john schwab
Forum Enthusiast
This is such a familiar story....
Back before the Fuji S602 was released, Dell ran a similar promotion to the recent 20% 10% coupon deal, with a price on the S602 that was about a hundred bucks below list. I was one of a bunch of folks who saw the deal and put in orders. Dell did everything they could to avoid filling those orders, including substituting "equivalent" cameras or flat-out cancelling some orders. They finally got around to filling some of the orders with S602s, but that wasn't until the street price had dropped to below what Dell had agreed to sell them for. And all this time, it was nearly impossible to get through Dell's telephone system to speak with a human being. And even when a human did pick up the phone, s/he inevitably was very poorly informed, since the answers were always inconsistent.
Also around this time Dell ran a close-out special on Iomega 340mb microdrives--somewhere around $70, if I remember correctly. About 2 weeks after I had placed my order I phoned up to find out what had become of my shipment. After a long time in Dell Telephone Hell I finally reached someone who admitted that Dell had oversold their meager inventory, and she offered me the opportunity to buy a comparable IBM microdrive....at list price ($150)!! I was flabbergasted a supposedly well-respected, major retailer would resort to such a blatant bait-and-switch tactic.
FWIW, I bought an 18" Dell TFT monitor from Dell about 6 months ago, and it was shipped promptly. When I had difficulty with connectivity, they quickly sent out a replacement. I wouldn't consider buying anything but a computer or a Dell-branded computer accessory from Dell.
--John
Back before the Fuji S602 was released, Dell ran a similar promotion to the recent 20% 10% coupon deal, with a price on the S602 that was about a hundred bucks below list. I was one of a bunch of folks who saw the deal and put in orders. Dell did everything they could to avoid filling those orders, including substituting "equivalent" cameras or flat-out cancelling some orders. They finally got around to filling some of the orders with S602s, but that wasn't until the street price had dropped to below what Dell had agreed to sell them for. And all this time, it was nearly impossible to get through Dell's telephone system to speak with a human being. And even when a human did pick up the phone, s/he inevitably was very poorly informed, since the answers were always inconsistent.
Also around this time Dell ran a close-out special on Iomega 340mb microdrives--somewhere around $70, if I remember correctly. About 2 weeks after I had placed my order I phoned up to find out what had become of my shipment. After a long time in Dell Telephone Hell I finally reached someone who admitted that Dell had oversold their meager inventory, and she offered me the opportunity to buy a comparable IBM microdrive....at list price ($150)!! I was flabbergasted a supposedly well-respected, major retailer would resort to such a blatant bait-and-switch tactic.
FWIW, I bought an 18" Dell TFT monitor from Dell about 6 months ago, and it was shipped promptly. When I had difficulty with connectivity, they quickly sent out a replacement. I wouldn't consider buying anything but a computer or a Dell-branded computer accessory from Dell.
--John