Dell €10 for 12 months "Warning"

A word of warning to any of you that have gone for Dell's €10 for 12 months option.

I purchased a PC from Dell 12 months back on their "so called" from what was advertised and what I was told by the sales person at the time was pay €10 for 12 months and pay off the remaining amount at the end of the 12 months interest free.
Great I thought at the time, anyway I rang Dell Finance today to clear off the remaining amount as the 12 months is up the end of this month. So there was myself today going to pay the remaining €2000 only to be told I would have to pay nearly €2500 :eek:. This is were the story gets good and shocking.

As you can imagine I wasn't happy and asked why I had to pay an extra €500, turns out that this extra €500 is commission that the sales department at Dell will receive. According to the guy in the finance company I'm not the only person that has been ringing about this and that he was sick of this happening and told me to ring Dell themselves to try sort something out.
So I rang Dell customer service, after been panned off from person to person (5 in total) I end up talking to the most unhelpful lying Indian person you could ever get. I asked him about this commission and was told there was no such thing in place, so I asked to speak to his supervisor, he wouldn't get him, "I'll get him to call you" he said. So I said I would wait on the line until I got speaking to him to which I'm told he would not get him.
This went on for a bit so I read him my rights, he then tells me to ring the finance company as it's out of their hands and nothing to do with them. It was obvious he didn't want to speak to me. In the end I managed to get him to ring the finance company with me still on the line.

I told the person in the finance department the whole story, he then talked to the guy from Dell saying that are sick of this stunt going on and asked him why he told me this commission didn't exsist, why I was lied too and asked why he would not let me speak to his supervisor. This then turned into a row between the two of them, I'm there still on the line listening to this thinking to myself what sort of a business is Dell running.
It ends up the guy from Dell hung up and the guy in the finance department suggest I take it further, so I did, I went and rang the NCA (National Consumer Agency).

So it's now in the hands of the NCA and there not impressed one bit, will keep you posted on what happens.

Gillo

If you took out a finance package surely you would have been given (posted out) a detail of the payments schedule. Did you get one of these?

Assuming the amount you borrowed was roughly 2120 euro, 500 commission sounds like a massive amount for the sales guy to be paid, are you sure it's definitely commission for the sales person and not interest?

LolaDub

The OP said this was interest free. Sounds crazy OP good luck with sorting it out!

eamon234

Your issue here is with the finance company not Dell the agreement is with them. There's no way they were getting anything like that sort of commission on a retail HP deal and there's no way anyone in the finance company should be discussing commission rates - sounds like you were dealing with a newbie if you ask me - call the finance company back ask to speak to the customer services manager (not a team leader - if it's the same company I used to work for they have little or no power and feck all product knowledge)

Gillo

Gillo wrote: »

If you took out a finance package surely you would have been given (posted out) a detail of the payments schedule. Did you get one of these?

Yes, and no mention of it on my contract or breakdown of payment.

Gillo wrote: »

are you sure it's definitely commission for the sales person and not interest?

Two people within the finance company have said it's commission, and what with the row on the phone, not being allowed to speak to a Dell supervisior or member of management and then the Dell rep hanging up on me doesn't look good and leads me to believe the finance company.

eamon234 wrote: »

Your issue here is with the finance company not Dell the agreement is with them. There's no way they were getting anything like that sort of commission on a retail HP deal and there's no way anyone in the finance company should be discussing commission rates - sounds like you were dealing with a newbie if you ask me - call the finance company back ask to speak to the customer services manager (not a team leader - if it's the same company I used to work for they have little or no power and feck all product knowledge)

As I said above it's come from two people within the finance company, not only that but while onto the NCA I was told to ring up another group and when I started to tell them the issue, even before I went into the details of it they could tell me what happened to me and that I'm not the first person this has happened too nor should I be paying the so called commission.

foggy_lad

i bought memory off dell a while back and the sales person was trying to charge me €140+ for memory that should have cost €33.

when i asked for it to be investigated the price was dropped to €120 and from then i suspected the sales people were looking after themselves with huge commission on dell sales!

write a letter to Dell's head office in bray and by-pass the call centre staff altogether! that is what i have done each time i have dealt with dell and got great service from dublin and limerick.

axer

OP, did you receive a contract of any sort whereby it gives the total price in any way or mention of any charges?

Were you told the finance company that was offering the finance package when purchasing the computer with finance? Dell were acting as agents for this company. It is very important to know whether they disclosed this to you when making the purchase or agreement.

axer

axer wrote: »

OP, did you receive a contract of any sort whereby it gives the total price in any way or mention of any charges?

Were you told the finance company that was offering the finance package when purchasing the computer with finance? Dell were acting as agents for this company. It is very important to know whether they disclosed this to you when making the purchase or agreement.

I only found out about this yesterday, no one or no where is it stated about this charge.

axer

hellboy99 wrote: »

I only found out about this yesterday, no one or no where is it stated about this charge.

Then pay what you owe and ignore the rest. They will have to prove that you agreed to all this. If they do not have your signature or proof that you agreed to this charge then they cannot sue you for it.

If they won't accept the amount of what you owe (minus the 500 euro) then make sure you get that recorded somehow e.g. by letter or otherwise so that if they sue you for the amount you owe then you can prove they would not accept the payment.

Just make sure that the finance company is not registered with the ICB though to cover yourself.

It all sounds dodgy. Good luck.

Just got a letter in the door from the finance company which would of been sent after my phone call to them yesterday, total amount I have to pay back now has gone up from yesterdays total I was given over the phone

Just got a call from a member of the NCA, looks like I have to pay up. Sales person from Dell no longer works for them so all records are gone, and Dell Finance are know telling me & the NCA a different story from what was told to me yesterday.

