DEAD (with official Dell statement) - Rio Karma 20GB Jukebox for $50.

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richk449

Junior Member
May 5, 2003
9
0
0
Originally posted by: AllPurposeNothing

Are you really going to go back to the store, on the offhand chance that one out of four times, they may actually honor the posted price?
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If Dell's prices were wrong 75% of the time, you might have a point. But Dell probably sells tens of thousands of items, so making less then 10 mistakes a year means they are wrong under 0.1% of the time.

Dell could easily correct the problems that have been having with price mistakes recently. They could just hire more people to review the prices. And then they could raise the price of everything they sell a little bit to cover the cost of those employees. Maybe this would make you happier, but I would rather have low prices from Dell than absolute accuracy. Sure, it would have been nice to get a Rio, but I am no worse off after they canceled my order than I was beforehand.
 
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metalmania

Platinum Member
May 7, 2002
2,039
0
0
I remember Amazon and Bestbuy gave $20 gift cards to customers who ordered ram and video card with price-mistake.
 
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jineshjain

Member
Sep 12, 2003
25
0
0
I'm way more concerned about the fact that they seem to have outsourced their customer service (to India?), with the potential that has for being as wretched as Compaq/HP, than any of this stuff.
Click to expand...

Problem: I believe you're crapping in the wrong thread. Dont think anyone whose read this post over the last few days cares to know your concerns regd. Dell's outsourcing policy.

Solution: Do not voice irrelevent concerns. Alternatively, you could go to a labor deals forum (if one exists) and search hard for buyers.

Tip of the day: If nothing else, outsourcing makes products cheaper. Obviously, you've been obscured from this non-trivial detail over the years of your effort to stay posted!

- Jin
Dont know what more to say!
 
D

derby

Member
May 10, 2002
34
0
0
This is to notify you that, regrettably, we need to cancel your recent
order for a Rio Karma MP3 player. Due to our error, the player was shown
online at an incorrect price, well below the correct price.

We specifically indicate on our web pages, our catalogues, and in our
advertising that Dell cannot be responsible for such errors. In addition,
our email documentation provided to customers as they place orders states:

Please note, however, that Dell cannot be
responsible for typographical or other errors, and reserves the right to
cancel any orders resulting from such errors.

If you paid by credit card, your account has not been charged for this
item. If you would like to order the Rio Karma player at the correct
price, including a 10% discount that was in effect at the time, you may do
so by pointing your browser to
<http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=A0194827&c=us&l
=en&cs=19&category_id=4000&page=external
<http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=A0194827&c=us&l
=en&cs=19&category_id=4000&page=external>, and adding the item to your
cart.

We truly value our relationship and reputation with our customers, and we
realize the negative impact from these types of errors. Please be
assured that we are working hard to try and prevent these problems going
forward. We are sorry for any inconvenience that our error may have
caused.


Yours Truly,
Dell Notify Department
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gone...
 
A

AllPurposeNothing

Member
Nov 2, 2000
49
0
0
Originally posted by: richk449
Originally posted by: AllPurposeNothing

Are you really going to go back to the store, on the offhand chance that one out of four times, they may actually honor the posted price?
Click to expand...

If Dell's prices were wrong 75% of the time, you might have a point. But Dell probably sells tens of thousands of items, so making less then 10 mistakes a year means they are wrong under 0.1% of the time.

Dell could easily correct the problems that have been having with price mistakes recently. They could just hire more people to review the prices. And then they could raise the price of everything they sell a little bit to cover the cost of those employees. Maybe this would make you happier, but I would rather have low prices from Dell than absolute accuracy. Sure, it would have been nice to get a Rio, but I am no worse off after they canceled my order than I was beforehand.
Click to expand...

Yes, Dell doesn't mis-price 75% of the time. It was supposed to be an analogy...not a direct correlation. And given that there have been three major misprices in the past four fo so weeks alone, that would imply a raise in the errors up to a likely 35-40 or so a year. No other reputable e-tailer makes this many big mistakes.

The point was that if you find a good deal at a retailer, you should have at least some sense of security that you will be treated with respect by them. That even if there was a price mistake and they really can't take a hit on the cost of an item, they offer a bone, be it a coupon, GC, something to say to the customer.."We're sorry but we really do appreciate your business." Even something better than a half-*ssed apology, which half the time comes across as more like a slap on the wrist.

But Dell's public relations department is very poorly run. In PR, you deal with the problem quickly and honestly. If you don't, you lose business. Dell never acts quickly and is questionably honest much of the time.

The saddest thing to me is that they're not an e-tailer dealing in clothes or applicances. They deal in computers and computer peripherals. They seem incapable of using correctly the products which they sell. The pricing errors could easily be avoided, as has been noted many times. And in an increasingly technological world becoming more and more reliant on quick communication, Dell fails to use the tools it has to do so.
 
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m316foley

Senior member
Nov 19, 2001
247
0
0
I still haven't received a cancel notification yet, so I'm still expecting one. AND, if I do, I'll call em up to see if I can get them to change anything. I kind of think it's ridiculous to keep the offer on the 200gig hard drive, but not on the 40gig MP3 player. Who decides whether they honor their own prices after a mistake? I know at my store, if their is a mistagged item, it doesn't matter, we price match it without question.
 
