Dell Financial Services Nightmares – And How You Can Solve Them

My Dell statement showing retroactively billed finance charges, despite having paid off the balance before the promotion expiration date. (click to enlarge)

Few credit cards generate as many complaints as those issued by CIT Bank on behalf of Dell, Inc.  The “Dell Preferred Account” allows consumers to use special 0% financing rate payment plans to budget their purchases without incurring interest charges… as long as the required minimum payments are made on time, and the balance is paid entirely in full by the date the finance plan expires.

Dell absolves itself of much of the responsibility it should have regarding its credit program by claiming a third party company is responsible for administering it.  Indeed, CIT Bank, which handles store credit card programs for a myriad of retailers, is an independent entity that hands out credit cards and manages the billing and servicing of accounts.  Dell should realize, however, that a company doing business using its name and reputation which serves consumers poorly harms the Dell brand.

Clearly, there is a long history of problems with Dell Financial Services that has led to settlements with several state Attorneys General.  Among them, these allegations raised in a settlement document:

• Dell offered credit promotions, including 0% interest financing offers to consumers without appropriate disclosure that not everyone applying would qualify for the 0% finance offer.  Customers often made purchases assuming they were qualified, and were extended credit in some instances at a much higher percentage rate than advertised;
• Informing some consumers they were qualified for 0% financing offers when they were in fact not qualified;
• Not providing warranty service in accordance with promises made, or as state law requires;
• Not providing next day warranty service when promised;
• Not fulfilling rebates

A settlement agreement was supposed to have resolved most of these problems, but clearly have not, at least from the complaints that continue to pour into sites like The Consumerist and Ripoff Report.  In fact, I know someone who is a victim of Dell Financial Services — myself.

On a promotional purchase I made about a year ago, at 0% interest, I configured automatic payments for Dell in equal monthly installments, designed to pay the balance in full prior to the expiration date of the financing plan.  I’m well accustomed to such promotions, having participated in them with Comp-USA, Circuit City, Best Buy, and others.  It’s not a difficult concept.  Just make sure your minimum payment requirement is always fulfilled and that the balance reaches zero for that promotion before the expiration date.

When a payment for May went astray, I contacted Dell Financial Services customer service by telephone and inquired about a missing payment.  It was to be deducted automatically from my checking account, and indeed it had been right on schedule, but never turned up posted to my account.  A Dell representative claimed to have put a “trace” on the missing payment, and offered to accept a substitute payment just in case the results were not available prior to the upcoming expiration date of my financing plan.  That was acceptable to me, if only to save time and hassle asking for credit later for any accrued finance charges billed because a promotion was not paid in full by its expiration.

Little did I realize this was to start a bungling of my account and an avalanche of fees and interest charges.  The missing payment also turned up a few days later.

The bad news arrived on my late May bill.  The telephone payment carried with it a “convenience payment fee” of $9.95 charged a week after the payment was made.  Additionally, despite the statement reflecting a fully paid off promotion one day before its expiration, Dell billed deferred finance charges retroactively back to the date of purchase, to the tune of $80.21.  New owing balance on an account that should have had a zero balance?  $90.16!

Contacting Dell customer service to resolve this billing foul-up proved to be an impossible endeavor.  Several e-mails went unanswered, despite being assigned case numbers and acknowledged by Dell’s e-mail auto-response system.  Telephone calls to customer service resulted in 30 minute hold times, the maximum allowed, before an announcement was made that “technical problems” prevented the call from reaching an agent, and was summarily disconnected.

Unacceptable.

Perusing the Better Business Bureau website listing for Dell Financial Services, I found something interesting — the company has a pretty strong record of “resolved” complaints, meaning that when a complaint was filed with the BBB, Dell paid attention to fixing them to the satisfaction of the consumer.

I filed my own complaint with the Central Texas Better Business Bureau on June 2nd.  By June 11th, the matter was completely resolved.  Not only did Dell Financial Services refund the interest charges, it also credited back the $9.95 payment convenience fee nonsense, and gave me written assurance that the account had a zero balance:

To: Central TX Better Business Bureau
BBB CASE#: [redacted]

Dear Better Business Bureau Representative,

We are in receipt of a complaint originally addressed to the Better Business Bureau. In the complaint the customer expresses dissatisfaction in regards to the deferred finance charges assessed on the Dell Preferred Account.

