Beware of Dell Finance

theViceroy

Last September I purchased A new Dell desktop, and decided to buy from Dell rather than make my own because I thought the £50 odd more that it would cost going to Dell, would be worth it in case some of the components I purchased were dead and needed to be returned.

So I went online and placed my order. First things first, I wanted to use my companies discount and I wanted to find out about the buy now, pay in 6 months deal, which didn't appear to be online.

So I rang Dell, they re-confirmed my online order, and told me they were not sure if they could give me the employee discount with the online price !! Turns out, the online price is much better anyway !! However, I didn't know this at the time.

So they set up my finance request, and a week later my PC arrives .. Of course, it didn't work .. I opened up the PC to discover the Hard disk cable had come loose and fallen off.. I made a complaint about this, and after a few mails, Dell gave me £35 discount .. all good at this point, despite the trouble.

So I enjoyed the PC .. Now its Jan, Christmas is over, and I have saved up enough to pay the PC off, so I rang up Dell Finance, and they quote me £100 more !

So I explain again to the guy, that the PC cost £624.24, I had £35 discount, so I expect to pay £589.24, not £698 or so. The chap tells me no, you've been paying interest over the previous 6 months !!! ITS NOT INTEREST FREE!!

What really upset me is, I referred to the loan at purchase time as "The interest free, buy now, pay in 6 months time loan", not a single person stopped me and said No.. Worse that this, it has a 11% redemption charge. GRRRR

So I went back over the documents that I had signed, they say absolutely nothing about interest being payable for the first 6 months, and nothing about a redemption charge. All it says is "Deferred Loan" in the title.

This is where my problems really begin. The chap at Dell Finance tells me to talk to customer care, as they appear to have miss sold you a product. So I did, customer care tell me to speak to Dell Finance, so I do again, and Dell Finance tell me its a contractual dispute, and they can only deal with the loan payments, so I return back to Dell customer care, and this time they tell me its a legal dispute, and i need to talk to Dell Finance.

I was so annoyed, I wrote to customer care copying in Michael Dell and Josh Claman (UK director), telling them how awful the customer care is that nobody wishes to take responsibility. A finance man from Customer care rings me personally, he also tells me he agrees, I have been miss sold, I should have been told this verbally, I never was .. But I need to speak to Dell Finance.

I'm really at my wits end !! For all those people who are considering to buy Dell, I will tell you this, if all goes well, all good and well, if you have problems, you will have to face "CUSTOMER CARE" .. and trust me, they will not be interested in helping you. It seems incredible that they cannot pick the phone up and ring up the finance people and tell them there has been a mistake.

So now I am in Limbo .. Anybody out there got any ideas ?? I am sure Dell Finance are regulated by somebody like FSA ?? Is it too soon to make my complaint to BBC's Watchdog ?? Or should I continue with the ping pong between Depts at Dell ??

I honestly say, I have never in all my life been so motivated to encourage people never to buy Dell products!! Never has a company upset me so much, not even Carphone Warehouse (well, maybe almost) ..

Any recommendations very much appreciated, or similar experiences with Dell .. and what happened ..

AnnieH

I should contact Watchdog if you are thinking of doing that - my Hubs just bought a Dell PC on his credit card. Dell rang him to offer a finance deal and he refused. Good job now looking at your post.

I hope you manage to get it sorted, it certainly sounds as thought they've mis-sold this to you.

parkside_stroller

You're adding to my reservations about my own situation - although it clearly states in the stuff I've read about my possible agreement with them that there is a £45 fee if paid off before monthly payments kick in.

I've ordered a PC from Dell and I'm waiting for finance to go though. I had an email from them addressed to 'Dear Customer' asking to confirm address details but I don't like such things as I can't confirm it's really from them.
They sent me a second with my name on it and this contact number
0870 906 0010
Can anyone confirm if it's a genuine Dell number?

dopester

Just to balance things up.... I've got 2 Dell Desktops and 2 Dell LCD monitors right infront of me in my loft conversion.

