AW/DELL Ordering Advice - How to save $$$

Would love to get a machine on order. Can anyone PM me their Dell Sales Rep contact info? I promise not to haggle.

 

$500 off!? That's a huge discount! Did you order a $4000 M18x configuration or something?

 

Thank you DR650SE! Just ordered a Precision M4600...started at $1975 before tax...got the whole thing for $1973.06 + ADP after tax...My first successful negotiation...If you guys want my rep, PM me.

+1 Rep

 

Anyone know where I can find some up to date coupons and vouchers? I clicked the link in the OP but it only lets you go straight to the order, it doesn't give you the actual coupon code which I'd like to have for when I talk to the dell rep over the phone.

 

Just heard about a 20% off EPP purchase. Anyone have a link or coupon code? Tried to google without luck.

 

If this is true can someone tell me as well?

 

I have not heard of any such thing. AAFES (military) was 22% off, but now it is 15%. Normally EPP is 2%.

 

After trying my hand at bargaining...my rep offered me 2% EPP, 3% DPA, and $100 bux off a M18x system. I guess I need to try another rep if you guys are getting $400+ off a new system...

 

Looking to get hooked up w/ a good price on a fully loaded M18x...wonder how many more "quality" posts I need to be able to use PM =(

 

Woohoo! 10 posts. PMs are ready.

Looking to order a $3,000.00 M18x w/ max discount possible. Please PM with contact information for a good sales rep if you were able to get a decent amount off list price. I promise not to haggle. Thank you!

 

Sad thing we don't get any good AW on the canadian website .

 

Having a horrible time trying to get any discounts at all on an R3.
The best I managed out of 7 reps was EPP and a $50 coupon I found online.
So basically they can't manage anything better than what I can do...

Tried the EPP department, regular sales, Alienware sales, and online chat.
Being my usual charming self giving nudges towards looking for a discounted price =)

 

I tried it too, and really didn't get where I wanted, so let me make a suggestion: Dell Outlet - Alienware.

Here's my story for you quick. I've never ordered from Dell before either new or refurbished. I wanted an m17x R3 and talked to several phone reps. I just couldn't get a great deal. I finally broke down and ordered one, but then after sleeping on it I decided it was just too expensive. When I called to cancel they knocked another $200 or so off the price, finally getting it somewhat reasonable, but my mind was already made up...

I spent about 10-14 days watching the refurbished site until finally I saw the exact laptop I had ordered new (except it had BluRay, I was only going to do DVD, and it had the Intel 6300 wireless) and it was hundreds of dollars cheaper. Hundreds. My model was $829 cheaper refurbished than buying it new.

You wouldn't even know it's not new by looking at it. It looks great. It had a minor problem I easily fixed when I received it, and otherwise, so far so good. Sure, it didn't come in a cool box. No hat. No mousepad. No metal name plate. They sent a manual for an m17x R2 and not the 3, but who cares. The machine looks great, and it runs great, and hundreds of dollars were saved. Plus it has the same factory warranty and I even added a year of accidental damage to it for the same price as on a new machine. I highly recommend the Outlet.

 

Yeah, I have never had the success that the OP had at getting a "great" deal by talking with CS reps. I just think it's just luck of the draw finding a CS that will work with you, which is stupid imho. Haggling shouldn't be required to get a great deal from a huge company like Dell. They should either fix their pricing for everyone or not.

You can find some great deals at the Outlet though, especially if you're patient and wait for the perfect combo of machine you want and good coupon. You get a full one year warranty, it's treated as new, and you can return it as many times as you want, within 21 days after receipt of each machine, until you're happy with the machine. In many cases after three returns it seems they have some "select" refurbs that are basically new that they send you, otherwise it's luck of the draw.

 

I can share my recent experience...

I started out by almost pulling the trigger on this: Alienware - M17X Laptop from Best Buy (AM17XR3-5542STB)

For $1700 I think that's actually a really good deal, especially since it already has the 6970 video card. However, I really wanted the 2.2GHz processor, a bigfoot killer wifi card, and blu-ray as my current laptop ( G73JH) has it and it has come in handy when traveling.

So I tried my hand at haggling and called Dell. The best the rep could do initially was take $50 off, big whoop. However, when I mentioned the best buy laptop I was considering, that really got him to try and bring the price down. I instructed him how to find it on best buy and then funny enough, he couldn't really match the best buy price. After putting me on hold and talking to supervisors he manged to pull a $150 discount. This left the dell model about $100 more, but dell configuration was a bit better as it had a blu-ray and the two 320gb drives (compared to the single 750gb from BB) and his best argument was that ordering from Dell would be better than ordering from a 3rd party.

