The Great Dell 20th Anniversary Error!

Doodee · 05-10-2004 4:44pm #1

Dell were offering in their Monthly Business Mag a standard Server with following specs.

2.4Ghz Celeron
512DDR
2 x 160GB IDE Hard drives
S-ATA Raid 0/1 compatibility
Windows Server ED 2003
Etc Etc

all for €299 Ex VAT and Del

now, I rang them up earlier to confirm and the sales person i spoke to said it was all correct except there was no OS with it, as that was a printers error.

Now, after rinigng up again to order it im told the whole lot is a printing error and that it should retail at €999.

Whats the legal standing on this?
Can someone demand that they recieve it for the price market in the mag?

Maybe the Dell spokesperson wasn't the only person buying Marie Jane :rolleyes:

SheroN · 05-10-2004 4:50pm

They can charge whatever they want for it. If you don't want to pay it, go elsewhere.

parsi · 05-10-2004 4:53pm

I think all the debacles with Kodak and Amazon etc have shown that they only have to honour that price if they actually took the money from you.

ShiverinEskimo · 05-10-2004 5:06pm

There should be a tiny print up the border or somewhere on the leaflet stating that prices can change without prior notice, and while stocks last etc. ie. if we make a mistake we are ok.

woosaysdan · 05-10-2004 5:27pm

the price listed is only an invitation to treat they can charge a different price for the item though as its only an invitation check this out

][cEMAN** · 05-10-2004 5:45pm

It's advertising atm on UK TV for £399 including VAT iirc.

Think there's ITC standards in the UK for broadcasting or advertising something that is false - ie. prices which are wrong. It's like going to McDonalds and ordering a Big Mac. If it doesn't look like what is advertised, you can get it sent back (though it doesn't matter if your DELL PC gets spat on - it's not going to affect it too badly).

][cEMAN** · 05-10-2004 5:48pm

Can someone demand that they recieve it for the price market in the mag?

As for this, I think you can. I remember hearing about this before when DELL made a feck up before in a sales catalogue - they had to honour the price and the included details. Can't remember if it was a case of something advertised in the picture that didn't disclaim that it wasn't included in the price.

tuxy · 05-10-2004 5:51pm

' wrote:

[cEMAN**'] It's like going to McDonalds and ordering a Big Mac. If it doesn't look like what is advertised, you can get it sent back.

but it never looks like the burger in the pic
so could i go in orger loads and send them all back?

Nuttzz · 05-10-2004 6:34pm

complain to www.asai.ie they will sort it

dahamsta · 05-10-2004 7:02pm

woosaysdan wrote:

the price listed is only an invitation to treat they can charge a different price for the item though as its only an invitation check this out

Absolutely. Sceptre's addressed this issue on Boards several times now, a search for "offer" under his handle should turn up plenty of detail. You should complain to the ASAI though, as it's good to have this type of thing on record so Dell won't be tempted to do some intentional "printing errors" in future.

adam

robbie1876 · 05-10-2004 11:28pm

You'll always find the little letters 'E&OE' at the bottom of these type of ads. This means 'Errors and Ommissions Expected' and means exactly what it says. You as a consumer, should be aware that they expect to make errors on this ad, so when you ring up Dell they can charge you anything they like and don't have to honour anything that's in the ad.

Robbie

Victor · 06-10-2004 1:24am

robbie1876 wrote:

You'll always find the little letters 'E&OE' at the bottom of these type of ads.

I understand this has very little legal standing.

robbie1876 · 06-10-2004 1:41am

Victor wrote:

I understand this has very little legal standing.

You could be right. I'm a sad bastard so I looked up what it meant:

E&OE is a British acronym that stands for "Errors and Omissions Excepted". E&OE is a legal disclaimer that notifies the reader that, without prejudice, that the content and/or validity of the subject data may change without notice.

from http://www.ventureline.com/glossary_E.asp
Even if it had little meaning standing, I wouldn't fancy taking on Dell in a legal battle over it.

monkeyfudge · 06-10-2004 2:40pm

Victor wrote:

I understand this has very little legal standing.

I used to design catalogs. And I'd always have to put down the following:

"All prices corect at the time of going to print. E&OE"

And I really don't think it gives you much legal standing. And believe me.. I used to make lots of mistakes on the prices in those catalogs... ha...

I got messed around in Dixon's once though. I tried to buy a scanner and when I got it to the check out desk it was €30 more expensive than the price it was marked with on the shelf.

I looked into this and apparently once they had informed me of the error and told be the correct price then they were covered.

But, if I had bought the scanner at the higher price and then noticed that the advertised price was lower, I would have been able to do something about it. That's what the Department of Consumer Affairs told me anyway.

The Great Dell 20th Anniversary Error!

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