A P4 2.52 Ghz Desktop bought in 2002, and a P4 3.2 Ghz Dell Desktop bought in 2004. (Oh and we've got a Dell Desktop in the spare room.. a P4 2.4 Ghz one bought in 2003 which again has never had a problem).

Excellent machines - never a single fault - and it gets really hot in this loft/office room in the Summer... but both PC's have proven themselves as troopers with that heat.

My advice here would be not to scapegoat Dell, but to next time ensure you have all the loan information in writing - with screenshots or digital video of the offer. Surely you would have received a PDF document outlining what you had signed up to

parkside_stroller

dopester wrote: »

Just to balance things up.... I've got 2 Dell Desktops and 2 Dell LCD monitors right infront of me in my loft conversion.

A P4 2.52 Ghz Desktop bought in 2002, and a P4 3.2 Ghz Dell Desktop bought in 2004. (Oh and we've got a Dell Desktop in the spare room.. a P4 2.4 Ghz one bought in 2003 which again has never had a problem).

Excellent machines - never a single fault - and it gets really hot in this loft/office room in the Summer... but both PC's have proven themselves as troopers with that heat.

My advice here would be not to scapegoat Dell, but to next time ensure you have all the loan information in writing - with screenshots or digital video of the offer. Surely you would have received a PDF document outlining what you had signed up to

I'm using a Dell laptop to type this - no complaints here. I also want the machine I'm trying to order but if you look at their website it seems easy enough to find phone numbers to order goods but try finding a number to phone Dell Finances.

parkside_stroller

I've just phoned the number I gave above - no option for Dell financial services and the 'any other business' type option put me through to someone who said I'll put you through to the correct person.
The next person I spoke with said "just reply to the person who sent you the email".

I now think the email I got was genuine as I found the number I was given on the saynoyo0870 website but the problem is that it seems like an insecure way of giving information.
It's also impossible to speak to someone from Dell Financial Services if you are trying to get in touch with them. On the other hand I've seen on other forums that they seem to be the type who will call up from India and ask you to reveal personal details to confirm your identity before identifying themselves.
I never reveal personal details to people calling me up - can't they get it into their heads that people need to be sure that they are who they say they are and not phishing for personal details.

Must be a better way of doing this.

Good computers - poor Financial Services?

NAF_3

I've never had a problem with Dell as since I bought my computer almost two years ago but I will be settling my agreement with them in full over the next week or so.

Dell are based in Limerick but I am pretty sure they are still bound by the FSA as they trade in the UK.

BigCraigJohn

My sister had problems with Dell aswell. This wasnt finance but the fact she managed to purchase a stupidly expensive additional warrenty paying monthly. Fact is if it does go wrong after standard warrenty ran out it would be cheaper to get another second hand than pay the insurance so she canceled. Not spam but I use Ebuyer for all my computer bits and touch wood there great.

Freddie_Snowbits

Havelock has just ordered a Dell and took a look at their finance options and thought NO NO NO. Got out the Debit card, Job done.

haylibo

theviceroy
We had huge problems with Dell and ending up return our laptop. Do a search on the net for customer problems, you've joined quite a big club.

UK007BullDog

All I can say is that always do all the correspondence in writing via the post (snail mail and registered)!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do NOT rely on anything they tell you over the phone. If they cannot write to you then what they tell you over the phone is dodgy. Remember they are targeted to make a sale and if they can make it through their finance as well they get extra (points, commission, whatever).

You had some response to your letter. Do it again. Tell them that you are willing to pay the amount you figured out and not a penny more. State that they have told you that you were miss sold. In fact ask for compensation for all the trouble you had to go through. Contact trading standards and they will record your claim and give you a ref number. Say you will also contact watch dog. Give them a time of 2 weeks to resolve this. If no joy write to watchdog and trading standards and copy them in. That should hopefully get them going.