Dell commits bait and switch? What do you think?

Hello,

Bait and switch deal from dell advertised on techbargains website here:
http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/215453?source=fbshare

See the following documentation backing up my claim that this is a bait and switch:
http://snipurl.com/dellbait1
http://snipurl.com/dellbait2
http://snipurl.com/dellbait3

Contacted Dell and asked them what they were going to do about it and they said "If you don't like it you can cancel your order." When I said that I would rather speak to a manager they literally transferred me to another department and that department said that they were closed and it was after hours.

But I have been a dell customer for a while so I kind of expect this. So what do you think?

~J

BTW these PDFs don't open so well in mozilla firefox only internet explorer. So download them and open them in adobe or try the links in IE.

So the order details say it has 3gb and you buy it anyways?

Dell Bait and Switch

MooMasster716 said:

So the order details say it has 3gb and you buy it anyways?

Click to expand...

Obviously the answer to this question is no. The technical specs on the machine says that it has 4GB however in another place on the site it says that it has 3GB.

What matters is my conversation with the dell representative. They stated it was 4GB.

Finally when I get my invoice it says that the system has 3GB

MooMasster716 said:

So the order details say it has 3gb and you buy it anyways?

Click to expand...

I can kind of see what you are saying but It was not 100% clear to me when I was trying to make my decision. On tech bargains it says:

5.8lbs; 15.6" 1366x768 LED; Intel Core i5-430M @ 2.26GHz; 3GB/500GB; DVD burner; 802.11n; Windows 7 Home Premium; ATI Radeon HD4330 512MB; webcam; 9-cell battery; 1yr warranty; 15mo McAfee SecurityCenter

I glanced at it and clicked on the link. So unless you are familiar with scouting for this kind of deal you may not immediately associate 3GB with memory. Once you get to their webpage however it is a bit more confusing. Which is why I contacted the dell sales support representative. He informed me that the system is 4GB. How can Dell expect consumers to understand their system better than their own sales support representatives?

From everything you posted, it looks to me like that deal was for a machine with 3GB of ram. The 2nd PDF you posted states "Up to 4GB" so the setup can be configured for 4GB, but not that particular deal. As for the support rep, they probably saw the "Up to 4GB" also, and therefore stated that you could get it with 4GB (But at a higher cost).

The Technical Specs section states what the system can be configured for, not what that particual configuration has. The deal specifically stated 3GB on it, so that is what you should get.

bchur83 said:

From everything you posted, it looks to me like that deal was for a machine with 3GB of ram. The 2nd PDF you posted states "Up to 4GB" so the setup can be configured for 4GB, but not that particular deal. As for the support rep, they probably saw the "Up to 4GB" also, and therefore stated that you could get it with 4GB (But at a higher cost).

The Technical Specs section states what the system can be configured for, not what that particual configuration has. The deal specifically stated 3GB on it, so that is what you should get.

Click to expand...

Exactly, he just mis read the tech specs...