Am I out of line here?

[kessieann]

I am so upset right now. I bought my husband an expensive Ipod as an anniversary gift. The invoice is dated October 23rd. I gave it to him a week later on our anniversary. Within the first 14 days he began to notice the battery did not last as long as it should. By the 25th day it was getting worse and he began reading on the Apple message boards that many of the Ipods were having the same issues. He decided he wanted to return it for a refund. I began calling Dell on the 26th day only to sit on hold between 1/2 to an hour with no answer over the days I tried before I would give up.

I FINALLY got through today after a 52 minute hold time and was transferred twice only to get a Supervisor named Brandy who told me too bad so sad I was past 30 days regardless of how many times I tried to call prior to today. I told her that was ridiculous and she just kept cutting me off. I asked for her manager and she said that all her manager does is tell her what hours to work and pays her paycheck and that the person would not help me. Then she refused to give me her last name. I was finally able to convince her to let me return it for a refund but she said I would be penalized 15% of the purchase for being after the 30 days. I said no way (that is over $50)

Do you think this is right and that there should be no flexibility whatsoever if the policy is 30 days? I am just steaming right now. I have every intention of going further with this but wanted to know other opinions.

 

[Lewski709]

Call back and talk to a manager. It isn't right and Dell should fix the problem!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Is that the digital music thing that holds 5000 songs?

 

[kessieann]

Yes, my dh was SO thrilled that I splurged on this for him. He is totally bummed that it does not live up to its name.

 

[DoeWDW]

I definitely think you should pursue this. Best of luck!!

 

[mrsv98]

Did you pay with a credit card? I would look into the specific "lemon" laws and refund policies of the card you used.

Also, baloney about the manager being just someone who "tell(s)her what hours to work and pays her paycheck and that the person would not help me." Everyone has a boss and you just have to be persistent and work up the chain of command. Take a lesson from Disney, how many stories have you heard about people calling the CRO and being given a hard time only to call back and have someone else be wonderful. Even tho the wait time is ridiculous, I would call again and be firm but insistent.

Good luck!

 

[Toby'sFriend]

well if you make enough noise you might be able to get them to refund the entire price just as a matter of goodwill. But for future reference, Dell will accept an email also as official notification of needing to return. The details are on their website. There isn't a need to sit on hold on the phone.

Also - the warrenties on Dell products usually last for 90 days, so you could still just insist that they fix whatever is wrong.

 

[kessieann]

I had e-mailed Dell awhile back on another purchase that I had a general question on and never got a response from them so I decided it was better to speak with a person. You are definitely right though-Hind-sight...if I had sent the e-mail this time it would be dated and I could use that as proof. I didn't realize this was going to be a black/white yes/no with no in between. I will definitely be more careful from now on.

BTW I just got off the phone and the switchboard put me through to the VP of Consumer Relations so hopefully she will call back.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Well if it makes you feel any better, many people go through Customer Service nightmares with Dell. Many of their calls are routed to a Customer Service Center in India of all places. Ever since they made that move, the horror stories of Reps who can't communicate well and don't give a crap about the company have been piling up.

I heard recently that they are going to be moving operations back to the US. Hopefully things will improve soon.

 

[hercamore]

I am sorry to hear of your problem with the Ipod and hope that Dell can refun your full purchase price.

We bought DS the second generation Ipod last xmas and he has had no problems with it. Battery last about l0 hours.

We are looking at buying DD one for xmas this year and we see the 3rd generation Ipods batteries only last 8 hours.

I want to mention that Ebay has TONS of Ipods for sale if you want to take a chance on a used older one.

herc.

 

[ToyStory Fan]

I had a similar problem with my DW's Palm M130. Apparently there was a little false advertising with the "true" color capabilities of the color screen. Palm was offereing some free SIMS software game for it, but my DW was new to the whole PDA thing and games were not really in the cards for her. I finally had no choice but to just send it back. I was told I'd be charged the 15%, but I threatened that I would plaster it all over the internet that they had this issue and were not honoring their own return policy. They eventually saw it my way.

Be persistent, but be nice and remain calm.

 

[kessieann]

Thanks everyone. I have calmed down and someone did actually call me back. Of course I wasn't home at the time I will give her a call tomorrow and see what we can work out.

I think my biggest problem is the absolute disregard for customer service these days. It is like this all over and it makes me mad. I know there is nothing I can do about it but geez it is really getting out of hand these days.

 

[KathyFP]

I would call back and ask for a manager and keep going up the ladder until you get some satisfaction.

It will be time consuming, but you deserve to get what you pay for.