Can You Haggle With Dell

kah22
kah22 Posts: 1,874 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
I'll be buying a new laptop soon and have narrowed my choice down to two machines:

Dell Inspiron-1764-N0076406 and the
Acer Aspire 7740-334G50Mn

Price wise there is little between the two. The main difference seems to be the Dell offers an i5 cpu and 350GB HD while the Acer offers i3 plus 500GB HD

I'm not a power user or gamer, and I can't see the machine getting to many outings so this time I thought I'd try a 17 inch should be better for watching movies.

Anyway I was wondering if you can haggle with Dell in much the same way as you sometimes can with SKY. My current laptop is an Inspiron and I've had no bother with it so I am been drawn towards that machine.

I'm thinking of emailing them giving them the two models offering to buy within 24 hours if they give me a better deal: lower price, higher speck, whatever. I was also thinking of cold calling them and doing the same thing.

I'm sure some moneysavers have tried this, I'd like to know your tactics and of course results.

Kevin
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Comments

  • John_Gray
    John_Gray Posts: 5,837 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Are you going to buy 100 laptops? If so, you could probably get the price shaved. For one, they might not be too bothered if you bought it from Acer or from themselves.

    Try towards the end of a month, or a quarter of their financial year, and you may get a better result than on 2nd August!
  • If you were buying multiple bits of equipment, maybe. But if you are only buying one there is no change in hell Dell with haggle with you.
    If my post helped you in anyway, please hit the "Thanks" button! Please note any advice I give is followed at your own risk!
  • tronator
    tronator Posts: 2,859 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    John_Gray wrote: »
    Are you going to buy 100 laptops? If so, you could probably get the price shaved.

    If you buy a few PC's/laptops from time to time then you can haggle. It's surely much less than 100 pieces. If you bought enough in the past then you will get your own account manager at Dell and then you can haggle even if you buy one laptop. But he will make you a good price anyway in most cases.

    I agree that they will not haggle for one laptop if you are a first time buyer. Maybe if you buy a server for a couple of thousand £££ ...
  • robt_2
    robt_2 Posts: 3,401 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    If you were buying multiple bits of equipment, maybe. But if you are only buying one there is no change in hell Dell with haggle with you.

    Totally wrong. They will do if you phone up to order it. If they won't knock the price down they will throw in free accessories.

    I am speaking from ten years experience - you are either guessing wrongly or have been very unlucky with the operator you spoke to when you ordered!
  • RuthnJasper
    RuthnJasper Posts: 4,032 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    Personally, I'd go for the Dell. I had an Acer and it wasn't that reliable. Sorry I can't help with the main question, though I'd echo the poster who mentioned waiting until the end of the Month/Quarter. The best time of all is towards the end of the financial year (end of March), as they'll be desperate to meet their sales targets.

    Good luck to you. x
  • rdpro
    rdpro Posts: 607 Forumite
    edited 2 August 2010 at 12:23PM
    robt wrote: »
    Totally wrong. They will do if you phone up to order it. If they won't knock the price down they will throw in free accessories.

    I am speaking from ten years experience - you are either guessing wrongly or have been very unlucky with the operator you spoke to when you ordered!

    I agree, order by phone, dither until they start chucking in freebies (ensure you get a good deal on an extended next day warranty, they certainly can be beaten down on these).

    If all else fails, see if the model you're after is on ecomputers (discount Dell resellers on Ebay). Avoid refurbished, look up the cancelled order stuff, as these are brand new boxed with full warranty. They are laptops built to order, which have then been cancelled.
    IT Field Service Engineer, 20 years with screwdriver and hammer :)
  • bignred05
    bignred05 Posts: 1,217 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 2 August 2010 at 1:39PM
    I ordered a laptop once from Dell,can't remember why however I decided to cancel the order I had made (only made a few days earlier)
    anyway in order to convince me to keep the pre-ordered laptop I was offered a 10% discount off (was alos offered various bits at first, however as I was not intertested in a free printer etc) the original order price

    hence I kept the laptop

    so the moral of the tale is order your laptop (I did it on line) phone up within 24-48 to cancel the wait and see what Dell say
  • davester
    davester Posts: 4,079 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Use Topcashback you get 6-7% off the none tax price. My £810 laptop last year, with their £265 and free delivery, and a 10% discount code then the £30 from topcashback made the total price £530
    Survey earnings total 2009 £417, 2010 £875, 2011 £574
  • Hi all

    Does anyone know if cashback (quidco) still happens if one chooses to "buy now, pay later" or pay in installments?

    I assume answer is "no" of the former option... Not sure about second one...

    Thanks!
  • irace
    irace Posts: 82 Forumite
    I have no experience in buying from dell but would be surprised if you phone their sales team and they don't give you any freebies! At the end of the day thats why companies have sales teams really!!... for a bit of leverage!
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