In the early minutes of Black Friday I placed an order for a Dell 14z laptop that was originally priced at $599 for $299. It took over an hour and a half to check out, but finally I got an order confirmation.
This was a Dell thin and light 14z, 4.1 pounds, Intel i3 processor, Windows 7,4GB/500GB.
On Sunday night, I received an email from Dell.
Dear Valued Dell Customer,
Thank you for your Inspiron 14z purchase on Black Friday (235602691). Unfortunately, due to overwhelming response on that particular deal, the laptop was oversold and we do not have the supply needed to fulfill all of the orders. We have an alternative, equally exciting deal to make up for this inconvenience we are replacing your order with the new, upgraded $399 Inspiron15 at no additional cost to you.
The new Inspiron 15 has a larger 15.6 screen and Windows 8, the latest operating system from Microsoft both upgrades from the Inspiron 14z. Please see below for product details on the Inspiron 15.
We value you as a Dell customer and regret this inconvenience. We hope this opportunity to own the new Inspiron 15 at the same price as the Inspiron 14z will be an acceptable solution. NOTE in lieu of your current order, your new order is in the process of being placed. We will email you no later than end of day Wednesday, Nov. 28 with your new order number and estimated delivery date - which we currently estimate to be received before the holidays.
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The Inspiron 15 has a larger screen but the same resolution, essentially the same CPU, but most importantly is considerably thicker and over one pound heavier (5.2 vs. 4.1 pounds). It was important when I bought this laptop for my daughter that it was a thin and light version. This email from Dell is pathetic in the density of its lies. Nobody would believe that the 15 (which normally sells for $399) is superior to the 14z (normally selling for $599). Based on an online petition, they did this to minimum hundreds of people.
Dell is world renowned for their supply chain management. The notion that their website would be out of sync with their inventory is laughable. They locked in hundreds, possibly thousands of suckers into a deal that was $200 worse than they thought they had. And I, like those others, having locked this deal in, didn't go pursuing other Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals for an equivalent or nearly equivalent deal.
Bait and switch. And it worked. I spent over an hour with sales resolution and a supervisor this afternoon to no avail. I offered a number of alternate compromises - delaying shipment, downgrading to Windows 7, even accepting the 15 with Microsoft Office as a compromise. They lied, saying that the only thing they could provide me was the 14z. Dell can do anything they want to - but their sales and customer service department have been well trained in preventing customers from being made right.
Horrendous experience.
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