Call me suspicious but…. Dell order.

ancient_mariner

ancient_mariner

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Wednesday night I ordered a replacement laptop from Dell, had a confirmation email back detailing what was ordered, confirming billing address etc. Fine.

Monday morning opened up my emails, only to find 4 emails, apparently sent from Dell, each with the same send time of Friday night, yet received at various times on Saturday. Apparently the company credit card had been declined, and would I reply and contact the person named to arrange an alternative payment method? Looking more closely, I could see different fonts had been used to construct the email, and then the grammatical errors began to stand out. Copy & paste is a wonderful tool.

Now it could be that there really is someone called Sayed Khaled working for Dell, and he really does want to help me complete my order and get the replacement computer to me. But I can't turn off the alarm bells in my head yet - seems far more likely Dell have been compromised in some way, and this is a scam.

I've emailed Dell using the contact information that came with the order confirmation - lets see what happens. If payment really HAS been refused then I'm sure they'll be in contact legitimately, and the worst thing I lose is a few days. Anyone have a common experience?
 
Might be worth actually calling them if you do not have a specific log in/order tracking page.

Dell do have all sorts of nationalities working for them so the name alone shouldnt be a problem.

Screenshot of the email with personal info blanked out?
 
You could also check with credit card company.
 
If the credit card company have blocked because of suspected fraud they will call you.
 
Screenshot. The name isn't significant other than that was the one used - it could be Dennis Moore and it would make no difference to me.

Another thing is that the email address this was sent to is clearly based on my name (which would also be in the account info) yet this starts 'Dear Customer'.

ScreenShot2014-05-06at103002_zps6f23c6f8.png~original




I really HATE calling the CC company - it's always someone with an accent I can't understand asking security questions that I stumble over.
 
I would ignore that as it look fraudulent to me. Maybe call Dell to confirm all is OK using the contact details you have (not the ones on that email)
 
It's a pucker Dell phone number on the bottom of the email, not sure about the ext obviously.......
 
ancient_mariner said:
and then the grammatical errors began to stand out.
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An indicator perhaps but judging by the 'corporate' emails/letters I get more an indicator of the education system! :)
 
if genuine (which if it has the correct order number, says you can call you bank and doesnt seem to have any suspect links its starting to look that way) its most likely an automated email that has been poorly coded and broken the CSS part way through.

either way id be calling the bank and/or dell to get the lowdown.
 
Check the email headers. If they show a similar route to the original one then it's probably legit.

Is there an online order system you can go into and change the credit card from there or do another payment method? If you go in via the main website and not a clicked link then it should be ok.
 
I'm waiting to hear back from Dell ATM - will let you know what happens.
 
srichards said:
Check the email headers. If they show a similar route to the original one then it's probably legit.

Is there an online order system you can go into and change the credit card from there or do another payment method? If you go in via the main website and not a clicked link then it should be ok.
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The Dell online order checking page is broken right now, at least in Safari. :facepalm:
 
My guess is the name on the email has been taken from a company in Oman (!) - have a look here (see first company, service section, right column).

Or possibly here (4th name down).
 
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Thanks Ozei - fascinating.
 
Ozei said:
My guess is the name on the email has been taken from a company in Oman (!) - have a look here (see first company, service section, right column).

Or possibly here (4th name down).
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Yeah, because Syed is such an incredibly rare name, nobody out of the thousands who work for Dell could possibly have that name, so they must have "borrowed" it from somewhere.

Can I have some of what you're drinking, please?
 
I personally think it's legit.

Looks like a preformed email with added text. Only contacting Dell will reveal. If it is a scam, then Dell need to be alerted as it is one of their employees doing it.
 
I am still waiting for a reply from Dell - if there's nothing overnight then I'll call them tomorrow.
 
I had exactly the same issue with Dell and the email were genuine.
They are from some Indian office.

The also told me my credit card was declined even though the initial order went through fine. They wanted me to send through copies of passports and all sorts so I told them to shove their order where the sun don't shine.

Eventually I got a supervisor to call me who still couldn't explain why the card was declined as all the card information was correct and the cc company told me the transaction was authorised.

Over the course of 3 days I had 6-7 emails a day trying to get me to reinstate the order. Even to the point of somebody from the assembly team confirming my specifications.

They just wouldn't take no for an answer

Pretty unbelievable for a company like Dell.
This was my first Dell order which they eventually got the message that I no longer wanted and I will never use them again.
 
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Pure speculation- that the call centre guys are on commission. So it's in an individual's interest to poach orders by claiming a CC decline ... Then processing as a new order?
 
ecoleman said:
I had exactly the same issue with Dell and the email were genuine.
They are from some Indian office.

The also told me my credit card was declined even though the initial order went through fine. They wanted me to send through copies of passports and all sorts so I told them to shove their order where the sun don't shine.

Eventually I got a supervisor to call me who still couldn't explain why the card was declined as all the card information was correct and the cc company told me the transaction was authorised.

Over the course of 3 days I had 6-7 emails a day trying to get me to reinstate the order. Even to the point of somebody from the assembly team confirming my specifications.

They just wouldn't take no for an answer

Pretty unbelievable for a company like Dell.
This was my first Dell order which they eventually got the message that I no longer wanted and I will never use them again.
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Are you sure the emails and calls were genuine? Doesn't sound right to me.
 
My Partner had a similar problem, the order seemed to go through ok, then an e-mail came saying the card had been declined, which was strange as he had bought his grand daughter a laptop from Dell a few months before and the card went through ok. It got sorted in the end went through as a new order, sounds like jiggery pokery amongst the staff to me.
 
