Jason Dunn: Dell Return Process a Nightmare

Our friend Jason Dunn from Digital Home Thoughts says his attempted return of a Dell Mini 9 has been an absolute nightmare. Instead of having a customer service person handle his request, Dell’s routed his request back through the original salesperson.

Since salespeople (I used to be one) are in the business of selling things and not returning things, his request has pretty much gone nowhere.

The way it works now? I phoned Dell customer service on October 23rd, asking for an RMA on an Inspiron Mini 9. I was told that my request would be passed on to the sales agent who processed my order, and he’d phone me back. What? I have to wait for a phone call from a sales guy to return the product? Not surprisingly, a full week passed and I didn’t receive a phone call – sales guys sell things after all. I phoned customer service again on the 28th of October, asking again for the RMA – this time, they emailed the sales guy again and told me they CC’d his manager. Two more days go by, and still no phone call from the sales guy.

On the 30th I call customer service again, and this time they give me his extension so I can phone him directly. I do, leaving him a message with all the details. No call back. On the 31st I phone him again, and after a few hours he phones me back – it’s now been 8 days since he was supposed to contact me. He tells me he’ll pass my return information to the returns department and I should expect a call from them within a week.

I can’t imagine this is normal operating procedure, but if it is Dell really needs to whip things into shape. Salespeople should have no part of the return process. The process should be handled by people who have the customer’s best interest in mind, not guys who are worried about meeting their end-of-month sales goals.

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