Problem With Dell

[chinchi]

I posted this on Money Saving Expert, but for some reason, my posts aren't showing. If anybody can please help me with this, I will be very grateful!

My husband ordered a TomTom Go 740 Live from Dell on 07.07.09. We received an order confirmation email and given a delivery date of 15.07.09. The item was showing on the website as in stock at the time of ordering.

On 11.07.09, we received an email saying that as demand had exceeded their forecast, the revised delivery date would be 20.07.09.

On 16.07.09 we received an email in an identical format, giving us a new revised delivery date of 23.07.09.

On 17.07.09, we received a response to our email of complaint regarding the continuous change of delivery date, and when we asked to cancel the order, they told us:

When you placed your order it was ?locked down? ? and hence entered our automated process. As the order is locked down, I am afraid we cannot cancel the order.
If you wish to cancel the order kindly request you to accept the delivery and contact us within 7 days from the date of delivery, so that we can collect the order and process the refund.
The refund will be processed within 5-6 working days once the order is returned back to Dell.

On 21.07.09 we received yet another email giving us a revised estimated delivery date of 28.07.09.

The money for the item (£236) was taken out of our account last week, and we were given a delivery date of 28.08.09.

I again sent another email of complaint asking for the order to be cancelled and our money to be refunded. They replied on 12.08.09 saying that our order cannot be cancelled, and that the order will be delivered on 31.08.09! That is almost 2 months since we ordered the item!

Where do we stand with this? Any help would be very much appreciated.

[MaryBS]

Did you pay by credit card? It doesn't sound like it, but when I've not had any joy from the company, I pursue the credit card instead.

But they have broken their contract with you, because they repeatedly have not met the delivery day.

Perhaps your final email should be that if you do NOT receive the order on 31/8, they will be in breach of contract, and you will take steps to recover the money. Go down the CAB and get help on what to do...

[MaryBS]

And complain to the DELL chief exec.

[chinchi]

We paid by debit card.

Many thanks MaryBS. Will find out where the nearest CAB is.