Winkyphoto said:
Are you sure the emails and calls were genuine? Doesn't sound right to me.
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Yes, they were genuine. I didn't reply to the email, but called the number on Dells site and asked for the person whose name was on the email.

The bad grammar on the emails also made me suspicious.
 
I'll call the UK office in the morning & see what's going on. If it can't be sorted out with a reasonable minimum of fuss then I'll just cancel and go with Chillblast, who were my close second choice anyway.
 
Multiple attempts to call this morning, either fail because I don't have an order number (just an online internet receipt number) or because I keep getting cut off before I even get to speak to someone. Dell are about to lose my order, simply by being unable to process it or communicate in a timely or businesslike manner. That email was not appropriate from customer-facing staff, let alone any kind of automated system where it's possible to control exactly what is written.

This is, frankly, poo, and I expected much better from such a large and experienced box-shifter.
 
neil_g said:
hell any company can miscode their automated emails, unless they're getting a copy of every email they send out its very hard to keep track of.
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Are you SERIOUS? If they can't control what they are sending then they shouldn't send it, and find a professional way of dealing with customers. This isn't some forum they are posting nervously and in a hurry - it's a business email where reasonable standards of grammar and spelling are a basic requirement when selling medium-value equipment to the public. And if it's an issue with non-native English speakers then they should be hiring people who CAN write in business standard language.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Are you SERIOUS? If they can't control what they are sending then they shouldn't send it, and find a professional way of dealing with customers. This isn't some forum they are posting nervously and in a hurry - it's a business email where reasonable standards of grammar and spelling are a basic requirement when selling medium-value equipment to the public. And if it's an issue with non-native English speakers then they should be hiring people who CAN write in business standard language.
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yup. happens a lot. more so with large businesses.
 
Finally managed to get through It seems the emails were genuine, the card was declined (why? and Visa always used to call when they did that) and the machine isn't yet ordered. I'm in the office, so I don't have all the info required when calling the card company to get through the various security check.

Very tempted to bail at this point, because if this is how hard it is to actually buy a machine, what will they be like if it needs warranty repair?
 
it may not have been declined per say but a problem contacting the issuing bank. we get customer "declines" (for all intense purposes it is logged as a decline, it may be a fallback reason) quite often that the banks refuse to acknowledge they caused and 9 times out of 10 its a communication/system problem between the payment system the vendor uses and the bank. (look at how many bank system issues have been in the news recently)

are you getting on site business support? if so that is actually very good.
 
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neil_g said:
it may not have been declined per say but a problem contacting the issuing bank. we get customer "declines" (for all intense purposes it is logged as a decline, it may be a fallback reason) quite often that the banks refuse to acknowledge they caused and 9 times out of 10 its a communication/system problem between the payment system the vendor uses and the bank. (look at how many bank system issues have been in the news recently)

are you getting on site business support? if so that is actually very good.
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Jeez, you really are defending Dell.
I run a small (compared to Dell) online business and take debit/credit cards all day long. I don't seem to have a problem, so why does Dell?

And on the emails, these should always be professional and in proper English, not some badly written, broken English, different fonts etc.

If I conducted my business like that, I would be out of business in 5 minutes.
 
ecoleman said:
Jeez, you really are defending Dell.
I run a small (compared to Dell) online business and take debit/credit cards all day long. I don't seem to have a problem, so why does Dell?

And on the emails, these should always be professional and in proper English, not some badly written, broken English, different fonts etc.

If I conducted my business like that, I would be out of business in 5 minutes.
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please re-read that post.

im saying payment systems are not 100% fault free (and these will be outside of Dells control). these things happen, we get it on our ecomms platform at work probably on a monthly basis and we do a fraction of transaction that dell do.

neck, wind, in. thanks.
 
Because it's an XPS it's sold as a 'home' machine, rather than through the business side of the outlet, so I'd opted for 3 years next day 'in home' support.

As you suggest, I don't think it was really declined in the conventional sense, so much as Dell's systems failing to work with theirs (trying to use their website emphasises how they don't have IT under control). When ever I've had a card really declined Visa have always contacted me. Dell claimed to have attempted to process the card twice, with failure on both occasions. I plan to talk to the bank later.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Because it's an XPS it's sold as a 'home' machine, rather than through the business side of the outlet, so I'd opted for 3 years next day 'in home' support.
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go careful there arent any clauses that state the home support cannot be used for a business.

As you suggest, I don't think it was really declined in the conventional sense, so much as Dell's systems failing to work with theirs (trying to use their website emphasises how they don't have IT under control). When ever I've had a card really declined Visa have always contacted me. Dell claimed to have attempted to process the card twice, with failure on both occasions. I plan to talk to the bank later.
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to reiterate the above, dell will not have any control over payment systems. they are normally provided by a 3rd party banking provider.

i wouldnt expect the bank to admit to declining the card in the event of technical reasons, they never do for our customers.
 
neil_g said:
please re-read that post.

im saying payment systems are not 100% fault free (and these will be outside of Dells control). these things happen, we get it on our ecomms platform at work probably on a monthly basis and we do a fraction of transaction that dell do.

neck, wind, in. thanks.
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Nothing wrong with my neck, thanks.

Just saying I don't buy the "systems" excuse.
My card was approved the moment I placed the order and my issuer confirmed that. All the details I provided to Dell were correct and the delivery was to the cards registered address.

I guarantee that once the OP has spoken to his card issuer he will find the same.

Dells customer service is shocking and that's all there is to it. But that's what happens to all business that outsource customer service to India.
 
neil_g said:
to reiterate the above, dell will not have any control over payment systems.
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I can see that. ;)

But thanks for the warning about exclusions - I'll look into that.
 
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