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- ziggystardust, on 10/12/2007, -6/+43Yeah well that's close to bait-and-switch and BS imo. What is even worse about all this is the Dell pop-under ad that appears when reading the story. So wtf is that about? Making $ when I view the story on how Dell misleads people? That's a bit misleading.
- thewebguy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+34eh, i don't really mean to defend dell but i would assume this is some sort of mistake on their part, or that of the 23 people who complained. i highly doubt that dell is trying to squeeze that extra 50 squid per computer out of customers by lying, since it isn't really hard to convince customers that they will need some other peripheral.
- strictnein, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23"Dell's response was that when customers selected a computer on the website they were shown a price that included a number of pre-selected options. It claimed that text, prominently displayed, informed readers that the price included an 'upgraded service package' and that they could reach the advertised price by downgrading elements of the package."
So, the laptop was available for 299 once you removed the options. Standard practice for most online shops. How many times have you been ordering a computer and you notice they stuck on a UPS or a laptop bag in the 3rd or 4th accessory page? Somewhat misleading, but I wouldn't call it lying. - CorpT, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19If you need to finance $910, you don't need the laptop. If you'd stop buying things you don't need you wouldn't need to finance things and keep paying interest.
- isthisnametaken, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16Dell always does this. Also I hate how when you click on the "$799" pc as soon as you go to customize it the price shoots up to $999 and you spend 20 min figuring out what was added.
That's why Dell sucks, Newegg FTW - thegreatsam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11It's not a case of bait and switch. Bait and switch is when an advertised item is NOT available, but another a substituted item is at a higher price. AFAIK, the original item is/was still for sale, and a different price. Typographical error at best, fraud at worst, but it is NOT a bait and switch.
Consumers thrown out the term bait and switch too fast for anything they feel they are wronged for. I used to work at a retail store where we had to wear red shirts, and as hard as some people found it to believe, yes, we ran out of some items that were in advertisements. When we told them that there were no more left to buy, and that we were not offering a replacement, I personally would get accused of bait and switch all the time. People need to understand what that term really means, before throwing it out there.
Same thing with those people who say "free as in beer", who really don't know what the hell they are talking about. - sremick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12For those of you complaining about Dell... stop buying the crappy low-end Inspirons and Dimensions made to compete with Gateways, and start ordering the Optiplexes and Latitudes. You'll not only get better, more-reliable hardware, but your tech-support will be US-based and not outsourced to India.
- rotten777, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11are you seriously asking what are the alternatives?
last i checked, dell was far from being the only pc manufacturer. they may be the "most popular" but there are definitely other options. - ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10You are just wrong.
- Anti, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I imagine the ad is just based on words in the story, which is about dell, therefore dell shows up a lot. Correct me if I'm wrong.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8"There is also the issue of rebates"
This is a UK issue. We don't do stuff like that here, thank god. - DanThe1Man, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Did anyone else immediately start looking for the $350 laptop only to find it was in pounds?
- socoolisme, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Just like Apple.
- lunk, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11If you were using a real webbrowser (cough *firefox *cough*), I believe you wouldn't have seen any popup/popunder advertising :)
Just a friendly FYI - spthomas, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Someone better do something about this, next thing you know automobile manufactures will be pulling this kind of crap!!
- SaumZ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Dell is always changing their prices online. I was looking up prices for quotes for the company I work for, and 2 days later the computer I was looking at was $30 higher.
I think they change the prices on the website, and they don't get the new commercials made, produced, voiced over, and sent to all of the stations before they change the price online.
I work for a broadcast company, and we always get things like that. People calling 5-10 minutes before their commercial is supposed to air wanting to change prices, deals, etc. And we can't do it in that ammount of time.
I don't think they did it intentionally, it's just either a miscommunication or a lag in the time it takes for the deal to propagate through all of the television stations.
It's a lot quicker to change a price online than it does in a commercial. I'm sure they will fix it soon. - maninblac1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5So car manufacturers like GM can say that they're car starts at X amount, in the fine print it states the one shown in the add is valued at Y amount(but that's not of consequence), but i challenge you to go a dealership and find said car that is at it's base price. If this dell add is misleading than so are every car manufacturer's ad. I suspect dell will appeal and win.
