Approximately three hours later I suggested I use a different one of their company credit cards and I\u2019d put in all the details myself. I also made the delivery address the same as the invoice address which I know can cause issues otherwise. I also added a digital camera to the order. To my joy, about thirty minutes late I got an order confirmation. Hoorah. Or so I thought. The confirmation page doesn\u2019t mention the original order number but if I\u2019d looked at the specs on the PDF it would have told me that they had issued an order for a laptop, the first spec laptop. I would have also noticed that it had no camera with it.<\/p>\n
But at 18:39 on the 26th I got a Dell order check. They gave me two internet receipt numbers. One for the first order I\u2019d placed on the 24th and one for the last order that I actually wanted, placed a few hours earlier. Those clever Dell people. They\u2019d realised the issue and were asking me to confirm which one I wanted. at 19:03 I replied that it was ONLY the last order I wanted. And I felt happy with the world. Sad deluded fool I am.<\/p>\n
At 21:31 on the 26th, I got another confirmation email. Odd \u2013 this was just for the camera. The order screen was still showing as the first order processing, the third order was for a camera only. The order screen for the laptop was showing the previous spec.<\/p>\n
OK, I thought, I\u2019ll ring Dell in the morning. Oh no you won\u2019t matey. Once you\u2019ve placed your orders Dell will not answer their phones apart from during working hours. Worrying. Still, I\u2019d get it sorted Monday.<\/p>\n
Sunday brought interesting news. My laptop was in production. Worrying. Even more worrying was another potential duplicate order message. This time the first order reference was for the second order I\u2019d placed! The second order reference was a number I\u2019ve never seen in my life and to this day I don\u2019t know what it is. Entering it into the system gives me \u201cWe\u2019re unable to give you an update at the moment\u201d. I replied to this confirmation mail saying \u2018DO NOT PROCESS ANYTHING, UNTIL i SPEAK TO YOU IN THE MORNING\u2019.<\/p>\n
The next day dawned and I prepared for the joy of customer support. Lady 1. Listened patiently and explained to me that the laptop was on the first order and the camera was on the second order. OK \u2026 but the first laptop is wrong \u2013 I replied to your confirmation mail which says I have three working days to reply. I replied in 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAh so sorry\u201d, she says, but it is in production and can\u2019t be stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry? Can\u2019t be stopped!? I replied in 30 minutes!\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo sorry sir.\u201d<\/p>\n
What should I be doing then.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s delivered you can return to us with an explanation and you can have your money refunded.\u201d<\/p>\n
Splutter. Er, you want to make a laptop \u2013 I don\u2019t want. Send it to me. Let me send it back to you. Then you give me the money back. And then I order the right one again!? Did I get that right?<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry sir, there\u2019s nothing that can be done. \u201c<\/p>\n
Well yes \u2013 we can do something. We can refuse to take this ridiculous situation and tell them where to put their laptops. I am not sure how long I was on the phone but by the end of it I\u2019d been promised her senior would be calling me to see what could be done. And I was exhausted. Having somebody just repeating to you something nonsensical regardless of what you said back was exhausting. I am told my voice was clear across the breadth and depth of the Liverpool office.<\/p>\n
Man 1 phoned me back. He helpfully explained that the order was too late to be cancelled and that there was nothing that could be done. Back to the order check email I went. No budging. Why did they then process PART of the third order? He didn\u2019t know but there was nothing that could be done. I told him that a) I would reporting them to the credit card company b) I would not be accepting anything they tried to deliver to me\u00a0 and c) I would then turn this over to the company solicitor.<\/p>\n
This resulted in a 10% discount offer. Which threw me a bit off balance. But the fact remained. It wasn\u2019t what I ordered, they\u2019d asked me for a confirmation which they now claimed was pointless as it was too late AND they\u2019d tampered with the third order. Somebody had seen that order, cut the laptop off it and just gone ahead with the digital camera. That was not automated. He even had the affront to tell me that I\u2019d placed the third order for\u00a0 camera only. I vented.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry sir, can you tell me what you actually want.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want the items on the third order. That\u2019s all I want. Nothing else. Nothing more. Nothing less.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe third order was for a laptop as well sir!?\u201d.<\/p>\n
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhh.<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019d talk to somebody and call me back.<\/p>\n
After that call (Monday 29th, about 13:00), I realised that the prices had changed between the orders as well. I was being offered a discount but the revised order had only added a tenner to the total price, so the whole unit cost must have gone down. So it was a discount on the old price. No wonder they were so desperate to flog me the original laptop.<\/p>\n
So I awaited the call back. And waited. Today, Tuesday 30th \u2013 I phoned Dell at 17:30. \u201cThe person you wish to speak to is not available at the moment, can I ask him to call you back?\u201d. Yes, I replied calmly. That would be nice. He has not done so yet.<\/p>\n
Watch this space.<\/p>\n
Update 1. Tuesday 30th, 22:28 – They\u2019ve changed the status screen for order 1 to \u2018shipped\u2019. Looks like I\u2019ve been totally ignored so far. Will be making another call tomorrow morning unless they phone me first. <\/em><\/p>\n Update 2. Wednesday 1st July, 16:15 \u2013 The man I need to speak to is on another line. He will call back in 20 minutes. \u2018Are you sure?\u2019. Yes sir. No call back. <\/em><\/p>\n > I have only had to shout down the phone twice in my life. Once was in 2005\u2019ish I believe. The other time was this week. Both times were to Dell, although the first time was to technical support and this time was to sales support. It\u2019s somewhat encouraging to know that their sales support is as bad as their technical support. I assume their presales support is better otherwise they wouldn\u2019t sell anything. So here\u2019s the story. One of…<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/9210244490645736884-3180913703281140374?l=blog.cottee.org\")