In relation to the captioned subject, this notice is being served to draw attention towards an extremely sorry state of affairs prevalent in your establishment wherein customers are mislead, taken for a ride and cheated and their legitimate rights trampled upon in an unceremonious manner.

The sequence of events against which the undersigned is aggrieved is as follows;

1. The undersigned had on 7.9.2009 placed an order online at the Website of Dell India for purchase of Studio 14 Laptop bearing model No. Dell (TM) studio 14 Laptop (SI 40806IN8). The purpose behind placing of order of purchase online was to avoid the unnecessary wrangles, apathy and cheating that one encounters in day to day life and which unfortunately have become institutionalized thereby vitiating every aspect of life. The undersigned in order to avoid unnecessary harassment and to be sure of the product that was being purchased both qualitatively and quantitatively took a conscious decision not to go for other brands of laptops and preferred your brand assuming that since you provided an avenue of placing an order online wherein everything right from the payment and delivery would be effected by the click of the mouse and shipped directly from factory therefore there would be no occasion for anything to go wrong either by accident or by design. The undersigned in course of opting for this option lost out on hefty discounts that were being offered elsewhere but nevertheless opted for online purchase of your brand in order to have a smooth sailing. Little did the undersigned realize that the same would turn out be the most horrendous experience of life.

2. That immediately after submitting the order, the undersigned received a feed back intimating that a sales representative would contact in response to the request of finalizing the quotation. In pursuance of the aforesaid, a call was received from one Shri Prashant Bhatt who introduced himself as the inside sales account manager and finalized the quotation that had been ordered by asking for a deposit of sum of Rs.41, 799.82 in the account of Dell India Pvt. Ltd. bearing No. 0035439005 with the Citi Bank. The undersigned was assured that on doing so the order would automatically stand confirmed and would thereafter reach within a period of 5-6 days.

3. That on 12.9.2009, the undersigned in pursuance of the direction given by Shri. Bhatt duly deposited a cheque bearing No.24643 drawn on Axis Bank, Green Park, (Main) New Delhi in favour of Dell India Pvt. Ltd.

4. That on 16.9.2009 the undersigned in order to find out the status of the order called Shri. Prashant Bhatt and was surprised to find out that the order had yet not been put down for manufacturing. Shri Prashant Bhatt after apologizing for the delay assured that he would submit the order for manufacturing immediately. This is a disturbing aspect, once the money had been deposited and duly encashed why does your establishment has to wait for the customer to call to confirm the status, ideally on deposit of the money, the representative who’s dealing with the particular order should himself/herself call the customer to intimate that in view of amount having received the order would immediately be put down for manufacturing rather that being the other way round.

5. That on 17.9.2009 the undersigned received a Mail from your establishment intimating that the order had been submitted for manufacturing on 16.9.2009 with the order number 0404143 and customer number 841434.

6. That the undersigned called your establishment on 19.9.2009 at the toll free number 1800-42580-46 to request for the latest update on the status of the order, on being connected to Shri. Prashant Bhatt the undersigned was intimated that the order was on-course and that delivery would be made by 24.9.2009.

7. That on 21.9.2009 the undersigned on checking the status of the order at the website www.dell.co.in/order was surprised to find that the status of the order was still shown under the heading “work in progress”. Ideally as per the oral assurances having been given the entire process from manufacturing to the final delivery was to take only 4-5 days and the period of 12 days was to act as buffer in cases of contingencies. The undersigned on calling up Shri Prashant Bhatt was again reassured that the order was on schedule and that the delivery would positively be made by 24.9.2009.

8. That on 22.9.2009 on checking the order status the undersigned again found the delivery status under the heading “work in progress” and therefore sent an Email to Shri Prashant Bhatt as well as called up your establishment wherein again an assurance was given of timely delivery, on being asked as to why the same was not reflected on the order status chart it was intimated that the chart shown on the internet was not updated regularly and therefore did not reflect the correct status of the delivery. This again is disturbing for as to what is the purpose of having a delivery chart if the same is not to be updated regularly, then again if the chart as the note appended to it reads reflects the latest position of the order was correct then the undersigned was being given false assurances.

9. That the delivery of the order in any case was not completed till the assured date of 24.9.2009 and therefore the undersigned again called your establishment wherein for the first time it was intimated by Shri Prashant Bhatt that the order had been delayed however, not satisfied with his answer the undersigned immediately on the next date i.e. 25.9.2009 wrote an Email to Shri Prashant Bhatt, ruing the fact that despite calling him daily and checking the status of the order and repeatedly requesting for the delivery to be expedited no progress at all had been made.

