Dell from Hell...

Wow, where I do I begin on this one?

Ah yes, the evil underground customer service ring out to screw the world.

This time they have disguised themselves as Dell Representatives.

So after much consideration, I decided to purchase a Dell Inspiron 6000 with a WSXGA LCD screen and a bunch of other cool superdy dooper specs that simply means RAW POWER.

On September 8th I placed a phone order and received a confirmation number. Everything went smoothly.

So I thought.

To avoid tax I had my order shipped to my friend in New Hampshire.

Now I was just playing the waiting game.

And wait I did.

I checked the status of the order online and it showed pending.

A week later, it still showed pending!

So, I called Dell.

They asked for my confirmation number and in return proceeded to tell me that that confirmation number is not valid and apparently the order was never placed.

Here we go!

Hmmm. Excellent time to get some type of compensation for the delay.

They were happy to give me a $75.00 coupon.

And so the waiting game continued...

Oddly enough I received a phone call from them the following week explaining to me that they were out of the $75.00 coupons and would have to give me a $100 one.

After giving it much thought (for approx. about a second) I said ok!

And so everything was going as planned.

My friend received the laptop and shipped it to me.

I opened the box and...

WRONG LAPTOP!

No WSXGA but instead WXGA.

I immediately called Dell, in which they said, "No problem, we will have someone pick up the order."

Amazingly it took them only ONE day to pick it up; if only there customer service were as amazing as that!

So this should be an easy mistake to fix. Just place the same order and hey, use the $100 coupon I received. Excellent!

So, I'm back on the phone with Dell placing the same order. Except there is one problem. About a $400 problem.

The promotion is over!

And even though it was THEIR mistake they cannot give me the same deal.

So I managed to rework the specs and even upgrade from a 512mb to a 1GB. This raised the price $100 from the original amount I was going to pay, but the coupon would cover that.

Great! Order is placed and I receive an acknowledgement email NOT a confirmation. I was told I would receive a confirmation via email within one day.

Four days pass.

Again calling Dell, in which by now I should have them on speed dial!

I can't even believe what I'm about to type next.

The Dell representative replies "Sir, we show no order placed."

WHAT THE F ***?

What do you means the order was not placed? I got an email ackowledgment from Dell.

"Sir, we don't know what happened there. You will need to place the order again."

So we have to redo the order once again. The price they gave me was $100 more. This is BULL S***!

"Hey, what about my coupon?" I asked.

"Sorry sir, that has been redeemed and can not be reused."

Ok, how can an order never have been placed and yet the coupon used is redeemed? That question will never be answered.

However, after battling with these guys for an hour I was able to get another $100 coupon.

With restrictions of course! I have to use my credit card and not my preferred account in order to redeem it. At this point, who cares!

So once again, i go online praying that everything goes fine this time.

Order placed. Received confirmation email. My laptop is shipped to New Hampshire.

I get a call from my friend who not only tells me he received it but um..."Dude, you got two shipments!"

What the hell!!!

At this point everyone at Dell knows me by first name!

Apparently the FIRST order did go through and therefore I was charged twice!

I was instructed to tell my friend to NOT ACCEPT THE PACKAGE. If he did I would have to pay to have it shipped back.

Seriously, could someone please wake me up from this nightmare!

By now I have built up enough confidence in asking for some type of compensation.

Dell offered me a 720 printer (worth $49).

I declined saying I didn't want a printer and that instead I would prefer a $100 coupon. Sound familiar?

The conversation was friendlier and briefer than last time.

Initially the representative declined the request. I asked them to talk to their supervisor. Again, declined!

And again, I pushed!

Hello $100 coupon...with only 30 days to redeem.

I still have not received my laptop but I should be getting it by Thursday.

Coupons anyone? Talk to me...

Aryan Invasion theory

Wonder when this is going to be declared official by the Govt. Of India. This should be updated even in all our textbooks and history keepers( whoever they are) should push to update the official records about this.

Here's the latest findings about Aryan invasion

No playa and my name is Chris…

My mp3 playa is no more.

I could go for the bigger GB but then I had to think reasonably.

Asking myself all those responsible questions we always ask ourselves AFTER the fact.

How often will I use this?

Is it worth the money?

So my answers were: not often.

I can’t use it in the car, no need to in the apartment.

And as far as work in concerned, I’m not the type to listen to music while working.

And if I did have a need I have up to 4 gb on my office server.

Thanks to the coworkers who dumped the music collection onto the server.

Maybe if I were a traveler sitting in airports, riding trains…

And as far as the money…I’ve other things to spend it on.

Like my new laptop & my student loans.

I enjoyed the concept and perhaps when I have money to blow and time I will reconsider.

So I returned the mp3 to Circuit City.

In which I thought I had the receipt but no problem they can pull it up with my phone number.

