Dell's Christmas return policy. (hint: it sucks!)

Dell's return policy is up to 21 days from the date of invoice.

So I ended up ordering a 1520 for my wife for Christmas from dell.com. I placed the order last week and keeping in mind that Dell only offers a 21 day return, I tried to time the order so that she would have at least 10 days or so to try it out after unwrapping it Christmas Day. The estimated ship date was 12/18 and with 2-day delivery, I expected it on 12/20. This was my plan and so far so good.

At first, I was happy to find out that it invoiced on 12/8 and ended up on my doorstep yesterday - 12/11. Being aware of Dell's return policy, I contacted customer service and asked them if Dell was amending the return policy to account for laptops that were being given as Christmas gifts. I was told directly that the 21 day policy is from the date of invoice. Furthermore I was told that if I was was concerned about this, I could take my chances and request a return after the 21 day period - with no guarantees that it would be approved - or I could return the 1520 now.

I honestly think she'll be happy with it but this policy strikes me as very customer unfriendly. I'm seriously considering returning it on principle and going back to my original choice for her - a Thinkpad. (I went with the Dell because of the more user friendly multimedia features - and she thinks Midnight Blue is "cool".)

Ok. I feel better now.

 

I agree with this, I'm not allowed to have my laptop until Christmas. I'm just hoping everything with it will be good.

 

You too, cconat? Wow, I'm glad I'm not the only one. Yay for waiting? I guess? :lol: Got my 1520 delivered yesterday, but I haven't even opened the box yet.

So wait, date of invoice = date we ordered it? I ordered mine on the 29th...which means... my return policy will be expired before I even look at it. Damn, that's really crappy. :/

 

Look on your packing slip for the "Date" field (just to the left of the "Order Date" field). This is the invoice date. In my case, the invoice date was a day before it even shipped.

The more I think about this, the more pissed I get. If you were to order a laptop and take advantage of the free 5 day shipping, you'd already burn up to a week of your 21-day period before it even hit your doorstep. I must be missing something in the fine print because this is just plain deceptive advertising.

I received an email acknowledgment of my discussion from Dell - I'm going to reply and ask to have it escalated to a supervisor - or at someone who's empowered to say "yes". I'll update the thread as this plays out.

 

This has been Dell's return policy for a while. It's not a "special" holiday policy, it's just their normal return policy.

 

I don't doubt that (this isn't my first Dell laptop) but it needs to be adjusted to account for hardware that will be given as Christmas gifts. The policy also isn't competitive with other manufacturers either. For example, I know for a fact that HP has extended their return policy for Christmas - when I ordered a Pavillion desktop a few weeks ago, the sales rep made a point of telling me that I'll have until Jan. 8th to return it.

Again, I don't foresee needing to return it but I'm not willing to take the risk so I'm asking Dell to extend my return window until Jan. 3rd - 10 days. If they don't agree, it goes back. I should know something by tomorrow morning. I just sent a polite but firm reply to the customer service manager.

 

Yeah, I had a friend return his laptop 38 days after invoice. But he did end up ordering another one from Dell.

 

As promised, an update....

I'm happy (and relieved) to say that I just got this message from Dell's customer service:

This is in response to your e-mail. I can really understand the problem that you are facing and apologize for any inconvenience caused to you. However, let me assure you that I will do everything possible to assist you on this issue. As requested for your satisfaction as you are a valued customer with Dell we have extended the return period till January 3rd.

Well done Dell.