Help - I cannot get Dell to pay me for my DG terminated pension

[MikeyInMarin]

Background:
I have a pension from an employer (Data General) I left in 1999. Later DG was merged into EMC, then EMC was bought by Dell. Last year Dell decided to terminate the pension. I had not claimed the pension, so I chose to put the payout into my Rollover IRA. Over the last 6 months they have made a ridiculous number of 'undeliverable mail' failures getting a check delivered to me (and no, they refuse to do a wire).

Today the pension transition outsourcing company told me that the Dell contract is expired, and they cannot help me. I was told to talk to Dell. The problem: I have no direct way to contact Dell. They have ONLY outsourced HR, via 'dell@service-now.com' (I've sent an email). But ...

At this point, I am looking for creative suggestions for contacting them. Dell has gone out of its way to be unreachable!

 

[Sunset]

I can only think you need to contact your State and Federal gov't officials who are supposed to oversee pensions. And your congress representative.

This sounds pretty terrible.

 

[pb4uski]

I would file a complaint here:

Ask EBSA

www.dol.gov

 

[Jerry1]

I can only think you need to contact your State and Federal gov't officials who are supposed to oversee pensions. And your congress representative.

This sounds pretty terrible.

I think this ^ is probably the case but I'd try one thing first. Write a letter, a physical letter, sent certified, to the CEO of Dell. Most companies have a function called executive services that will handle issues sent to the CEO. Be brief but give some background and ask for a contact to assist you in resolving the issue. In my company, if Executive Services got hold of something, it was tracked until it was resolved. I've actually used that once as a retiree and it worked well. Good luck.

ETA - Found this with a search:

• Physical Mail: Address your letter to "Michael Dell" at Dell Technologies headquarters, 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, TX 78682, USA.

Of course Michael will never see it, but his team can probably get you to the right person to get this resolved.

 

[pb4uski]

^^^ Our company had the same thing. Any complaint to the CEO or the President received special handling by more senior personnel who were high enough up in the food chain to make things happen.

 

[SnowballCamper]

I thought PBGC did this sort of thing

Plan search | Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

www.pbgc.gov

 

[Kings over Queens]

Emails to the Board of Directors usually get some attention.

 

[Original Wally]

And, if all else fails, consult an attorney.

 

[rk911]

Lawyer. Now. Good luck.

 

[MikeyInMarin]

I think this ^ is probably the case but I'd try one thing first. Write a letter, a physical letter, sent certified, to the CEO of Dell. Most companies have a function called executive services that will handle issues sent to the CEO. Be brief but give some background and ask for a contact to assist you in resolving the issue. In my company, if Executive Services got hold of something, it was tracked until it was resolved. I've actually used that once as a retiree and it worked well. Good luck.

ETA - Found this with a search:

• Physical Mail: Address your letter to "Michael Dell" at Dell Technologies headquarters, 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, TX 78682, USA.

Of course Michael will never see it, but his team can probably get you to the right person to get this resolved.

Thanks for your suggestion.

I had previously considered that but thought that I would be ignored (I was never a Dell employee). But it’s worth a shot.

I also considered hiring a lawyer, as others suggested, but other than costing me money, wasn’t really clear what it (a law suit) would accomplish. Dell is intentionally making themselves hard to reach.

 

[pb4uski]

Try 1-800-466-2900 (Dell Retirement Service Center / Fidelity NetBenefits) or 1-888-335-5663 (Dell HR Service Center)

 

[MikeyInMarin]

Try 1-800-466-2900 (Dell Retirement Service Center / Fidelity NetBenefits) or 1-888-335-5663 (Dell HR Service Center)

Thanks, I couln't find a Dell HR phone number, only the netbenefits one.
I'll try it Monday.

 

[pb4uski]

Gemini is your friend. I put your query into Gemini and it gave me those numbers.

 

[jazz4cash]

Could you elaborate on the “undeliverable mail failure”? You described putting the payout into a Rollover IRA so maybe it was going to the new custodian? It sounds like you were in touch with admin for this benefit and I don’t know if there is 60 day rollover would apply. I know someone in a similar situation and I am trying to just offer advice without getting directly involved. Good luck.

 

[MikeyInMarin]

A great and unexpected turn of events:
Yesterday my check arrived!
So I don’t have to ask Michael Dell for help or hire a lawyer.

 

[Jerry1]

His team, using AI, saw his name mentioned here and got a check out asap.

 

[Al18]

That's great news! If it's a rollover, you have 60 days to get the money to a new broker to invest it.

 

[MikeyInMarin]

Could you elaborate on the “undeliverable mail failure”? You described putting the payout into a Rollover IRA so maybe it was going to the new custodian? It sounds like you were in touch with admin for this benefit and I don’t know if there is 60 day rollover would apply. I know someone in a similar situation and I am trying to just offer advice without getting directly involved. Good luck.

Undeliverable mail means that a check left the bank as snail mail, and then simply disappeared.

As to what went wrong, there isn’t a simple answer. There are two sources of problems:

Number 1: Miscommunication and general screwups
between the pension transition outsourcing company and the 2 pieces of the bank that actually manages, produces and mails the checks. For an example, someone simply doesn’t process a change request, so a check goes unchanged from the prior incorrect check. FYI, it takes a month to re-generate the check, with the first check made in September 2025.

Number 2: The bank that cuts the checks insisted upon having the check ‘pay to’ field and the recipient of the mail be the same (using a windowed envelope like a snail mail paycheck). That makes it REALLY hard to do an IRA rollover! It took god knows how many failures before they would allow the letter to be mailed to an address not on the check.

 

[jazz4cash]

Whole new spin on the old expression “the check’s in the mail”!