Recourse For Poor Customer Service?

eleventypie writes "I am in the Army and currently stationed in Afghanistan. Recently I found myself without a laptop so I decided to build a studio 17 from Dell. I designed/customized my laptop on 2008-09-17 and placed my order, which totaled approximately $1,700. The laptop was built and apparently shipped on 2008-09-28. Given my APO address, I know mail can sometimes take a little while to get here, though 7-10 days is normal. Dell said to give my laptop 6-8 business days and occasionally, it might take as much as 4-6 weeks. So on 2008-11-12 I sent another email to Dell informing them I still had not received my laptop. One person said to give it more time, while another person responded to my message telling me to send my address again and they would send me a replacement. So I sent my address immediately and never got a response. It is now the 30th of November and I still have no laptop and Dell seems to have quit responding to my emails. This is very frustrating being out $1,700 and not having a laptop to talk to my friends and family and do school work. Phone calls aren't easy so calling them is pretty much out of the question. Any advice on what I can or should do at this point to get the computer I ordered or get my money back?"

call your bank

[Lilo-x]

call your credit card company and charge back the $1,700

of course you bought this on your credit card right? considering your circumstances and location the extra insurance afforded by purchasing on a Credit card means you wouldn't have through of using any other medium

Otherwise you will have to speak to Dell or any trading standards operated in the USA for proper legal advice

Well, now that this is on Slashdot...

[Anonymous Coward]

...I predict that Dell Customer Relations will be acting very quickly to get you a nice laptop. ;]

Sounds like you need to submit this to

[kipin]

consumerist.com

Re:Call your credit card company....

[Dogtanian]

It would be really great if they would send you an e-mail telling you that they were shipping you a replacement motherboard and firing the representative who handled your case initially.

That would probably make you feel better, but a lot of these drones are restricted in what they're allowed to do and they're forced to go through standard scripts and procedures.

I've been through similar trouble with other companies. I had one idiot drone ask me what version of the operating system I was running four or five times in a row, when I was answering him each time. I finally asked for a supervisor and directly asked the supervisor to fire this moron.

I'm sure that the supervisor appreciated some random asshole telling him how to do his job and manage his staff.

Most companies care not even the slightest bit for providing non-terrible customer service.

Bingo. Customer support is expensive, and usually carried out by a third party who have a vested interested in "processing" you as quickly as possible, regardless of whether or not it solves your problem.

There might be some stupid and/or lazy staff, but the fundamental problem is at the top.

DON'T do this first!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd agree that you should know your card company's chargeback procedure, and understand how to do this. But don't start with the chargeback.

Disputing the charges is "the nuclear option" in terms of working with a customer service department. It will generally make all future conversations adversarial. It will rarely help you get your order fulfilled--at best, the company might grudgingly agree to cancel your order. It can also in some circumstances result in getting a collection agency placed on you (and the resultant damage to your credit rating).

Keep this in your back pocket, but if you have other options (see other suggestions about trying to escalate to someone senior in the customer service department), try them first. If you still want your Dell, you need Dell to be willing to work with you. Don't burn any bridges until you're convinced the transaction is beyond saving.

Might not be Dell's fault...

[Burn_This_City]

I was also in the service and know how bad the mail system is. The mail is handled by regular people like you, me and the guy or gal reading this post. Integrity is not a requirement to join the rate that handles mail, and I recall several incidents every deployment where PS's were actually stealing electronics from the mail. There's no way to prove they were actually received, except for documentation kept by the PS's, who if stealing your electronics would not be quick to document it.

Ship it stateside first

[TClevenger]

When our son, deployed in Afghanistan, ordered his laptop, we had it delivered to our house, then repacked it in a plain brown box, before shipping it out to him insured. Sure, people can still look at the customs form and see it's a laptop, but that's better than shipping a box with "Dell" in large letters on the side that you can read at twenty paces.

First, you get a lawyer...

[hyades1]

Sounds to me like an open-and-shut case of breach of contract. They took your money. They failed to fulfill their side of the bargain. Unless they refund your money (perhaps with interest, perhaps not) or give you the laptop you paid for, they're guilty as hell. Maybe I'm naive, but I'd bet a lot of judges, juries and predatory, razor-toothed lawyers would take a pretty dim view of a corporation ripping off somebody risking his life in service of his country.

I imagine a letter from the aforementioned predator (maybe accompanied by a warning that the media would be involved soon) would generate some kind of response.

Call a media spokesmouth in your home town

[mrmeval]

or pretend to be one and ask them if there is some problem shipping laptops to asscrackistan

Contact Media Relations

Working media members may contact Dell's Media Relations team by calling our press line at [phone] , or by using the form below.

The press line is staffed from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday. A recording at that number provides emergency and weekend contact information.