10. That when no answer was received the undersigned again called up your establishment wherein Shri Prashant Bhatt shockingly intimated that the order would not be delivered in view of part shortage for studio 14 Laptops, on being insisted upon for details of the same he expressed his inability to do so and told that the undersigned should either take back the refund of the amount or in alternative accept the offer of studio 15 model with 256 MB dedicated graphics card with a similar configuration of the order that had been placed earlier

11. That needless to say the undersigned was shocked with the entire turn of events, your establishment is a leading establishment in so far as Laptops, Desktops and other associated computer peripherals are concerned and has a multinational presence, therefore, for your establishment to all of a sudden after accepting money from a customer and confirming his order to say that it does not have the requisite stock is extremely unfortunate, for if there was some problem with respect to parts of the model for which the undersigned had placed order why was then in the first place the order booked. The undersigned ought to have been intimated that in view of the shortage of parts you would be unable to book the order; it is really surprising that a multinational company like yours is not even aware of as to whether you have the given product in your stock, then again even if there was some problem why was the undersigned repeatedly assured that the order would be delivered within time, really after placing the order the undersigned called your establishment repeatedly and was assured that the order would reach on time. You in all fairness keeping with the accepted principles of fair play ought to have intimated that there was some problem, yet what unfortunately happened was that whereas till 23.9.2009 while you were repeatedly assuring that the order would be delivered yet immediately thereafter i.e. on 25.9.2009 you changed your stand that the order would not be delivered and either the undersigned should take the refund or opt for the model of your choice, how convenient for you.

12. That repeated telephone calls were exchanged between the undersigned and your establishment wherein vide Email dated 28.9.2009 you against requested the undersigned to revert back to your revised offer. In pursuance to the aforesaid the undersigned on 29.9.2009 made it clear to Shri Prashant Bhatt that without his specifying the nature of the problem it would be not be prudent to switch simply at his asking and that he should specify the problem with the supply of Studio 14 Laptop, thereafter your establishment was further pleased to revise and serve the undersigned with a new quotation of Studio 15 Laptop with T6600 processing & 4 GB ram upgrade, however, the details of the number of orders having been cancelled by your establishment and the nature of shortage with display was not intimated to me.

13. That on 1.10.2009, the undersigned after having detailed parleys with Shri Prashant Bhatt and having been left with no other option sent confirmation Email of up-gradation of Studio 14 Laptop to new Studio 15 Laptop bearing Code 808IN8. That thereafter repeated telephone calls were exchanged with Shri Prashant Bhatt with respect to expeditious service of the laptop and Shri Bhatt assured the undersigned that the same would be delivered much earlier than the expected date of 11.10.2009.

14. That on 7.10.2009 much to undersigned consternation and dismay a Studio 14 Laptop was delivered as against the Studio 15 which was offered by your establishment and accepted by the undersigned.

15. That on 8.10.2009, the undersigned called repeatedly at your toll free number and requested to be put through some senior officer, however on each occasion when calls were made the same were put on hold with the automated voice of “all our representatives are currently busy” and it was only when the undersigned after making repeated calls made it clear to the receptionist that if this was how Dell treated its customers by avoiding to take the calls and putting the same on endless holds then the undersigned would file a complaint against your establishment that the call was put to Shri Prashant Bhatt, however, again the undersigned only reached his voice mail and it was only after putting it very sternly to the receptionist that such nonsense was not expected that was the call finally put through Mr. Prashant Bhatt however here again surprisingly rather than promptly apologizing for the fault extremely evasive and incoherent answers were given, Shri Prashant Bhatt shockingly went to the extent of saying that there was some mistake on the part of personnel at the factory for which he could do nothing and the said personnel should alone be held accountable or hauled up by the management.

16. That on 9.10.2009 the undersigned filed a written protest with Shri Prashant Bhatt drawing home the point that such pathetic and pedestrian service was not expected of an establishment of the stature of Dell and demanded an explanation as to how once the offer of upgradation made by your establishment to Studio 15 laptop had been accepted and confirmed then how come a Studio 14 laptop was delivered and this to by an establishment which professes itself as a leader in this field and prouds itself when it comes to providing quality service to its customers.