Please accept our sincere apologies for any disappointment they feel they have experienced during their transactions and contacts with Dell Financial Services.

Dell Financial Services records indicate that [I] paid the full purchase price before the expiration date of the promotion, as indicated on their billing statement, and paid the Minimum Payment Due each billing period when due, no Finance Charges will be imposed on the purchase. [I] was credited deferred finance charges of $80.21 and $9.95 for a payment convenience fee. The credits will take effect immediately and will appear on their June 12, 2009 billing statement.  Please allow this letter to serve as confirmation that the current account balance is $0.00 and DFS considers the account to be paid in full.

In addition, a refund check for $30 was mailed to the address listed on the Dell Preferred Account.  Please allow 7-10 business to receive the payment refund check.

We regret any inconvenience this matter may have caused and thank them for bringing this matter to our attention.

It is our hope that we have adequately clarified our position in regards to this complaint.  Please do not hesitate to contact us should the BBB or the customer need further clarification.

Sincerely,
Sylvia Alexander
Executive Services
Dell Financial Services L.L.C.

With this rapid resolution, my advice for anyone experiencing stonewalling or unresponsive customer service within Dell Financial Services file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.  It literally took just a few minutes, and saved me an enormous amount of time and frustration.

It’s unfortunate that Dell has not taken more aggressive measures to prevent these problems from occurring in the first place.  Dell Financial Services’ account management website is among the worst I’ve ever encountered.  Online payments are processed by a third party company — Checkfree, and scheduling a payment involves accessing Checkfree’s portal payment system from within Dell’s website.  I have found Checkfree’s system to be unreliable and suffers frequent extended outages, making it impossible to schedule payments and feel confident they will be made on time.  The company also has a confusing payment policy that suggests payments are “normally” made by Checkfree on the next business day, but in fact elsewhere Dell Financial Services claims it can take 3-5 days for them to “receive” a payment scheduled through Checkfree.  That can create confusion for consumers with an approaching due date.  A same day payment option is also offered, but carries a $9.95 fee for using it, which is ridiculous.

Consumers trying to schedule payments over an entire year to pay off a 0% promotional offer will find doing so through the website nearly impossible.  Direct auto-debiting your payment from your checking account also requires a copy of a canceled check and the completion of an authorization form which must be faxed or mailed to them.  That is cumbersome and unnecessary.  Most online payment systems simply require information from a check to set these payments up, not an actual copy of a check.

Of course, these are tricks and traps designed to stick consumers with “gotcha” fees if they attempt to make a payment on or very near to the due date, discourage consumers from setting up automatic payment scheduling for the Dell credit account, and instead have to remember to visit the website each month to schedule payments manually, assuming Checkfree’s portal is working that day.  Under these circumstances, late payment fees and other extra charges associated with making payments are common for those holding Dell credit accounts.

In my situation, attempting to impose retroactive finance charges on a paid-in-full balance is a special kind of customer abuse, but something you need not have to accept.

How to File a Better Business Bureau complaint against Dell Financial Services:

… Continue Reading

Fun With Gutters

It looks like one of our gutters has finally decided enough is enough with all the rain and will require replacement.  If any of my western NY readers have any advice/recommendations/experiences about local contractors, I’d sure love to hear from you in our Comment section.  Just click the Comments link beneath the headline, or just click on the headline itself and you should find a place to leave your comments.  Thanks!

Climate Change: Rochester Drowns in June – 8th Wettest/19th Coolest In 139 Years of Weather Records

The June climate summary is now in from the National Weather Service office for greater Rochester and it speaks to one issue — rain.   It just doesn’t seem to stop, particularly during the second half of June with storm after storm.

