Dell Stole my Money!

Customer Service is the second most important thing a business can have. (Quality, pertinant products/service #1) Dear Every Business in the World….if I am spending my ever fleeting time and spending my hard earned dollar on your product/service; appreciate that effort.

Recently (Friday) Emily notices her laptop adaptor is not working. I log on to Bestbuy.com to see if they carry one to replace it. They offer a universal adaptor for about 78 bucks. Thinking perhaps it would be better for the computer if we use the adaptor from that brand (Dell) I check their website before driving all the way out to Best Buy. Dell has the adaptor for $65.99.
Great!
With the non-working adaptor in hand, I verify the numbers/type are correct (don’t want to mistakenly order the wrong thing…you’d never believe the variety of adaptors that exist!) Got it! I proceed with the order, placing said adaptor in my virtual shopping cart. Hmmmmm, shipping and handling….Express/overnight delivery? Just know I justified in my mind the $23.99 S&H because, well, Emily is my baby girl and if I can give it to her I do.
Send!
Within minutes I receive an email from Dell to “acknowledge” my order number 784144226.
About an hour later-another email to “confirm” my order number 784144226.

But wait. Estimated delivery date of June 25th? Standard shipping would have gotten it there by that date. I just paid an extra $23.99 to get it before the standard 5 day delivery.

I call Dell Customer Service. After going through the automated responses, half of which they could not understand my response; I am connected to a rep. I explain my question. “I just placed an order and selected express/overnight delivery, yet my confirmation email estimates a delivery date of six days.” Yes, let me connect you with someone who can help. (?) Second rep-you know the kind-ah, they’ve transferred me to India. Now I have nothing against any group of people-but God it’s frustrating when you can’t understand someone due to their accent-perhaps they feel the same way about me (I am from KY you know) I repeat my concern. This rep (I think) explains that picking the order, possible assembly, etc are all factored in and the express/overnight part is counted from the moment it leaves the warehouse. I don’t like this (I paid extra!) but how can you arguer with that? Fair enough. I’ll wait.

Saturday morning I am dashing through my to-do list for the day. One more item-check bank statement online-and I am done. Next up-lounge pool side. Wait what’s this? Under pending charges: $96.28 charge from Dell at 12:39pm (okay) and $96.28 charge at 1:38pm (huh?) I call customer service.

I explain the problem three times to three people before they forward me to “a rep that can assist me”. Once to my fourth person, I recite the customer ID number (an eight digit number I can repeat with looking at this point). The line goes dead. Hello? Damn. I call back. Same routine as five minutes before-they hang up-I call back. Fourth person-third try-“Please don’t hang up on me!” I explain my dilemma-I request the second (mistaken) order be deleted and my $96.28 refunded. Sorry-you must wait and when you receive the adaptor we will arrange a return.

What is your name?
Shanks Hall.
Let me speak to your supervisor please.
No one else can resolve this any differently.
I know you have a boss-let me speak with them please.
I’m sorry Madame-it is the weekend. No supervisors here.
Then you are in charge? Then YOU fix this. It is YOUR mistake-not mine.
We don’t try to blame the customer, but adaptor was ordered.
You’re saying this is MY error? MY mistake?
Well, Madame, why would company like Dell, do this?
Then why did I not receive an acknowledgement email, or confirmation email for a second order? You really think I would mistakenly log back on to your website and order the exact same adaptor and pay ANOTHER $23.99 for express shipping-an HOUR LATER?
We would be glad to arrange a return once you have received the merchandise.
(this exchange has been shortened to protect the weak and faint of heart. It was NOT pleasant)

Unbelievable!

Fast forward to Sunday. I am really upset over this. I was so very careful about placing the order, ensuring that I had the right product. How did this happen? Perhaps I should get the order number, purchase ID number and verify what email address the acknowledgement and confirmation emails went to for this “mistaken” order. I call Dell customer service. Blah, blah, blah, here’s my customer ID number-call ends. Yes, they hung up, disconnected the call, let me down. I call back. Blah, blah, blah…can you give me the order number? Got it. Can you tell me when and to what email the order acknowledgement and confirmation was sent? They don’t have access to those records!
Whatever-I hang up.

I am at their mercy. I have resigned myself to the fact that Dell is NOT, regardless of all the information I have provided, going to expedite the refund. Shameful!

