How not to treat your customers (Dell, I'm talking about you)

I tend to buy more stuff online than at brick-and-mortar retailers, but either way I rarely complain about the experience--and certainly never publicly. Well, this week I was pushed completely over-the-edge in what I'd say is undoubtedly the grossest example of customer neglect I've ever had the misfortune of experiencing.

I've been waiting for a good laptop deal to come up for several weeks now, and this week, Dell had a Inspiron 14z bundle that caught my eye for a very good price. Sleek design, Core i5-2430M processor, and it comes with a camera or gift card too to sweeten the deal. I've been a loyal Dell customer for more than ten years, so it seemed like a no-brainier. To make the deal even sweeter, I bought a $400 Dell gift card just before buying, receiving a promotional $75 Dell gift card along with it, and applied them to my laptop order. Over 100 people on the SlickDeals forums seem to have done the exact same thing without a hitch.

I made the order via phone on Monday at 1:00PM. I normally buy over the web, but applying the gift cards necessitated chatting. After the very cordial Dell representative could not complete the order via chat, I was called by the phone salesperson and completed the order that way.

Over the phone, I was able to select my exact system, apply the gift cards, apply a coupon code, and confirmed the configuration in my cart (which they remotely updated). I confirmed the specs (i5-2430M processor, $125 Amex gift card for the bundle, etc). Everything looked perfect. It took about one hour start-to-finish, but it wasn't so terrible. I was told I would get an e-mail with the configuration, which I had 2 hours to approve over the web to finalize the order.

I hung up the phone at 2:00, satisfied that I'd finally be getting my new laptop. Five minutes later, I get an e-mail. It is not the "approval" email I was told I'd get, but just a receipt with what I had ordered. The configuration was completely wrong. It had a cheaper Core i3 processor, different software, and the gift card was not included in the order. Overall, it was a much cheaper and slower system, and I would not receive the bonus gift card that was a part of the deal.

I called Dell immediately. I was passed around to five different foreign customer care representatives, most of which I couldn't understand what they were saying. I was disconnected 3 times, placed on hold for more than a half hour total, and was told several times to hang up and redial the same number I had been calling the entire time in order to reach the "right department."

After more than 90 minutes of this absurdity (it's 3:30 now), the sixth customer care rep told me "It appears your order has just shipped. All we can do at this point is have the package intercepted, re-routed back to Dell, and charge for a restocking fee. Your money will be refunded in 10-15 business days once we receive it, less the fee, if the package gets safely back to us."

Wait, what? I placed the under two hours ago. I've been on the phone the entire time with Dell reps since the order. I never even had a chance to approve what I was getting in writing. Dell mixed up my order, and is basically going to tie up my money, stick me with gift cards I don't want, and charge me for their incompetence. I can't re-order because the balance of the gift cards are tied up with them, so this same deal will be long gone by the time they are restored. Even worse, by that time the Holiday season will be all-but-over, which precludes me from buying any new Dell.

It took Dell a mere two hours to take my order, screw it up, and ship me the wrong machine without giving me anyone to talk to who could change it...but it will take them 15 business days (3 weeks) to get my money back? And I'll incur fees for this?

I spoke with several managers, and some actually understood my situatuion, but said that they have to follow system protocol even if it seems unfair. I've never had Dell ship an order to me in less than 2 weeks after 10 years of being a customer.

I honestly couldn't believe what had just transpired. You'd think they'd want to help correct this, especially since it was their error. This is when a company is supposed to realize they made a mistake, and work with the customer to find a palatable solution.

I've lost all faith in Dell. I'll be stuck with $475 in Dell gift cards, but honestly, I don't ever want another Dell computer after this experience. Perhaps I'll gift the cards to someone I dislike for the holidays, and let them suffer through this.