I have been in business for decades, and currently do online marketing. So I am well aware of sales gimmicks and the need to make a profit but I also believe in treating everyone equally.
That’s why I was a little bit more than frustrated when trying to help a friend price out a new PC yesterday. I found the Dell Studio XPS 9100 was a great fit for his family, price – $1099. At this price the unit came packed with 8 GB RAM, 1 TB hard drive and a 2 year warranty – normally I go for three but this was fine in his mind.
So I printed a PDF of the build but then wanted to be able to send him the link to get started getting the right PC with the right components at the right price.
So I chose the Studio XPS 9100, starting at $999, but found the build was less than I had spec’d out before. So I upgraded the RAM from 4 to 8GB, the hard drive from 750GB to 1TB, the video card from 512 to 1024RAM and the warranty from 1 year to 2 years. Whew. Done.
Price? – $1458.99
Yep, $359 more.
Then I saw it.
On the first build, there was a “total savings” of $359. I had already compared the specification printout down to the last item and it was identical.
Turns out, if you started with XPS 9100 “starting at $1099”, you needed to make no changes and received a $359 discount.
If you choose the XPS 9100 “starting at $999”, then made changes to get to the SAME PC, no discount. I even went all the way to the shopping cart, ready to buy. No discount.
SAME EXACT PC!
That sucks, Dell.
I wasted at least a half hour of my time so I could figure out what was going on and get my friend to the right link and get the right PC at the right price.
If I had another PC that was as good for the price from someone else, I would have sent him there. Truth be told, though, the last time I was on HP’s website to buy I was so confused and disgusted that I left quickly.
And I understand PC’s, components and options probably 50 times better than their average customer. Think what these companies might sell in volume if they only had their head out of their [fade to black]
Want other tips on how to save money buying Dell online?
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