June was a tale of two months in the Rochester area.  It started out with a continuation of the preceding spring months with quiet and pleasant conditions for its first half, but then turned very unsettled and stormy during its second half.  This was especially true during the final week when repeated storms brought excessive rainfall across the region.  Overall, Rochester had its 8th wettest and 19th coolest June in its 139 years of weather records.

The average temperature of 63.5 was 2.3 degrees cooler than average.  There were no extremes or records, but very consistent temperatures.  Nineteen of the month’s first 21 days averaged normal or a little below, which was finally balanced out a bit by six consecutive warm days from June 22-27th.  This period featured the only humid period of the month, the bulk of which was very comfortable in the temperature department.  In fact, only two days reached the 80s this June in Rochester, matching 1889 with the fewest 80 degree days ever in June.  Normally the city gets 13 such days during the month.

Rainfall was the big story of the month.  It totaled 6.25 inches, nearly double the normal of 3.36 inches.  Even more fell across the northern and eastern portions of the metro area, with up to 8 inches reported.  The month started out deceivingly dry, with no rain until the 8th and just 1.25 inches through the 16th.  But two very wet periods ensued: with 2.84 inches falling from the 17th-20th and another 2.01 inches from the 26th-30th.

The unsettled weather of the final week took its toll on our usual abundant June sunshine.  The monthly total, as measured at nearby Buffalo and considered representative for Rochester, of 54% was 11% shy of normal and the least for June in nine years.  It also ended a streak of unusually sunny months which began in January.  Still, sunshine was no stranger as 12 days were mostly sunny while nine were mostly cloudy during the month.

The month’s first half was quiet, mild, and dry.  Ground moisture was becoming short.  Then the pattern changed with a very wet period from June 17-20th.  Three of the four days had no sun at all, a rarity in June here.  Up to two inches of rain caused some local flooding across eastern suburbs of Irondequoit, Brighton, Pittsford, Webster, Penfield, and East Rochester on June 17, with a similar amount area wide on June 20th.  The 1.58 inches on June 20th at the Rochester airport was an all-time daily record.  After a taste of summer for a few days, violent storms raked the area on the 26th with hail and over two inches of rain closer to Lake Ontario resulting in urban flooding.  More heavy rains during the afternoon of June 30th caused additional street flooding.  The month ended with the area under a cool unsettled pattern.

Summing up, a good start but an ugly finish to June in Rochester.

Washington Post vs. Huffington Post: Catfight on CNN’s Reliable Sources

It’s too early on a Sunday morning to have to endure a cat fight on CNN, particularly on Reliable Sources, which can be mildly combative, but nothing like this.  Howard Kurtz was on the verge of losing control when Nico Pitney (HuffPost) and Dana Milbank (WashPost) engaged in rhetorical hand to hand combat over the former getting to ask President Obama a question at White House press conference, something the latter compared with a pre-scripted, pre-arranged propaganda festival.

Wow.

Milbank’s anger level and “how dare you retort, sir” offense was visible, and even Kurtz seemed a bit stunned at how personal it got. Milbank’s attempt to bring “props” with his “pile of evidence” went over as well as Senator Iselin waving a stack of papers in The Manchurian Candidate claiming they contained a list of Communists hiding out at the State Department.

This is another example of old media vs. new media. Milbank is a columnist at the Post, so it didn’t fly that he was the keeper of the true journalism keys over there. HuffPost has not claimed to be the 21st century replacement for the Washington Post, and those who read it already don’t recognize it as such.

Milbank’s fur is in a ruffle over the fact Pitney got to ask the question in the first place. David Gregory on NBC’s Meet the Press was as petulant, trying to drag David Axelrod into the Old Media Whinefest yesterday (as if there are no other important issues to consider asking).

The media likes to pretend press conferences and other media events are impromptu affairs, and they are not. Pitney being told he might be called on for a question is hardly unprecedented. Administrations have used the question treat as a reward before. As long as the Administration didn’t know the question in advance (or that it would be a guaranteed softball, such as the ones former male prostitute David Gannon/Guckert used to get to throw during the last administration), this is much more about media divas than actual substance.

By the way, Meet the Press routinely informs its guests of the subjects it is going to cover, and Milbank wouldn’t have shown up with his props if he didn’t know what was coming from Howard Kurtz either.

