whatcha gonna do when they come for you

write a letter, of course

ah, just when you thought all the complaining was over, along comes yet another massive corporation to sprinkle some glum in our otherwise blissful lives… I refer, in this instance, to the Dell Corporation who, in their infinite wisdom, somehow lost the laptop computer i ordered… at least that's their story…

as for me, all i know is, well, why don't i just share the letter i wrote to Dell which explains what happened… after all, this was RealTime™ for Wednesday, occupying the evening after work (stealing the writing time that might have been and more importantly, the sleep time that was so desperately needed this week as some sort of bug is eating it's way into my brain through my ears, or maybe it's just waxy buildup), along with a wonderfully timed phone call in which i was able to rant about the frustration summarized quite dramatically in the soon to be included letter coming up below just as soon as i stop this rambling introduction to it… thank you friend, for lending an ear… and heart…

but before we get to the email i sent to Dell, let's take a look and one of the posts i posted on the Dell website… i went there to find help and was directed to a FAQ that did not help and then to a User Forum where Dell said help was available… tomorrow we'll find out that help may only be available to suck-ups or perhaps the help is as available (and real) as the laptops that disappear after Dell gets all of a customer's personal information including credit card so then Dell can, under the guise of apologizing for the alleged mix-up, make a not completely unsolicited sales call to the unsuspecting customer… but we may be getting ahead of ourselves… here, catch up with this story by reading where we stood with Dell on Wednesday:

I am here because I was looking for a place to ask about the outlet site. I was wondering if it's a scam to lure buyers into sales calls. From what I am reading in the Dell Forums and my own experience with Dell, I do not see evidence leading me to other conclusions.

My personal experience was simple, I spent many hours clicking on the outlet site laptops until I found one that fit my needs. I processed the order, gave my payment info, clicked the right buttons, then receive my purchase ID, price with tax and shipping, personal info, payment amount, and the laptop specks confirmed in my email with a "you should receive the order confirmation within 24 hours" reassurance.

Within thirty minutes of placing the order online, I called Dell sales and added another peripheral to the order.

Six days later part of my order arrives, the peripherals, but no laptop and still no "order confirmation email" and the "order status" website still says the order is "pending." So I called customer service.

The Purchase ID number could not be found by a few different customer service reps. Eventually, using my phone number and other personal info, the service rep found something and read back the exact specs and price for the computer I ordered, but claimed some "problem with the website" canceled the order and the laptop is no longer available. He apologized for Dell's error and then transferred me to sales.

The sales rep negotiated, got me to raise my price limit, but finally when I set a firm limit that was more than $200 over my original limit, still asked for more money. I realized that instead of trying to satisfy an inconvenienced, disappointed customer and trying to fix their error, I was talked-up and when I refused to go higher, I heard "thank you for choosing Dell" and that was that.

I was patient, cheerful, understanding all the way through. After genuinely looking to resolve Dell's error and patiently waiting on hold while service reps a sales rep talked to their managers (or so they said), I realized Dell was wasting my time just as Dell wasted my time shopping on their website.

My experience with Dell resulted in major frustration and disappointment for my family as it was for my daughter starting college. I spent way too many hours searching for the laptop and then expecting one only to receive a failed sales pitch.

Ironically, the part of the order that Dell shipped were laptop trays with fans.

Further, DHL had to call me because the complete address was not on the package, though the shipping address is complete in the confirmation email. I don't need the laptop trays now, so I am trying to return them. Hopefully I won't have to jump through too many hoops to stop being inconvenienced by Dell.

I know what good customer service is about. I too serve customers and train others to serve customers as a performance improvement director at a hospital in Orlando, FL. When my organization makes a mistake, we do what it takes to make it right even if that means taking a loss. We not only keep a very happy customer, but we get great word-of-mouth advertising online and off line.

We do not use our mistake as an opportunity to try to get more money from the customer.

