Dell's Advice: Buy from the supermarket

 

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By Stuart Turton and Barry Collins

Posted on 13 Aug 2008 at 16:36

PC Pro's news and features editor Barry Collins was told he was better off buying from Tesco when he attempted to purchase a machine he had seen in store from the Dell website.

The unusual advice came after Collins spotted a well specified Inspiron 1525 at his local Tesco for £429. Unfortunately the machine was sold out, pushing him towards Dell's website where he discovered that the same machine was £60 more expensive.

In an attempt to match the Tesco price he contacted Dell's online chat assistant, and was told the price difference was explained by the delivery cost, prompting the following exchange.

"So I'm better off buying from Tesco than Dell? You can't match the price?" Collins asked.

"The difference would be you will not be able to customise the system according to your configuration." He was told by the advisor. "In future if you want to upgrade you will not be able to do it. But online there are options to customise the laptop according to your own requirements."

"I just want the specification offered by Tesco. I don't need to customise it. Can you still not match the price?"

"Then you can go ahead and process the order from Tesco."

The advice marks a strange turnaround for Dell, which was once famous for pioneering the direct sales model which aimed to cut costs by taking the middleman out of the equation and selling direct to the customer. It now appears, however, that the middleman is £60 cheaper.

We are still awaiting comment from Dell at the time of writing.