17. That however despite the dispatch of mail no response received from your establishment. The undersigned as it should be appreciated was engulfed with a feeling of having been cheated, taken for a ride and defrauded, the pain was all the most aggravated in view of the fact that such conduct was committed by an establishment which prouds itself in being customer oriented, why was the laptop ordered on line through your establishment when the same could have been purchased straight from the market with hefty discounts and other add-ons. The same was done for a very simple objective to have an absolutely streamlined process right from the booking to the actual delivery, the said process was to be absolutely hassle free, with there being no scope of any cheating, alas it was not to be and the very things that the undersigned wanted to avoid have come to haunt.

18. That on not receiving any response to the protest sent to Shri Prashant Bhatt the undersigned left with no other option was constrained to send another mail to Mr. Bhatt making it very clear that since no assistance of any kind whatsoever had been provided rather having been mistreated with even the basic courtesy of not helping a customer being shown, therefore, in an event he failed to answer the mail and submit an explanation as to how wrong order had been delivered and that to extremely belatedly, the undersigned would be left with no other option but to take recourse to law.

19. That the undersigned thereafter received a mail from Shri Prashant Bhatt apologizing for the manner in which the entire issue has been mishandled and assuring that the problem would be looked into with care and the issue resolved at the earliest.

20. That unfortunately despite a lapse of 12 days no intimation whatsoever have been sent to the undersigned, it had been requested to Shri Prashant Bhatt to explain as to how wrong order had been delivered, no such explanation has reached, neither has any explanation of how your establishment intends to deal with the problem.

21. That in the meanwhile the undersigned on opening of the 14 Studio Lap Top found the screen of the same to be wobbling, immediately a request for assistance was mailed at [email protected], in response a reply was received that an immediate assistance shall be provided, however despite a lapse of 12 days the undersigned is yet to receive any assistance and is being constrained to work on a wobbling screen.

22. That I am afraid to note that there are certain extremely disturbing features which have arisen in the present matter. The first and foremost is the alleged problems with the parts of studio 14 laptop, why was the order booked in the first place, if your establishment was experiencing problems with respect to supply/component parts of the studio 14 laptop you ought to have as behoves an ethical business establishment following settled principles of trade and commerce politely intimated the undersigned that you would not be in a position to accept the order and the undersigned would have looked for the same elsewhere or with some other brand. It is really mind boggling that a multibillion dollar company like yours is really not aware as to whether it has the requisite stock/inventory to meet the demand or whether the existing inventory is going to fall short, you have people who supervise the inventories and stock and are paid salaries for the same, therefore in such circumstances for a person to be told that despite having booked his order, the same would not materialize is shocking to say in the least and is rather demonstrative of an unfair trade practice on your part.

23. Then again assuming for the sake of an argument that your establishment really had problems with the shipment/supply of component parts with Studio 14 Laptop, what begs an answer is as to why the undersigned was repeatedly assured over the telephone and in answer to his emails that the order was on time and the delivery will take place within the stipulated period, ethical and established practices require you to have honestly disclosed problems if any in the supply of component parts and not to take a customer for a ride by giving him false and concocted assurances of a timely delivery.

24. What however is fundamental is that initially in reply given to the Emails sent by the undersigned assurances were given that the order would reach on time. Thereafter, when the same did not happen even a basic courtesy was not shown to intimate the undersigned that due to some problem in supply of component parts the delivery would not be effected and it was only when some stern language was used by the undersigned that it was disclosed that there was problem in supply of component parts.

25. Furthermore on being enquired initially your establishment did not specify the problem but on being requested again the same was put down to problem with the display screen of the studio 14 laptop resulting in cancellation of the entire orders of the said model, however, on the undersigned requesting for the exact nature of the problem with the display screen and the number of orders which had been cancelled an evasive reply was given that the same could not be provided, what is baffling is that why should your establishment shy away from specifying the nature of problem with the display and number of orders cancelled due to same unless of course the same is moonshine to fool around the customer.

