6/30/00
Dell Computer Corporation
1 Dell Way
Round Rock, TX 78682
You have lost a customer due to rudeness and incompetency. You may not be aware of the extremely pervasive nature of misinformation, disorganization and incompetency within your organization. Presented below is substantiating information; I encourage you to directly address and rectify these issues.
1. On 6 June, 2000 you sent a June 2000 business solutions catalog to my name and address listed at the end of this letter.* You may not place my name, this address or any of my other addresses, my phone, or email addresses on any mailing lists of any kind, nor release them to anyone else. You still have not honored this simple request, nor even responded to my request. This is not acceptable.
2. Multiple times over two weeks, I called several of your 800 and direct lines and asked for the Marketing, Direct Mailing, and IS departments. Each time, I was transferred to Customer Service, or Small Business Sales, even though I requested a specific department. Finally I was told that operators are not given a departmental directory. They only have listings of thousands of individual names. This clearly is not acceptable.
3. During the process, I have been placed on hold for cumulative hours, and have been repeatedly forced to listen to ads and distasteful music while on hold. This is completely unacceptable.
4. Each time I was finally able to contact a real person, my request was simple: to delete my name and address from Dell's mailing list and to provide me the name of the firm Dell bought the mailing list from, so that I could deal with the problem at the source. When I asked to speak with Customer Service managers on multiple occurrences about this problem they repeatedly avoided a) talking with me personally, b) accepting responsibility for the problem, and c) providing me with a name or department responsible for resolving the problem.
5. When transferred to Customer Service, they repeatedly refused to handle my request even though I provided them with the address you mailed to. They demanded an account number before they would talk to me, so I was forced to provide them with a non-related account number for a purchase I made previously. Of course, this had no relevance to the problem, requiring additional time on my part to break through your idiocy barrier.
6. On 6 June at 15:22, I spoke to Kyuanna in Customer Service. She flatly refused to believe me that Dell had sent me the catalog I was holding in my hands. She refused to connect me with her manager. This level is rudeness is absolutely unacceptable.
7. On 12 June, I discussed the problem with another Customer Service representative, who did talk with her supervisor, Terry, who told her to brush me off. She did.
8. On another call, I was told that Dell bought my name from Dunn and Bradstreet. A subsequent call to D&B confirmed that they have no record of me or my addresses.
9. When discussing the problem with another Customer Service representative, she insisted the Direct Marketing Association sold their mail suppression list and I should contact the DMA. I politely corrected her and she rudely repeated her assertion again and again. Clearly your representatives are not trained in courtesy nor Dell's mailing practices. In fact, the more individuals I spoke with, the more it became clear that they were deliberately misinformed as part of their training on two counts: a) the fact that Dell buys and mails to mailing lists, and b) how to handle customer requests for privacy. (Correct information on DMA suppression lists can be found here ).
10. All my addresses, including the one you are mailing to, have been registered with the DMA for years. Thus, it is patently clear that Dell and its agents do not use and honor DMA suppression lists. This is completely unacceptable.
11. After speaking with over a dozen people at Dell, the only helpful person was Marla in Sales, x47166. She was extremely courteous, friendly, and helpful. She followed through by contacting her manager Brian P. Casey - who, of course, skirted dealing with the problem.
12. In no case did anyone I talked to refer me to Dell's privacy web page at http://www.dell.com/policy/privacy.htm. There, an opt-out link takes you to https://dell.acxiom.com/DELL_OPT/takeoff.htm.
Now this is interesting. Acxiom is a major junkmail junkmail list broker. Acxiom sells mailing lists to Bigfoot and other companies. The implication is clear - that Dell contracts with Acxoim to manage their junkmailing.
Where did Dell (or Axciom) get my name and address in order to junkmail me? This particular address has never been used for anything other than a mailing address for a registered internet domain. The only way to get a list of internet domain registrants such as myself who have opted out from Network Solutions marketing databases is via the illicit Internet Manager Master File. This list is illicitly compiled by stealing registrant information from Internic TLD Zone Files, or by programmatically stealing registrant information from Network Solutions via automated whois commands. The list is sold primarily by list broker Direct Media in California (Rich Parker 925.975.4664 - interestingly, his voicemail states "Bigfoot"). Direct Media claims they buy the list from the listowner who resides in Malaysia and England. The company is registered in England as Advanced Systems, owned by Dale Hubbard. More information can be found here.
Bottom line: Dell is mailing to an illicit mailing list and makes every attempt, either deliberately or through abject incompetency, to misinform their customers as to this fact and to refuse to honor their privacy requests.
Fred Elbel
(Information from mailing label included here)
In case you, too, have to go through Dell Hell, here is a list of VPs of various departments: http://www.dell.com/us/en/gen/corporate/biography/biography_generic.htm
(To get there from www.dell.com, select "about Dell", then "Direct Access").
Corporate switchboard: 512.338.4400
800.624.9896 customer service: select /4 /2 /5 /5
Dell Computer Corporation
1 Dell Way
Round Rock, TX 78682
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