Dell Sales Brochure: Price Mistake of €230

Oracle

Dell wrongly priced an item in their own full-colour brochure distributed with the Irish Independent last Sunday; by a massive €230.
The system in question is E-Value code: NPIIE5-D11C17 (http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?cs=iedhs1&kc=NPIIE5&oc=D11C17&x=6&y=11) It appeared on the back page of their brochure, with a price of €449 (in large printed purple numbers 4cm high) with the spec given as above but with a 1 year CAR (Collect and Return) service.

When I rang Dell about this item the sales representative simply told me it wasn't available at that price and that the actual price was €679. He said Dell were not honouring the price, and he added: "We don't have to honour the price." There was no apology. I asked him how there could have been an error in pricing of the size of €230. Incredibly the Dell sales representative told me the mistake was the newspaper's fault and that they had printed the wrong price.

It's not the first time I've rang about a product Dell have advertised to be told the price is incorrect.

I wonder if this is some form of test marketing of a product at a much lower price so they can measure market demand; while not actually selling the product at that price. I believe it could be. Although legal I think it's irresponsible and unethical; deliberately offering a product at a wrong price and in bad faith. Interesting that this is an AMD machine, a recently launched new product line from Dell.

So if you read a price for a Dell product, that seems like a great deal, the price may not be correct, even if it appears in their own nationally distributed sales brochure. Based on the experience I've had, don't expect Dell to honour the price or apologise for their mistake.

jaggeh

all prices quoted are usually FROM xxx and exclduing vat.

the specs they put into the ads are the typical things people ask for. the two very rarely correlate.

lasno

I also phoned Dell about this offer and was told that the price quoted was the sterling price, and they blamed the printers of the brochure for the error.

Kipperhell

It all sounds perfectly reasonable.
Most advertisments have a disclaimer allowing for printing errors.
The consiparcy theory of market testing is highly unlikely it is a lot easier to believe somebody hung over made a mistake in the print factory or while proof reading.