Anyone haggle with Dell on price?

[James]

I'm a long-time Dell fan. We have them at work and I have them at home. I buy the high-end XPS series for home use. I also can log in under or corp plan and get some kind of discount..which I don't know if it is real or not. There are so many prices and ways to buy the same PC that I have to compare several Dell sites and even Amazon. I need a real performer for video editing. I don't want to build it my self this time.

But anyway...have you ever talked with a rep and gotten a better deal?

 

[CaliTVguy]

@James,
I've used Dell forever as well. I've not had the patience to be bounced between call centers with Dell to pull off a successful negotiation; however, my father has for his business. He will literally sit there for about 4 hours, but at the end of the call he will have the deal he wants with a very disgruntled Dell employee on the line by that 8-9th forward of his call. Good luck!

 

[James]

Haha-I may try it. I've also been looking at HP since HP has a good rep with photo and image editors. They have a line called Phoenix that is supposed to be good. Either way it is going to run me a minimum of $1000. I've built my own but today almost everyone agrees that you don't really save much. I'm not a gamer so I don't need to be able to brag on every component or overclock and all that.

 

[CaliTVguy]

Yeah, when I'm buying a computer for me, I always try and max both RAM and video card capability...every time that I've done that the computer has lasted for a good long while...every time I haven't...well, its useful to have a low end PC to plug up to random TVs in the house I guess

 

[bunny22]

I've gotten pretty good deals by getting refurbished computers in the Dell Outlet. To me, any extra money saved beyond that would likely not be worth spending several hours on the phone with customer service! To each his or her own.

 

[MMkaho]

I had tried to haggle on price but gave up after 10 minutes of waiting for the manager, but that was only once i have since gained a few connections and even have gained a few spare parts to piece together a Inspiron 530s into a halfway decent system with windows vista and even works great with 7.

 

[James]

I was debating HP vs Dell XPS. I could have went with a custom machine built for editing but I did not want to go that high in price. I am not editing 8+ cameras into one video. I ended up going with the XPS with plans on buying a better Nvidia card later. Nvidia makes a series of cards specifically compatable with my editing programs. It should run $400 for the card. The really hot cards are over $1K as a reference. I tried buying an outlet model but could not get the financing I wanted. The alternative series is a busines/s class with the Xenon processor and the good graphics card. Prob for architects and number crunchers with multiple displays ...but I already ordered my tower and will stick with it. It is being built know...waiting waiting.

 

[rachellove22]

One of my first computers was a Dell and I had a lot of problems with it. I remember only paying about $400 for it but at the time I thought that was a lot. Due to the constant problems I had, I never purchased another Dell. This thread makes me wonder if they have improved the quality of their PC's.

 

[MMkaho]

One of my first computers was a Dell and I had a lot of problems with it. I remember only paying about $400 for it but at the time I thought that was a lot. Due to the constant problems I had, I never purchased another Dell. This thread makes me wonder if they have improved the quality of their PC's.

Most problems i have encountered since i started my own computer repair business was that it wasn't the hardware but the user either doing too much on a minimum spec setup, I did however run into a few bad systems maybe 1 out of the 5 dells i worked on in one week was just a power supply problem, although i refuse to repair a system under warranty through a manufacturer or another shop UNLESS their seems to be a repeat issue then yea I will work on the system

 

[CaliTVguy]

Yeah, my dad will spend the 4-5 hours that it takes to haggle with Dell on the phone for his office. I'm lazier than he is, so typically will not. He is pretty successful with doing it though! My only concern with the XPS would be if you intend to put it under heavy-duty strain the eventual failure of the power supply from my experience with the model. I loved the capability, and more than got my money out of it, but at the 1.5-2 year point, when you compare the ROI on repair versus new purchase, most of the time new purchase will win out if you can get an accurate repair assessment.
Still better than my 1 x try at Mac which ended 13 months in with a major motherboard failure (not under warranty). Last time I don't go with cheapest/ most capable model for what I do online. I do recommend max RAM for whatever PC you buy at the time. Less hassle than upgrading later, and will help deal with Windows bloatware a bit easier!

