"Free monitor upgrade" dirty trick

Two days ago I configured two Dimension 9100 systems and put them in my
online shopping cart. The system with the features I really wanted came to
$1677. I already have a nice monitor, but part of the base package was a 17'
CRT which I decided to accept because there was only a $20 reduction for not
taking it. I figured I would give it away to a relative or sell it at a
garage sale.

Today while Googling for something completely unrelated, I stumbled on a
Dell page offering Dimension 9100 systems with free monitor upgrades that
now included a "19 inch E193FP Analog Flat Panel" and a "17 inch UltrasharpT
1704FPT Digital Flat Panel". Wow, that's much more interesting than a free
$20 CRT, so I go back to the Dell site, log on, and open my shopping cart.
Immediately two messages flash by saying "system is invalid" or such, and my
shopping cart magically is empty. No big deal, I think, it's just a web page
screwup and it will only take five minutes to configure another system.
Going through the process, I see that the price of every single enhancement
I wanted has gone up, a lot. Even the $8 operating system backup CD is now
$10.

Bottom line, my $1677 system is now $1857. If I go for it I'll be stuck
with a $200 flat panel screen I don't need instead of a $20 CRT.

I think for Dell to do this is sleazy marketing, and bad customer relations.
This would be my 4th Dell system, but now I'm not sure I want it.

Cliff Chinaski wrote:

Two days ago I configured two Dimension 9100 systems and put them in my
online shopping cart. The system with the features I really wanted came to
$1677. I already have a nice monitor, but part of the base package was a 17'
CRT which I decided to accept because there was only a $20 reduction for not
taking it. I figured I would give it away to a relative or sell it at a
garage sale.

Today while Googling for something completely unrelated, I stumbled on a
Dell page offering Dimension 9100 systems with free monitor upgrades that
now included a "19 inch E193FP Analog Flat Panel" and a "17 inch UltrasharpT
1704FPT Digital Flat Panel". Wow, that's much more interesting than a free
$20 CRT, so I go back to the Dell site, log on, and open my shopping cart.
Immediately two messages flash by saying "system is invalid" or such, and my
shopping cart magically is empty. No big deal, I think, it's just a web page
screwup and it will only take five minutes to configure another system.
Going through the process, I see that the price of every single enhancement
I wanted has gone up, a lot. Even the $8 operating system backup CD is now
$10.

Bottom line, my $1677 system is now $1857. If I go for it I'll be stuck
with a $200 flat panel screen I don't need instead of a $20 CRT.

I think for Dell to do this is sleazy marketing, and bad customer relations.
This would be my 4th Dell system, but now I'm not sure I want it.

Did you print out your original quote? If so, I'd imagine/hope that Dell would
honor it.

Give them a call!

Notan

How, exactly, were you getting to the page to configure your system?
Through the Dell Outrageous Deals link, the Dell Outlet Store, the Home and
Home Office link on the Dell home page at www.dell.com, or some other link?
You will find that the system price will depend on exactly how you got to
the system and through which links were used to get you there.

"Notan" wrote in message
...
Cliff Chinaski wrote:

Two days ago I configured two Dimension 9100 systems and put them in my
online shopping cart. The system with the features I really wanted came
to
$1677. I already have a nice monitor, but part of the base package was a
17'
CRT which I decided to accept because there was only a $20 reduction for
not
taking it. I figured I would give it away to a relative or sell it at a
garage sale.

Today while Googling for something completely unrelated, I stumbled on a
Dell page offering Dimension 9100 systems with free monitor upgrades that
now included a "19 inch E193FP Analog Flat Panel" and a "17 inch
UltrasharpT
1704FPT Digital Flat Panel". Wow, that's much more interesting than a
free
$20 CRT, so I go back to the Dell site, log on, and open my shopping
cart.
Immediately two messages flash by saying "system is invalid" or such, and
my
shopping cart magically is empty. No big deal, I think, it's just a web
page
screwup and it will only take five minutes to configure another system.
Going through the process, I see that the price of every single
enhancement
I wanted has gone up, a lot. Even the $8 operating system backup CD is
now
$10.

