Dell F*ck up

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  • MX_OnD0

    surely they'll have to honour it.

    If you advertise goods at a certain price you cannot then make them more expensive.

  • toe_knee0

    yeah thats what i thought. But Dell are refusing. Will be interesting to see how far they take this. They will loose money if they give the hards drives at that price, but they will get shitty press if they drag it throught the courts.

    more news.

    ...................................

    Claim customers refunded over Dell blunder
    By Jesse Hogan
    August 15, 2005 - 4:30PM

    Dell Australia is secretly cancelling the transactions of customers who successfully ordered and paid for incorrectly discounted hard drives, an affected customer claimed today.

    But the company denies the claim, saying it would not refund the money without the customer's agreement.

    Last week, Dell's website inadvertently advertised 250Gb hard drives for $A8.80 - almost $A600 less than their usual price.

    News of the blunder quickly spread on Australian internet forums, with hundreds of customers attempting to order the hard drives. One claimed to have ordered 50.

    By Tuesday, Dell had removed the hard drive from sale. Spokesman Paul McKeon said the $A8.80 price was a "clerical error", and affected customers could either have their money refunded in full or pay the difference.

    Many customers refused the offer when contacted by Dell, believing the debiting of their credit cards constituted a contract. This was backed up by the NSW Office of Fair Trading, which said Dell had a legal obligation to provide the hard drives at the agreed price ($A8.80).

    Customer 'JK', who made two orders for five hard drives, was contacted by Dell last Wednesday regarding his transactions, which were paid by credit card.

    He refused Dell's offer of a refund or paying full price and was told he would be contacted this week regarding the transaction, but today discovered that one of his two $44 hard drive orders had already been refunded, without his agreement.

    "As far as I was aware they were just looking into it. To me, that would generally mean that the company would consult me first, as opposed to making an answer for me," he said.

    'JK' provided a screenshot of his internet banking account that showed that Dell had refunded the money.

    But McKeon said Dell was not refunding affected customers against their wishes.

    "We wouldn't be charging the correct price ($A592) or refunding without an authorisation from the customer," he said.

    "If there's a customer that feels they've received that discount incorrectly they should get back in touch with us."

    McKeon also disputed the view that customers whose credit cards had been debited by Dell are entitled to receive the hard drives at the incorrect price.

    "That's a view that you've had from Fair Trading (NSW) based on their understanding of the situation, but they're not necessarily across this full situation."

    When asked if the company would challenge any claims made by customers to the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal regarding the hard drives, he said: "That's a hypothetical thing that we'll look at when we come to it."

  • UndoUndo0

    haha brilliant. they can't not sell them at the advertsied price.

  • Bottlerocket0

    yes they can, as it's an error. It may be bad PR, but there is no reason why they have to honour the price.

    However, the fact that a charge has been made on some credit cards makes it a whole lot more interesting.

  • MX_OnD0

    I'm pretty sure that in the UK you are not allowed to advertise something for one price and then demand a higher price.

    Goes under false advertising.

  • tkmeister0

    if they don't honor it, they will get sued by their customers. it's a bad move.

  • mbr0

    Did they advertise it? Doesn't sound like it. Sounds like it was just on their site.
    Big difference.

    Dell allows everyone to return your computer, monitor, or whatever, no questiosn asked for a month. That's pretty reasonable (I've bought two lcds, returned them and later bought two again - no questinos).

    If it was advertised, like in PC Magazine, then they'd have to honor it, but if people just found it on their site, as the article implies ('cause they'd have sold 10 million otherwise!), then they don't have to honor it.

  • skt0

    If it was on there site at that price and people could buy it from their site at that price then they have to honor it.

    Simple.

    You can't change the price after the transaction.

  • MX_OnD0

    and if it is on their site then what pray tell is it if not advertised at that price?

    same deal with something in a shop window, exactly the same deal.

  • JazX0

    glitch. take advantage while you can.

    someone in Aussieland is gonna get their @sses reamed..

    tee heee nice