Day Two of Media Excess: Quincy, M.E., Tear-Jerker Retrospectives, Repurposed Stale Interviews, and Real News Blockade

It’s Day Two and the nonsense continues.  The absolute wall-to-wall obsession with the passing of Michael Jackson on cable news has effectively created a “real news blackout.”  It is the black hole of journalism, consuming all available time and space.  It’s “B Roll” screen burn-in, with the same music video clips of the past four decades run over and over and over and over and over again.

I started my day this morning with MSNBC’s Morning Joe, which amuses and irritates me out of bed every morning.  The nice video buffer I start before I actually wake up lets me blow past the commercials and uninteresting segments (like the endless hard sell of Scarborough’s new book which has also now leaked into other MSNBC and NBC News programming).  This morning was near wall-to-wall handwringing over Jacko, with the seemingly permanent satellite feed to the Vanity Fair reporter who turned up at least 10 times in the last 24 hours.  At least she called out his “boy problem.”

Scarborough has been getting testy lately, often filibustering with his concern trolling over national health care reform (even with Chris Matthews, who filibusters even when he asks his own questions.)  Both of them were getting too irritating to listen to first thing in the morning, but after this morning’s endless Jacko coverage, I take it back.

Lots of stations are camped outside of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, typically in front of the slightly disturbing electronic message sign showing time, temperature, and quotations from famous writers inferring folks better fix their problems with loved ones before it’s too late.  Of course, there is absolutely nothing to report, but there they stand, hoping to catch a glimpse of something… anything worth reporting.  If the medical examiner finds the doctor injected Jackson with a powerful pain killer, then we can expect a complaint with the Board of Medical Quality Assurance, and some fist pounding testimony before Congress about the dangers of bad medicine (I know my Quincy episodes!)

Today’s shameful moments: Ed Schultz opened his radio show this afternoon giving some behind the scenes info over at MSNBC.  Producers there were the ones who decided to go “wall to wall” with Jacko “news” and asked Schultz if he’d like to waste spend his hour talking about what Jackson accomplished.  Schultz ultimately took a pass.  This morning, cable news producers were scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for guests.  I half-expected a live shot with the cat living next door to the Jackson rental estate.  What we got was nearly as bad.  One channel ran a live phone interview with a broken up woman all upset over the shocking news, because she knew the family and how they must be feeling.  When the on-air talent finally asked when the last time she talked with Jackson or the family, the answer was something like 1982.  The interview promptly wrapped up.

CNN is having a group hug today with the whole wide world.  Tweets, e-mails, teary Europeans and Asians, it’s all there.

I have to ask myself if it’s just me, or if anyone else out there spent about 10 minutes pondering the surprising development of Jackson’s passing, but then moved on with their lives.

All weekend long, there will be more of the same, with teary retrospectives and tributes, reruns of old music videos, stale repurposed interviews that ran years ago (will anyone have the courage to run Martin Bashir’s I wonder?)

Iran could be a lake of fire right now, and the cable news networks already short staffed over the weekend would never know.  I’ll bet MSNBC still finds time to run those “Lockup” shows anyway.  Had Jackson been found guilty during his 2005 trial, they could have had the best of both worlds.

King of Pop Dead At 50 But Viewers Are the Victims

The news has been canceled on cable news.

I’ve said that for years now, thanks to the increasing amounts of airtime handed over to “personalities” on cable news networks like MSNBC, CNN, Headline News, and Fox News.  On slower news days these hosts bring “appointment viewers,” people who tune in specifically to see those people night after night.  MSNBC has Morning Joe, Countdown, Rachel Maddow, and Ed Schultz.  CNN has Larry King, Anderson Cooper, and Lou Dobbs.  Headline News has Nancy Grace and a few other interchangeable Hollywood entertainment reporter types.  Fox News has Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, and so on.

But tonight, viewers got practically none of this, because of the untimely death of pop icon Michael Jackson and screen star Farrah Fawcett.  Other news simply doesn’t exist, and cable news is driven to excess, covering the same ground over and over and over again, with no significant new developments.

