Worst Customer Experience To Date

Hello,

History:

I have been involved in an ongoing, laborious process of ordering a PC from DELL which started on November 3 of this year.

The original order was placed online and I recieved an email confirming the order with an estimated ship date.  Several days later I logged in to check the status.  They system showed the order as "Cancelled".  I did not receive any notification of the cancellation.  I placed a call to Dell in an attempt to determine the cause.  I was transferred to several different extensions by the phone support staff before ending at a prompt asking me to enter a seven digit extension.  I tried several extensions before giving up and hanging up.  I called back and again went through several transfers again, ending at a voicemail box.  I left a message.  I was never contacted.   A couple days later I called again and was transferred to the internet sales representative (Srinath Thirumalai).   I talked with him and discussed my frustration.  He told me he would call back in 10 minutes.  I never received a call.  I called him again and  was connected to voicemail.  I called a third time and was told that it "was going to take some time" and that he would call me back.  I have not heard back from him as of today (11/22).

After talking to Srinath and seeing the general lack of support, I logged onto Dell to try to place an order online.  I used the chat feature and placed an order for a very similar PC.  I paid an additional $216 relative to the original "confirmed" order that Dell was unable/unwilling to honor for an equivalent PC.  I was pleased to see the unit shipped quickly.  On the day it was in my city for delivery, I checked online for the status.  I found that FEDEX status indicated "Shipper requested package returned" (paraphrasing).  I got on the phone again and eventually was routed to a helpful person who apologized and arranged for overnight shipping.  He mentioned the problem was likely a "computer glitch".  That shipment was scheduled to be delivered yesterday (11/21) by 8:00 p.m.  I stayed home yesterday to ensure I would be able to take receipt of the package.  The package was never delivered.  When I contacted FEDEX, they explained that they received a request from the shipper (Dell) to return the package to the shipper (Dell).  I contacted Dell and they told me there was fraud on the account.  I was told that my credit card stopped the shipment.  I was told that the shipment should arrive by the end of the day today.

I contacted my credit card and they indicated that there was no fraud on the account at this time and they did not contact Dell.

My credit card was charged the balance for this transaction on 11/18/2016.  Dell has accepted payment on this purchase and has not delivered the merchandise. 

If I have not received the merchandise by the end of the day I will be forced to work with my Visa credit card provider to consider this fraudulent activity.

I have been buying dell products for over 10 years and had grown to trust the hardware quality and customer service.  These recent experiences have eroded my confidence to the point where I will likely not consider Dell for future purchases.  In a time where customers have the option of "one click ordering" this type of customer experience is unacceptable.  I can easily say this is one of the worst customer experiences I have had.  I will be sharing the outcome of this purchase with others so that they do not suffer the waste of time/effort that I have just completed.

If anyone at Dell reads this, please follow up on this order number to ensure it is delivered today: 

In the event anyone reads this and would like to discuss details, please contact me at the email listed on the account.

Regards,

Nick