Why not to buy from Dell
TLDR: Dell has an advertised “30 day return policy”, but it is from “date invoiced”, not date received. This is in contrast to many other mail-order vendors (Amazon, Apple, etc.), which are from date received (or at minimum, date shipped).
I ordered a Samsung T7 2TB SSD for the inflated price of $249 (they’re routinely $199 or $160 on discount), mistakenly thinking I had extra AmEx credit for the year (which I’d actually used in July). I’ve bought “a quantity” of Dell servers in the past (>$500k), other Dell hardware, etc. I ordered the device on 30 DEC, and it was billed on 31 DEC, shipped on 2 JAN.
On noticing I hadn’t received the $200 credit, I contacted Amex, who pointed out the July transaction.
As the device is unopened and it was less than 30 days since receipt (4 JAN to Oregon, 20 JAN to Puerto Rico, 26 JAN until I actually looked at it), I asked if I could return the item (on 31 January), via their web form:
Dear Ryan,Thank you for contacting Dell Online Customer Care.
I understand form your email that you want to return this order. I regret to inform you that we cannot process return for order number 591123342 as the order is outside return policy.
We definitely want every customer of ours to be completely satisfied. With the same philosophy, we give our customers a 30 day total satisfaction window from the date of Invoice to verify all aspects of the purchase and evaluate all components to his/her satisfaction. After that we consider the sale to be final.
I have reviewed your order details and it shows that the order was invoiced on 12/30/2022 which is more than 30 days from the date of Invoice. Hence, I deeply regret that we will not be able to accommodate your return request.
I am sure we will get many more opportunities to serve you in future. However If there is anything else that we can help you with now, then please feel free to contact us and we will be glad to assist you.
For more details on the Dell’s return policy please click here:
http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/terms-conditions/art-us-return-policy
Your case Number for this interaction is xxxxxxxx. Please keep this number for your records, it will help us keep track of this issue so that we can better assist you.
For easy access we have a self-help option to check the status online. You may go to the website www.Dell.com/orders. Enter the order number/Dell Purchase ID in the search bar to get an update. If you need any further assistance, please do reply to this email and I will be glad to assist you.
Thank you for choosing Dell. We appreciate your business.Samina Tabassum
Dell | Customer Care
I then replied:
I would request an exception on this matter, perhaps by escalating to a manager. I did not receive the item until the middle of January (due to travel), and did not try to use it until yesterday
If you don’t want to refund this purchase, I’ll go to social media as well as charge back the purchase with American Express and discontinue all future Dell purchases personally, and discourage their use at the technology businesses where I work.
Your choice.
Thanks,
Ryan
To which they replied:
Dear Ryan,
I am a Supervisor at Dell Customer Care. This is a follow up email.
This is with regards to the conversation you had pertaining to the Return on Order # xxxxx. Your interaction with us has been documented under Service Request number xxxxx
I would like to inform you that the order is out of 30 days policy and unfortunately we will not be able to process return.
As per Dell Return Policy “ Any product returned to Dell without prior authorization from Dell will be considered an unauthorized return, and you will not receive a refund or credit for the product and Dell will not ship the product back to you.
For more information kindly check the return policy link : https://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/terms-conditions/art-us-return-policy
We appreciate your business with Dell and thank you for giving us an opportunity to serve you.
Thanks & Regards,
Robert Furlong
Visit us 24/7 at
• www.dell.com/ordersupport for online support for many of your requests.
• www.dell.com/supporthistory to follow the progress of your Service Request
• www.dell.com/orderstatus to view your current order status
This Substack post is step one of many in the process of costing Dell at least $25k for this $249 drive.
I would generally argue that rigidly enforcing a policy in an at-best borderline case when you can see the LTV of a customer exceeds the cost of service recovery is a poor choice, and if you can’t see the LTV of a customer, your IT infrastructure is failing you (and you shouldn’t buy anything from Dell.)
UPDATE: subsequent interaction with Dell via their Twitter account:
Thank you for replying, Ryan. I've reviewed the case and the order # you've provided, shows the order has crossed the return period. I'm sorry to let you know that once the order is out of 30 days policy, we wouldn't be able to process the returns. You could refer to the return policy via this link here https://dell.to/40mZeQS -Susanna
Next step is to file deceptive trade practices with the Texas AG (they advertise 30 days, but since it’s from when they invoice, if they choose to delay shipment for an arbitrary length of time, there is effectively no return window. Stronger case if it were not a matter of a couple days, but still, the principle.