not to start a fight, but I'm wondering why?

A lot of people here have suggested buying things through dell Small Business and just claiming a business like, "your name", or something like that.

Then when I suggest to go through EPP and say a University around where you live, I was accused of being unethical and lying.

But why is that so? Dell makes their money either way, EPP or not. When they sell a machine through EPP, they are making money regardless. I know a lot of people on here don't have money to flaunt around, so why does a helpful suggestion lead to so many frowns?

It's just that Dell takes advantage of people who don't know about EPP and so they basically "deceive" others into buying something higher priced. I was one of those person on my first M1210 purchase.

I was 100% legally eligible for EPP and they told me that there was no such thing as a student discount. So I bought my system through regular sales. Later, I found out that I was deceived into purchasing a system that I could have bought through EPP because there really was such a thing as student discounts.

I'm just saying, it's a multi-mill corporation, and we are just individuals that are trying to value our money.

Is this really that bad? Even compared to saying you own a business through Dell Small Business?

I think of myself as someone that tries not to do anything wrong, so was my recommendation really that offensive?

Sorry, I just got off work so this isn't really well thought out. I know it seems like rambling redundantly.

Thanks and any input is appreciated. Please don't close this thread, I would like to know if I was really wrong.

 

A Small Business is defined as a group of one or more people...even Dell Sales Reps say if you want a Latitude go through SMB as they allow single persons to order. You don't have to lie to get the price...

If you order a notebook through SMB, I do believe that the business name is indeed OPTIONAL...they don't require it as they do recognize that individuals order Latitudes as well.

Staying you're a student just to get a discount is actually lying (fibbing) to get a 12% discount. Dell's front webpage has links to the EPP program, so even if a sales rep told you otherwise you have the chance to find out for yourselves. Also, the last time I checked Dell's front page for EPP does ask for a student ID number now. I could be wrong, but that ought to tell you they do want to try to keep people honest about it. I cannot point to a law that specifically says this is illegal, but it's akin to milking the welfare system just to get free food (bad example I know)...and that's definitely illegal.

Two wrongs do not make a right. I'd be a shame if someone got in trouble for doing that...and as soon as Dell starts checking I'm sure someone would.

 

Yeah I've wondered the same thing.

in the meantime take advantage of these discounts IMO.

"Small Buisness" is a highly subjective term.

My "buisness" is doing schoolwork for classes.

 

I appreciate the response.

Just to dig into this further, one question:

Is it still wrong if they don't enforce it? It seems to me like EPP is just like a coupon. When you find about it, you can use it and they don't take any actions to prove whether or not you actually go to that school.

Once again, I AM NOT condoning this behavior in this thread.

I just want to get the opinion of the general consensus. Thank you.

 

Wrong? Right? Morality? That's subjective.

It matters what you think.

For me, I'd do it. I don't care about Dell as a company other than the product they can give.

The CEO is super rich. I'm an average girl with low funds.

I should have every opportunity to take advantage of loopholes, if you will.

 

Well...if you go 90MPH on a road and don't get caught...is it legal? No...

FYI, I do know for a fact that HP checks many/most EPP orders. I got called by them myself to verify my status as a student. Back to the original topic...

 

really? How did they ask you to verify that? That's really interesting. But then again, I can expect that from HP. Dell on the other hand hands out preferred accounts like candy. This is one of the reasons I suspect they don't check if you're really a student or not...

they just don't care.

They want your money that's what it seems like it.

 

You don't get caught because no one is around to report you to the cops, and no cops are around. That means you really don't have a chance to hurt anyone. So are you really endangering anyone? The risks of killing someone going 100+ MPH in the middle of the night with no cars around is probably lower than going 70 MPH legally with decent traffic. So is that really wrong?

LOL, what I said doesn't make sense does it? I think I need some sleeeep.

 

Well, that was a while ago and it wasn't for this notebook...but they did call back then. I was told by a rep when I was hunting for the best nc8430 price that they follow up on the current orders still...but I ended up getting my nc8430 through SMB because EPP didn't have many customized models (and none were Core 2 Duo at the time).

Eh...we all need sleep. I've only had one good night's sleep in a month or so...

 

this is turning out to be a good clean thread. I'd really like more people to contribute their views/opinions on this matter.

 

I think it's a good idea to let people know about the education discounts offered by HP and Dell, but I personally don't think I could suggest to someone to use the discount if they didn't qualify. I used the education discount when I ordered a notebook for my daughter who is in college. I didn't know the discounts were available until I saw it posted on these forums, and I really appreciated it.

Now what if I purchased a notebook for myself and used an education discount through my daughter's college enrollment..........?

 

LOL, we can't encourage that behavior but do what you think is right

Good thing you found about it before you purchases! I'm happy you didn't get ripped.

 

Usally when ethics or general morals are the subject, if you have to ask, its usually the wrong thing to do. Another long term consideration of over abuse of the program is 1) diminished benefits of the program, 2) higher prices in general, nobody every really gets one over a big company like Dell, any loss they incur gets passed down to future buyers.

I personally wouldnt do it, its easy enough to find very good deals from dell through conventional means, and while I doubt the penalty would be severe, I would feel very stupid getting caught doing something like that.

 

I've also seen quite a few episodes in which a Home Coupon would actually make a notebook cheaper that the EPP discount counterpart. EPP doesn't get coupons...

 

Well, you are funding it almost as if you were going there yourself...

 

Yeah, I am in college and I was going to do EPP, but the coupons from this forum actually made it cheaper than EPP, so it didn't really matter to me. If you're getting an Inspiron, the coupons from here are generally better than the EPP discount, plus some of the same features arent available with EPP.

 

so you cannot use coupons with EPP? are you guys sure about this?

I guess going through EPP would only be good for XPS systems.

 

That's because EPP and Home are two different department with two different sets of deals.