I wasn't buying that line of reasoning so when I said that even though I would get a blu-ray player, I would have to wait to have dell build it where as best buy could get it to my door in 2 days. At that point he tried to knock another $50 off but his supervisors wouldn't approve it so he offered me free next business day shipping at least. So compared to the best-buy model I had blu-ray and the two 320gb raid-0 drives. I then upgraded the cpu to the 2.2ghz and added the killer wifi card. Total was $1,979 + tax + free next day shipping. So $279 for the upgrades compared to the BB model. I thought that was decent and decided to go with it.

A few hours later I was doing some research on the 1600x900 screen and began to wonder if I was going to regret not getting that. Sure enough I decided to call back and get that changed. I contact my sales rep and he had no problem canceling and re-ordering with the 1080p screen. That's a $150 upgrade on the site. However, when doing my research I came across this coupon for $50 off ! After some issues with communicating the code (he originally thought it was invalid but I verified it worked on dell's site) he verified the code and took another $50 off. So I got the 1080p screen for $100 and my new total was $2079 + tax + next day shipping.

Feeling good about everything the next day... I came into work and was reading in the m17x forum on here and noticed the 6990 video card was now available. UHG. Did my research and verified that it was in fact available and the benchmarks/previews looked like it was a significant enough upgrade, especially if it was only a $50 upgrade. Now according to the alienware site, at the time the 6990 was actually a $100 upgrade because the 6970 was eligible for the 20% video card upgrade discount, making it a $200 upgrade instead of $250 (which seems to be gone as of today).

When I was reading this thread I noticed a few people mentioned that they have better luck getting discounts from U.S. sales reps (mine was a foreign sales team). So I figured what the heck, I'll try them out on a new order and see what kind of price they can get. Well, he couldn't get me crap. But again the best case I had was by showing him another laptop I was looking to but and having them try to match specs and price. Ultimately though he kept wanting to look up my account info and I eventually had to tell him what I was up to. At that point he made up some story about he wouldn't be able to cancel my order as I'd have to talk to the original rep. whatever

So I contacted my sales rep again. He wasn't in the office at this point so I got someone else on his team. He confirmed the $50 upgrade price (again, not paying attention to the discounted 6970 price). However, even though it was less than 24-hours later, my laptop was already "in production" and he said he didn't think he could cancel it any longer. Obviously I wasn't accepting that crap as it wasn't even 24-hours later. He said he would have to contact a supervisor and get back to me. A few hours later I still hadn't heard from him so I called back. He said he was still waiting to hear from a supervisor. I said, well can't we just place an order for a new one and I'll send the first one back? He actually chuckled. He then said he was having a hard time matching the price that the other rep gave me and would have to talk to a supervisor for that anyway. So again I waited for a call.

About an hour later I got a call from my original sales rep. I joked with him for a second about my frequent calls and if he was sick of me yet. He concurred with his team-mates that it would be difficult to cancel the order at this point but he would see what he could do. I then mentioned putting in the second order and when he came back he said the video card would be a $100 upgrade. (He probably remembered that I was already getting a discount on the other card) -- I said whoa whoa, "Ted" (the other sales rep) quoted me $50 upgrade. He put me on hold and came back and said he checked and it's a $100 upgrade. I said, "Well did you talk to Ted? Because I had him verify the price before we even started talking about this and he confirmed the $50 cost." So he put me on hold and talked to Ted and came back and said, "Ok yes, I have the quote and we will do it for $50 upgrade." He said he could contact me when the order was canceled and re-done.

About an hour or so later I noticed my order was canceled. I waited a bit and didn't see a new one entered so I sent him an email in which he assured me that he was just waiting for a supervisor approval to put in the new order. About two hours later I had an email with my new order.

And now I wait computer-less as I'm selling my G73JH via craigslist in a few hours =D

m17x r3
2.2 ghz CPU
6990 graphics card
1920x1080 screen
8gb ram
killer wifi card

Total: $2,119.00 + tax + free next day shipping.

(This build would be $2,379 on the web right now after the current $220 off promotion)

So my tips based on experience--
1) Find yourself some models to compare to on the web and try to get dell to beat or match the price.

2) Save any coupon codes you have until AFTER they give you their best price.

3) Free next day shipping seems to be easy for them to give up, so keep that up your sleeve for last as well.

4) Write down the names / extension numbers of everyone you talk to.