MSNBC was the worst tonight.  Keith Olbermann was literally at a loss for words, as the proverbial hoe got dragged over the same plowed field endlessly.  ‘Michael Jackson is dead.’  ‘We don’t know why,’ but in the MSNBC Spec-U-Plex, everything is fair game.  With the inane “B Roll” video clips running on an endless loop, Olbermann was stuck with shoddy guests coughed up by some MSNBC producer.  The Jackson family lawyer’s appearance was the lowest point in television news since good ole Judge Larry bursting into tears during the Anna Nicole Smith “matter.”

The grandstanding by this guy was unbearable.  An LA lawyer looking for his 15 minutes, telling MSNBC viewers “I warned the family about the prescription drugs,” not less than four times, promptly followed by his desire “not to speculate” on the cause of death until the tests were in.  That was followed by regular reminders of his close association to the Jackson family and, for that Hollywood ending, you need a good cry, and he delivered his best performance at the end.

I wanted to cry.  Shameless.

An “anticipated” (by who?) press conference was running an hour late, and in the end one Jackson brother showed up in front of the microphones to spend three minutes telling us everything we already knew, and asking the media to leave the family alone (fat chance).

Then Olbermann wandered into a landmine field when a host runs out of things to say (which he did 15 minutes into the “special coverage.”)  The whole affair was comparable to former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw, who went into an incoherent ramble during the start of the first Gulf War at around 2:30 in the morning our time, when he literally described the events in the Baghdad carpet bombing as a dichotomy, similar to a visit he once had to some Maryland jazz club, all while hiding terrified under the bed in the hotel room he was trapped in.  Olbermann visibly reacted to the loading of Jackson’s body into a plain white coroner’s van headed off to Mission Road, home of the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office for autopsy.  He suggested that after all the fame and notoriety, in the end, it was all reduced to a rapid loading of his body into some white van to be carted off.

Cringe.

Well into Rachel Maddow’s 9pm timeslot, with absolutely no end in sight to the “breaking news,” it was time to grab the remote control.  CNN was running Larry King, which meant, of course, more of the same.  Cher had called in to express condolences to Fawcett’s and Jackson’s family, and did so respectably, unlike the aforementioned lawyer.  Larry not only had a full lineup of guests for his 9pm show, but he reminded us he’d be back at 12 midnight with a second live hour.  Gosh, thanks.

Sean Hannity on Fox News was MIA by the time I tuned in.  Instead, we got Geraldo Rivera re-running a gladhanding interview with Michael Jackson he did several years earlier.  Now we know how he got the interview in the first place.

In the end, the only refuge from the wall-to-wall excess of frivolous “nothing new to see here” coverage was on C-SPAN, where the House of Representatives was still in session trying to get some bills passed.  I’ve seen that before too, but it was still better than the news vigil on cable news.

Anna Nicole Smith was a dog and pony circus, particularly during the trial, thanks to a judge looking for a career doing a judge show.  But there were enough characters to keep viewers from throwing things at the television.  Not tonight.  Not only was the coverage shallow, repetitive, and pointless, it was illustrative of the psychotic world of Hollywood-star-obsessed Los Angeles media literally chasing Los Angeles County Sheriff helicopters on the “Live Cam” for absolutely no reason.  The LA crowds spontaneously gathering to stand around coroner travel routes, the hospital, and morgue didn’t help either.  Don’t these people have something else to do?

The cable news world sure didn’t.  Iran, the debate over health care, the continuing saga of the Sanford affair, the surprising jump in unemployment numbers… none of it mattered enough to breakthrough the solid wall of useless cable news coverage that existed for no apparent reason.  Again.

Welcome from Phillip Dampier

Welcome to the blog of Phillip Dampier, a consumer writer from Rochester, New York.

This blog showcases some of my work, interests, hobbies, and personal thoughts on issues in the news and life in general.

A great deal of my time is spent developing content for various websites and projects I am involved with.  Sometimes things I find interesting or useful don’t easily “fit” within the scope of the various projects I am working on, so this blog will be the home for most of that content.  You should expect everything from personal commentary about the political events that interest me to articles about consumer protection to multimedia clips.

