Is It Me or Is Dell Price Match a Joke?

OMGJL on 06/09/2021 - 16:02

I was eyeing to buy a detachable surface pro like laptop and have come across this two

Thinkpad X12 Detachable
Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable

Dell has slightly better appearance (aluminum finish and slimmer screen bezel) but the 2 are almost identical in terms of specs.

I was keen to buy Thinkpad which cost $2004 after student discount for i5/16G/512G config, but I saw Dell advertise that they price match Lenovo and HP, so I thought to give it a go:

I ringed them first, a lady (with Indian accent, not to disrespect Indian fellows, just wonder where is Dell call center located.) asking for a price match, and have received different excuses for not able to price match, including:
1. The lenovo uses different graphics (both are using Intel Xe, but Dell website spec was "Intel® Iris graphics for I5-1140G7") which I told the lady those are same.
2. Dell is using vPro processor and lenovo isn't (come on, they both the same Intel 11th gen)
3. but dell have i7 (I have told the lady I wanted i5 in the first place)

after some back and forth and put me on hold for 3 times, she finally comes up with the perfect excuse that dell is 13 inch and thinkpad is 12 inch hence they can't price match.

it seems the lady doesn't have much knowledge on tech and having too much excuses for not price matching,
After I hang up with the phone support I started a online chat to see if I have better luck, and got asked the exact same question again, and they use "dell provide 3 year warranty" as an excuse and rejected my price match request one more time.

Am I asking too much or is Dell price match a joke?

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Comments

  • ashftc on 06/09/2021 - 16:10

    It is a joke. They took 20 minutes and then came back saying they cannot do anything as the system doesn’t allow. I said I don’t want it thanks. Since then rep is emailing me daily to buy it.

  • lunchbox99 on 06/09/2021 - 16:31
    +3

    Well if it is bigger, nicer build and longer warranty, I'm not surprised they don't think they are equivalent. I mean you must think they're not the same or else you would just buy the thinkpad, right?

    Also, what does the support person being Indian have to do with anything she said?

    • OMGJL on 06/09/2021 - 16:47

      if it is bigger, nicer build
      12 inch or 13 inch with same resolution has almost no difference.

      longer warranty
      since price match is a process of negotiation, I don't see why they can't reduce the warranty to the same 1 year.

      or else you would just buy the thinkpad
      it is a nicer finish but I don't recon it worth the significant price premium, and if Dell don't provide price match against Lenovo I wouldn't bother ask.

      also with the Indian part, I did specifically said I am not against Indian fellows but wonder where's their call center located, as it does seems like their support was lack of training and don't know much about spec details.

      • freefall101 on 06/09/2021 - 17:22

        Have you ever heard someone say "I'm not racist, but…"?

        Call centres in India are fine, it sounds like they know what their doing. Likely the price you wanted meant Dell wouldn't make any money out of it so they found a reason to deny it. If you get an Australian call centre they work exactly the same way, they have a script and a set of rules to follow and they follow it to the letter, they don't know or care what all the different chips are in machines.

        It's up to Dell if they want to honour a price match, they didn't so you can go and buy the Lenovo. I'm surprised they even talked to you about it considering you have an education store discount.

        They're still clearly different products, no matter how much you want to claim a 13" 500nit screen is "almost" the same as a 12" 400nit screen. The Dell looks a much better laptop so it costs more, you admit that right up until the point you decide that doesn't support your argument anymore.

        • OMGJL on 06/09/2021 - 17:52

          Dell could go: Hey, our screen is 1 inch bigger, and this and that, hence we can't match the exact price, but factor in all the premium we have, how about $xxx discount? as I am going to be a lenovo customer or dell customer one way or the other.

  • plmko on 06/09/2021 - 16:41
    +1

    I once called them to buy 14 desktops ($20k+) deal for business, I wanted them to match the Ebay price or come close but willing to pay for SSD/RAM upgrades at their store price.

    They couldn't do anything and ended up with a quote being more expensive than the Ebay store listing price without discount codes.

    Unbelievable they negotiated themselves out of a deal in the bag type situation.

    • OMGJL on 06/09/2021 - 16:52
      -1

      I guess their sales rep are paid by hours not by incentives then, it's probably easier for them if all customer GTFO and they can just sit there all day play with their phones.

