Dell and Price Mistakes

If you shop Dell quite often, you will know this issue. You go to Dell's site, and see their "Dell DEAL OF THE DAY!" The price looks amazing, better than at your local store, so you get excited, and go ahead and purchase the item.

You get your confirmation email, even get your scheduled shipping date. Now you are psyched, a PS3 and two games for $291 shipped. Granted Walmart is giving out $100 gift cards with the purchase of a 40GB PS3, but this deal is nice nonetheless.

So of course the day of the proposed shipping date, the order get's delayed. Then a few days later it get's canceled because it's on back order. Interesting, one would thing they would of had enough product for their big "Dell DEAL OF THE DAY" sale.

What's worse, when inquiring about re-activating the order, Customer Support tells you:


Dell records indicate that the item PS3 Bundle in the order number 333373110 is currently backordered and hence it was cancelled. Please be informed that as we are into customer care and have limited access to place an order, I request you to please contact our sales department at 800-284-3355 extension 72-61843 and have the order once again placed.

Of course, the problem with this is that the item is now $120 more.

So, ok I get it, a price mistake, it happens. How is it, that this happens on a nearly regular basis? Would you not simply warn the person making this mistake, and then fire them the second or third time around?

Where is the QA being done after changes are made to the site?

It almost feels like a good way to get customers to your site, in the hopes they buy other things, just to kill the attention grabber. Retail stores have been using sales on big items for years to draw in customers, and then make the money on the sale item up in other more profitable items the customer buys.

So one has to wonder if Dell is simply doing this to draw traffic, or just has a team that cannot manage to double check their sale pricings?

Granted, I credit Dell for finally giving me a $100 coupon for my troubles, even though the PS3 will still cost me $20 more than before. But even that that took time in email responses, and filling a Better Business Bureau complaint. It's not like I'm trying to get Dell Products for free, I just want to purchase, what they advertise, and actually receive that product and have it shipped.

Point is, if you have a Price Mistake that you made, stick to it!

-Dravor