26. That the most unfortunate aspect of the entire episode is that your establishment after accepting and confirming the booking and repeatedly assuring a customer one fine day simply puts to him that either you take back the refund or you upgrade to a model and configuration of our choice, a brief look at the sequence of events reveals that you in answer to a request revert to a customer that yes we have the configuration and we would provide you with the same, you ask a customer to deposit a certain sum and thereafter confirm his order, you repeatedly send Emails re-assuring that the order is on time, you don’t inform that there is some problem, the customer on making repeated calls comes to know that there is some problem and thereafter one fine day in a naked exercise of unequal bargaining power you slap a customer with either you take it or leave it, is it so easy, then again why does the customer has to opt for a configuration of your choice, he has no say in it and does not know what he is getting into, ideally in an event where you are at such a phenomenal fault you should politely put it to a customer that within reasonable limits he should exercise his discretion and select a model of his own choice. In United States in an identical situation you would have given the laptop for free and would have also apologized; now you may not do that in this country and it is not even being asked that you do this but then certainly leave a little discretion in the matter of selection of the appropriate laptop.

27. Then again what is phenomenal is when the undersigned had sent a confirmation for upgradation to Studio 15 Laptop in pursuance to an offer having been given at your end, how do you explain shipment of studio-14 Laptop, the earlier order in any case was substituted with the latter and even an acknowledgement of the same was given, thus is it to be believed that personnel manning your establishment suffer from want of understanding or are so immature that they do not understand what is going on, how does your establishment which goes itself advertising itself as world class explains the mess up unless of course the same was deliberately done with an intention of depriving a customer in an underhand manner.

28. That the yeoman service rendered by your establishment to the undersigned does not ends here, the quotation that was sent originally for the Studio 14 Laptop and approved by the undersigned is different from the one that has been sent with the order, why should it be so, the quotation that you sent as a final quotation to a customer over the mail should remain the same, why should a customer have to spent enormous amount of time comparing the two quotations to find out whether what was ordered and confirmed has actually been delivered. Frankly this again is constitutes deficiency in service, resulting in needless harassment, there is more to this deficiency i.e. despite the undersigned on the 17.10.2009protesting over the state of affairs in the customer feed back online report and detailing the experience no response whatsoever has been received, what’s the point of asking a customer to take precious 15 minutes out of the schedule to fill up the form if the basic courtesy of reverting back is not shown.

29. That the entire episode has left the undersigned in an extremely bad taste and has resulted in needless mental tension and harassment and therefore nullified the very reason for an online purchase directly from the company. Each and everything which was sought to be avoided and was the very reason behind going on line directly through company has come to haunt. The undersigned feels cheated and defrauded, I have fumed and fretted, undergone unnecessary and uncalled for mental agony, needless physical discomfort and the entire episode has been the most horrendous one, with the pain having been compounded by the listless and unintelligent assistance at each and every stage having been provided by the sales representative, who was least concerned with the problems and addressed himself in air, divorced from the point in issue, what is the point in keeping such representatives who expertise either in misleading customers or a totally devoid of any cerebral prowess to conduct themselves rationally apart from saying “what can I do”.

30. That the “gloriously indifferent” attitude of your establishment does not ends here, the undersigned yesterday on the 22.10.2009 received an Email from your establishment intimating the undersigned of the case being proceeded as “return and refund”, now in the earlier Email dated 9.10.2009 Shri Prashant Bhatt had intimated that the complaint made by me had been escalated and the issue would be resolved at the earliest, it took your establishment 13 days proceeding further at the “escalated/break-neck speed”, that’s how efficient your establishment is, then again rather than providing any resolution the mail has made be undergo a fresh bout of fretting, when did I ask for the refund, under the law of consumer protection to what extent can you push around your customer and that to at you own pace intoxicated by the notion of being a multi billion dollar establishment. I am extremely pained to say that you are nothing but a corrupt business establishment which makes strenuous efforts to deprive and harasss a customer, there are no ethical principles that you follow but that of an unequal bargaining power to push and shove a customer and leave him high and dry.

31. I am afraid the facts and circumstances in the present case speak for themselves and manifestly demonstrate the grossest deficiency of service and unfair trade practice, the actions of your establishment have not only been malafide but also amounts to racial discrimination against people of India. Your establishment has an international presence and yet I am sure that nowhere but for in India you exhibit such callous and insensitive attitude and take the customers for ride by misleading them and making false representations, you have to remember that you do not dole out free products and have very stringent terms and conditions, this being so it does not stand to reason as to why your service should be of third rate. I am afraid, all that I can say from my experience is that your practice amounts to an “Unfair trade practice” and a time has come when you should be held accountable for the same and consequently compensate your customers who have been at the receiving end of such practices. You have to realize that you cannot give customers in India a substandard service and that it essentially has to be of world standards, I really doubt whether this is what your customers in Europe or the United States have to face.

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