Last time I ever have dealings/buy anything from Deal :mad::mad:

axer

hellboy99 wrote: »

Just got a call from a member of the NCA, looks like I have to pay up. Sales person from Dell no longer works for them so all records are gone, and Dell Finance are know telling me & the NCA a different story from what was told to me yesterday.

Last time I ever have dealings/buy anything from Deal :mad::mad:

What proof have they that you agreed to the charge?

axer

axer wrote: »

What proof have they that you agreed to the charge?

They have none, but now there saying it's interest, yesterday it was commission and now what was said yesterday was never said according to them. It seems no one knows anything and I still haven't got an answer or call from Dell.

I'll just write it off as a bad experience I guess and will never have any dealings with Dell again :mad:

axer

hellboy99 wrote: »

They have none, but now there saying it's interest, yesterday it was commission and now what was said yesterday was never said according to them. It seems no one knows anything and I still haven't got an answer or call from Dell.

I'll just write it off as a bad experience I guess and will never have any dealings with Dell again :mad:

Why pay them the extra? Make sure you pay off the computer completely and after that forget about it.

They would have to sue you in order to get the money. To win that case they would need proof that you agreed to the terms of the credit agreement which they don't have proof of since you didn't agree. If they are not registered with the ICB (check for membership here) then it cannot be held against you in any way.

I can think of better things to do with 500 euro (which is a crazy amount) - what interest rate is that? 25% APR? Remember they are the ones trying to scam you. Fight back.

lynchie

If you bought something from Dell on finance, you would have received a finance agreement which you would have to sign and send them back a copy. This would detail the cost of credit etc... If this does not match what they say, then you have a case. If you did indeed get a 0% offer, it would be detailed in the agreement. Dig it out and check its conditions.

I have been advised that I can pay it all off and then go to the small claims for my €500, so thats what I'm going to do.

Phototoxin

balls to that. then if you do pay then it will be looked as if dell were in the right and that when you file a claim you were getting bitchy.

Fight the power and tell them to GTFO unless they can produce a signed agreement.

axer

Phototoxin wrote: »

balls to that. then if you do pay then it will be looked as if dell were in the right and that when you file a claim you were getting bitchy.

Fight the power and tell them to GTFO unless they can produce a signed agreement.

Exactly, if you pay that money then you might as well wave goodbye to it. If you go to the small claims court it will be you that has to fight the case. Why not let them bring you to court if they want. They won't if they have no proof.

When you are paying the money you owe (just for the computer) ask the company to send you a copy of the credit agreement.

Thanks for the help everyone, will just pay PC then and see what happens.

foggy_lad

would you know if you were late with ANY of the monthly €10 payments? afaik if these payments are not in by the specified time you are then accepting to take the 2/3year finance deal this offer is closely related to.

when you agreed to the €10 a month you probably signed some clause agreeing to the finance deal if you broke the terms of the offer. is it possible this is what has happened?

foggy_lad

foggy_lad wrote: »

when you agreed to the €10 a month you probably signed some clause agreeing to the finance deal if you broke the terms of the offer. is it possible this is what has happened?

No.

Slice

I have been advised that I can pay it all off and then go to the small claims for my €500, so thats what I'm going to do.

You should never make payment for a disputed amount. You shouldn't even make part payment for a disputed amount. Making any kind of payment whatsoever would imply that you accept liability for the balance - that's the full balance. You should refused to make payment, write a letter to all interested parties outlining your refusal and where you stand on the matter and send it by registered post, keeping both a copy of the letter and the postal docket. Let them take it from there...

amen

Sales person from Dell no longer works for them so all records are gone

that is dells problem. Write to the data protection officer in Dell asking for a copy of all information held by Dell on you. They have to supply this.

Don't make any payment. Send all letters via registered mail

subway

this is the only thing i can find that relates to that and is quite different to what you are saying you were offered -
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/promo.aspx/ie%2Fen%2F0_financing_promo?c=ie&cs=iedhs1&l=en&s=dhs&~lt=popup

dell keep all orders on record so you can ask for a copy of everything.
the same should go for the finance people.
ask for a copy of the scheudle of payments and take a read of the contract you signed

foggy_lad

subway wrote: »

this is the only thing i can find that relates to that and is quite different to what you are saying you were offered -
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/promo.aspx/ie%2Fen%2F0_financing_promo?c=ie&cs=iedhs1&l=en&s=dhs&~lt=popup

dell keep all orders on record so you can ask for a copy of everything.
the same should go for the finance people.
ask for a copy of the scheudle of payments and take a read of the contract you signed

that is the offer i referred to, you pay only €10/month for the 1st year but then you must pay the remaining banlance through their finance which will incur interest charges even if you pay it immediately!

subway

foggy_lad wrote: »

that is the offer i referred to, you pay only €10/month for the 1st year but then you must pay the remaining banlance through their finance which will incur interest charges even if you pay it immediately!

i couldnt see where you mentioned, sorry for duplication

Someone from Dell has finally decided to contact me and are looking into it, just have to wait and see what happens next.

Even with the above mentioned going by what the site now says about the €10 a month it still doesn't explain why I was told commission and the row on the phone between the finance company and Dell.

MarkR

As mentioned above, if you didn't sign anything then you don't owe anything. Tell them you want to see a copy of the contract where you agreed to pay x amount over x amount of time with x amount of charges.

If they don't have it I don't see how they can pursue you for any payment at all.