Because of the magic of The Google, some of the topics I write about will be specific enough to attract random visitors finding their way here from a search engine.  If I take issue with a particular company’s product, others with that same problem may likely find their way here.  If something I write about gets linked by other blogs, many visitors may also wander here as well.  I don’t expect everyone will find my diversity of interests to be universally fascinating, so explore as you see fit.  The comments section is your place to dialogue back and forth on these topics.  My only requests are that people respect the diversity of opinions, don’t spam, and avoid personal attacks on one another.  Flame wars get tiresome fast.

My interests?  They include:

• Consumer protection and education (particularly self-empowering consumers to protect their own best interests)
• Media and broadcasting (from collecting historical station IDs and promotions to government policy towards new and old media)
• Politics (both domestic and international, with special focus on the United States and Canada)
• Technology (primarily targeted to consumers)
• Personal development (from exercise to developing a better understanding of oneself and those around you)

If you are interested in exploring the work I am doing in content development and also social networking, here is an incomplete guide to the websites I’m involved with at the moment.

Stop The Cap! is a consumer action website educating and empowering consumers to resist Internet Overcharging.  What is Internet Overcharging?  An all-encompassing turn of phrase to represent ripoffs like “usage caps” which limit broadband use, “metered Internet” which overcharges you for everything you do online, and “tiered pricing based on consumption” which makes you overpay for a product that is already extremely profitable. Many providers, which also earn revenue from selling video programming, have a vested interest in limiting your online TV viewing, or else you might find you don’t need that overpriced cable TV subscription any longer.  Limits and overcharges for service are an excellent way to do that.  Stop the Cap! is also an ardent believer in Net Neutrality protection, to make certain every individual is judged based on the quality of their content, not on how much money they paid to a provider to make sure it reaches people unencumbered.

BetterMost, Wyoming is an online social community for those profoundly impacted by the 2005 film, Brokeback Mountain and are using the film’s message as a catalyst for change in their own lives.

It’s a project to explore social networking based on common interests — in this case an Academy Award winning movie.  BetterMost’s population now hovers around 1,200 residents who discuss the film and story, the music, the message, as well as current events in forums, blogs, and online chat rooms all hosted within the community. BetterMost also maintains its own radio station, which is streamed online for residents. You don’t have to live in Wyoming to appreciate and belong to the BetterMost online community.  Since the movie’s release, yearly gatherings in Wyoming (the story’s setting) and Alberta (filming locations) have continued to bring people from BetterMost and other like-minded “Brokie” communities together from all around the world.  Although “pop culture” can be the biggest driver of the growth of online social communities based on entertainment, the sustainability of the community long after the original film has faded from the headlines illustrates power of online communities, where common interests help bond new, long lasting friendships, and sometimes even life-changing personal development.

I also provide, as a public service, an online audio stream of NOAA Weather Radio station KHA53 in Rochester, New York via Weather Underground.  The 24-hour stream provides weather information and warnings for those outside of the reach of the transmitter or do not have immediate access to a personal weather radio.  Listener numbers generally spike during severe weather events, when those in the workplace, people away from their weather radio, or who live outside of the area tune in to obtain the latest information, weather warnings, and storm reports.

Twitter: I remain unconvinced by those praising the awesomeness of Twitter.  I remain skeptical that people would find tidbits about what I am doing or thinking at any particular moment is at all interesting to anyone but me.  However, I do tend to use Twitter to announce new content as it gets published, and will randomly throw in a reply to someone else’s content.  The primary channel to search for is stopthecap at the moment.  Maybe one day I’ll buy into the rest.  Otherwise, it’s going to be next year’s MySpace.

Facebook: I have more or less the same attitude about Facebook I do about Twitter.  I’m on there as well, but I honestly don’t visit more than once or twice a week.  I’ve found Facebook primarily useful in reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.  I will generally accept friend requests automatically, and you should anticipate my announcements there to be mostly related to developments on the aforementioned websites.

Should you need to reach me, a contact form will be forthcoming.