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Keeping up with Dell's coupon game

post #1 of 13
3/12/05 at 11:54am
Thread Starter 
I was all excitied with the small business site 35% coupon when deciding to buy a I9300. I decided to wait until the first of the 9300's were delivered to see peoples opinions of it but was loath to let go of the 35% discount. Well I just configured the same config. 9300 on the home site with the $750 coupon and it comes to $25 cheaper than it did with the 35% at the SB site! I guess Dell often plays with these coupon deals where they come out around the same price in the end.
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post #2 of 13
3/12/05 at 12:32pm
yeah they do, all the huge deals will probably be within $50 of their other huge deals. But thats only for us Dell savvy users who search online for coupons!!! Otherwise they can end up costing alot more.
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post #3 of 13
3/12/05 at 1:41pm
Pretty much all the "coupon deals" end up being the same, or within $50, like MichaelX30 said. One week Dell has a $500 off $1399 coupon...the next week, it's 35% off $1499 ($524.65). See my point?

I was going to order my 700m during the $500 cpn deal...then decided to wait, and sure enough, the 35% cpn game me an additional $25 off the same config. Every cent helps, I guess...
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post #4 of 13
3/12/05 at 3:16pm
You always have to compare both Small Business and Home to determine the better deal. Small Business charge almost twice what the Home site charges for upgrades. It's always better to get a preconfigured system with minimal customizations from SB.

I've also heard that SB still uses the US based support which is worth a lot.

I just got in on a Dell mistake where they added a rebate but still had the automatic discount. I found that even though the deal had limited upgrades, I was able to call and make changes based off of the current upgrade prices and still keep my discounts.

Buying a Dell is not something that you just go out and purchase. The prices change constantly. You really need to spend at least several weeks comparing deals and looking for coupons. There is usually a better deal down the road. I bought a Canon Pro1 digital camera from Dell last November. They had an instant discount along with dollar off coupons. The value of the dollar off coupons kept going up and down for a month, but you could never be sure when the instant discounts would be over.
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post #5 of 13
3/12/05 at 4:13pm
Thread Starter 
I agree that if Dell Small Business uses US based Customer Support that is indeed worth the extra cost. I wonder is anyone can confirm this is the case.
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post #6 of 13
3/12/05 at 5:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rocketman
I was all excitied with the small business site 35% coupon when deciding to buy a I9300. I decided to wait until the first of the 9300's were delivered to see peoples opinions of it but was loath to let go of the 35% discount. Well I just configured the same config. 9300 on the home site with the $750 coupon and it comes to $25 cheaper than it did with the 35% at the SB site! I guess Dell often plays with these coupon deals where they come out around the same price in the end.
Depends on what you are configuring....35% of $2142 is $750 so if you are configuring a 9300 which costs more that $2142, you'd save with the 35% off. If you are configuring a 9300 which costs under $2142 then the $750 is a better deal. There are a few small price differences between options in Home and in Small Bus too....last I checked though the only noticable difference was in the price of adding a dvd-writer in small bus.
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post #7 of 13
3/12/05 at 7:10pm
Makes you wonder if Dell's computers are all that,they seem to need to provide customers with a mind boggling amount of coupons,codes,deals,rebates to shift units.Maybe they make customers jump through hoops because their product is a bit crappy?
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post #8 of 13
3/12/05 at 8:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doom3Groupie
Makes you wonder if Dell's computers are all that,they seem to need to provide customers with a mind boggling amount of coupons,codes,deals,rebates to shift units.Maybe they make customers jump through hoops because their product is a bit crappy?
I would bet that only a small percentage of Dell's sales come from coupons. The average person is not aware that they even exist. The Dell ads in the local papers and their catalogue prices are usually even higher than what you could typically configure a system for online. You see the $1200 laptop in a paper and get all excited when you configure it online for $1100, you think you're getting a good deal. Only after watching the site and coupons do you realize that if you do some research, you can get the same configuration for $1000.
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post #9 of 13
3/12/05 at 9:02pm
Personally, the only coupons I look for are in the Dell Outlet. The refurbs offer some great deals, and depending on the models, many are just brand new systems returned without a tech issue. So if you can find a perfect storm of a nice discount in the outlet, free shipping and a 10-15% coupon, the refurbs are the way to go. The only problem is that others think this too, and since the items are one of a kind, you have to click refresh and add to cart within SECONDS of getting beaten out by another savvy outlet customer.
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post #10 of 13
3/12/05 at 9:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doom3Groupie
Makes you wonder if Dell's computers are all that,they seem to need to provide customers with a mind boggling amount of coupons,codes,deals,rebates to shift units.Maybe they make customers jump through hoops because their product is a bit crappy?
Man you really do have a thing against Dell. After I finished reading your post I thought, I wonder if it is that doom3groupie, and yup sure enough it was. Did you get seriously burned by dell or what? My mom owns a dell laptop, dad owns a dell desktop and we had one way way back in the day (man I wish I got stock then). All are fine and working perfectly.

Tellerve
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post #11 of 13
3/12/05 at 10:17pm
A week ago I bought a 9300 from SB for 1360. I have cancelled it and gotten another from Home with the 750 off. For 1317, I got the same specs plus a 60GB 7200 HD! Dell is a pretty good deal. It is my first notebook purchase, and I am more than ready for it to arrive...
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post #12 of 13
3/13/05 at 3:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rocketman
I agree that if Dell Small Business uses US based Customer Support that is indeed worth the extra cost. I wonder is anyone can confirm this is the case.
Of the 9 people ive talked to in the 3 days after i ordered my laptop from SB, I've gotten ALL American people who generally seem like i can get stuff done with if I have to do, however, email support is another story entirely. Im having fun trying to change two small things on my damn order while the sales department is closed, been through 9 different replies
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post #13 of 13
3/13/05 at 7:22am
Edit: NM. Duh.
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