Dell Special offers - Anyone else sceptical ?

D

demoivre

Guest
For a few months now I have been looking at the so called special offers from Dell on their 4000 series PC. One week they'll have free extra memory, the next it'll be screen upgrade, the next week you might have a free printer etc. etc. However, and without exception, the machine that I would go for ALWAYS works out at around the € 1400 mark when you go to the configure and buy section of their website. The week that you get offered free memory upgrade the screen upgrade is pricey and the week that you get offered the free screen upgrade the extra memory is expensive! Don't get me wrong, I think that € 1400 for a 3 GHz Pentium 4 processor, 1024 mb DDR ram, 17 inch height adjustable flat screen plus a few other bits and bobs is good value but I have serious doubts about the notion of their Special Offers - do they exist at all?
 
I've been skeptical about Dell offers ever since they advertised that they were offering interest free credit which, when I enquired, actually turned out to cost 17.5% APR! :\
 
A friend of mine w2anted to avail of their latest offer for a dimension with crt screen for €599. When he called and wanted to place the order he was asked about addiional software and hardware he would liked. He kindly declined, and was told that they can only ship orders over 800 or so €.
My advice would be get the offer with the larger screen and buy your RAM and other stuff over the internet in Germany or the US, or even Japan. You'll save a fortune, even after shipping.
 
I've had it with Dell. None of their 'offers' would tempt me. I don't even think the quality of their machines is up to much.

It's okay if everything goes to plan, and you get your order on time. Otherwise... heaven help you!
 
I dunno, I must say I'm very interested to hear all this bad press about Dell — I live not far from their Limerick plant and have been sorely tempted to go online and customise one of their "small business" Dimension systems (of course, being just up the road means I'd happily get by with the 1-year return-to-base option... )

A lot of their special offers/free upgrades are due to expire in the next day or two, but right now I find that for just under a grand (incl. VAT & delivery) I can build the following spec:

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 520 with HT technology (2.80GHz, 800MHz fsb, 1MB cache)
512MB Dual Channel DDR2 400Mhz (normally 256MB)
17" FP (normally 15")
250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache (normally 160GB)
48X DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
v92 Internal Data/Fax/Voice Modem
+ Standard Dell keyboard, mouse, speakers...

(I've left out all the software, since I don't need it...)

Now, I'm no expert, but that seems to me like a stonking good deal for "£787.54 in the old money" — certainly a lot better than any of the competition around town. How come y'all dislike Dell so much? I've heard they're slow to deliver and have crappy customer service, but that's par for the course with places like Dixons/Currys/PCWorld, etc.

Is there really that much wrong with their hardware...?

Curious of Limerick
(Dr. M.)
 
certainly a lot better than any of the competition around town.
Click to expand...
Is it? Maybe if you're just looking at Dixons and Currys etc

How come y'all dislike Dell so much?
Click to expand...
Well they started it!

I've heard they're slow to deliver and have crappy customer service, but that's par for the course with places like Dixons/Currys/PCWorld, etc.
Click to expand...
But not 'par for the course' for the likes of Elara, etc. I've had nothing but excellent, friendly service.

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Thanks for the comments, XXXAnother PersonXXX — will have a look at the Elara offerings...

Dr. M.

(What do you mean, 'they started it'...?)
 
Clubman:
Did you report them to the Advertising Authority?
 
I would have only I lost the proof.
One week the PC in question was €900 with nothing free (although it was advertised as €70 off).
The next week it was free double memory but it was €970.
Therefore it wasn't free double, it cost €70.

There's definitely a case against them I reckon.
I always remember the garage that got done for false advertising with an saying that buyers could choose between £1000 off the car or 0% interest free credit. Seeing that choosing the interest free credit option was costing you £1000 it wasn't therefore interest free at all.
 
How come y'all dislike Dell so much?
Well they started it!

I always used to get computer equipment from Dell. Their service just got worse and worse. The last straw was when I ordered a laptop and it took four months for me to get a working one.