I was considering buying a new laptop for myself as well and the only reason I was looking for a bargain on the outlet site is I know my daughter might be rough on it and I'd rather a scratch and dent at a lower price for her.

My organization and I have been satisfied with Dell computers at our hospital for years, but I am rethinking where to go for our next computer order.

So I came here wondering if the Dell website loses many orders and I am reading that it apparently is not an isolated incident. Is it a deliberate ploy to get sales calls? Dell "lost" my order after I received an email telling me it was in process. The resolution offered was "spend more time and money with Dell."

So does Dell use it's outlet site as a lure for their sales department?

My experience says yes.

You, whoever may be reading this, may have had better service from and experiences with Dell. So did I, for years, until this one.

Perhaps a manager will contact me and seriously try to resolve "Dell's error." Several Dell reps have my email address and telephone number and the last email I received invited me to "contact my manager if your issue has not been resolved"

If Dell's error is resolved to my satisfaction, I will be happy delete this or leave it and post the resolution here. Dell can choose.

It is a shame to lose a good customer over a single bad experience, however, without resolution, with only a thinly disguised sales tactic, the sour taste will linger and lead me to use other companies for future computer purchases at home or for my organization.

As a former officer of a local computer club with close to a thousand members, I am asked for computer advice quite often and I usually recommended Dell desktops and either Dell or Toshiba laptops as best products out there.

The bottom line, however, is you never know who your customer might be and whether one person might influence thousands of people or move thousands of pieces of merchandise or just one, good customer service, ethical business practices, quick and fair resolutions to problems is the way to excel and keep profits up.

Questionable business dealings left unresolved will eat away at the customer base and market share of even the largest of the top dogs in any industry.

At this point I feel I should be paid for my time, frustration, and the emotional stress my dealing with Dell brought into my at home. So I am not sure my resolution would seem reasonable to Dell, but for the moment, there is not even an offer from Dell to make it right for me to evaluate. That is the most insulting part of the customer dis-service Dell provided. Dell's CSR was very polite, however the only resolution to the "website malfunction" was buy a new laptop at a higher price.

So am I left to assume that Dell does not want my business? That Dell has questionable business practices? That Dell places fictitious laptops on their outlet site merely to lure prospective buyers into sales calls?

Yes.

That was my most recent experience with Dell. Reading this forum, it does not seem to be isolated or merely a recent website problem. Seems highly questionable, if not flat out fraud.

A CSR and a CSR Manager has my name, email, and telephone number. You are welcome the change my Dell experience anytime, however, know I will expect to be compensated in product upgrades for my time, stress, and consideration.

So Dell must decide, what is more important, proving that costumer care means something to Dell, or ignoring this knowing it will go away by simply writing off one more customer who is not satisfied with yet another "website error".

Ric
Dell Inc. Case # . . .

but of course I was not done… after all, the message on the public forum might be ignored or even diminished by ridicule or, ultimately, removed for some reason... so I decided to respond to the support email I received that invited me to write to a manager… and this is what i said:

Hello,

I am not even sure why I am writing because I don't think I want to trust Dell with a large purchase after my experience, but I respect the person SHREE 01168085 who tried to help me and his email to me does ask me to write to you if the issue is not resolved.

At his request, I sent the purchase ID confirmation email I received from Dell to SHREE. I also attached the email here for reference.

I sent many hours a day for almost a week searching your outlet.dell.com website for a computer for my daughter who is starting college. It is the time I invested in the search that leads me to question whether Dell is the right company for me. My time is valuable to me and I feel Dell wasted a lot of my time.

When I found the computer that fit my needs, I submitted my personal information and credit card information and purchased it, or so I thought when I promptly received the attached purchase ID email.

Six days later, I still did not hear from Dell, though today I did receive part of the order, a peripheral I bought. That is almost mocking me, since I have no laptop with which to use this peripheral. I will be returning the package I received today.

