I finally ordered my 1730......3rd time lucky!

Well chaps and chapesses, I finally got there and ordered my 1730 from Dell

It took 3 attempts to order it, because I spotted fluctuations with the price.....

I placed an order on the 1st of March for:

T9300, XP Pro, 2GB, Crimson red, 2x250GB HDD, 8800GTX, XPS backpack etc.

I had been playing around all weekend ordering exactly the same spec every time - but finally took the plunge on the 1st of March - took advantage of all the current promotions and the 10% off which expires on the 5th of March.

I got 3 different prices - ranging from £1913, to £1923, to £1942

I eventually worked out why, and it was the fault of Dell's website - the discounts offered sometimes had the VAT removed from them in the shopping basket - which led to higher total, and sometimes VAT got added to inclusive prices, such as the £60 saving on the 3 year warranty - which led to the cheapest price.

Either way - I ended up on the 1st of March paying the most £1942.06 then realised their error.

Having phoned Dell customer support on monday, I was informed that they couldn't change the order and recommended that I cancelled it - therefore I cancelled the order, and re-ordered an hour later - this time same spec, but with 2x200GB hard drives. Which coincidentally, even with the £60 extra for the hard drives came to £1936 (£6 cheaper than what I would have paid on my first order)

But my 2nd order got cancelled - because Dell had attempted to change my credit card for the first order, and when they attempted to charge for the 2nd order obviously they exceeded my credit limit - so I ended up having both orders cancelled!

This, on top of the 2.5 month wait for a non-existent D901C led me to believe that maybe I wasn't destined to own a nice notebook, so I phoned Dell up once again, and after being transferred no less than 7 times, I finally got through to someone in sales, who understood that I had received bad service with my 2 prior orders and re-processed my order using my debit card - and even knocked more cash off - so I got the thing eventually for £1920

I checked my order status earlier - and I am at phase 1, and should have it with me by the 19th of March, so roll on the day.

Has anyone else had any stories with Dell's UK website and their erroneous discounts?

 

The 1730 is a nice laptop. Hope you enjoy it! Btw, yes, dells prices fluctuate a lot. Its best to watch the market for a few weeks to a month prior to your purchase so you can tell if its a good price or not.

 

It's powerful laptop. Quadcore on clevo wouldn't hurt though... it's just way too expensive for my taste.

You made a good choice.

 

Are you based in the UK?

if you are you'll notice that upon adding your item to the basket - you'll see the right hand column, which reads 'Price inc. VAT' - this is where Dell has been '****ing up' with my orders.

Currently Dell are offering 3 years XPS premium support for the price of 2 - which is a £60 inc. VAT saving, and £140 off (inc. VAT on selected notebooks) and free delivery (£60 off inc. VAT)

Now sometimes when you compile an order - they will add VAT onto the £60 saving, which brings it to £70.50 the rest may stay the same, then you may place another order, exactly the same spec, and it will be £60, but the £140 becomes £140 minus VAT = £119.15

Monday's order was £140 with VAT added on £164.50, and £70.50 for the warranty saving, which meant that I could upgrade the hard drives (£60 extra) and save £6 on my first order!

Shame they cancelled it tho' - due to trying to process the first order transaction on my credit card!

I had to fone em in the end - and mentioned the discrepancies in the prices - worked out nice for me as I got even more money off!