Welcome to the forum harmen

First of all I'd like to tell you that I'm not a Dell fan neither I like it.

[harmen]

Right or wrong, good or bad can always be debated about everything. One thing is sure, I have gravely mistaken myself in Dell Computers. That is the first thing I try to make clear if anyone raises the word "Dell" in my surroundings: know what you can and should not expect from Dell and then make your decision again where to buy.

Customer Service is a very misleading term as well when used by Dell. It would better be called "Customer Contact" as I deem Dell is not worthy of the word "Service". I have very good contact with a senior representative of AVIS Customer Service in New Zealand. After hearing my story of my dealings with Dell Customer Service I received a bit of word about what I am supposed to able to expect from Customer Service from a company that tries hard to value its customers. One thing for instance that immedeately stands out with a company that truly is trying hard to value their customers, is that their Customer Service Representative would even come up with the suggestion themselves to have you put through to a more senior representative. The reason for this being that if a Customer Care Representative feels that their ability is not sufficient anymore to serve the customers best interest, to even come up with the suggestion themselves to put you through to somebody who has the ability and scope to make such an assesment.

It still puzzles me why Dell deems that this strategy is best for them, especially in the long run. But fair enough, eventhough I feel I can blame Dell for wrong doing, this experience has defenitely made me better aware of what I can expect from Dell, and I do not hesitate to communicate this with anybody who considers buying from Dell.

[paul_dellcc]

Sad bad true...
_________________
I see DELL people!!

If we don't remember our past, we can't understand our present and we can put in danger our future...

[sobe_drinker]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with Dell. But the fact is, if everyone was having a problem, this site would run out of server space to store all of the negative comments about the company.

[clandeggen]

[paul_dellcc]

Is someone aware about Dell's statistics .

Not even the 8% of the total amount of Dell's customers have problems.

However, that 8% have the most horrible problems ever
_________________
I see DELL people!!

If we don't remember our past, we can't understand our present and we can put in danger our future...