RFD/Ebates/Paypal and Cashback Issues with Dell

[Avenger]

Original mentions in this thread: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/dell-.../#post15850341

Just wanted to get a thread started for other users who are having the same issue. I made purchases during the Paypal cashback promotion. A few of my friends did too. EVERY transaction in which Paypal's cashback was doubled up with either RFD Cashback (or in my cases, Ebates), Dell declined to accept the payment. Dell would then proceed to contact the customer and advise their payment was "declined" by Paypal. Now, of course, given the amount of Paypal transactions I do, I knew this was a load of BS.

Long story short I contacted "Varun P 1800 847 4096 x 4162850", a "Sales Associate" who updated my payment method. He said there would be no cash back and insisted it was Paypal's issue.

I contacted Paypal and Ebates to confirm it was Dell. Subsequent orders with only 1 cashback selected worked. Payments with just Paypal only (no RFD link) worked. On calling again today Varun advised they know about the problem, and can give me a 5% credit since they are aware they were declining cash back orders. I declined and asked to be escalated - it is the principle of the error, and the fact they are screwing affiliates out of bigger sales. He said any customer who calls in can get a 5% credit for the cash back, but only 5%.

I then escalated it to the alleged "Canadian Online Sales Manager" for "all of Canada" at Rahim_Ahmed_B@dell.com, phone 1-800-8474096 x 4161992. He claimed it was Paypal who couldn't handle the "massive load" of traffic their daily deals generate, and that caused the errors. He then changed his story to acknowledging the cancellation of double cash back orders. I asked for a legal mailing address for head office, as well as a contact for a proper response on the issue and how it will be handled, and he said Dell didn't have a mailing address, and to email ca_onlinesales@dell.com, which he later confirmed will go to nobodies who are low level tech support for online orders, usually in Morocco.

Eventually I persuaded him to look up their head office, and he provided:
Dell Inc (Headquarters)
1 Dell Way
Round Rock, TX
78682

Claims orders were marked as declined to trigger reps to call and get CC info, thus voiding both cash back amounts. They were nice enough, however, to let you try to re-order at the non-sale price and try again if you wanted cash back. Here is a screenshot of their system showing it set to decline:


After talking to Dell, Ebates, and Paypal it is confirmed to be Dell cancelling, not an issue with either person. Paypal shared my sentiment that it is unlikely one retailer would cause any issues, and they are having calls about Dell alleging they declined payments, which is not true. I'll side with Paypal on this one.

TL: DR Version:
- If Dell made you change payment methods and you lost cash back, call to get a credit of 5% on your order, especially if it is a big one.
- Dell is cancelling (intentionally) orders that utilize Paypal cash back and any other form of cash back due to the discount amount
- anyone else experience this, especially with bigger orders? I know of at least 4 people other than myself in a similar situation, 2 of which ordered from an RFD link
- Does RFD care/are they aware Dell is reporting commissioned sales as cancelled, but simply swapping the payment method or re-taking the card information to avoid paying out the affiliate bonus to RFD/the customer? Thought it might be worth mentioning, especially if they can see the # of orders placed vs those "cancelled" and not paid out.

Just looking for some general feedback and similar experiences, and to bring this to light. In my case it was just a couple of dollars, but I imagine doing this is saving them a pretty penny on payouts. Maybe it is a big conspiracy theory, but after Dell confirmed this, I'd be interested to hear whether others went through this.

[AndrewRFD]

Thanks for the information. We're also looking into the situation.

[Cas77]

I had a somewhat similar experience, but it was trying to use the trio of ebates signup gift card for Dell, using paypal & getting cashback. Every condition on that Dell GC was fine. I got denied. I tried removing cashback (delete cookies)...would not work. I then tried cashback + gc and paying with visa didn't work. I tried straight GC and paypal. Again fail.

By this time it was almost 11:30 and the DoD deal was about to expire, so gave it one last ditch effort with ebates cashback + visa and it went through.

Now I'm stuck with a $10 GC from Dell with no intention of sending them another dime for a long while.

I took screenshots of everything...but was too lazy to send them to ebates. Maybe I will now.