 

[MMkaho]

Yeah, my dad will spend the 4-5 hours that it takes to haggle with Dell on the phone for his office. I'm lazier than he is, so typically will not. He is pretty successful with doing it though! My only concern with the XPS would be if you intend to put it under heavy-duty strain the eventual failure of the power supply from my experience with the model. I loved the capability, and more than got my money out of it, but at the 1.5-2 year point, when you compare the ROI on repair versus new purchase, most of the time new purchase will win out if you can get an accurate repair assessment.
Still better than my 1 x try at Mac which ended 13 months in with a major motherboard failure (not under warranty). Last time I don't go with cheapest/ most capable model for what I do online. I do recommend max RAM for whatever PC you buy at the time. Less hassle than upgrading later, and will help deal with Windows bloatware a bit easier!

I have had the same computer for almost 2 years now i have upgraded memory and the harddrive multiple times because i needed more space for my uncle work, but i do think that no matter what i'm gonna have to rethink my system and eventually aquire a new system weither its buy one custom/hand built or factory issued, this thing just is not cutting it anymore with what i wanna do i'm missing out on the latest games.

 

[James]

I shall report back once it is deliverd. My employer buys tens of thousands laptops every year. All Dell. Dell servers also. WE got fairly cheapo Dells and they had problems with components dieing. Our newest models seem to work much faster. They are Win7. I have had good success with the XPS line. NO problems. Their business/engineer class can come with Xenon processors and good Nvidia graphics cards.

 

[MMkaho]

well they do learn from their mistakes but they do provide decent hardware for good prices weather or not its a good discount or not still good though

 

[James]

It is coming up on a month and my PC is still being built.:huh: I am thinking either there was a component that they rejected and are waiting on a new shipment or they have reduced their build capacity and there is a backlog of orders. When an order of 10,000 drives, cables, etc gets delayed it can really disrupt the product stream.

 

[MrPogi]

I could have built that PC in a day myself. But for sure, I would have to wait a week for the parts to arrive in the mail.

 

[MMkaho]

I could have built that PC in a day myself. But for sure, I would have to wait a week for the parts to arrive in the mail.

You order OEM parts or Specific parts? Me if its HDD/CPU/RAM i usually travel to a supply store first and find the cheapest i can find but quality comes first, but if it requires high end parts of course im stuck ordering from either ebay or a Supply website I never order in bulk though cables and such I might have to start soon going through them like nothing in the process of upgrading towers need longer sata cables copared to the short versions and maybe an extra USB CARD

 

[MrPogi]

That's one thing I miss about living in Vegas with a Frys nearby. When my MOBO died, I had parts to build a new one and had it up and running the same day. All I have here is a Best Buy - and I only shop there if it's an emergency.

One more check mark in the "plus" column for moving back to Vegas.

 

[James]

I have built my PCs in the past. I have been buying them recently. I was not needing anything high performance until I started editing video. Dell has been quick and reliable so I went with them again. Really weird! The saga continues. I am interested in seeing what shows up. Haha

 

[MMkaho]

Wow I'm surprised you didn't say u used a Mac for editing video

 

[James]

Macs are not magic..anymore. Video editors are voicing displeasure over Apple's apparent focus on novice video editors. You build a superior PC for less money that a Mac. That is the big buzz now. Then there is the Hackintosh-which is a build where you install a Mac OS on non-Mac hardware. All sorts of things are happening today. Nothing wrong with Macs..of course. Then there is Avid..which manufacturers its own hardware to run their editing software.

But back to Dell. NEWS. They, the nameless, faceless, e-mailers notified me that they regret to inform that there will be a delay until May. I did not cancel. I want to see what happens. I believe they are actually smelting the metal for the case...kinda like in Lord Of The Rings.