WesM63
01-18-2003, 11:29 AM
This was posted at the data eclipse forums, By Steve Franz our Sales manager, where I work. I thought it was interesting so I'll let you guys read it.
With the invention of cheaper prices by major name computer manufacturer's I wanted to investigate how they could sell a Pentium 4 system for $699 or $799 with a flat panel monitor. Here is what I found...it was really interesting.
First I took the Dell flyer out and went www.dell.com to see if I could buy this exact system. The very first thing that I noticed was that the system did not in fact exist on their advertised page. So I began my search. After finally locating the system at the $799 price I began to attempt to purchase it. Here is what happened:
1. The first I thing I noticed was that the system in fact came with a regular 17" Monitor. Not bad, but in the flyer it showed a 15" LCD flat panel. Hmm...misleading...see what happens next...
2. I changed the monitor to the 15" LCD flat panel. When I refreshed it automatically upgraded me to 256MB of DDR memory from the origional 128MB. If I was not paying attention they would have just stuck me for an extra $80! I changed it back to 128MB.
3. I then chose the free 60GB hard drive upgrade and refreshed the price. It automatically upgraded me to a two year warranty from a one year and added $99 more the cost of the system. Dell is really getting some neat tricks over on people at this point. I downgraded my warranty back to the basic 1 year warranty and refreshed to see the new price.
4. Gee...$968!! Interesting that I could not get it at the $799 advertised price! So I moved on to see what else would happen and how good a deal I was actually getting.
5. I noticed that if I want to talk to a person on the phone when I have problems (within a reasonable time) I had to pay an extra $49 to $109 depending on how many years I wanted service! Now I am beginning to get worried, but I will choose the 1 Year express tech support option.
6. $1,167.00 plus shipping! What happened to the free shipping that was offered in the ad! Anyway moving on I upgraded the 64MB video card to the equal 128MB card offered in our Data Eclipse system. WOW what a deal (sarcasim) new price is $1307!
7. Wait one minute! The ad showed a CDRW but this system all of the sudden has a DVD and I have to pay $79 to get the 48X CDRW? Where in the world did this come from? The previous page didn't have the DVD on it...interesting...moving on...
8. Ok...now I am about done...I have the exact same system configured as their $799 flyer price but it is $1327! Now I want to find out about the shipping...so I opted to purchase it. Here is what happened...
9. I was taken to page with printers, scanners, PDAs and other items that I could purchase. Hmmm...a printer sounds nice and since we offer the 5550 HP Printer and I know that does a great job on regular prints and photos I added it to my order. Interesting my price jumped $175 for a printer that cost $149! Now I am $1502! and I havent even added the printer cable yet which would cost me another $20. SO now I am $1522 for this $799 system.
10. Lets buy it! After estimating my shipping I realized that I get a $100 back by mail. So lets add this up...
$1522 for the computer, monitor and printer + cable
-$100 mail in rebate
$1422 new total
+$105 Shipping charge (even though the add said free!)
$1527 plus they are charging me tax on an item that they cant charge me tax for since it is an internet purchase!
Compare this to the Data Eclipse system that matches specs except with a two year warranty and 256MB of memory, free lifetime express technical support, HP 5550 printer and cable and the great software included free...for $1450...hmm I would have saved a negative (yes thats right a negative) $77.00...so I called Dell to get them to price match and they said they have the best price and do not match competitor pricing. When I asked them about getting the $799 deal, they politely informed me that when I changed the configuration it changed the model automatically to give me the best PC for my money. Then I asked about upgrading the system to a faster processor if I chose to at a later date and they informed me I would be better of leasing so I could change to a faster computer in year if I chose to. After I paid the one year lease term at their interest rates and payments I bought this computer, but guess what...I have to send it back and pay for the shipping to send it!