- TheSak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5People really should stop buying stuff they can't afford:
http://danwho.net/mp/index.php?id=snl_dontbuystuff - d2nd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Please stop bashing on Indian tech support. Its not like US-based tech support is any better. Indian (and other non-US) tech's are typically alot more courteous.
The AOL call was US based tech support.
Calling tech support is almost always going to be painful for tech savy users. - Jeebugorn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@ccanni
Hateway merged with eMachines - gweedo767, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4If you had read the terms of your contract with them you would have already noticed that the default rate on those accounts is over 20%. Who in their right mind would use that option? If you can't afford a $900 laptop right then, wait a few months, then buy it. Or atleast use a lower interest rate credit card...of course...if you can't afford a $900 laptop right then, your Credit card rates are probably > 20% too.
- ngageguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This appears to be a UK division of Dell and the laws are a little different there I guess. It is still just rude and wrong to expect the average person to come to a website for a advertised price and then have to downgrade a PC/Laptop to get that price, it should be the default. I just helped a friend who got 3 dell laptops for their family and I couldn't believe the CRAP that comes pre-loaded and installed. Took me about an hour each to dump the garbage on these. Trial-version, demos, special offers. Now they all boot and are ready to work/surf in about 1 minute. Would be nice if Dell installed the freakin' Windows Updates also!!!!
- ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"The car add *doesn't* say "Go to http://ford.com/cheapcar" to get this car at this price!! and then show the car with some options added on and a higher price"
No, it says to go to the dealership to get the car, and when you ask for that car they will show you the same model as seen in the ad, not the same model as priced in the ad.
"The car ad has the disclaimer. The dell ad had no disclaimer."
RTFA. "'We considered that the text on the website which said "For your added protection the above price includes an upgraded service package. To reach the advertised price please select a downgraded service from the Support Services section below""
They had that disclaimer line on the website, just not on the ad. In the US, that is enough to be legal, I guess it isn't there though. - merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3There's are a few distinctions:
1) The car add *doesn't* say "Go to http://ford.com/cheapcar" to get this car at this price!! and then show the car with some options added on and a higher price
2) The car ad has the disclaimer. The dell ad had no disclaimer.
That little line of text is there for a reason. And it makes all the difference in the world. Car ads like that walk a very thin line. Dell crossed it. - SweeterThnEqual, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I learned my lesson after a string of broken Dells, and bought a cheap laptop on sale at Best Buy, along with their best 3 year warranty. No, the computer was not perfect, but I could bring it in, talk to humans in person, and the "Geek Squad" had to fix everything for free. Dell's warrant consists of phone conversations, and it ends before you've even had time to figure out if your parts are defective. Extra $50 off or not, it's best to stay away from Dell. I no longer trust them.
- usefulidiot, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Dells financial services are crooks. To finance a 910$ laptop the total cost of borrowing was $725. Its nuts how they gouge people.
- mike1979, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I've seen this with laptops and desktops as well. Sometimes they'll even advertise it right on the front page, and when you go and click on the link, the price is $50 higher.
I thought it was carbon unit failure (on my part at first) but I've experienced this a couple of times now, so I'm not surprised at all. ***** Dell. - dartmanx, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Dell lies in the commercial where the guy is on the phone ordering from someone with a non-Indian accent, don't they?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"Fine print" should be disallowed and filed under unfair business practices.
That way you're no longer duped with the "299" (tiny unreadable print: "after rebates" or "taxes" or "shipping") or whatever loophole they decide to dupe customers with.
If you put 349 with fine print saying "price will be lower after rebate" that's one thing, but to trick people into thinking that is the actual cost... is wrong.
Happens all the time. - tHePeOPle, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5@MoeTee
Would you like to apply for Dell credit? It's a great deal. Plus, we'll throw in a Free Dell DJ Ditty mp3 player! Still not interested? How about we up the MB to a whopping 512 on that Free Dell DJ Ditty mp3 player? We can't understand why you'd pass up a deal like this Mr. MoeTee. - cadavreexquis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Agreed, actually, there's been a flurry of OMG-WTF-BBQ posts lately.
