Dell Financial Services - unable to contact after normal business hours - invoice arrived at home the day the payment was due - charged 19% interest for a six day late payment

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on February 1, 2003:

From: Email User RE: Dell Financial Services - unable to contact after normal business hours - invoice arrived at home the day the payment was due - charged 19% interest for a six day late payment

I am frustrated with their customer complaint access during non-business hours ... they have an 800 phone number that does not allow me to leave voice mail during non-office hours. Their web site (www.dellfinancialservices.com) does not have an address to leave an e-mail message during non-business hours. It only has sites to advertise more products and purchases at.

I would expect that being a integral part of the 24/7 internet, high tech, e-biz world, it would be a lot easier to reach them when you have a complaint than it turns out to be. My complaint is about deferred interest charges due on a 90 days same as cash promotion, that due to the timing of their invoicing and the time it takes to respond by mail (can't think of another way to get a check from Seattle, WA, to their processing center in Ilinois) it is virtually impossible to meet the payment due dates.

They are assessing $47.20 interest on a balance of $250.55 for a payment recieved 6 days after the cutoff -- Christmas, a weekend, and New Years Day account for part of the six days, for an invoice that arrived at my home on the day the payment was due. Thats 19% interest on what amounts to a six day loan!

All I want is a chance to talk to an empowered decision maker at Dell Financial Services ... which, as I have pointed out, is extremely difficult to do. If Dell expects to collect money on a 24/7 schedule why don't they make customer service available on a 24/7 schedule??