5) Try to be-friend you reps in some way. get them to like you so the care about getting you a good deal

6) Here is my sales rep: Francis Lawrence, [email protected], 1-800-289-3355 x 4162567

EDIT: Wow.. holy crap. With the promotion dell is running right now (-15% off) my build comes to $2,209.15... $90 more than what I just went through with all that. And actually, subtract that $50 coupon which is still valid and it's only a $40 difference. Wondering if i can squeeze out some extra bucks from my sales rep =D

 

About the best I could do, even having mistakes on their part (wrong info, system put into production despite being on hold) about the best I could get was about $250 discount for my m18x. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes not...

 

I just placed an order for an M14x today. Got an EPP and DPA discount along with next business day shipping. I tried to get additional discounts or freebies but they wouldn't budge. I tried to get the $50 off coupon added as well as trying to get the free Xbox 360 promotion, but again they wouldn't budge and said these promotions would not stack on top of the discounts they were already giving me. The first rep I talked to refused to give me anything in addition to the EPP and DPA discounts. He said I had gotten maximum savings and there was nothing more that could be done. So, I told him I couldn't make the purchase at this time. An hour later I called back, got another rep, and he was able to add on the next business day shipping for me. A small bonus, but it was the extra bonus I needed to go ahead make me feel good about placing the order.

So, don't expect any huge savings from these sales reps, but you do come out better than simply ordering from the website.

 

So I finally talked to my sales rep's supervisor tonight and I got the alienware carrying case ($75 value) thrown in with my deal... Good enough for me to not have to delay my order any further

 

OK! So I'm halfway committed. I have a quote from a CSR in hand. Now is this price negotiable with other CSRs? Should I reference this number or re-configure the setup with each CSR I talk to?

 

It is negotiable with other reps. I wasn't able to get any additional discounts, but after talking to a second rep, he was able to add on next business day shipping. Tell the second rep something like the first price was a bit to high so you searched around for some coupon codes or something. Then try to get extra discounts, or at least the next business day shipping.

 

I ended up using the quote and calling another rep.. After 30 minutes I was offered 50 off (a managers special or something) and expedited production, which on one call was enough for me.

Now I have a goal of getting NBD shipping ( Because I want it NOW!! ). Should I just call and keep asking about the order and mentioning I need it now?

Has anyone had success getting a free upgrade to NBD shipping after their order was paid?

 

Any 30% discounts out lately?

 

Wow, still can't believe how popular this thread is. I knew when I started it it would help others through what I had found and consolidated, but I wrote it almost a year and a half ago and it rarely leaves the first page of this sub forum. Glad others have benefited from it so much.

: puffs chest out:

 

I just made an account here but ive been visiting the site for some time now and i must say this might be the most amazing thread ive ever seen. Its been loads of help as i prepare to buy my first alienware. So i would just like to say thank you good sir. thank you.

 

Nope. AAFES is 15% plus tax savings. 21% is the best I could do thru EPP

You da man DR! Heading out for a thrash on my S1000RR

 

Is expedited production really possible? All of the reps I talked to said no. The last supervisor I talked to said she would do it, but it sounded like a half-assed promise just to get me to shut up =P

 

You are the man. This is one of the best and most useful threads on NBR, if not the best. I mean who doesn't want to save on that fleeting thing called "money"? You made it easier. My next laptop purchase will follow all this advise cold. Thanks.

 

I just asked about getting the laptop as soon as possible and it was offered to me by the first guy I talked to.. If you need a contact PM me

 

Hey guys i found a thread on slickdeals where the OP says theres a 25% off promo on Inspiron, XPS and Alienware computers.

Heres the link.
DELL: 25% off Inspiron, XPS and Alienware computers - Slickdeals.net

goodluck

 

Heres a promocode from slick deals for $75 off a system $899 or more.

Expires 8/31/2011
coupon code: QJPMFXQ2ZN7L00

 

Yup, the OP has some of the best info on here. I admit that I was kinda pressured to buy AW after reading the OP lolzzzzzzz

That's a bummer for AAFES, but still very good deals on there, nonetheless.

Do those SDs stack?

 

Not entirely sure yet. over at a friends house so i wont be able to call till tomorrow. I pmed a person over on slickdeals that got a quote but he has yet to reply sorry.

 

The offer works. Have to call the EPP number and mention the hot summer savings. My rep wouldn't let me tack on the extra $50 code though. He said with the 25% off deal it specifically mentions cannot be combined with other coupons. Because of that though i got him to give me free NBD shipping.

I just saved $220 compared to the system I ordered 4 days ago. On this system I didn't get the 2x320 drives though and opted to go with the 750gb single drive so I can put in an SSD later. The 750gb is $50 less than the 2x320s, so technically I saved $170. Well worth it for an extra few days of waiting!

Order from 4 days ago:

Code:

m17x r3
2.2 ghz CPU
6990 graphics card
1920x1080 screen
8gb ram
2x320gb drives
killer wifi card

Total: $2,119.00 + tax + free next day shipping.

