Dell Slow to Cut Soldier’s Interest Rate

The Watchdog has a soft spot for soldiers and their families.

We’ve worked to help military personnel stationed overseas whom AT&T unfairly charged as much as thousands of dollars for calling or texting back home.

We solved a problem that a soldier in Iraq had with United Parcel Service regarding a lost gift for his grandmother.

And we helped an Army sergeant in Afghanistan deal with his homeowners association when it came knocking on his wife’s door in Mansfield to complain about the condition of their front lawn.

Now we turn our attention to Dell. The computer maker declined to respond to repeated requests from a Fort Worth woman whose husband is an Army specialist stationed near Fallujah in Iraq.

When Lance Garrett temporarily left his job as a Fort Worth police officer to serve in the military, his wife, Michelle, immediately contacted a dozen of the family’s creditors to request a reduction of the interest rate charged on their loans.

According to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act of 2003, creditors, when presented with proper paperwork such as deployment orders, must lower the interest rate on loans to 6 percent for the duration of the deployment.

All creditors promptly agreed, except for Dell.

Dell was charging the family 22.74 percent for a desktop computer purchased before Lance Garrett left for Iraq.

An irate Michelle Garrett launched a mini e-mail campaign to about 20 of her friends, asking them to write to Dell on her behalf.

As she explained in that e-mail, after her initial request: "I never heard back from Dell Finance. I sent the paperwork in again with no response. I then called Dell Finance and was told that since the account was technically in my name, they would need a copy of our marriage license. I faxed that over immediately along with the power of attorney and another copy of his military orders.

"Still no response, but the bills are coming in with a 22.74 percent interest rate. In December, I called again [six months later] and was finally told that Dell would not honor the act. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told no one was available but he would call me as soon as he got off the phone. He still hasn’t called."

She concluded to her friends, "Please help me in my campaign to get Dell Finance to show honor and respect for these families."

Garrett says the family’s income suffers because her husband is not around to get the moonlighting jobs available to police officers. Those jobs boosted the family budget.

In recent years, Dell’s customer service has been a hot topic. Blogger Jeff Jarvis, creator of Buzzmachine.com, started a consumer revolution with a posting a few years ago about his "lemony laptop and torturous service."

At first, Dell didn’t respond to the many postings that followed Jarvis’ original complaint. But eventually, the Round Rock-based company realized that it was a smarter strategy to embrace the online community. Dell even brought Jarvis in for meetings with top executives.

Dell created online forums and internal and external blogs. Founder Michael Dell preached how outside critics can make the company better.

A Dell spokesman told me that some product warranties were expanded. Dell’s "resolution experts" received better training. The number of transfers on customer calls decreased, and Better Business Bureau complaints dropped.

"We think we’re making some significant progress," Dell spokesman David Frink said.

Somehow, though, Michelle Garrett’s complaint slipped through the cracks.

After I talked to Dell about her case, the company moved her complaint into what it calls its "escalation queue." Eventually, she received an apology letter. Her rate dropped to 6 percent.

Garrett told me that the Dell official who called her "said that the marriage license had been sent to a different department, and he just got it. Obviously, that’s not quite the case, but I didn’t argue the point."

Frink declined to talk about Garrett’s case, citing company policy that gives "a level of privacy" to customers and their complaints.

All he will say is, "I believe that we’ve resolved the issue."

The Watchdog applauds Dell’s efforts to correct previous customer-service problems.

And Watchdog would like to help. So if you have a problem with Dell, write to me at The Watchdog, c/o Star-Telegram, P.O. Box 1870, Fort Worth, TX 76101. Or send me an e-mail to watchdog@star-telegram.com.

When I asked the Dell spokesman if there is a company slogan, he said no but added: "Our goal is to listen to customers and deliver to them the information technology they need. If anything, it would be ‘Dell listens.’"

Good enough. The Watchdog wants to help Dell do that.

Servicemembers Civil Relief Act

The measure helps reduce financial obligations for military personnel and their families. Here’s how:

Individuals can break a lease when they go on active duty.

Military members can also terminate automobile leases when they are gone for at least 180 days.

The act offers protection against repossessions for items bought under installment contracts.

Percentage rates for credit cards, loans and mortgages can be capped at 6 percent.

Service members who are defendants in civil court proceedings may request a minimum 90-day postponement.

Source: U.S. military