Why I didn't buy a new computer from Dell

I like Dell computers. It's easy to work inside the box. We've had a number of Dell computers in our family over the years and no problems from any of them.

I got Oblivion for Christmas. My current system isn't adequate to play it. So, when I got the regular Dell flyer in the mail, I took a look. There was a system on sale that seemed just right for my needs.

I went to Dell.com and navigated in through Home Users, desktops, to the model in the flyer. But the configuration was less than the one in the flyer (smaller hard drive, no upgraded video card). I went through Customization and the price went up when I set it to the configuration in the flyer.

Confused, I went back to the flyer and typed in the url listed there. That took me to a special 'catalog' section of the site, and there was the same model in the advertised configuration at the price of the lesser configuration on the "regular" page.

As a consumer, my expectation is that when a company offers a sale price on an item, it's on that item -- not on "that item only if you go to a special page but if you go in the front door not knowing about the sale, we're not going to offer it".

I think it's sneaky and disrespectful.

posted by Schaz @ 1/30/2009 01:21:00 PM