Now I ask...is Dell really that good of a deal? Look at the facts and you can see it is all marketing! At Data Eclipse we spend our money on making the best performance computers in the area and we back them with top class service. If you have never tried us or our systems, please do. You and the other 11,000+ customers we have served since 1990 will keep coming back because we value relationships...not cheap computers with cheap prices. Take care :)
With the invention of cheaper prices by major name computer manufacturer's I wanted to investigate how they could sell a Pentium 4 system for $699 or $799 with a flat panel monitor. Here is what I found...it was really interesting.
First I took the Dell flyer out and went www.dell.com to see if I could buy this exact system. The very first thing that I noticed was that the system did not in fact exist on their advertised page. So I began my search. After finally locating the system at the $799 price I began to attempt to purchase it. Here is what happened:
1. The first I thing I noticed was that the system in fact came with a regular 17" Monitor. Not bad, but in the flyer it showed a 15" LCD flat panel. Hmm...misleading...see what happens next...
2. I changed the monitor to the 15" LCD flat panel. When I refreshed it automatically upgraded me to 256MB of DDR memory from the origional 128MB. If I was not paying attention they would have just stuck me for an extra $80! I changed it back to 128MB.
3. I then chose the free 60GB hard drive upgrade and refreshed the price. It automatically upgraded me to a two year warranty from a one year and added $99 more the cost of the system. Dell is really getting some neat tricks over on people at this point. I downgraded my warranty back to the basic 1 year warranty and refreshed to see the new price.
4. Gee...$968!! Interesting that I could not get it at the $799 advertised price! So I moved on to see what else would happen and how good a deal I was actually getting.
5. I noticed that if I want to talk to a person on the phone when I have problems (within a reasonable time) I had to pay an extra $49 to $109 depending on how many years I wanted service! Now I am beginning to get worried, but I will choose the 1 Year express tech support option.
6. $1,167.00 plus shipping! What happened to the free shipping that was offered in the ad! Anyway moving on I upgraded the 64MB video card to the equal 128MB card offered in our Data Eclipse system. WOW what a deal (sarcasim) new price is $1307!
7. Wait one minute! The ad showed a CDRW but this system all of the sudden has a DVD and I have to pay $79 to get the 48X CDRW? Where in the world did this come from? The previous page didn't have the DVD on it...interesting...moving on...
8. Ok...now I am about done...I have the exact same system configured as their $799 flyer price but it is $1327! Now I want to find out about the shipping...so I opted to purchase it. Here is what happened...
9. I was taken to page with printers, scanners, PDAs and other items that I could purchase. Hmmm...a printer sounds nice and since we offer the 5550 HP Printer and I know that does a great job on regular prints and photos I added it to my order. Interesting my price jumped $175 for a printer that cost $149! Now I am $1502! and I havent even added the printer cable yet which would cost me another $20. SO now I am $1522 for this $799 system.
10. Lets buy it! After estimating my shipping I realized that I get a $100 back by mail. So lets add this up...
$1522 for the computer, monitor and printer + cable
-$100 mail in rebate
$1422 new total
+$105 Shipping charge (even though the add said free!)
$1527 plus they are charging me tax on an item that they cant charge me tax for since it is an internet purchase!
Compare this to the Data Eclipse system that matches specs except with a two year warranty and 256MB of memory, free lifetime express technical support, HP 5550 printer and cable and the great software included free...for $1450...hmm I would have saved a negative (yes thats right a negative) $77.00...so I called Dell to get them to price match and they said they have the best price and do not match competitor pricing. When I asked them about getting the $799 deal, they politely informed me that when I changed the configuration it changed the model automatically to give me the best PC for my money. Then I asked about upgrading the system to a faster processor if I chose to at a later date and they informed me I would be better of leasing so I could change to a faster computer in year if I chose to. After I paid the one year lease term at their interest rates and payments I bought this computer, but guess what...I have to send it back and pay for the shipping to send it!
Now I ask...is Dell really that good of a deal? Look at the facts and you can see it is all marketing! At Data Eclipse we spend our money on making the best performance computers in the area and we back them with top class service. If you have never tried us or our systems, please do. You and the other 11,000+ customers we have served since 1990 will keep coming back because we value relationships...not cheap computers with cheap prices. Take care :)