That is why I called Dell tonight and after more than an hour on the phone, I am wondering why I wasted more time.

The sales person that SHREE transferred me to talked me up to $1000 after I told him that the $789 I thought I had already spent was above my intended budget. The laptop configuration, extra battery, and software included had sold me on going over $800 (including shipping and tax). Realize this is a computer for a teenage girl slinging it around in her backpack. That is why I spent so many hours clicking on almost every computer on your outlet site for the right one.

Dell needs to realize that a customer's time is valuable to a customer.

Back to the questionably solicited sales call I suddenly found myself entertaining due to the website problem, I was ready to go the $1000 for the configuration with software when he added Office Student (an excellent sales point for me) and a year of accident protection (another excellent move on his part), but when he came back to me after talking to his manager for the third time (as the price continued to rise each time, but then, that is what "sales" is about so he was just doing his job, I suppose) with $1060 before shipping and taxes, I realized I was not doing myself any good talking to Dell. I simply wanted the package I thought I had already paid for at about $789.

Another hour and a half, including this email, I feel Dell wasted for me.

Whether you care or understand or not is up to you. I suggest you/Dell consider fixing your outlet site and consider the value of the time your potential customer spends there. Unless the site is just a lure to get customer information under false pretenses, then follow up with an unsolicited sales call under the guise of an apology.

If the site is not working, take it down or put a warning up that the time spent could be wasted time. I now have a very disappointed teenager who was expecting a laptop for school this week because your site guaranteed it would be shipped by Nov. 30. The emotional roller coaster Dell helped create in my home, well, that is my problem.

Your problem is you let a customer get away and I will be strongly steering people away from Dell's website. Ironically, we use dozens of Dell Optiplex computers at work, many we purchased this year at my recommendation. Maybe the opinion of one performance improvement director at a small hospital in Orlando is not much of a ripple in a huge corporation like Dell, but you never know, my professional contacts, friends, and even my blog readers respect my opinion. And my time.

All I wanted to do was make my kid happy and purchase a laptop at a sensible price.

Hopefully I will save this holiday season at my house by finding when I need at another company. I am just happy I started shopping for this early. Well, late for my kid who started school a few months ago, but early for the holidays.

Maybe an email like this is a waste of time, but maybe it will help you see your customers from a more personal perspective and understand the experience your website and false purchase emails provides.

I hope you enjoy the holidays with your family and friends. Good luck with everything and all business aside, don't take the job home with you.

Sincerely,
Ric

'
so there's my unsolicited sales pitch right back at Dell and we shall see if they respond… and if they respond, how they respond… sometimes, the direct approach works… never mind the guilt, but hey, it's not as if they are not using whatever means and skills they have to try to get me to buy what they want to sell me at their price… it's just business, after all, it's just business (hush Meg Ryan, if you're out there reading tonight… hey, who's to say she doesn't spend some night's googling her name?... she's human, right?... i apologize Meg, for they of little faith… meanwhile, back to the nonsense commonly called corporate america)…

I shall update tomorrow if there's any news (and write tomorrow's blog while i am at it… including news of the meetup and the film sort of about Bob Dylan)… feel free to razz or berate me for my petulance… or cheer on my vampire slayer tactics, as you wish… these little challenges keep me from getting bored with the daily routine, so in the end i thank Dell for providing the frustration and for another day or two i'll keep hope alive that my responses will result in a fair resolution that ends in delivery of an even better brand new laptop at the same price or lower even (hey, i'm not kidding about wanting some compensation for the time they wasted… not to mention free publicity and good word of mouth they'll get if they come through honorably… i mean, i do have more than 2.7 readers regular readers now, so i am sure they are trembling at the repercussions of further disappointing me... I mean what if we (Precious, Rasputin, I, and you) each tell two friends who tell two friends who tell two friends who {you know the theory}?... very soon the whole world will know how Dell treated me, not to mention poor innocent little Precious)…

so how are you? :)