Bottom line, my $1677 system is now $1857. If I go for it I'll be stuck
with a $200 flat panel screen I don't need instead of a $20 CRT.

I think for Dell to do this is sleazy marketing, and bad customer
relations.
This would be my 4th Dell system, but now I'm not sure I want it.

Did you print out your original quote? If so, I'd imagine/hope that Dell
would
honor it.

Give them a call!

Notan

"Cliff Chinaski" wrote in message
news:X4RKe.5426$rY.646@trndny03...
Two days ago I configured two Dimension 9100 systems and put them in my
online shopping cart. The system with the features I really wanted came to
$1677. I already have a nice monitor, but part of the base package was a
17' CRT which I decided to accept because there was only a $20 reduction
for not taking it. I figured I would give it away to a relative or sell
it at a garage sale.

Today while Googling for something completely unrelated, I stumbled on a
Dell page offering Dimension 9100 systems with free monitor upgrades that
now included a "19 inch E193FP Analog Flat Panel" and a "17 inch
UltrasharpT 1704FPT Digital Flat Panel". Wow, that's much more interesting
than a free $20 CRT, so I go back to the Dell site, log on, and open my
shopping cart. Immediately two messages flash by saying "system is
invalid" or such, and my shopping cart magically is empty. No big deal, I
think, it's just a web page screwup and it will only take five minutes to
configure another system. Going through the process, I see that the price
of every single enhancement I wanted has gone up, a lot. Even the $8
operating system backup CD is now $10.

Bottom line, my $1677 system is now $1857. If I go for it I'll be stuck
with a $200 flat panel screen I don't need instead of a $20 CRT.

I think for Dell to do this is sleazy marketing, and bad customer
relations. This would be my 4th Dell system, but now I'm not sure I want
it.

It's Thursday. IIRC, Dell updated their special in Thursdays. For future
reference, print the config or create a PDF and in most cases Dell will
honor the configuration sometimes as long as 30 days from when you priced it
out. (at least business sale does) Yet another reason to always buy from
the business side of the house.

--

Rob

It's not exactly a dirty trick here. Dell changes the pricing and special
offers (e.g. free shipping, free memory upgrade, free monitor, ad nauseam) on
its web site VERY frequently. I'm not sure what sort of algorithm is in place,
but it's obviously computerized and it takes into account customer demand on one
side and whatever is being milled out on the assembly line on the other side.
It surely takes into account the changes in their buying prices of commodity
items such as CPUs, hard drives, etc.

I think the intent here is to get people to buy in impulse when they see what
they think is a really good deal. But it may also encourage people to put off
buying, waiting to see the next special offer.

This very flaky pricing scheme does not exactly give a warm feeling, does it?
Nor does one get a warm feeling when the price of a computer at the "factory
outlet" is higher than an EXACT model through the regular on-line "store".

.... Ben Myers

On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 23:22:31 GMT, "Cliff Chinaski" wrote:

Two days ago I configured two Dimension 9100 systems and put them in my
online shopping cart. The system with the features I really wanted came to
$1677. I already have a nice monitor, but part of the base package was a 17'
CRT which I decided to accept because there was only a $20 reduction for not
taking it. I figured I would give it away to a relative or sell it at a
garage sale.

Today while Googling for something completely unrelated, I stumbled on a
Dell page offering Dimension 9100 systems with free monitor upgrades that
now included a "19 inch E193FP Analog Flat Panel" and a "17 inch UltrasharpT
1704FPT Digital Flat Panel". Wow, that's much more interesting than a free
$20 CRT, so I go back to the Dell site, log on, and open my shopping cart.
Immediately two messages flash by saying "system is invalid" or such, and my
shopping cart magically is empty. No big deal, I think, it's just a web page
screwup and it will only take five minutes to configure another system.
Going through the process, I see that the price of every single enhancement
I wanted has gone up, a lot. Even the $8 operating system backup CD is now
$10.

