Strange response from Dell about a simple question RE: Inspiron 15R

[reg411]

I've never ordered from Dell before. My mom is a school teacher and needed a simple laptop for school use, so I started looking into the Inspiron 15R. Also, Dell has this thing called 'EPP' (Employee Purchase Program), where, if you're a member of certain companies you get a discount. So, just for shits & giggles I decided to add it to cart and go all the way to the payment screen to see the final price.

Laptop price: $440.99 [EPP discount]
Shipping: $39 (Chicago, IL)
Tax: $26.63
TOTAL: $506.62

I'm ok with the tax, but I was like WTF on the shipping?? Are they shipping from India? Why would it be $39 to ship to Chicago, IL, when they're showing $9 flat rate shipping everywhere?

So, I decided to email them:

Problem Description:
This is in regards to the Dell Inspiron 15R laptop. I see that Dell offers $9 flat rate shipping for 7 day. However, when I place my order into checkout and get ready to pay, it is showing $39 for 7 day shipping and handling. Why is it showing $39? shouldn't it be $9? Thank you for your assistance in this matter

and this was their response:

Hi,
Thank you for contacting Dell Customer Care.
I understand that you are request for a return label. Inasmuch as I would like to assist you, I am unable to verify the account with the information provided. To protect your privacy, we will need your Order Number or Dell Purchase ID as well as your Company or Account Name, Bill to Phone Number and/or Bill to Address.
If you need immediate assistance on this matter, it would be best to call 1-800-4563355 for Customer Care.
Thank you for choosing Dell. Have a great day.

Yeaaaaah...they might as well have replied 'potatoes'. I have a feeling the shipping gouge was to make up for the EPP discount they were giving.

Anyway, I did some more googling, went to slickdeals.net and picked up a Lenovo IdeaPad from my local Office Depot instead.
It actually came out a lot cheaper ($449.99). I didn't have to pay shipping and my mom used her 'tax exemption' since she is a school teacher, so no tax, and it has more RAM too!

So, was my original email to Dell too confusing/not specific enough or is this typical of their customer support?

 

[Joe Average]

Pretty sure their systems are using some kind of text scanning and whatever so that emails get categorized and sent towards whatever person or department that software deems as the most likely, aka a match on the hit if you will. Most tech support would just glance over it, do a search of their internal knowledge base and spit out the canned reply which is pretty much exactly what they gave right back to you with that lame response.

I've learned that emails are useless to tech support: take advantage of actually calling them (if you're capable) or using their live "chat" online support, especially with Dell. Get a real person ASAP and resolve it or get the answers, 'cause the email support system more often than not gets you the exact results you just received.

 

[YeuEmMaiMai]

Most of their stuff comes from CHINA now....expecially their consumer stuff I paid more than that for them to ship my studio 1558 1 year ago.......