How To Get Around Dell Order Cancellations
Shopping on Dell for many in this hobby is a hot topic for several reasons. First off, American Express Business Platinum has a $400 credit per year, broken down into a $200 credit every six months. Second, Dell is frequently at an elevated offer on shopping portals such as Rakuten. The Dell credit is where a lot of the value resides with the Business Platinum card perks and is a key factor as you evaluate whether to pay an annual fee on or not on the card past year 1. However, what some have to go through just to use the credits is sometimes a bit crazy. It almost borders on false advertising of the credit when Dell procedures get involved. That is because many people run into Dell order cancellation issues. We wanted to share some tips on how to get around Dell order cancellations.
What Is The Yearly Dell Credit?
The Dell credit on the Amex Business Platinum totals $400 in statement credits split up into $200 semi annually. This means you get one credit for January through June and one for July through December. It is important to note that Dell typically only charges you when the item ships. This means if you do any purchases close to the cutoff dates it has to be something in stock and ready to ship. Any delay may push it into the next credit and cost you to miss out on some value from your card. Finally since these are statement credits, they count as spend on your card if working on a sign up bonus, but we still suggest you don't count on them as such.
How To Use The Amex Business Platinum Dell Credit
First off, you must enroll in your American Express benefits section. We always recommend knowing and reviewing your benefits section so you understand them. Once you are enrolled you may want to give it a day to fully activate. After that you simply go on to Dell and shop. You should go through a shopping portal to Dell for extra earnings. Travel On Point(s) is a big fan of stacking offers and deals to earn extra.
Dell Cancelling Orders Right & Left
Everything so far sound easy and a great way to use your credits, right? Well, until you buy something Dell doesn’t likes. If you do that they just cancel your order with no explanation. Often times you don't even get an email that it was canceled and sometimes there is nothing in your orders list to show you even tried. At those times you need to go to your Amex account and see if the pending charge was automatically refunded. If you decide to try again, that order will be cancelled too . Set up another account and might get one order through, then the cancelations start again. Rinse and repeat.
The first issue is if you buy too much of anything in a limited time. The data points on this slightly vary. However, yes, Dell a company that sells items as a business may not let you make 6 or more purchases in 6 months. Imagine having a business card, being encouraged to do business with a company that actually doesn’t want your business. It doesn’t even matter what kind of items. Battery chargers, laptop cases, computers, webcams, and anything else you desire. It would be like having your Uber eats credits but not being allowed to order food more than Uber Eats decided. I am not sure in what world this makes sense. They claim they are trying to stop resellers but that would only make sense if they had limits on individual items not on EVERYTHING.
My Recent Experience
In 2021, I bought some Xbox gift cards when they were in stock on Dell. This is a popular item for those with kids like me. They have many other items that would make great gifts for your kids. I have tried to use my credits every year since this purchase and had nothing but issues. As I mentioned above it does not matter what the items are. It is believed that Dell didn't like people buying lots of gift cards. Fine, but why block all other orders that are not for gift cards too?
They did not care that I was shipping them to my own home in a state with high tax. No funny business here, just trying to order items. It does not matter to Dell, they will cancel your orders. I would think something was wrong and try a new account. It would let me place an order then cancel any more. It go so bad that I had to call in and order over the phone and those would go out without any issues. The downside is this is time consuming and removes any shopping portal earning.
How To Get Around Dell Order Cancellations: Enough is Enough
In 2023, I finally decided I had enough. I heard data points of people having their accounts freed up with a call so I decided to try my luck with Dell customer service. This lead me on long and tedious conversations with multiple reps, supervisors and even emails from Dell. All of this just so I could give them my money, crazy!
It did not take long to determine why there were so many issues, Dell labeled me as a reseller. They claimed it was because of the Xbox gift cards I purchased in the past. I even tried pointing out that I was paying almost 10% tax and they could not tell me how this would make sense for a reseller to do. Because I was labeled a reseller I was getting nowhere and they refused to do much of anything about it.
A Resolution, Maybe
I pushed hard, with discussion of how I felt this could be a valid Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaint (CFPB). My stance was that if a credit card company gives you a benefit to buy at a certain company, you should be able to. If a company refuses to sell you products they have on their website this is an issue. Furthermore, they will not ship them directly to you. All of this felt like borderline fraud, if not false advertising. I made them aware I felt they were a part of this. All I wanted to do was use my business card benefits and spend money with them. Eventually I got high enough in the supervisor ranks to be told I would be contacted via email. I went so far as to have them email me while on the phone for verification, since I was apprehensive.
Sure enough I was emailed and told I could order but I had to email them with my order to verify apparently. My online order was immediately confirmed and shipped shortly after.
Other Options On How To Get Around Dell Order Cancellations
I figured it was worth compiling all of the data points we have seen for other workarounds on how to get around Dell order cancellations:
- Set up a new business Dell account with a work email (not a Gmail or Yahoo address etc.) tend to work better
- If you can adjust the address some from your other account that may help too. W instead of West, St instead of street or vice versa etc.
- Set up an account for a spouse or family member
- Call in to try to get your account unlocked
- Place orders via Dell chat
- Have them give you a quote for an item over the phone. You miss out on cashback portals going this route so I would wait till nothing else works to try this.
ToP Thoughts: Dell Order Cancellation Issue
The only way this makes any sense is that Dell pays American Express something back for the credit. My guess is they hope to capture more business from it. However, with that being said, they need to make that clear on their site and ask American Express to do the same. Are you getting orders cancelled? Come over to our Facebook group and share your thoughts.
