[OAC_Sparky]

<rant>

I called Dell tonight. Still shaking my head.

I always enjoy making my own PCs, but a few weeks back my 5 year old Toshiba laptop died. We already have 2 PCs in the house, one for me and one for the kids/wife. But the laptop was handy; I'm not a TV watcher, my wife is. So at least with the laptop I can at least be in the same area code as my family (not "hiding" in the den) and surf while my wife does her own thing.

So on the Monday, about 11PM, I was looking at a system -- there's a sale on the Inspiron 6000. The long and the short of it, I optioned it out, put it in my cart. $1239+tax -5% Ford Discount. I thought it would be a little late in the day to start dealing with an order, so I went to bed.

So, I called Dell tonight. When I pulled up the saved cart so I can rattle off the specs -- the price had went up $50. Looks like the extra $50 was a limited time offer.

No biggie, I thought, they'd just honour the deal. Seeing that it was in my cart since yesterday before the deadline.

I guess not. The deal was made -- and lost, on a day and $50.

I know I'm partially to blame for not striking when the iron was hot, but jeez...assuming places like BestBuy and Futureshop have their usual monster Boxing Day sales, you'd think that they'd do the "let me see what I can do" routine.

"The computer automatically adjusts the prices." I can't blame the salesperson, in a sense, but you'd think there'd be some discretionary mechanism in the system.

Oh well. I'll likely get a laptop over the Christmas break, but it's even money that it won't be a Dell now. They went from a sure sale to likey no sale. And that'll be that for another 4-5 years.

</rant>

[mo_focus]

If you want an IBM laptop let me know. GF works there and she gets the EPP. for that much money you can get a T42 or T43 easliy. Let me know.

Mo

[hardk0re]

They have gotten so big and sell so much, they don't care anymore. In a way its fair, timed deals are timed deals and thats that....wait for the next boat.

Either way wait until after christmas and prices will drop as they always do.

If your looking for something slower I got a P3-800 avail.

[OAC_Sparky]

Thanks for the offers, my Toshiba was a P800 and am looking for something a little faster.

What was compelling with the Dell was the upgrade to a 128Mb ATi X300 was included.

I'll let you know Mo if a better deal doesn't present itself on the boxing day sales.

I did get some real killer deals last year online on Christmas day. :yikes:

[Jays2000ZX3]

I work for HP..if you want HP/Compaq I get EPP as well.

[CanadaSVT]

OAC_Sparky,Dec 20 2005, 08:27 PM Wrote:$1239+tax -5% Ford Discount. ]

I contacted Dell a few weeks ago to see what our Ford discount is. Here was the reply:

"You are correct Ford does have an Employee Purchase Program with Dell Computers. We offer a structured Discount depending on the price and type of warranty you have purchase. The discounts range from 2%-16%, I would be more than happy to answer any question you may have. My telephone number is below, but the easiest way to contact me is through email. Please note the only way to get the EPP discount is by placing your order over the phone with an EPP Rep. If you have a time and phone number for me to contact you, I would be more than happy to walk you through the steps.

Regards,
____________________________________
Steve Fraites
Dell Canada Inc.
EPP- Sales Representative"

With you only being offered a 5% discount, how much would we need to buy for 16% savings?

[NefCanuck]

CanadaSVT,Dec 21 2005, 01:05 PM Wrote:

OAC_Sparky,Dec 20 2005, 08:27 PM Wrote:$1239+tax -5% Ford Discount. ]

With you only being offered a 5% discount, how much would we need to buy for 16% savings?
[right][snapback]161934[/snapback][/right]

Okay being part of the EPP group from my workplace here's how it was explained to me, YMMV:

There's a discount on the hardware/software but there are also discounts for the extended warranties available for purchase and the discount gets higher the longer the term you buy when you purchase the machine.

In actual fact from the numbers I was presented the only way you would achieve these "16% savings" is by purchasing both the Dell product & the longest warranty they offer (3 years).

BUT and this is the catch, the EPP is applied on top of any discounts/promotions that Dell is running at the time, so that if you're able to wait until a spectacularly good deal comes along & then apply the EPP pricing scheme, it should work out for you.

NefCanuck

[OAC_Sparky]

Ah, I see.

Stu, what I did was go through the link on the OAC webpage for employee discounts, became a "Premiere" member.

The page only mentions a 5% discount. But I suppose when you compound it with another deal it would appear bigger.

[NOS2Go4Me]

We have a 4-digit customer number with Dell. Apparently that's almost unheard of, especially for a Canadian company.

We get a very sweet price point, but not sure if that's extendable to anyone. If someone needs something, give me a shout. I can probably let you know what it'd cost me at least.