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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?"

13 of 593 comments (clear)

  1. Blame the APO by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It most likely got stolen by a corrupt employee on its way to you. Dell thinks you got it and won't send another one, so the place to take this is your credit card's fraud resolution process, who will most likely eat the loss.

    1. Re:Blame the APO by mysidia · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Trust me VISA will not be eating it. The ability to reach in and take it from Dell is 100%.

      Visa is never actually even a party to the transaction, they're the only winner in the case of a chargeback.

      Every Visa card is issued by a bank.

      Every merchant that can accept Visa cards has a merchant account with another bank.

      When you pay for a purchase with a CC, the transaction is processed by the retailer's merchant account.

      The merchant's bank uses Visa's network to record the transaction.

      The amount is charged to the buyer's bank, and a commission paid to Visa is deducted from the proceeds, before being deposited to the retailer's account.

      The commission is a percentage plus a base ammount, and it is not refundable in any case.

  2. Worth a try.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Honestly e-mail CNN with a story about how hard it is to deal with issues like this when you are out of country in the service. You can even file an iReport. If they run with the story I think you'll find your laptop showing up in record time with a heartfelt apology from Dell.

  3. Thank you for your service.. and sorry. by osssmkatz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Excuse me. No. We respect your service, and he has every right to ask for help from people he trusts. That apparently is us. They said they'd send a replacement.. but didn't. So now we are discussing resolutions. You had no right to make those assumptions.

  4. Re:How about a little less /. asshole behavior by PC+and+Sony+Fanboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And, given that he is risking his life in Afghanistan, why the hell shouldn't he get preferential treatment?

    Because, as a non-american, I don't support the war, and i don't support his actions.

    Why should he get preferential treatmetn for living in a country that sends him to war for no reason? Why should he get preferential treatment because he was idiotic enough to sign up for the military in the USA?

  5. Re:Call your credit card company.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

    The fundamental problem is with people accepting poor customer service. If the average customer will accept the cheapest customer service, it generally works out in the business' favor to go with that lowest-rung option.

    You can't blame a businessman for running the most profitable business he can.

  6. Re:Call your credit card company.... by Free+the+Cowards · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If the supervisor thought I was wrong in requesting that somebody who asked me for my operating system version four times in a row when replying to an e-mail in which I explicitly stated my operating system version, then he should be fired too.

    Once is chance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. If this guy can't figure out that I am telling him my operating system version four times in a row, then he needs to find a new line of work. If there are somehow procedures which require him to ignore my answer and ask me the same question every time I reply, which I highly doubt, then whoever created that procedure needs to be fired too.

    But let's be honest, there is no such procedure. Don't defend this idiot. There was nothing which required him to ask me the exact same question repeatedly after I gave him the answer to it repeatedly.

    --
    If you mod me Overrated, you are admitting that you have no penis.
  7. Re:how times have changed by nametaken · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You're a special kind of asshole, you know that?

  8. Re:how times have changed by Barny · · Score: 4, Insightful

    May i humbly suggest that your time is better spent reading some books, to enlighten you as to why you're in the position you are, and just how the hell you and your countrymen arrived there.

    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.

    --
    ...
    /me sighs
  9. Re:Dissapointed with Dell by p0tat03 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wouldn't. Insurance by the postal service is worth almost as much as no insurance at all. It takes literally years of fighting past insane bureaucracy to get reimbursed, and even then they will try to weasel out of every single penny they can.

    Dell would probably treat you better than the USPS.

  10. Re:Call your credit card company.... by WiiVault · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He posted his problem on Slashdot...

  11. Re:Call your credit card company.... by HeavyD14 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Please, I've already given this information previously. I am using Mac OS (Mac is not an acronym, by the way) 10.4.8, and I am not using [software].

    You still sound like an pompous ass.

  12. Re:Cost of customer service is business damage by gcatullus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That is the Walmart Effect in a nutshell. That store only delivers what its customers want. They want low low prices, and easy returns. The products don't have to be high quality or made in the USA. The cashiers don't have to be too friendly, or even too quick, just quick enough. The stores don't have to be too clean, just not disgustingly dirty. If the average consumer wanted to spend a little more for service, maybe we'd actually get it