Hi all, 

I have never written in one of these forums so please forgive me if I make a mistake! I am a Dell customer from the Republic of Ireland, who last Thursday, the 19th of June placed an order for a Dell Inspiron laptop. I was told that the usual retail was €329 but that I was getting 5% off bringing the amount down to €312.56. I placed the order and received an email of an order acknowledgement. The following day, I received another email stating that my order had been cancelled. I emailed this person straight away with my mobile number and requested to be called back immediately. I did not get any response. When I returned home from work, I contacted Dell again and spoke to the customer services representative that I had ordered the laptop from. He said that there had been a problem, but that it was all fixed and he would put my order through again. I received another order acknowledgement email which said that the estimated date of delivery would be today and that an email with my order number would arrive shortly. The money had not been taken from my account but was marked as pending so I presumed that the order had gone through. Yesterday, I decided to check the status of my order and realised that I had not received an order number. I rang Dell today and when I gave my name and asked where the order was, I was informed that it had been cancelled. I was not told of this at all and told the three different people that I was forwarded on to that I was not happy. When I told a lady in the customer care team that I was considering purchasing a different brand, she said that would probably be a good idea! I then spoke to another man who said that the order must be put through again but that I could not get it at the same price. I explained that was not what I agreed to and asked to speak to a manager. He went off the line for a minute and she he came back he said he would phone me back in 5 minutes. Twenty three minutes later, he called to say that I needed to speak to the feedback team and that they would phone me before end of business today at 19.00 (GMT). I received no call so I phoned them again at 18.55 (GMT) . This time the man I spoke to said that my original order had gone through and I should wait for it to arrive. I asked him for my order number so that I could check my delivery status while he was still on the line. He gave me my customer number which would not work. He did not seem to understand what I was asking for and kept telling me that my order would arrive and that the other people that I spoke to today were wrong. He also seemed in a rush to get me off the phone as I am guessing it was his home time. I then asked to speak with someone who would be able to tell me for definite if my order had gone through and he just kept repeating himself. I then asked to speak to a manager three times. He did not seem at all happy about this and eventually said he would get one for me. I stayed on hold until my phone went dead. Not at all happy with Dell. Customer service is appalling. The reason I went with them was because my first laptop was a Dell and it was excellent. If I had known I would have to deal with this, I would have bought a Mac or anything else!

Thanks for letting me vent!