Zac Bowling’s Blog

DELL SCREWED ME AND WITHOUT BUYING ANYTHING!

You may remember my last blog post about what was going on so far. [Dell making me mad!]. Well it got even worse. I ordered that machine on May 27th but had been delayed over and over every day up until the 18th of this month. In that period, 3 of my co-workers have ordered and received their laptops of nearly the same exact thing.

Here is the latest:

They figured it was being delayed because the hard drive, but they couldn’t change the order because the order was already in production. Then they said they could after they talked to a few managers. Then they emailed me back and said they couldn’t because only the orginial sales agent only could and she was extended leave. With everything that happened, that was just the iceing on the cake. They said they would have to cancel the order out and re-enter it in order to get the order in. I said that as long as I would get it in less then a week, otherwise I was totally fed up and wanted them to cancel it.

In the time I was waiting for my machine (over 2 months), my company had 2 discounts for this specific Dell totalling $1,500 off and I wanted the discounts. They said they couldn’t.

After re-entering the order, I checked the site and the order wouldn’t get here until mid November and not only that, the order was wrong! It was missing two parts. I emailed back and they said it was because those parts where on delay. I was ferious. I told them to cancel it. They did shortly afterword.

I thought that was it over and was so happy. The next day, on my way to work, I stopped by the gas station to fill up my tank. I stuck in my ATM card, and the machine refused the transaction. I tried again and it still didn’t work. I went inside and they tried it at the desk and still no go.

I went home and called the bank. I had (negative) -$1100 avaliable funds but they said I had all money in there (>$7,000). I asked her why all of a sudden I didn’t have anything avaliable. My last deposit was well over a month ago and it cleared. She said that Dell had recent had activity on the account. She did some more searching and found that Dell had put in a transaction for $3,950 (the price of the machine) 3 times and then reversed it sortly afterword but the funds where locked out because thats what happens just like a deposit and I would have to wait till it cleared again. For 3 1/2 days I was without any cash of any kind because those ding bats at DELL.

Its all a joke. They made me, someone who is extremely nice and easy to work, absolutley angry and ready to start a personal campain against them.

After losing my last laptop to an accident and the fact that I needed a new machine for so long, I went ahead and ordered a brand new laptop from Dell. Spent a ton on it because I figured I use it more than the average user (far more) and deserve to have the best out there. I spent nearly $4,300.

That was over nearly a month and a half ago. Since that time, my order has been delayed over 5 times. I’m not set to get my laptop for another week according the latest report. Dell was forced to contact me the last 4 times and get my consent because of FTC regulations. The first and seconded time were a little bit annoying but reasonable.. About the 3rd time I was getting very angry. I was willing to work with them on the parts so that they maybe it could ship sooner but I was told doing so would take it out of its place out in line.

The first issue was that the hard drive had just back-ordered. I asked the lady twice if that’s all it was and she assured me that was the only issue. The second time it was still the hard drive. I accepted and still waited. The 3rd time they called me and told me the motherboard and video card were back-ordered. I was begining to become angry. You see, the first time I was assured that Dell holds the parts for a machine until they get everything. I was angry and she said she would investigate and get back with me. No one ever got back with me.

The 4th time, they told me they had the motherboard but the video card was still out. I told that lady about the last lady and she transferred me to a customer support person that was so monotone and condescending that it made me more angry but I was desperate need of my machine that I demanded that they upgrade my shipping so that when it was readyI would get it sooner, so they did.

Friday, I get a call from a clueless rep. asking if I would allow for it be delayed again. I was furious. I asked him what it was this time. It happened to be the hard drive again. I was screaming mad. He said it didn’t show that it had been delayed on his records for the hard drive before. I demanded to speak with his manager. They transferred me and they told me they would investigate and personally find out what was going on but because of the long weekend that they would get back with me on Tuesday.

I can’t stand this anymore. I should of received my laptop on 06/07/05. The latest I have heard is that it will ship on 07/08/05 and I should get it on 07/11/05 (because of the weekend). If it wasn’t for the time it would take to build the system and the discounts I got from Dell for my partnerships and employee discounts and the fact that I love the machines (not so much the ordering process anymore) that if it was anyone else I would have canceled a long time ago.