And the customer service (kid) asked “Ok sir you live in Carrolton and your name is Chris Israelson?”

Ummmm.. NO!

Well your number shows up with this information.

Well I’m not Chris.

Do you remember which credit card you put it on? We can pull it up from there.

Hmmm….thumbing through my collection. Bingo.

Hand it to the guy.

Okay sir your credit card purchase is still showing up under the name Chris Israelson.

Do I look like I would have the name Chris Israelson?

C’mon!

Anyways…

They proceeded to get another person involved.

And then another, being the one that checked me out initially.

I said “hey remember me; you helped me with the mp3 playa?”

She looked at me like I was from mars.

I guess if I were a scared teen thinking I did something wrong I would play dumb.

Obviously my concern here was the fact that my credit card was under someone else name in their system.

I mean could this Chris guy go on a shopping binge with my card?

They (all 3) tried reassuring me that Chris doesn’t have access to it.

That when a buyer checks out they ask for a phone number.

That Chris probably had my number at one time.

The girl that helped me, whom suddenly lost her tongue, never checked what name came up when she typed the phone number in to ring up my purchase.

And as far as the credit card, since the name was not changed at that moment I bought an mp3 under Chris’s name.

To further reassure me they said they would physically have to have my credit card to pull up any information.

Ok. I get it. So let’s change the information under that phone number.

Sorry Sir you have to purchase something for us to access the number.

WHAT?

You know I’m starting to think there is some kind of evil underground customer service rings purposely out to screw the world.

It’s like they meticulously have everything planned.

So just when I was thinking that the Vet and Circuit City was lacking in the definition of customer service this underground ring was planning their greatest hit against me.

Stay tuned for what I feel is an award winning attempt to screw me on my purchase of a Dell laptop.

What about Mia?

Well it’s official. Any chances of little Mia's running around have ceased.

Last Monday Mia went under the knife.

I don’t think she quite understood why I wasn’t feeding her or giving her water that morning.

These are the instructions the Vet office gave me prior to her surgery day.

It tugged at my heart to see her confused; somewhat out of her element.

When I picked her up the following day she was a bit groggy with less hair on her belly and approx. 5” of stitches of where her motherhood was stripped away.

The vet assistant gave me the bill and told me that the stitches on Mia would dissolve and there was no need to bring her in.

Cool I thought.

Of course I would need to keep an eye on her to make sure she would not chew or lick the stitches before they dissolved; as this could cause an infection.

So everything seemed great.

I get home and Mia seems happy to climb in her crate for a long nap.

That’s fine. I’ll just read the information sheet the vet gave me with the bill.

Hmmm that’s interesting.

"Bring your animal in approx 2 weeks to have stitches removed."

What?

Didn’t the assistant tell me that they would dissolve?

Did I misunderstand her?

So I call them.

Her response “Oh no, it just says that. They are dissolvable stitches. You don’t have to bring her in.”

"Well why does the sheet say to bring her back in?" I asked.

"Well sir I told you that you didn’t have to bring her in didn’t I?"

"Yes, but the paper says otherwise."

"Yeah but we just give the same paper out to every customer"

I replied, "Yes i understand that its just that its misleading. "

"Yeah but i don't understand, you were told what to do....

Um...so...uh..why is there a problem sir?"

At this point i just gave up. And said, " Alright thanks a lot."

I offered my customer advice in how they should correct the writing and the assistant just kept saying but I told you in person and that’s all that counts.

Ok. I’m just thinking about all those whose memory is not as sharp as mine.

Imagine they looking at the paper a week later and saying “Oh no, I was to bring my pet in to have the stitches removed.”

Show up at the vet’s office and the same assistant saying “Sir/ Mam didn’t I tell you the stitches would resolve?!”

What the hell. This is a simple problem that could easily be resolved with a couple of strokes from a keyboard.

Anyways...

So Mia is healing nicely and so far the stitches are still in tact.

And I’m hoping dissolving!

This last Sunday, Oct. 2, I took her to her first training class.

It is time for my Mia to learn some manners.

I can tell she’s is going to be a quick learner.

Of course she already knows how to sit and shake.

In which she graciously flaunted.

There was another puppy in the class.

The owners claimed it was a Labrador.

Notice I said “claimed.”

So the trainer used Mia as the assistant in his training techniques.

She did everything right.

While the other puppy was barking and showing all the reasons why it needed to be in training!

My Mia just sat there being a good girl!

I was so proud; grinning from ear to ear.

This first class was just basic dos and don’ts.

What collar/leash to use, how to hold your hand with the treats to get your dog to perform a trick, how to keep him/her from jumping.

The class is every Sunday at 3 o’clock for an hour.

I’m certain I will have much more to brag um…excuse me, BLOG about with the training to come.