Bottom line, my $1677 system is now $1857. If I go for it I'll be stuck
with a $200 flat panel screen I don't need instead of a $20 CRT.

I think for Dell to do this is sleazy marketing, and bad customer relations.
This would be my 4th Dell system, but now I'm not sure I want it.

"Cliff Chinaski" wrote in message
news:X4RKe.5426$rY.646@trndny03...


Cliff,

Try again from here. Maybe you'll wind up with a 20"LCD instead of a 17" or
19" :

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/prod...=04&l=en&s=bsd


Stew

On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 19:09:13 -0500, "S.Lewis"
wrote:


"Cliff Chinaski" wrote in message
news:X4RKe.5426$rY.646@trndny03...


Cliff,

Try again from here. Maybe you'll wind up with a 20"LCD instead of a 17" or
19" :

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/prod...=04&l=en&s=bsd


Stew


I've been holding off replacing my 4550, but.....hmmmm......

Dave wrote:

On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 19:09:13 -0500, "S.Lewis"
wrote:


"Cliff Chinaski" wrote in message
news:X4RKe.5426$rY.646@trndny03...


Cliff,

Try again from here. Maybe you'll wind up with a 20"LCD instead of a 17" or
19" :

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/prod...=04&l=en&s=bsd


Stew


I've been holding off replacing my 4550, but.....hmmmm......

There's alway going to be a better deal, tomorrow.

If you wait, you'll never buy anything!

Notan

Thanks for all the good advice. I'll probably be calling Dell to ask for the original $1676 pricing
from 8/5. Luckily I did do a 'Print Cart' that day. I didn't know about the many entrance points
into the buying system you guys pointed out, so I made a comparison spreadsheet. This is not exactly
an apples-to-apples comparison due to some mouse and service plan selection differences, but you can
see the pricing of each item for each plan. Item prices vary and of course free monitors aren't
really free. As Ben commented above, this marketing approach does not provide a 'warm feeling'.


Columns 1 & 2 are Home and Home Office, prices from a straight visit to dell.com. Column 3 is from
the Outrageous Deals link given by Stew. Column 4 is from Small Business, from a straight visit to
dell.com, with only a 1-year warranty selected.

Sorry about posting in HTML format, it's the only way I could get the columns to line up.




ORIGINAL
NEW
"OUTRAG-
"SMALL


PRICES
PRICES
EOUS DEALS"
BUSINESS"


8/5
8/11
8/11
8/12

PENTIUM 4 3GHZ W/ XP HOME





BASE PRICE
1034
1078
936
706







MAIL-IN REBATE


-100








2 GB MEMORY
338
450
420
420







17' CRT FREE
YES




19' OR 17' FLAT SCREEN FREE

YES



20' FLAT WIDE SCREEN FREE


YES


NO MONITOR



-279







DELL COLOR PRINTER FREE
YES
YES









256MB ATI VIDEO CARD
0
0
40
40

250 GB HARD DRIVE
60
80
140
140

3.5 FLOPPY
30
40
30
30







DELL USB MOUSE
0




LOGITECH OPTICAL MOUSE

50
50
50

DATA FAX MODEM
0
0
20
20

DUAL 16x DVD, 48x CD-RW
0
0
69
69

NO SPEAKERS





MS OFFICE BASIC
112
149
149
149

NO SECURITY





BACKUP OPSYS CD
8
10
NONE
NONE







3YR WTY, AT HOME SVC
59




3YR ON-SITE ECONOMY PLAN


149


1YR WARRANTY

0



"NO EXTENDED ON-SITE SVC"



YES







SURGE PROT
35

35
35







TOTAL
1676
1857
1938
1659

Sorry about that mess, you can find the speadsheet nicely aligned in newsgroup alt.test since I
can't figure out how to do it here. Same subject line over there.