Today (Monday) at 1:05pm FedEX rings the doorbell and I answer the door to two boxes. Great. I bring the boxes in, select the one with the tracking number provided in the email for the adaptor I order and call Dell to arrange a return for the “mistaken” adaptor.
I am put on hold so the rep can “review the details of the order”. I am certain he is reading Indian curse words about the crazy woman who claims she only ordered one adaptor.

Returning to my call, the rep will send a shipping label to my email address…let me verify he says…m-a-d-r-f-i-g-@aol.com? No, m-a-“T” as in Tom-r-f-i-g-@aol.com. Yes, he says, m as in mike-a as in alpha-d as in Dome-r as in…no,no,no I interrupt…T as in TOM. Yes, D as in Dome….yes I say. Now, when you receive this shipping label, you will need to take the package to the nearest UPS store and drop off. Once we receive the merchandise, we will refund the amount within 31 days.

Great, I tell him. What’s the use in arguing anymore?

My summary is this: Dell stole $96.28 from my account WITHOUT my authorization and WITHOUT sending me an acknowledgement, confirmation, verification or acceptance.
When I called Customer Service; immediately after noticing this, they blamed ME for the mistake. I am assured that most refunds do not take the full 31 days…but Dell has now had MY money for 3 days too long.

$96.28 isn’t the end of the world-but it’s the entire principle of the thing. Imagine if I had ordered that laptop that Mark needs for work….how much of a banking error would THAT have been?

I will purchase another laptop this year. It will NOT be a Dell. Anyone of you who may be in the market for a computer (or even a computer accessory) please BEWARE.

Customer Service is EVERYTHING.

Maybe

One of the first words kids learn is No. No! becomes the favorite of many a two year old, three year old…sixteen year old. The word No (followed closely by Why) is a tool that children use to fix their mistakes, and hide their fears…and can be fighting words for us Mothers.

The tables turn however when children start asking questions of their own.
I have been thinking a lot about my own use of the word No with my kids. “Mom, can we eat out tonight”? No! “Mom, can I take the car?” No! “Mom, can we have ice cream for dinner?” No! This list could go on and on. No has always been the most comfortable answer to most any question that comes out of the mouth of my children. This has been true whether they’ve been 2 or 21.

No means they are eating a healthy diet, No means they are safe at home. No means they are not spending my money, hanging out with friends that could negatively influence them, or other general disasters that only a Mother can dream up.

The most difficult word for me is Yes. Yes comes with worry. Yes comes with responsibility and unfamiliar territory. Yes means loosening control with unknown consequences. Yes means nervous tics, jagged fingernails and wearing a path in the carpet from miles of floor pacing. Yes equals risks.

Mom, can I have the car tonight? Mom, can I drive to Cincinnati? Mom, can I go camping in Arkansas? Mom, can I go canoeing with these 6 people you’ve never met, but you trust my judgment of character and driving ability to get there safely, we’re spending the night camping with nothing between me and the outdoors other than paper thin tent walls, with no sleeping bag, and oh, by the way my cell phone may not work since we will be in the middle of the woods, where by the way, no one would ever hear me scream for help if I needed them!?

Indeed, I struggle with Yes. I have to laugh at myself because in all reality, if my kids were all at home, reading a stimulating novel in their rooms, I would be at my happiest. You want to meet interesting people? Go read Stargirl. You want excitement? Pick up a copy of Holes. You stay safely tucked inside and leave Huck Finn to drift down the river.

Friends have calmed me, reasoned with me, and bought me drinks, after Yes has won its battle. The thing is, I know that saying Yes is more important than saying No. Saying Yes broadens their experience and creates memories that will last them a lifetime.

From the first time I gently unwrapped their hand from my finger and let them take their first step, I was saying Yes. Running along side them and finally letting go of the bicycle seat, as they pedaled along on their own, risking a skinned knee, I was saying Yes.

These are the small steps that prepare us to say Yes to the bigger things in life.
I doubt Yes will ever come without the “what ifs” that play through this Mother's mind.
I doubt I will ever be completely comfortable having my children roaming this earth without their hand tucked safely in mine. But I will listen with excitement, and relief, as they retell their adventures from the protection of the four walls of our home.