...I'll just be sending that right back to dell when this arrives:

Ordered today:

Code:

m17x r3
2.2 ghz CPU
6990 graphics card
1920x1080 screen
8gb ram
750gb drive
killer wifi card

Total: $1,911.00 + tax + free next day shipping.

 

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but despite being registered on here and Slickdeals I can't open the 25% discount deal. I've tried at least three links spread among at least three posts on here. Every time I'm told that I'm not allowed to view the deal or that it's been taken down. Is there a specific code you need to enter/mention or just mention the Hot Summer Deal and your EPP number?

Thank you.

 

link is dead. If you call and go to the ordering line and mention "hot summer savings" dell CSR's for purchases should have an email in their inbox.

Then they cross-list your organization with "the list" to see if you qualify.. My experience anyway.

 

And what organization should we be from for this to work?

 

I just said I work for "a school district" (which is true) and he didn't ask anything further, luckily

 

Yeah sorry guys the original thread seems to have been deleted. not sure why.
but as its been stated it should work with the promo code "hot summer savings" heres a link that was in the original thread about the promo.

Dell continues 25% off coupon for ISBA members Illinois Lawyer Now

 

Just ordered mine through this special 25% deal as well. Was refreshingly simple and straight forward. I only had to mention that it was replacing a system that just died (really sucks being without a notebook right now...) and my rep (without any additional prodding from me) added NBD shipping and pushed the build date (I should be receiving it within a week).

Here she is:

Intel® Core™ i7 2820QM 2.3GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz (2DIMMS) *will upgrade on my own to 16GB 1600MHz HyperX
2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M
750GB 7,200RPM HDD *already have a 120GB Vertex 3 SSD waiting for it
17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video
Internal WirelessHD Technology - FullHD Video Transmitter
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
4 Year Advanced Warranty Plan

$2386.54+tax (free NBD shipping)

I just HAD to add the 4yr Advanced Warranty since I was saving 25% off on it. There is something very satisfying about having saved over $800 on this baby and knowing I'll have a fantastic system for such a long time. I highly recommend trying it

 

Just got off the phone with a Dell rep. He said that this "Hot Summer Savings" discount is not available to any branch of the US military or the VFW, only certain companies. Sounds a little funny to me, but I'll try back with another rep and try to find out.

One thing is certain, if it doesn't, I'm definitely not rushing to place an order!

 

Someone previously in this thread posted that the discount was for ISBA members. So I called and asked for the Hot Summer Savings saying I am ISBA (which I am of course...................... ) and only got the managers discount and that there was no ISBA promo going on. I mentioned that I could order through AAFES and get approx 25% off (15% plus tax free = about 25%). Then I cited the statement from ISBA and the rep talked to her manager and came back saying they do have the discount and the price of my order dropped from 2009.00 before taxes to 1527.54 after taxes. Was very straight forward

 

This is apparently news to most of the reps who answer the phone. I talked with 2 different reps while I was getting my order done and both were surprised about this deal and didn't really know how to take care of it until after they spoke with their manager (or at least thats what they said...). Once they can find the promotion in their systems, it's about as straight forward a deal as you can find.

 

Just wondering how long the deal would last?

 

It's running from July 16th to the 29th.

 

This is kind of like trying to get a girlfriend. You get rejected countless time or don't build that chemistry (price not good enough), and then you finally found one you like and like you back (that is my max I can save you please I'm doing my best all for you) and BAM, you got yourself a sweet deal!

 

Are you really from the ISBA?

 

It's not just for the ISBA. I own an IT company that works for a local school district, and that school district is also apparently included in this deal (I'm in southern California). They gave me the deal after I explained the relationship in detail.

Just give it a shot...if your company doesn't provide the deal, perhaps a relationship you have with a different company (maybe if you are a Farmers Insurance customer, or AAA, etc.) will let you get the deal.

At the end of the day, they just want to make the sale, and as long as they can justify giving you the discount (to their manager), they will do so.

Good luck!

 

Hello everyone, am thinking to get either m14x or m17x, I travel alot due to my work but the weight for me is not a problem. And so i was doing research blablabla and pop into this website!

SO! one question people, does this coupon and hot summer savings deal applies in singapore or malaysia?

I was comparing the price using online purchasing and found that order online to singapore is way more expensive than order it in US. about 1k differences. =(

HELPS!

 

Can't you just say "ISBA or not, if you want your commission, you give me this sale!" And throw in a backpack, mouse, t-shirt, and free nbd shipping while your at it!

 

17x cause the 14x only has a 900p resolution which is much inferior to the 1080p resolution.