Re:Call your credit card company....

[Anonymous Coward]

I think I know someone like you. He's my father, he thinks he knows what he's talking about whilst being entirely clueless and starts shouting at the drones on the phone for not being able to help him inside the bizarre little universe that he's created for himself. I don't know how your conversation went, but perhaps it was like this:
drone: What operating system version are you using
you: XP
drone: But what version?
you: XP
drone: But what version?
you: XP

When infact the drone wants: XP, SP2, 1.2062.45
(I made the last bunch of numbers up).
I don't know whether that's what the situation was, the drone may very well have been an idiot, but how can you be sure that it wasn't you knowing less than you think that you do?

Re:Dissapointed with Dell

[xSauronx]

actually now that you mention it, youre right. i once bought postal insurance and they refused to pay, because i couldnt produce receipts for the items, and the one i *did* produce a reciept for they bitched about.

but still, i had delivery confirmation and the *box* got to me, at least, so there!

A couple of ideas

[warGod3]

First, since you, being overseas, will have limited ability to call Dell, give the relevant information to a family member that you can trust. Basically send them an e-mail telling them what has occurred. Remember, be as detailed as possible (dates, people talked to, etc.) Then, have them make the long grueling call to Dell. In the interim, contact Dell with your account information regarding your purchase and let met know that you are letting so-and-so friend/family member handle the account on your behalf as you are deployed overseas. Put together a nice business letter. Have someone in your unit give you some advice when you compose this letter (preferrably a SNCO or officer with some brains). Keep the letter simple and to the point. Let them know that you have not received the laptop as of current date. You have been charged for this. You will have your credit reverse the charges. In order to rectify the situation and to prevent any thefts, unless Dell can prove that it has been received by you, then they will need to send a unit to the following address . After that, the family member can then send it to you - definitely not wrapped in a laptop box. Just remember, depending on your deployment area,a laptop my be "inspected" or "held" to insure that it does not contain "contraband", even if new. You can also contact your local military PO folks and ask them how to proceed on that side. Also, if you do find yourself wanting to make a phone call, get someone from Dell on the phone. If they start giving you crap, go with asking for the supervisor. I say this because Dell started moving their call centers back to the US a couple of years ago. When you got through to them, you would deal with a level 1 who would bust their ass to try and help. It may have been tedious, but they could be bypassed by being firm and asking for a manager and they will pass you on to someone who can actually do something. If you wind up with someone with a difficult accent to understand, ask to be transferred to either someone else or another call center.

Re:Call your credit card company....

[smidget2k4]

Yup, I'm going to agree here. When I worked a lowly tech support job, people who were jerks were instantly added to the very bottom of my "shit to take care of" pile, if I even wrote down their contact info.

In a job where you deal with asshats all day, you tend to actually want to help the few who are pleasant toward you.

Bottom line is: they aren't getting paid enough to deal with you being a dick. You can complain to their bosses if you want, but most of the time the boss is going to agree with the employee: you're just being a dick.

Re:how times have changed

[Anonymous Coward]

He needs a laptop so he can stay in contact with loved ones and to be able to STUDY, you know, better himself as a human being while doing this horrible thing that the rest of us don't want to do.

... and which some of us don't want him doing.

Re:Call your credit card company....

[elsteamola]

You might also consider that Mumbai is hq for Dell Customer Service, and they recently suffered a spate of co-ordintated terrorist attacks. Being in Afganistan should give you a unique perspective on how military ops can throw a monkeywrench on the warp and woof of the everyday, and, if anything of a techie, then you know how proximity to the everyday can mangle things up a bit. Give the apoplexy a chance to dissipate. Maybe a day or two or three. By then Dell should have contacted you. If not, consider your cc co., do a chargeback, and check out other computer cos. elsteamola [e-mail]

Re:Call your credit card company....

[corbettw]

He can always check with his local JAG officer, see if there are any Operation Lighthouse* lawyers available in Austin who can take his case pro bono and sue Dell in small claims court on his behalf.

*I think that's the name of the program for civilian lawyers to donate time to deployed service members, the JAG office will know for sure.

Cost of customer service is business damage

[hessian]

The customer accepts a low standard because it's prevalent everywhere. People who get hired to do $8-$12 an hour jobs tend to have IQs under 115 and thus be basically glorified bonobos. (There are a few -- a very few -- exceptions.)

I realize that's offensive, but it's also more realistic than what else is said here.

Customer service is expensive. Doing it right is even more expensive. If your competitors don't do it right, your customers are not going to pick you just because of your good customer service -- they're going to go with the cheaper option.

Your problem, in a nutshell, is uninformed, lazy customers, and a lack of intelligent, dedicated people to hire for really cheap.