Dave Siciliano
Final Approach
Some of you may recall, I've had on going issues for more than 18 months now will DFS. Just a heads up.
Christmas year before last, I ordered several items just before leaving for Christmas. The nice sales lady at Dell said they had a 60 days same as cash with DFS if that worked. Since I would be charging a lot on credit cards while traveling, thought it best to just do that and settle up when I returned from vacation.
Well, they screwed up where they shipped some things: double shipped, some didn't arrive etc. So, the billing was all screwed up. They didn't tell me they'd open four different accounts (because it was going four different places).
Long story short, we never could get the bills straight to get an accurate payoff; so, we told them that and that we were prepared to pay and paid what we thought was correct. My accountant spent several hours on the phone trying to get it straight, did a reconciliation and we sent in a check. We would call, be put on hold and never get to anyone who could provide answers.
Well, we didn't know they opened four different accounts. We sent it to one and ...you guessed it...they put a credit balance in one account and accumulated charges in the others.
Finally, in July of '08 my accountant got the original Dell person to get someone else to look at it and give us some kind of accounting. We agreed to an amount and sent in a check with a certified letter stating it was full and complete payment.
Didn't hear a thing until this Summer when DFS collections began calling six times a day from India. We tried to explain and they didn't care. One guy called and asked that we send in $5.40. We asked for what. He said charges to the account. What account we asked? What about any other charges: he didn't know, just wanted $5.40.
So, we turned it over to our attorney. Now had $1,400 in accounting charges for time my accountant spent on it, not counting my time or that of my secretary. My attorney sent them a certified letter directing them to send all future communications to him. They could care less; kept calling here. So, I wrote the attorney general of Texas and BBB. They kept calling.
BBB sent an inquiry; Dell responded with a long rambling e-mail that didn't accurately show how the bills arose. BBB closed the complaint out.
AG wrote back and said to keep them informed.
We repeatedly asked for a full and complete accounting of the charges; still don't have one. Today, a new firm called that is a collection agency for them. We told them to call our attorney and they said they would keep calling here unless we filed bankruptcy. Called again shortly afterward.
I looked on the internet and saw were they have been sued by the AG of Washington and NY and settled each case for a lot of money. The charges seem to be the same as for what they're doing to me. Don't care about harassment, directions from attorney, Debt Collections Act. Deceptive practices or anything. There are loads of complaints on several blogs.
So beware! They are out there and they will hound you no matter what you earnestly try to do the reconcile things.
Wonder how many accounts I owe $5.40 in.
Best,
Dave
Christmas year before last, I ordered several items just before leaving for Christmas. The nice sales lady at Dell said they had a 60 days same as cash with DFS if that worked. Since I would be charging a lot on credit cards while traveling, thought it best to just do that and settle up when I returned from vacation.
Well, they screwed up where they shipped some things: double shipped, some didn't arrive etc. So, the billing was all screwed up. They didn't tell me they'd open four different accounts (because it was going four different places).
Long story short, we never could get the bills straight to get an accurate payoff; so, we told them that and that we were prepared to pay and paid what we thought was correct. My accountant spent several hours on the phone trying to get it straight, did a reconciliation and we sent in a check. We would call, be put on hold and never get to anyone who could provide answers.
Well, we didn't know they opened four different accounts. We sent it to one and ...you guessed it...they put a credit balance in one account and accumulated charges in the others.
Finally, in July of '08 my accountant got the original Dell person to get someone else to look at it and give us some kind of accounting. We agreed to an amount and sent in a check with a certified letter stating it was full and complete payment.
Didn't hear a thing until this Summer when DFS collections began calling six times a day from India. We tried to explain and they didn't care. One guy called and asked that we send in $5.40. We asked for what. He said charges to the account. What account we asked? What about any other charges: he didn't know, just wanted $5.40.
So, we turned it over to our attorney. Now had $1,400 in accounting charges for time my accountant spent on it, not counting my time or that of my secretary. My attorney sent them a certified letter directing them to send all future communications to him. They could care less; kept calling here. So, I wrote the attorney general of Texas and BBB. They kept calling.
BBB sent an inquiry; Dell responded with a long rambling e-mail that didn't accurately show how the bills arose. BBB closed the complaint out.
AG wrote back and said to keep them informed.
We repeatedly asked for a full and complete accounting of the charges; still don't have one. Today, a new firm called that is a collection agency for them. We told them to call our attorney and they said they would keep calling here unless we filed bankruptcy. Called again shortly afterward.
I looked on the internet and saw were they have been sued by the AG of Washington and NY and settled each case for a lot of money. The charges seem to be the same as for what they're doing to me. Don't care about harassment, directions from attorney, Debt Collections Act. Deceptive practices or anything. There are loads of complaints on several blogs.
So beware! They are out there and they will hound you no matter what you earnestly try to do the reconcile things.
Wonder how many accounts I owe $5.40 in.
Best,
Dave
