In a country notorious for crap customer service, the multi-national companies sometimes surprise you with fairly good service. Not so with Dell Ireland. I ordered a laptop on January 31st. Over six weeks later it has not arrived. My concerns and appeals keep going to random people in Bombay who, while extremely friendly, don't get it and have no desire to help. Here's how it's gone down.
January 31st - I order computer and select the financing option. According to the website I should have a credit decision in 48 hours.
48 hours later is a Saturday, so I give them the benefit of the doubt and leeway of "business hours" and assume I'll hear Monday.
Monday - nothing. Well, maybe Tuesday, it is Monday afterall.
Thursday Feb 8th - phone call from Dell. Excellent. Late, but relieved to hear from them. Approval decision? No, they wanted to verify my address, the same one I had to enter twice during the order process. Apparently the fact that I'd ordered my previous computer to an old address was confusing. I asked when I would hear back and I was given the magic 48 hours again.
February 11th - More contact. This time they wanted a land line number. I inquired into what was taking so long and got no response. This was via email.
February 15th - Another email. Asking for a bank statement and ID. I send them over.
February 17th - Phone call saying bank statement not allowed as it's not original. I had gone to the bank to get a printed one which they stamped with a stamp saying it was an authorized official bank statement. Not good enough for Dell apparently. I rang the bank and was told I couldn't have a n official "blue" statement until month end. Bugger. So now the ball is in my court, but still 17 days to get to this point when they initially promised 48 hours!?
March 11th - Bank statement FINALLY arrives and I scan it in and send it over to Dell.
March 17th - I send an email to the sales rep I've been in contact with expressing my frustration, fully acknowledging that it did take me awhile to get the statement, and wondering what the hell was going on.
March 18th - She sends me paperwork saying lease has been approved and asks me to sign and return the documents. Finally! I sign, scan and fax them over. Get email a few minutes later saying fax was unclear. I email documents and send original by post. I also look at Dell website and see that not only is the exact same laptop €20 cheaper, but comes with a free colour upgrade and oh how I wanted the lime green one! I emailed saying that since I had had to wait so long that I think the least they could do was offer me the colour upgrade. I'll eat the price differential.
I then get a phonecall saying the only way to do this is to cancel the order and start the process over. Hell no. Just get me my damn computer already. So I tell her to go ahead as is, because at this point I JUST WANT MY FUCKING COMPUTER!!!!!! I assume everything is finished and the order has finally been placed.
March 20th - I get another form letter from Dell with the lease paperwork for me to sign and return, only with different numbers. WHAT THE FUCK? I have sent an email wondering, again, what the hell they are up to, and am awaiting the answer.
I just had to vent my frustration somewhere and here it is. My main issues revolve around the fact that the financial decisions are taken in Dublin, yet someone there has to ring someone in India to tell them to ring me requesting more data. What a load of bollocks. If you have any questions about the data needed, the person in India has to go back to the person in Dublin. Very frustrating. If I could just talk to the person in Dublin at the get go it would have saved everyone a lot of time and effort.
Also annoying was the fact that my emails were never confirmed. I would send the info and never got a response. Even just a "got it- leave it with me" would have been appreciated. Initial contact was to confirm details they ALREADY had and again a dubious time period was claimed.
I understand that the credit process in this country is more drawn out than most, but having worked in finance I know that 48 hours is an entirely reasonable time frame. Credit approval is usually offered subject to receiving a bank statement and copy of ID.
Now granted my bank were a pain in the ass during this process, but if you take that time out of the equation it's still taking Dell over three weeks to do something they promise to do in 48 hours! Absolutely ridiculous, and it's still not resolved.
Rant over. Now where's my bleeding laptop?
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