    • dbmitch on 08/09/2021 - 02:40

      did you hit up ebay to get discount codes right after? Bet they actually gave you like 5% off.

  • pharkurnell on 06/09/2021 - 16:45
    +2

    So the 2 machines werent spec'ed the same…?

    And you expected them to match?

    • OMGJL on 06/09/2021 - 16:49

      same i5 11th gen, same Intel Xe graphic, same 16G LPDDR4x 4266, same M.2 SSD in 256/512G, same 1920*1280 resolution, same touch screen and detachable, I don't see why they are different spec…… I wonder if you actually read my original post?

      • pharkurnell on 06/09/2021 - 16:51
        +1

        but the 2 are almost identical in terms of specs.
        the perfect excuse that dell is 13 inch and thinkpad is 12 inch hence they can't price match

        So are they the same? in reality not in your eyes, or Dells or Lenovos
        I've only ever had luck with 100% like for like in price matching

        • OMGJL on 06/09/2021 - 16:53

          would you really notice 1 inch of difference, especially they both have the same resolution?

          • Shadowsfury on 06/09/2021 - 17:02

            @OMGJL: Smaller chassis generally needs more engineering to fit it all in

            • OMGJL on 06/09/2021 - 17:21

              @Shadowsfury: Lenovo is the smaller one and cheaper one in this case.

          • Muzeeb on 06/09/2021 - 17:07

            @OMGJL:

            would you really notice 1 inch of difference,

            There's a joke there but I'll save that one for SF3

            • SF3 on 06/09/2021 - 23:53

              @Muzeeb: You’ve woosh me there! 13 - 12 = 1. What I missed? 🤷

              • Muzeeb on 07/09/2021 - 08:14
                +1

                @SF3:

                would you really notice 1 inch of difference

                That's not what she said

        • OMGJL on 06/09/2021 - 17:01

          since dell/hp/lenovo won't have a identical laptop, I guess there will always be some minor differences, and dell can reject any price match request anyway right?

          • dizzle on 06/09/2021 - 19:17

            @OMGJL: That's always going to happen. You even find it happening within a brand.

            Some companies sell different model TVs to JB and Harveys, with very little difference between the models. Mattress companies sell different labels to different retailers, so X company gets the black label, but no-one can price match from the discount store becuase they don't stock the "premium" models.

      • Ughhh on 06/09/2021 - 21:49

        Toyota and Mazda are basically the same right.

        • OMGJL on 06/09/2021 - 23:59

          toyota vs Mazda is more like Dell vs Lenovo. Latitude 7320 vs Thinkpad X12 is more like Camry vs Mazda 6 ish.

          They have the same audience, same use case, same detachable + kick stand design, both have a pen to draw on the touch screen and both are light weight, in reviews they have been compared heads to heads multiple times. They are all designed to lure customers away from buying Surface Pro 7, surely one has
          something slightly better which is why I'd like that price match, but why can't they be compared?

          • Ughhh on 07/09/2021 - 00:13

            @OMGJL: Because its not the same, not identical. 12 inch is not the same as 13inch. You can compare it, doesn't mean they have to. I'm not sure why that's a hard concept to understand…

  • Roman Sandstorm on 06/09/2021 - 17:05

    OP, If you can get that Lenovo at the price you quoted, go for it!

    I used Lenovo's customiser, and it came out to $2648. (With Win 10 Pro)

    I used Dell Premier's customiser, and the equivalent (with reduced warranty) came to $2783.

    'Price matches' are notoriouosly fastidious and sometimes difficult to get. Just see how many comments and threads there are about Officeworks/HN, etc.

    Seriously, if you have that Lenovo quote solid, it's a good deal. And yes, I would just favour the Dell at equal prices, but $700 less? No contest.

    • OMGJL on 06/09/2021 - 17:20

      personally I can also factor in student discount. so lenovo with i5/16G/512G/win10 Home = $2004.00 shipped for me (price include type cover and pen) , I'd pay $150 or so on top for a nicer finish from Dell, and I don't think they'd like to do that for me lol.

  • KSMLJ on 07/09/2021 - 00:02

    but the 2 are almost identical

    I almost won the gold, but missed it by 0.01 secs. That's practically the same timing, but they didn't give me the gold.

