Verification Process

This is a funny one, and seals the deal on this being my last Dell purchase....

I just got home, and got a call from, supposedly, Dell. They provided an 866 phone and a reference number. They want me to call them to verify my Dell account and that my purchase / account is on hold until I do. Uh, OK.

I call them, give them the reference number, and they start asking all kinds of questions. What is your social security number (of course I refused)? What is your phone #? What is your reference code? What did you just buy? What was the exact dollar amount? So I freak and tell them that I'm not comfortable answering any of these questions about the order, as I am leery about giving this much information out to someone that just left a message on my phone to call them. This is the only way they can verify the order they say. Well, I placed the order with a valid account, which requires a username / password, and you called and left a voicemail on my machine, of which I returned the call and gave the valid reference number. How much verification do they really need?

Get this, this is the kicker.... the number that they had on file was different than the number they called. So when they wanted me to verify my phone number, it was an old number. How did they get the right number to call if they had an old number in the first place?

This is all "to prevent identity theft for our customers". Sounds more like they are perpetuating identity theft by requiring people that "could" not know better to voluntarily divulge such information to anyone that asks.

Anybody else go through this? I've never EVER had to do this with any other company. This is my last dealing with Dell. If the order comes through, and the product is perfect, I'm gonna pay off the account, close it, and never look at Dell again. Otherwise it's getting returned and someone is gonna get a deal on a refurb.

 

Did you opt to pay via Dell Financial Services Dell Preferred Account? I had enough trouble with DFS that finally I had to pay using a regular card. More here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2884443

 

Yep, I eventually got them to verify me. The CSR (supervisor actually, I requested to be escalated) called me back on the number that they left the message on but not the number on file. Not sure really what is going on with those guys, but it's both annoying and scary at the same time