Dell complaints

[lobo_loko]

On the 29th of November, ‘06, I helped my ex-wife and my ex-sister-in-law to buy a couple of Dell machines, a laptop and a desktop, one for each. After two days configuring machines at Dell website, in order to adjust the budget (which is cheap, so I had to make the most of it) I spent almost one hour with the sales guy on the phone (this is Colombia, and none of them had credit cards, so we went for cash in hand, instead). First surprise: the configuration tool at Dell’s website does not reflect the real world. You can add as many things you want, but the tool is not prepared to say “if you put this, you have to take that out”. Well, compatibility problems are not what you would expect in this kind of deal, otherwise Dell would not be such a huge company, I thought. I got a little upset, but then, no good would come from insulting the sales guy. I had to make the changes “on the fly” (thanks to 20 years assembling bloody computer parts) and I got a decent deal of machines, if not very upgradeable, because the parts that I threw away compromised future upgrades. The guy (Mr. Fabio Flores) said that he would send an e-mail to each one of them with instructions about how to make the payment. At that point, I left them because the bank was not my concern, assembling the machines according their needs and budget was my job, and a hell of a job well done. But there was something slightly surreal about the instructions: they should scan the bank receipt concerning the money transfer, and send by e-mail to him, so he could confirm that they had paid. They did everything as instructed, and that same day, the money was already on Dell’s hands. Mr. Flores (which I came to know later, was located at a Dell Call Center in Panama) said if there was a problem, he would let them know. On the 4th of December (5 days later), he sent an e-mail saying that he could not order the computers because “the bank receipt they sent is not proof of payment, what is needed is a letter from the bank indicating the transfer succeeded”. At their bank, the manager said he could try to get such letter, but could not give any guarantee that Dell’s bank received the money. He could only guarantee that the money left the accounts. It took 3 days to get the letter, and then, at Dell, they said they could not accept such letter. I was, then, aware of the situation, and I kept thinking: “this is bloody ridiculous, they are a computer company, they *MUST* have some sort of system that controls everything, from the manufacturing plants to the CEO coffee machine”. After 8 days, they had no money anymore, no computers, and no solution. And I was wrong. Dell is a crap company, I started searching with Google, and – voilà – there is an awful load of people that simply *HATE* Dell. My ex-wife is a hotheaded woman, and started calling Dell. I think they deserve her rage, and boy, they will suffer with her. They are a bunch of incompetents, they cannot communicate internally with each other (she said that after being transferred from desk to desk during the phone calls, she had to tell the bloody whole story again to each of them, she knows it by heart now), and they have no means to verify their own bank accounts and cross check the customer’s information. They kept giving excuses, like “this bank account is no good” (because they had 2 bank accounts listed in the e-mail they sent – why 2 banks if one of them is no god?), or “a money transfer is no good, should have been a deposit” (why would they instruct a money transfer in the e-mail if they cannot accept it? Would it be some kind of joke? “Ha, ha, we took your money, now piss off and do it right, your bloody poor 3rd world hispanic woman.”). After that, she decided to go to Dell’s bank, and explained the case to their manager. Even thought he *CANNOT* reveal information about the bank’s clients, after 2 days he decided to help and gave an official document saying the money had arrived at Dell’s account on the same 29th of November, detailed with sender, recipient, amount to the cent, time of the transfer, everything. But Dell likes things complicated, so now they are not receiving the scanned document by e-mail, but instead, they gave a fax number – which plainly *DOES NOT EXIST*!!! And absolutely no-one at Dell can explain either why they are not receiving the e-mail anymore or what the correct fax number is. It has been 2 weeks since Dell stole their money, 2 weeks since Dell has their money in the bank account, with all the rates of interest, and until now, there is no bloody computer, no purchase order, nothing. Tomorrow they will visit a lawyer, to see if they can sue Dell. I suspect Dell is not a company at all, but an intergalactic mistake. Some alien race, after hiding for some time on Earth in order to avoid the paparazzi due to an embarrassing freak accident whit an anteater, left behind a portable black hole, which was discovered by the U.S. military. They built a factory to conceal it, and now they experiment with it, searching for new and bizarre weapons, like the one that forces the enemies to call a Customer Center and put them on hold forever, while the power of the black hole sucks their brains through the phone cord and drives them mad. It is the only explanation. Behold, the truth is out there, somewhere, but the Big Brother is always watching it. Abandon all your hopes.

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

Welcome, lobo. Very sorry to hear about the position Dell put you in. It's not altogether uncommon. Any customer problem or transaction that falls outside their nominal pathway is subject to gross bumbling and quickly becomes unresolvable. They are not setup for 'cash-like' transactions, though of course the salesman would never tell you that, they say "OK" to anything.

Dell's internal communications (between say, where the money goes in and where the product goes out) is as shoddy as their external communications with customers. If only you'd known that ahead of time. If only their products worked as well as their denial processes.

Your English is better than that of many Americans who post here. I would just make one suggestion, that you break huge blocks of text into paragraphs. It's easier on the reader.

