The Dell Experience

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Dell has lost my business.  Last week I ordered a Dell laptop.  It was a great deal.  I ended up getting a business account for the purchase and that went pretty smooth, but that is where it ends. 

I was emailed saying that the machine would be shipped on Tuesday.  Monday, the day before shipping, I get a message that is broken up and from an Indian woman with below average English skills asking me to call them about the order.  I make out the # to call after replaying the message several times.

For the next 70 minutes I am transferred and asked the same questions.  At one point I am given a number with a 7 digit extension that I am told will get me to who I need to speak to.  Of course I am disconnected so I call back the number and dial the 7 digit extension.  You would think a 7 digit extension would get me to the right person.  WRONG! I enter a maze of options.  I would guess 4 levels down and uncertain still of who I need to talk to I get someone, explain it all again and transferred and disconnected.  Finally I get to someone who says we just need to read you the agreement for business credit.  For some reason another bad connection and I can hardly hear this woman so I listen for about 10 min and the call is over and my laptop should be back on track.

Today I get an email saying, “First Notification of Order Delay”.  First?  I guess maybe they plan in delaying it several times.  There is a link that says, “If you wish to cancel your order or if you have any questions, please click here.” I click there.  I fill out the form and it tells me my information is missing something but won’t tell me what is wrong.  After 10 clicks I look at the field for order # and I have a trailing space it didn’t like.  Here is a crazy idea use the ‘trim’ function and you can save me and lots of others a ton of frustration.  So I finally submit and it says, “You are not a Home Customer ...you cannot do anything here with that order #.  That’s it.  No number to call, nothing.

I track down a number finally, go through the maze of buttons, listen to ads for stuff to buy and am greeted with, “What can we order for you today?” NOTHING!  I cancelled the order.

posted in: Personal