- vdxc, on 09/29/2008, -0/+3and what's even more interesting is that Sony believe the same as gxcdesign. PS3 is same units but in £ instead of $ in the UK, which means we nearly pay double.
- salmacis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's not at all misleading. If it was misleading, the ASA would not have upheld the complaint. Maybe Dell would have got away with it in the USA. We're not talking about the USA here, we're talking about the UK.
- vdxc, on 09/29/2008, -0/+3meh, in the UK the ads say it because there are no Dell stores in the UK, i guess they should change it to 'Dell don't sell in shops in the UK' but then again, not many americans watch british tv adverts.
- DanThe1Man, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@gxcdesign
according to Google:
1 British pounds = 1.8668 U.S. dollars
299 pounds equals $558.17
350 pounds equals $653.38 - millixaw, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Dell's tech support is based out of India. Does Dell offer some special, magical US-based tech support for their higher-end products?
- surfit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Just to note, Dell UK TV advertisements always quote a URL, something like dell.co.uk/tv which purposely display all prices as advertised - even when they screw up and sell stuff for £100 too little like they did last year. If they didn't do this then the ASA would be on their backs all the time.
- cooltom2006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Tell us something new!
- DanThe1Man, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@mporcheron
I noticed that about a lot of things when I was England two years ago. Things that would cost 99 cents in America would cost .99 pounds in Britain. My American dollars didn't buy that much after I exchanged them.
A funnier thing happened when I was in Burma. Some of the local merchants didn't know that about 2000 Burmese notes equaled about $0.50 in US currency. When I ran out of converted currency, it was hard to buy stuff with paper that had a 1 on it. - spitfire6006006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2where do you order? somewhere pther than dell, for one.
- SnuKs, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5$299 is for the exploding edition-
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"eric0213, read the comment by tHePeOPle.
Many times the lowest price is NOT the least expensive option."
The sort of failure tHePeOPle mentions is covered by waranty. That's one of the *good* things about dell -- when your hd dies, there's a tech *in your house* with a new harddrive in *two days*.
For free. (an ex-roommate had this happen)
Good luck getting that kind of warranty service from *anyone* else. Just about every other manufacturer makes you ship them the PC at your expense, and you're lucky to get it back in under a month.
"Dell's tech support is based out of India. Does Dell offer some special, magical US-based tech support for their higher-end products?"
Yes it does. Anything purchased from their 'business' lines is supported by US techs. It's only their bottom of the line crappy hardware that gets indian tech support. - spitfire6006006, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3he's saying the "Buy a Mac" tv ads are full of crap
- Novagenesis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@thegreatsam
It's still officially bait and switch if the store only HAD one of the item, in preparation of being able to upsell.
I've been to a store 20 minutes after opening on the DAY the sale started, to be told the product was sold out, but I could buy this other product for only 50 dollars more.
Course, I walked out with my middle finger upraised and a promise never to shop there again.
Too bad it's Walmart and everyone else in the area has been driven out of business already. - Pattyo13, on 05/14/2009, -0/+2I've seen the same thing from other folks. One thing I figured out the Lenovo site was that it would say "model starting at $599". When I go to build a model the cheapest I can get it to was like $900. The $599 is the outlet center. Tricky and misleading, but accurate. Perhaps dell is doing the same thing with refurbished/outlet models
- dartmanx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Define "anything". There are lots of crappy notebooks out there.
I always used to want a Dell notebook. Now I'm starting to look at Sony Vaio models... never cared much for Toshiba or Gateway. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"This appears to be a UK division of Dell..."
You must be American? If so, you're the first one from the comments who has noticed. - uownedge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You get what you pay for :-/
When it comes to computers, I have no problem spending a few extra dollars to get a quality part or machine, as opposed to just going for the best deal. That's how you end up with cheap junk that doesn't work, and/or breaks. - lennon2600, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2this is always the case with Dell, their catalogues show HIGHER prices than the website does. Sometimes the business section of the site and the home section have different prices as well. I bought a pc 3 years ago from them, and I won't buy another because it's crap (unless it's just an insanely good deal). I mean, sure, it fits in the corporate world or people who want to access their gmail.
- ByrdMan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Besides the price issue, what the hell can you do with a $349 laptop, play solitaire, prolly.
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