So I’m looking to purchase a desktop that has around 1TB storage capacity, high end ram, good video card, and a 30 inch monitor. Last time I purchased a Dell things didn’t go so smoothly. So I configure the package online at Dell and it prices out to be around $3200 and the telephone sales agent manages to get the price reduced to just below $3000. I refuse to purchase the computer from both the female sales agent, and male manager because they won’t lower the price by $100 for me. Is this a good policy or a bad policy that Dell won’t negotiate with their customers? Are there no exceptions; especially after being threatened with blogosphere retaliation and being featured on Digg!? Well this is somewhat of a comical post - but enjoy the video and let me know what you think of Dell. The following are my hypotheses on why Dell refused to lower their price after a lot of verbal abuse and counter-offers on the phone:Dell profit margins are so slim that they are unable to negotiate prices because they know exactly how much they make on the deal before the deal is made. Therefore, all sales prices are reversely capt as that $100 would have pushed them into “Undesired Profit Territory”. “Undesired Profit Territory” is a concept that I recently conceived when thinking about the psychological make-up of multi-million dollar corporations. Dell has strict policies about selling below certain price points in all circumstances. Dell is not in business to make just a few dollars on every transaction, they want to make at least $100, $200, or $300 on every transaction; they know what their historical and future Revenue Per Action is. They know exactly how much they make on average for every point of sale. That profit amount with Dell is 4.82% of every transaction. So if they were to sell me $100 worth of goods, they would make $4.82 cents . On my $3000 purchase they would have made (30x$4.82) $144.60. I was asking them to go down another $100; thus leaving them at only $44.60 worth of profit. Therefore, Dell’s “Undesired Profit Territory” is anything less that $144.60 for every transaction. In other words any transaction that results in a profit less than 4.82%

In corporations just as in American government, there are only a hand few of key employees that have ultimate and undisputed power. Corporate CEO’s that control a majority of the outstanding shares are kings of international Power organizations. Michael Dell (who owns over 216 million shares worth over 4 billion 600 million dollars) and his accountants, as well as a few key upper level managers are the only ones that know of “charges” that appear on the books - therefore, they can basically purchase whatever they want as long as they control the company, it’s actually their company, and other large, though minority shareholders, very rarely say anything about exec level extravagances so long as they aren’t leveraged or down a tremendous amount as is. In other words, at super huge corporations, minority shareholders can go fuck themselves, no one knows whats going on but the majority owners; and believe me they got it going on.

Normally 9-5′rs have absolutely no concept of what it means to have a billion dollars or more; the only people who can conceive what its like to be a billionaire are those who are either close, have it, or day-dream about it at end. It’s actually hard to realize what it’s like to be a billionaire and purchase basically anything you want. Now think about people that have more then a billion, like 20 billion dollars, or 80 billion dollars. Instead of thinking about purchasing homes; you think about buildings, oil tankers, anywhere you can put huge amounts of money and receive a good rate of return on that amount. The stock market ultimately becomes your super market and you have to purchase items that can retain their value and grow at least 5% a year; not rotten tomatoes.

5/12/08 - UPDATE - I’m happy and proud to announce that Dell monitors the blogosphere like no other company today!  I received numerous phone calls and email follow ups from Natalie (customer_advocate@dell.com) notifying me that they have removed all outstanding balances and the Indian call center harassment will be stopped.  Dell has taken user generated complaints and questions to an extreme level by creating Dell Conversations.  I’m very pleased at the outcome of my situation with Dell, but regardless, I shouldn’t have had to blog about it to get a resolution.  Nevertheless, I will continue to do business with Dell because I’m so impressed with their embracing attitude towards the internet and blogs.

Original complaint message:

I recently purchased a Dell CPU, 30-inch flat screen monitor, mouse, keyboard, and other accessories; totaling nearly $3000. This is probably a lot more than the average Dell customer spends; and the level of customer service sucks - that is if you hate dealing with someone in India that could care less about your situation. Below is the copy of the invoice that I receive every month, and the last letter that I have written Dell regarding my purchase:

I’m upset because Dell is outsourcing their finance collections and using Indian labor to relentlessly pound their customers with telephone calls. They are also screwing with my credit by reporting my late payment. These Indians are rather smart as well; they call with blocked telephone numbers, an 800 type looking number, and overseas numbers, in order to make it look like a different call (they do this because people like me pick up and hang up, or never answer). If you read the letter above, you will see that I returned my unopened purchases but Dell is trying to collect on the shipping charges. I was fully prepared to accept delivery of the goods I ordered, but FEDEX was unwilling to attempt to ship to me again, and Dell was completely worthless and could do nothing to insure I received the shipment. So kill me, I’m at the office busting my ass for my clients and unable to take receipt of a $3K purchase, so take the effort and bring it to my residence one more time.

The next telephone call I receive from an outsourced Indian doing debt collections, I will record and post on this website for the world to see. Hopefully, Dell will start treating it’s customers with more respect and Dell’s market value wont look the way that it does. Please comment on this post if you have experienced similar problems.

I don’t hate Dell, I think they make a reasonably good product, for a good price; and I just recently purchased another laptop from them. But this Dell Preferred Finance account has been a horrible experience. The reason they have the Preferred account option is that they want to make additional money by allowing you to borrow from them, and you can’t dispute this with your credit card. Otherwise, VISA would have already been notified and I would have won the dispute for the shipping charges. If Dell rectifies this situation, I will certainly report on it and recommend my readers to purchase Dell products; but till that happens, DON’T PURCHASE FROM DELL SUCKS.