Why is DELL NoT so Swell?

So many reasons… where to start.

First, I paid $1,200. 00 for a laptop – that had to have vista put on it. 4 phone calls and many hours later – I’ve given up on ‘fixing’ it. The last response I got was “we don’t know how to fix the problems yet, we’ll let you know.” Meanwhile, I can’t get XP, they only offer Vista, so I just have to deal with it.

One of the customer service reps took 10 min. to tell me a story comparing the Vista system to a Ferrari. Something about you don’t get rid of a Ferrari while you work the kinks out! Are you kidding me?! Was that part of their script!?

So before a recent trip – I was pressed for time and needed a camera. I took a look at their site and found a Canon. Good name, Good camera and it wasn’t made by Dell so what could go wrong?

Well, to begin with, the order wouldn’t go through and I was given a message to call Dell to place my order. The woman who answered gladly placed it for me quickly. When she mentioned the price, I told her it sounded high. She told me that the lower price was an internet special only. So I informed her that I tried to place it online but couldn’t because of Dell’s system saying to call. So she said she would credit my Dell account the $20.00 plus odd dollars after it charged in a day or so. She also assured me that she would call me to follow up when it was finished.

Wonderful, all finished.

After returning home from my trip, I remembered that I had not received my call and checked to see if I was credited. I was not. So back to calling Dell. I paused first, the twenty some dollars probably isn’t worth it, but the point was.

So I called.

This is when it got out of control and I was shocked at what was said to me. I will summarize as we could be here all day considering I was on the phone for a long time!

First call – I lucked out getting a sassy and monotone girl named ‘Nisha’ to assist me. She listened to my story and told me that there was nothing they could do because they don’t give credits. When I explained that the previous rep told me this so even if it was not policy it wasn’t good business to just state that there was nothing she could do. (Here’s a thought maybe get the first rep. who promised it to me and explain that she informed me incorrectly.)

Again, repeating that there was nothing she could do, I asked for her manager.

She tried to kindly tell me no because he would tell me the same thing. I insisted – kindly of course.

So she transferred me to ‘David’ the manager who repeated Nisha’s practiced response. When I tried explaining to him that it wasn’t as much about the $20.00 but the fact that I was promised this and since I was unable to place it online (although I wanted to and tried) he proceeded to ask me what i would do.

I told him what any good business person would. That I would get the rep, educate her, apologize to me, give me a certificate towards a future purchase, and thank me for my business. Well David didn’t agree because he proceeded to rudely tell me he couldn’t call me back because they can’t call out, that there was nothing he could do- that was policy, interrupting me every time I spoke, etc. So, I asked for his manager and he told me he didn’t have one. I repeated the question, just to make sure he heard it correctly. Yes, he again said he didn’t have one. Then he put on his mute button, ignored me, and sat there until I hung up.

Incredible. Now I didn’t even care about the money – I would pay money to talk to his boss so he would be accountable for his pathetic managerial skills.

So I called back – told my story again – spoke with a rep and manager in another area that couldn’t help me. Then they transferred me to the correct department and I had to tell my story again. This time the rep ‘Divya’ was kind and put me through to her manager ‘Michelle’. Who was also very kind and forthcoming when I asked who her manager was so he could deal with David.

Yes, I’m exhausted too if you are even still reading this.

The big guy, her manager, was ‘Moby’. But he wasn’t in. She promised he would call me Monday.

Low and behold he did! I was shocked and happy. Moby immediately apologized for David’s behavior. (Yeah, but it was almost so smooth and flat that I wondered how many times he’d said this before.) Either way someone finally apologized and that was somewhat of a relief. He did also offer to educate the first rep! Wow, I see why Moby is the boss of the bosses. But in the end he came up short saying there was nothing he could do about the credit. (I suppose even the big bosses at Dell don’t have to be accountable for what the reps say to customers.) When I explained to him that it was the point not the twenty but if it was my customer that I would offer something. He told me that he would have Michelle call me back if they could.

That was a week ago. I haven’t received my call back but I’m finished with calling Dell. I wonder if David is still rudely interrupting customers and placing them on mute until they give up….

Just wanted to warn you *if you place an order online with DELL for a lower price and there is a problem* do not call them to place the order! And if something is wrong – and the rep is not helpful and you ask for a manager and get David – do yourself a favor and hang up!