danterner

On January 2nd, 2002, I placed my order on-line for a 400 Mhz Dell Axim Advanced. I opened a Dell Preferred Account to do so, specifically because on the order processing page it stated that opening a Dell Preferred Account would result in a $25 discount. Shortly after placing my order, I received an "order acknowledgment" e-mail from Dell. That e-mail stated that I would receive an "order confirmation" within one business day, and that the confirmation would list my customer number, order number, expected delivery date, and other pertinent information. Days passed with no order confirmation e-mail from Dell. The following week, I started calling customer service to inquire. I gamely endured Dell's "voicemail hell," never with any success. Finally, after several days, on January 8 I lucked upon a very helpful customer service representative. I told him that I had been shuffled from department to department, everyone telling me they could not assist me. Here I was, a new customer, wanting to give Dell my money and they couldn't seem to get their act together to take it from me. The customer service representative went all out to make sure that my needs were met. He actually remained on hold with me for 1.5 hours as we navigated the voicemail system together, and as he fought for me with on-line sales, then financing, then peripherals and accessories (everyone was saying it was someone else's responsibility to take care of the dropped order). Ultimately, the matter apparently was sorted out. (Apparently, the January 2 order "fell through because of an incompatibility". No idea what that could mean. No idea why Dell wouldn't have notified me, rather than just forgetting about it. The Dell Preferred Account was approved, but the order never entered. Because the order wasn't entered, it couldn't be cancelled. But it was still there, in "pre-order limbo." Ultimately, we did manage to cancelled the January 2 order and place a new one in its stead. That order, for which I do have a confirmation, is still "in processing," with an expected ship date of January 31. That order also was placed using the Dell Preferred Account.

All would be well and good, except that the new order no longer shows the $25 discount from having opened the Dell Preferred Account. I've tried to get that issue resolved every way I can think of. Customer Care has referred me to Financing. Financing has referred me to Customer Care. Peripherals and Accessories has referred me to both. I've tried entreaty by e-mail, snail mail, and telephone.

It's only $25. Maybe I should just drop it. It's not worth the aggravation I've experienced. But, then again, its a discount that was promised to me. I wouldn't have opened the Dell Preferred Account but for that promise. Is there nobody at Dell willing to take accountability and actually do something to address this? It certainly seems that way to me.

Here I am, a new Dell Customer. I haven't received my order yet, and I'm already completely disenchanted with Dell's customer service. Apart from that one extremely helpful customer service rep (I sent a letter to Dell praising him), nobody has been of assistance. The Axim is well-reviewed and I'm looking forward to receiving it, but I'm certainly not going to be purchasing future products from Dell. I only hope that when I do receive the Axim I don't get a defective unit. I don't want to have to call customer service any more. I'm done.

I don't know whether any Dell CS representative will be able to do anything, should they see this post here, but I figure its worth a try - certainly the other avenues I've tried have not met with success. This can do no worse.

<Sigh>

aximuser

Similar experience. Opened prefered customer account and the $25 never showed up in the final price.
Have gone through the voice mail maze and exchanged email several times with their customer support staff with no result. They asked me to contact finance division for this issue instead. I simply gave up wasting my time to deal with the $25 discount.

Emonair

How did you pay? By credit card? If so contest the charge and let your credit card lawyers take care of it. Just tell them it was a mistake due to a poorly managed website misusing your credit card info. Copy what you've already posted here. I believe most credit cards allow 120 or so days to contest a charge. That's what I would do. I would try to be more detailed with how much time you've invested in trying to do this the dell way. I think anyone would find this unreasonable and do whatever it takes to make you happy.

My father had a similar experience with a 10% discount that was never applied. I called my account rep at Dell who talked to the boss of the person who originally took my fathers order. It was taken care of in minutes. If you don't have someone to call I would suggest the above alternative.

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mjmawk

Forget about it. When I first ordered my Dell Axim, I was trying to get a student discount like it says on the webpage. I had the same concerns that I couldn't see the discount in my order. After about 3 or 4 phone calls and 2 hours on the phone I finally spoke to someone at Dell that said that no further discounts were available for the Axim since it was selling at such a low price. Only the $50 rebate was available. I asked the person where it said this and he said it "was in the small print". I gave up on it because it was only an additional 5%.

PS: I've been happy with the Axim since I got it. Though I've had other problems with service issues.

danterner

Yeah, I'm pretty much giving up on it. What gets me, though, is I'm not trying to pull one over on DELL here. I was ready to place my order and pay by credit card (and was indeed in the process of doing so) without knowing about the $25 discount at all. The webpage actually prompted me with a message to the effect of "if you open a Dell Preferred Account to make this purchase you will receive an additional $25 off." I figured "why not" and so opened the account. I'm trying to play by their rules (albeit to my advantage). It doesn't seem equitable that they get to unilaterally change the rules after the fact.

As an attorney, I know that if I really wanted to pursue this further, I could. As an adult with a modicum of common sense, I know that it's not worth the $25 to do so. I do, however, plan on filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (after receipt of the Axim, so as to minimize interference with the ongoing order processing). I also plan on 'voting with my feet' (taking my business elsewhere, in the future), and sharing my experience with others (see, e.g. this very thread) so that they can make an informed decision as to whether they feel the end result (an Axim) is worth the potential customer service roller coaster ride to get it. If the circumstances of my customer service experience were unique to me, I'd be more inclined to chalk it up to bad luck and let it ride. As things stand, however, I've seen many posts from many other people with similar experiences.

Like I said in my initial post, I'm pretty much done. I'm looking forward to receipt of the Axim and I'm just hoping that I won't have further cause to have to deal with customer service on technical issues. Thank you all for taking the time to hear my gripe, and for your constructive responses to it.

danterner

Post Script - Today I received a telephone call from DELL, informing me that they received the snail-mail letter I sent to corporate headquarters. I sent the letter mostly to praise the assistance of C.S. rep. Anthony Inmon (who worked with me to resolve the dropped order issue), but I also included in the letter reference to the missing $25.

My letter is being forwarded to Anthony's management team so Anthony can get the pat on the back he deserves, and DELL has now credited the $25 back to my account.

AND - on January 24 the status of my 400 mhz Axim (ordered on Jan 8, expected to ship Jan 31) changed from "In Processing" to "Shipped (In Transit)."

So, yay! <wipes tear from eye>

SkyVoice

danterner,

Congrats. It finally worked. My experience with the 25.00 discount was a bit different. When I was ordering on line and got to the processing part my computer froze up and I had to reboot. When I went back to the site to try and pick up where I left off I could no longer located the 25.00 off flag but by then my Dell Preferred Account had been approved and established. Funny how that happended. :-) Anyway, a quick email into the system provided me a great response and the 25.00 was indeed creditied to my account as it should have been.

I have heard some horror stories concerning Dell support and it is a shame but I have met with great results so far. Glad it finally worked out for you. I sometimes think Dell has too much going on at one time and many of their people can't keep up or are not properly trained to handle certain events.

Ciao,

Ron

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