Good luck and let us know how this resolves.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[lobo_loko]

To Rocke and everyone else in this forum:

Thanks for the welcome. Even thought my story is not about a personal issue (I assemble the computers I buy for myself, it is $afer and ultimately I will know why it crashes), I can’t avoid felling sorry for those people who do not have enough technical knowledge. Most of the time, they are tricked by your average sales guy into some horrible maze of bureaucratic procedures and technical jargon, while trying to make the most of their money when buying a computer. This is why I helped (or at least I thought I was helping) the girls buy their computers.

Anyway, I worked for Hewlett-Packard, I have seen some intriguing situations, but usually they gave a fair treatment to the customer. They seemed to care about their reputation in the market. We firstly thought about buying an HP machine, but then, as if by magic (like an invitation to a party in Hell, with lots of pleasures provided you could bear the pain in the small print), one of Dell’s publicity leaflets appeared in the mail box. I have worked with Dell computers in some of my jobs, they seemed reliable, if somewhat lacking the real computing power (your average desktop in a Call Center does not need to render a 3DStudio scene, it handles texts and databases and the eventual escapade to the Internet). And then, again, was the matter of the price. This is the worst part, when you look at your wallet and say, “gosh, what a bargain, it seems that I will finally have my computer and the kids will have Christmas this year, after all”.

It is true what you said, they are not prepared for cash transactions, which is odd, one would think cash in hand is better than plastic money. And, then again, it isn’t. The modern way of conducting commercial transactions has forced the whole of the industry to establish a new set of rules, where credit cards are good, money is bad. I do not blame them, one cannot be attached to old ways of conducting business, because it would be denying the waves of progress. We would be stuck in the Stone Age by now if we always resisted change.

I just whished they could tell you the truth and play fair. I know, it is too much to hope. I should know better than that, having worked for some of the Big League companies. Only, I refuse to lie to a customer (it is probably a character flaw, I might be some sort of Dinosaur that forgot to die), the customer should be the focus of your loyalty, not your employer. If you sell defective goods, either you stop selling them, or you have a good Customer Care policy. It is not the case, I know, have been fired a couple of time because I refused to cheat and lie. “Do not tell them we did not see it coming, say it is a temporary system malfunction that will be shortly resolved”. Lies. It is a dog-eat-dog world.

And yes, you are right again, communication inside a big company is a nightmare, if the coffee machine is broken, the paperwork forces you to drink water for 3 weeks before it gets fixed. If you have a system failure, there usually isn’t contingency plan, the lines just collapse, the Support number changed and was not updated, it is all back to paper and pencil, “all right, guys, stop complaining and go back to work, we had it, what, 3 times this week? Do not make such a fuss, it is only another shift of unpaid overtime, cheer up, no big deal. It might be fixed by tomorrow evening”. And, this is important, sometimes *NO ONE* knows what’s going on inside their own departments.

Also, thanks for the advice, large text is difficult to read, I will split the text blocks into paragraphs. Sorry about that, been filling situation reports in a hurry for too long, do not know what paragraphs look like anymore. Actually, not even sure about punctuation anymore. Let alone the grammars.

I will keep this forum informed of this issue’s development. The ladies have already been informed of another fax number of Dell, this one here in Colombia (Bogota office, more precisely), they sent the bank letter and were told tomorrow they will be given an answer. I think it is important to keep a record of all details, and also play fair. If Dell comes whit a reasonable solution, people should know that not everything is bad news. And if they don’t, one more reason to tell the whole story.

Thanks again for this forum’s support.

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

You do paragraphs fine. Metaphors too (dinosaur that forgot to die, heheheh, like me--see my post about digital audio).

Along the 'dinosaur' line, I too am saddened that business tends to punish rather than reward integrity.

Yes, record and file all communications. I have no idea what Columbia's retail laws are, but enforcement is always contingent upon documentation.

I'd recommend anyone phoning Dell for any reason to record the call. Dell is infamous for saying one thing, doing another, and denying they ever said it.

Whoever said 'buyer beware' (originally a Latin phrase, 'caveat emptor') must have been psychic. No large sales organization better exemplifies this than Dell.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[FallenAngel]

In Canada, you have to make the caller aware that they are going to be recorded or anything that is recorded without knowledge or consent is inadmissable. In the US, not so sure if they have that same obligation.

Common knowledge insists that if we are told that a call is going to be recorded, to either not give consent or to explain that the call will not proceed if it is recorded.

Does anyone think that a company like Dell is going to ALLOW a call to be recorded, knowing that they have such a shoddy record of blatant disrespect and violation of their own internal policies?? Come on now, be realistic.

This is why certain unnamed companies are forbidding 3-way calls to take place. For just that reason. It opens too many doors for litigation. I suppose that eventually, almost all companies are going to forbid 3-way calls to take place. It's not a matter of if, but rather a matter of when.

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

Read 'em their own gawddam disclaimer: "For quality control purposes, this call may be monitored or recorded". If they hang up, there's your answer. They intend to lie to you.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'