Dell Preferred Account - Verification?

Has anybody had to verify their Dell Preferred account via a letter sent snail-mail?

I ordered an xps m1530 (used the dell preferred for 12mos. no interest), and they botched my name and email on the initial order, so I called in to get it fixed. Apparently, they cancelled the original order, and created a new one, but the sales person said that he couldn't verify the account, and I'd have to talk with dell's financial verification people. The financial people then tell me that the only way to verify is through this letter that may get to me anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks, and then they can process my order.

What gets me, though, is that it didn't appear that I needed to have my account verified with the first laptop.

Is this procedure normal with dell, or what? If they want me to prove who I am, I'll drive to their corporate offices with a drivers license and birth certificate... It'd be easier than snail mail...

Buying a car was waaaaay easier than buying a dell, and that includes haggling the price of the car and trade-in, and having it brought in from another city...

 

Why not just use a credit card?

 

Dell's offering 12 months no interest on xps systems. I'm getting reimbursed for the price of this laptop by my employer, but it's over a period of 2 years. I've just started working, and I don't exactly have the cash on hand to pay for this thing up front. Paying for it over a period of one year is more preferable for me, and waiting to get a laptop isn't really an option right now...

 

I never got the letter at all...

The finance department is a completely different division from the rest of Dell; it is performed by a separate company. The verification thing sucks, I had to deal with it myself. They dont mess around with the verification process, so you are out of luck it seems.

You can try calling the DPA phone line, and verify over the phone. BE CERTAIN to call from your home phone, as they use it in verification. I was denied my first try just because of that- they wouldny let me call back from my home phone.

Heres the short version: Do the snail mail verification. There isnt any faster way to do it.

 

Well, at least I'm not the only one...

I've tried to verify over the phone, but I always get the line "you'll have to wait for the letter." Unfortunately, in this day and age, I only have one phone number, and that's a cell phone. The person on the line sounded 'concerned' when I told her that it was my only phone number (hello, it's 2008 already... geez)

If this is the way it's supposed to work, I wonder why I was never told about it when I originally ordered my computer?

I don't even own a dell yet, and I'm already regretting it. If only my company would let me buy a MacBook Pro...

 

And apple offers this 0% that you are looking for too? Why not just use a credit card and pay it over 12 months.

 

I skipped DPA because DFS verification process resulted in my order getting cancelled thrice. DFS said they will send me a postal mail and I need to call the number provided in the mail to verify myself for them to process the order. The mail tends to arrive exactly a day after DFS cancels the order due to non-verification. After this happened thrice, I decide to order without DPA.

My first order was in mid December 2007 when the instant savings and gift card offer started. Due to DFS cancelling my order, I lost the gift card. Dell said that they cannot honor an earlier promotion as they had contacted me regarding the DFS hold on the order and given me an option to pay on my own which I didn't opt. Even without the gift card the instant savings and EPP discount was still good and I continued again with DFS thinking it could be some technical issue as I have no issues with other financial institutions. DFS cancelled the order again and Dell would not honor the order even if I paid on my own as the instant savings had reduced. After three cancellations for no fault of mine, I decided to steer clear of DFS. When the holdiay discount offer started, the combination of reduced instant savings, holiday discount and EPP almost matched my initial order price and I also got to choose Midnight Blue color. I immediately ordered paying on my own and got the system this week. Things might have gone well with DFS and I could have got the DPA discount but I didn't want to risk another cancellation or any other issue especially since I needed a notebook badly.

 

Best Buy does, as much as it pains me to say that...

And why put it on a credit card where you know you'll be paying high interest rates, when you have an opportunity to pay it off with no interest over 12 months?

It'd still be easier for me to drive the 20 miles to their office and verify myself there, than to wait for this letter...

 

Dell will send you a Dell Card through the mail with account information and contract information. Weird they messed up your email and address? It's usually automated.

 

Well, I just called again, and the third person I spoke with at Dell Financial Services has now told me something completely different than what the first two people had told me.

Because they can't verify who I am (for reasons unknown to me), they have cancelled my request for financing, and I will never be able to get financing with Dell again (or so I've been told.) It's definitely not because of my credit rating, or anything else like that.

From what I can tell, it was the sales people removing, and re-processing my order with a different (correct) name and email address that triggered this 'verification'.

It may have also been because I put in my work address for the shipping address, and dell's wonderful website decided to put that down (automatically) as my billing address, and I've had to change it, or because I only have a cell phone (is it my fault I don't want to pay for a land-line in an apartment I'll be in for less than a year?)

Whatever it was, it lost dell a customer who was buying an almost completely loaded xps m1530.

Will I ever buy a dell again? Probably not. If I have over $2000 in cash on hand to spend on a laptop (which is definitely what my situation will be like when I'm ready to buy a new laptop), I'll definitely be looking elsewhere. It would've been nice to use the $2500 provided by my employer (over a period of 2 years) to purchase a laptop within their guidelines (aka non-apple hardware), but as of today, my employer has scaled back the amount, and dell won't offer me financing, so I'm kinda screwed.

I would hope my experience is not common, but I hope that it can serve as a 'warning' to others. Dell may screw up your account for no apparent reason.

Now that Dell is out of the question, any recommendations for a 15" widescreen laptop that works well for software development, an occasional game, and works well with travel?