I paid for a new laptop. When It arrived, the screen wasn't working. They wanted to fix it (I bought a new laptop - not a refurbished one). They couldn't fix it. Anyway, v.long story cut short, there were lots and lots of phone calls, fobbing off etc before I finally got my laptop.

Dell also regularly fax my home telephone number! I find that deeply frustrating and annoying. They also plague me with rubbish mail, even though I asked them to take me of their mailing list.

Is this enough reasons to hate them? I couldn't care less how much their computers are.
 
Dr M - Out of curiosity, I entered in the above spec into Elara.ie, and got the price of €793.95 Inc Vat. (I don't know what this is in old money)
 
Anytime I've looked at elara I've found cheaper alternatives elsewhere. I also tried to match the spec at elara and only got as far as the CPU, memory, HD and display (assuming FP mean Flat panel - LCD) before hitting 923 euro incl vat.

ECE958670 Hard Disk Drive Caviar 250GB Serial ATA 7200rpm 8MB Cache - Retail Boxed -- 170 euro
ECE942913 Memory/ValueRam/512MB 400MHz DDR2 ECC Registered CL3 -- 166 euro
ECE936449 Pentium 4 520 2.8GHz HT LGA FSB800 1MB -- 156 euro
ECE875897 M173/17"TFT Beige MM with speakers SteelBase +PSU 269 euro
Total 763 + 21% = 923

Personally think the dell offers are a bit misleading but the monitor upgrade one which comes around every few weeks looks the best value out of their special offer types.
 
Re: elara rival offer

Yeah, me too... How did you get that spec for that price, XXXAnotherPersonXXX?

I started out from their "Evolution" basic spec for a P-IV (admittedly 3.0 GHz, not 2.8 Ghz) , then removed the operating system, replaced the DVD-RW drive with a DVD/CD-RW drive and went for a 17" CRT rather than a flat-panel, and best I could get with a 1-Year Collect & Return guarantee was €1005.92 incl. VAT...:rolleyes

Dr. M.
 
Re: elara rival offer

I had another look at it.

I messed up the memory, and went for 512MB DDR RAM PC-2700 SDRAM at 333MHz [€42.11] instead of the more expensive DDR2.
 
Re: elara rival offer

Thanks for all the comments, lads; decided to go for the Dell in the end. Finally managed to get the above spec, but with a 17" CRT monitor instead of the flat-panel — I'm not that stuck for space...! — and spent the few quid saved on a DVD+/- dual layer re-writer and an upgraded warranty (3 years on-site 'next business day').

All for €995 incl. delivery + VAT.

And my pal works in Dell, so I can claim back a 10% staff discount...

Fingers crossed...

Dr. M
 
Re: elara rival offer

I've always thought Dell were as good value as anywhere else. You can probably build your own machine for slightly less but most people don't want that kind of grief. Have never experienced any bad customer service but I've no doubt it exists.
 
Re: elara rival offer

You can probably build your own machine for slightly less but most people don't want that kind of grief.

[broken link removed] for one - and maybe others too - will allow you to select individual components from their catalogue, and even mix in your own existing ones, and will assemble and test the PC at no extra charge.
 
dell

Doctor M

I mentioned on another post that I purchased a Dell for a mate recently - 3.2gig Pentium 4, 512 Ram, DVD Writer, Dedicated graphics card and and and a 19" Flat Screen monitor (during a "Flat screen upgrade week" offer they have regularly) for Eur 1300. Dearer than the one you are going for but...a lot of PC
 
Re: dell

most people don't want that kind of grief...
Click to expand...

If I knew I was going to be the only one using it, I'd probably go for better spec, do a (partial) self-build, and hope for the best — but this one is for the home, which means my (5) kids are going to be using it a lot, and no doubt forever a*sing up the settings with all sorts of "back-of-the-cornflake-packet" games and such, so I reckon it's worth a lot to me to have the 3-year on-site warranty.

"Don't call me, call the man from Dell..."

Dr. M.
 
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