Dell Customer Service [RANT]

This isn't my week. Seriously.

I need a laptop for school. I saw the VAIO P and considered buying it, but I'm choosing to wait for the less processor-hungry Windows 7. So in the mean time, since we have almost $800 of credit with Dell, we decided that we'd buy a Dell and if/when I buy the VAIO P, I'll just give the Dell to my husband.

On January 24th, I went to Dell's website and customized a laptop. Including tax, shipping, and all that, it came out to $929.84. So I told it to put it on my Dell account and it told me there wasn't enough space, at which point I specified that I wanted to put $750 on the Dell account and the remaining $179.84 on my debit card for my checking account. The computer I was on was not connected to the printer, so I didn't print out my confirmation page. We had split payment up like that before without issues and I have to admit I don't always print out confirmation pages, especially when they send e-mail confirmation to your e-mail address. Dell's confirmation e-mails do not include any payment details, though, but I didn't really think about that at the time. My laptop was supposed to arrive around February 4th, but it got delayed 3 times. Three times we got an e-mail, explaining that there was a back-ordered part and they had to ask us if we still wanted the laptop. Three times we said yes. Two days ago, on the 22nd, we received an e-mail saying that it shipped. Yay! I was very happy.

Then yesterday late afternoon, I was talking to my husband about money. I don't remember what it was that he wanted, but I told him I had to look at the account to see where we were at. So I logged into my checking account and found a negative balance. When I clicked on the details, I saw that Dell had charged my debit card all $929.84! I was furious, not to mention totally panicked because there were still items that hadn't cleared the bank, which meant that for each thing that hit my account, I was going to get a $26 overdraft fee.

We tried calling customer service, but they were closed already. We called the bank and explained the problem and they said that as long as Dell was willing to fix the billing and the bank saw that they refunded the money, then any fees incurred would be waived. I was somewhat relieved since I thought Dell wouldn't give me any trouble with that. I took several deep breaths and tried to keep myself from having a total meltdown. It worked. But...

I WAS WRONG.

After almost an hour on the phone with Dell Customer Care in Bangalore, India, being transferred from person to person, they told us that there was nothing they could do. According to their records, we didn't use our Dell Preferred Account and since I didn't print out the confirmation page, I have no proof to show them otherwise. The laptop is scheduled to be delivered by FedEx today. I'm not even going to open it. My only option is to return it and according to their website, they may deduct up to a 15% restocking fee and they won't refund the original shipping and handling.

I have so far incurred 9 overdraft fees. My checking account is somewhere around -$550. Since we're returning the item and Dell isn't FIXING things, I don't know if the bank will waive my fees now or not. This was the first time in my life that I had more than just what I barely needed in the bank. Not like it was a huge amount, but a few hundred dollars is a major improvement over living check to check. Now it's gone and I honestly don't know what to do about it. I found the snail mail address for Dell's headquarters in Texas and I can look for the names and titles of the executives on their website, but I wonder if writing to them is going to do me any good at all. And now, not only am I going to be out a lot of money. I still won't have my fucking laptop.

You know, I almost never cry anymore, but I feel so defeated, frustrated, and upset that I just can't help it.

Edit: I forgot to add. There are still two outstanding items that haven't cleared my checking account. So, my balance should be decreasing by another $80 or so. Obviously I can't use my debit card now. Nor can I buy anything. I have some space on my credit cards, but if you think I'm going to use those now, you're CRAZY! lol