P

pulse8

Lifer
May 3, 2000
20,860
1
81
Originally posted by: m316foley
I still haven't received a cancel notification yet, so I'm still expecting one. AND, if I do, I'll call em up to see if I can get them to change anything. I kind of think it's ridiculous to keep the offer on the 200gig hard drive, but not on the 40gig MP3 player. Who decides whether they honor their own prices after a mistake? I know at my store, if their is a mistagged item, it doesn't matter, we price match it without question.
Click to expand...

At your store do 10s of thousands of people take advantage of the price mistake?
 
J

Jhill

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2001
5,187
3
0
Just got the Email.

I wonder how many people got canned yesterday from this one.
 
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MontyBurns

Platinum Member
Feb 29, 2000
2,836
0
0
Dell does almost $10 BILLION in sales a quarter. THe percentage of price mistakes is incredibly small.

 
S

Sleeping

Member
Nov 22, 2002
187
0
0
Originally posted by: CrazyDe1
Originally posted by: lokitech



LT
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A new product has to cover R&D costs. So, the company has to sell it at 50 or 100 bucks above cost to make them in the beginning until volume ramps up. A distributor, not even dell in this case has to jack it up another 20-30 bucks to make money. Dell, to cover costs and to make it cost effective usually jacks it up another 30-50 bucks...sometimes up to 75 or 80 bucks. I bet cost of parts isn't even 80 bucks on the thing. I know for a fact that the cost of a brand new pentium, all the silicone and materials is less than 5 bucks.

I'm in a new industry and parts on our board totals about 5 bucks. Manufacturing and testing costs thrown in is like 30 bucks and we're very very small. We sell these things at 100 bucks a pop and about 60 bucks profit on each one, depending on quantities.
Click to expand...

Wow, they are implanting pentiums in breasts already:)

 
M

m316foley

Senior member
Nov 19, 2001
247
0
0
Originally posted by: pulse8
Originally posted by: m316foley
I still haven't received a cancel notification yet, so I'm still expecting one. AND, if I do, I'll call em up to see if I can get them to change anything. I kind of think it's ridiculous to keep the offer on the 200gig hard drive, but not on the 40gig MP3 player. Who decides whether they honor their own prices after a mistake? I know at my store, if their is a mistagged item, it doesn't matter, we price match it without question.
Click to expand...

At your store do 10s of thousands of people take advantage of the price mistake?
Click to expand...

No, but if I did I would make damn well sure that there wouldn't be one.
 
S

StudioGigger

Member
Sep 6, 2003
79
0
0
I'm holding on to my dillusion as long as I can. I haven't heard of a valid e-mailed cancelation notice yet. Mine is still processing. I called to check my status (yes, I CALLED! Stone me now, insult my mother, tell me how much I suck and how I've ruined it for the group) and they said it was 2 hours from being shipped to the fullfillment warehouse.

In reality how many of these things could have been ordered? It was open for about maybe 8 hours? Who wants to guess how many were ordered (how many jelly beans are in the jar?).

My guess is between 1800 ad 2500.

If it weren't for the putz in the group that bought 43, I'd say that the group alone would be good for maybe 250?
 
T

tedkelly

Member
Oct 17, 2003
98
0
0
Originally posted by: jineshjain
< long, bitter and off topic rant >
- Jin
Dont know what more to say!
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I do, go see if there's a hot deal on a clue and some perspective on life.

There's lots of general what-does-this-mean-for-my-relationship with Dell type stuff here, that's my insight for the day to the group. Only the hard core time wasters are following this thread, anyway.

I just want results with a reasonable amount of effort. Being unhappy with an extremely unsatisfactory attempt to get service doesn't make me xenophobic. You could hardly have picked a more wrong tree to bark up.

 
S

StudioGigger

Member
Sep 6, 2003
79
0
0
I've been called "Lazy" before. But I like the name "Hard Core Time Waster." Kind of makes it sound like something you have to work really hard at.

And remember - xenophobic spelled backwards is cibohponex!
 
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soltrain

Senior member
Mar 25, 2001
452
0
0
the sku change is to prevent those people with the item saved in the cart to slip through after the storm
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ah ha!
i still hope your order will go through iwearnosox
 
J

jineshjain

Member
Sep 12, 2003
25
0
0
Originally posted by: tedkelly

I do, go see if there's a hot deal on a clue and some perspective on life.

There's lots of general what-does-this-mean-for-my-relationship with Dell type stuff here, that's my insight for the day to the group. Only the hard core time wasters are following this thread, anyway.

I just want results with a reasonable amount of effort. Being unhappy with an extremely unsatisfactory attempt to get service doesn't make me xenophobic. You could hardly have picked a more wrong tree to bark up.
Click to expand...

So you seem to be crappy and touchy about your crap. From your what-does-this-mean-for-my-relationship revelation, you seem you derive a lot of perspective based on this thread. You're probably a loner kind of guy who sits up late in the dark watching porn and chatting with under-16 year olds. Get real and a little downtight. You should be able take a joke (or an insult). By the way, I will remember to send you a PM once there is "results with a reasonable amount of effort" on this Rio Karma.

-Jin
Dont know what more to say.
 
X

xerocool

Senior member
May 26, 2003
497
0
0
I also haven't gotten a cancellation notice either, hopefully it won't come <crosses fingers>. :brokenheart:
 
I

iwearnosox

Lifer
Oct 26, 2000
16,018
5
0
Originally posted by: soltrain
the sku change is to prevent those people with the item saved in the cart to slip through after the storm
Click to expand...

ah ha!
i still hope your order will go through iwearnosox
Click to expand...
:D It's still locked and locaded, but I think they outsmarted me. Damn.

 
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