Hey folks, I got this Dell XPS410 back in April of 07 for $ 1,493.00. They gave it to me on a credit basis with 18 month interest free payments (which I thought was a pretty good deal)
I really haven't been very satisfied with the Dell Finacial Dept and or especially the help desk. I know absolutely NOTHING about computers and I can run circles around 3/4 of the dorks they have trying to help the folks with problems
Reason for disatisfaction regarding the help desk - stated above!
Reason for disatisfaction regarding the Dell Financial Dept:
1.) $ 10.00 surcharge for paying by phone
2.) None of them speak clear English (which is a real PIA to me
)
3.) You don't receive the paper (hard copy) bill in the mail until approx 7 to 9 days before it is due and it says right on the bill to send the payment in at least 10 days before due date to avoid late charges
4.) There is a $ 40.00 late fee, even if the payment is less than 24 hours late - Looks like a late charge scam to me (this is the point of this thread)
I've had a crazy schedule as of late and my payment of $ 46.10 was due on Jan 13th. I had spaced the mailing of the payment and was going to phone it in + I had an unexpected call into work and I missed the payment. (my bad, I know)
I called first thing in the morning on the 14th to pay the bill by phone. Immediately the very rude, broken English speaking tele-gal shouted out my payment is late and that I was going to be charged $ 40.00 late fee + $ 10.00 phone fee, so my total due was going to be $ 96.10 for the month!!! More than twice the payment due
Needless to say I was extremely PO'ed!!! I have never had a late payment and this was less that 24 hours late.
I asked if they could work with me and waive the late chagre because of the fact it was less than 24 hours late and the fact that I have been a perfect always on time paying customer. She yelled some jiberish I didn't understand and then asked me if I understood WHY why the late charge was being assessed?? Latea is Latea...no breaks!!
Please!!
I was soo pissed off I hung up in her ear and threw my phone! (thankfully it landed on the couch:O)) I was ready to pack it all up and send it back!
Today I get a call from Dell Financial. Apparently QC was listening in on the call and this lady actually spoke English. She said they were sorry for the trouble and that since I was an always on time customer to this point, that they would waive the late charge
I damn near fell over, lol.
Maybe there is hope for them yet! (the financial dept, not the help desk, lol)
BTW - just a note on the PC. It's worked very well and is very fast. I actually like the Vista (once I got used to it) and it makes quite a few functions less difficult. The ONLY problems I've had is with the scanner/printer functions working properly, but the bugs seem to have been worked out.
Dell gets only about half a thumb up from me so far, but that beats a thumbs down anyday ;o)