    I almost won the Lotto, missed it by 1 number. But they didn't give me the 80 million.

    'Almost' implies 'not quite', and you don't seem to understand that concept.

    1. The lenovo uses different graphics (both are using Intel Xe, but Dell website spec was "Intel® Iris graphics for I5-1140G7") which I told the lady those are same.
    2. Dell is using vPro processor and lenovo isn't (come on, they both the same Intel 11th gen)
    3. but dell have i7 (I have told the lady I wanted i5 in the first place)
      would you really notice 1 inch of difference, especially they both have the same resolution?

    Seems like you have not read the stories of stores rejecting price matching for exact same items, but with one different SKU character.

    It is irrelevant what you think is noticeable or not, the point is that it is different in every way.

    It is also irrelevant what you think you are entitled to based on your perception, that's not how the real world works.

    If I may engage in a bit of reductio ad absurdum:
    I tried to price match a Bugatti Chiron with a Kia Stinger. They told me no.
    They both have 4 wheels and 2 doors, which I told the sales are the same thing.
    And come on, they are both 2020 (it's the same year right?)
    But they said the Bugatti has a 1000bhp engine (But I told the sales I wanted the 200bhp in the first place.)

    So really, the only real difference is the right hand drive and left hand drive, but would any one even really notice that?

    • OMGJL on 07/09/2021 - 00:14

      1000bhp engine (But I told the sales I wanted the 200bhp in the first place.)

      they both use the same processor, same graphics, same ram, and same ssd, difference is not as big as 200 vs 1000,
      they both are designed to be a surface pro killer, I don't see why I can't compare the two.

      rejecting price matching for exact same items, but with one different SKU character.

      Dell's website: "A new personal computer from HP or Lenovo sold on their respective Australia websites that shares the same key features and specs with a Dell PC"
      if they really want to steal business from the other 2, they could've go "hey we got a better screen and that would worth $200 more in our opinion, how about you can have it for $200 more than what lenovo listed"? what's the point of having such a strict price match? Cuz it's certainly nice to say NO to your potential customer right?

      but dell have i7 (I have told the lady I wanted i5 in the first place)

      the point is Dell also offer an i5 model, and Lenovo also offers an i7 model, in the same Intel 11th gen with the same performance. this is about how unprofessional they are.

      • Roman Sandstorm on 07/09/2021 - 12:30
        +1

        this is about how unprofessional they are

        To suggest Dell is 'unprofessional' based on your single experience, with a single outsourced salesperson is absurd. And further, you are pushing the absolute limits of a price match policy.

        You may believe you have received some 'unprofessional' service. But you have remedy beyond badmouthing the company on a little consumer forum.

        You can call back and try with another sales person. You can ask to speak to a sales supervisor, put forward your case, armed with the info you quoted above.

        Dell are generally pretty flexible with pricing, as is evidenced by their frequent 25% - 40% sales, both on their website directly, and on their eBay site.

        You can write to their Australian sales manager, saying that you feel that their sales people on the phone were wrong.

        I don't know how that huge 'student discount' comes into it; whether that would be accepted in a 'price match'. Does anyone know if OfficeWorks, for example, accepts such discounts? That may be difficult; perhaps Lenovo has an agreement with State Education department (like Apple)?

        Perhaps another angle you might try would be to find as close to an exact match to your Lenovo as possible: screen size, CPU, RAM, SSD, etc. And then try bargaining from there for upgrades.

  • srb337 on 07/09/2021 - 14:47

    I wanted to by a S2721D monitor, They have them on $327 on their website, but they are also selling them for $300 via Kogan Marketplace.

    I rang and asked if I could buy directly off them for the price on Kogans website, but they said no, we don't price match Kogan.

    I said, but Kogan is just a marketplace, its Dell's listing, Dell the fulfills the order, same stock, same warehouse, why cant you price match yourselves?

    They hung up.

    To be fair, Dells listing was 2-3 days delivery, Kogan was 2-3 weeks, so I sucked it up paid the extra figuring the expedited delivery is the extra cost.

    72 hours later, they send me a notification the delivery was delay by….2-3 weeks.

    Long story short, I cancelled, if anyone know of any QHD 27in Monitors…I'm all ears.

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