Dell PowerEdge 400SC (ed: 9/4 offering P4 3.2G for $100) w/ P4 2.8 800FSB hyperthread $448 free ship

[watjac]

Dubb as far as I know sata raid isn't possible on these as they use the ICH5 not the ICH5R But when I get mine i'm gonna play around with running raid on it. The ICH5R just sets up the raid array in the bios and lets you boot from it but still uses software to do the raid operations, I think anyway. So I think I'm going to see if its possible to maybe use a usb memory device and put some boot files on it and just have it read the usb device or a floppy each time it boots up, might take a couple more seconds if it even works at all. But you still have the benefit of the sata channels being connectd directly and not running through the pci bus. And maybe its possible to just run raid 0 and have it boot without a boot device but I'm not sure how the boot files would be handled since they are on two drives.

 

[luketrot]

Well, I worked for CS for a brief time.

I was issued a "RETURN" not credit towards replacement parts. Basically, I explained I purchased replacement parts from Tech. They will assume Tech will charge a credit card for the additional costs. I will be issued a credit back to my original card for the $190ish. Normally they do not offer returns unless they belive you have ordered replacement parts. Just yell Tech said I could, and they usually will jump.

Originally posted by: K-squared
When Dell ships [you] replacement parts for a warranty claim, they invoice you for the parts shipped. If the faulty parts are not returned in 15 days, Dell then considers the invoice as a billable invoice (ie. you owe them the invoice amount).

Sounds like luketrot got the CS rep to believe he had/has parts coming from tech, so the CS rep would issue a return call tag and asssociated credit. I don't see how this is reducing the cost of his/her system, since Dell simply credits the invoice balance due, not the original charge to the owners credit card.

 

[zinfandel]

Luke, can you explain this in more detail? If I can get cash back for returning their paltry 128 stick of RAM, that'd be great.. (although I may keep the HD.. you can never have too much storage space.)

What was the breakout in the return price between the Ram and the HD? i.e. RAM was $x and HD was $y?


What exactly am I supposed to say? Who is Tech?

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Originally posted by: luketrot
Well, I worked for CS for a brief time. I was issued a "RETURN" not credit towards replacement parts. Basically, I explained I purchased replacement parts from Tech. They will assume Tech will charge a credit card for the additional costs. I will be issued a credit back to my original card for the $190ish. Normally they do not offer returns unless they belive you have ordered replacement parts. Just yell Tech said I could, and they usually will jump.

Originally posted by: K-squared When Dell ships [you] replacement parts for a warranty claim, they invoice you for the parts shipped. If the faulty parts are not returned in 15 days, Dell then considers the invoice as a billable invoice (ie. you owe them the invoice amount). Sounds like luketrot got the CS rep to believe he had/has parts coming from tech, so the CS rep would issue a return call tag and asssociated credit. I don't see how this is reducing the cost of his/her system, since Dell simply credits the invoice balance due, not the original charge to the owners credit card.

Sorry. That is fraud.

 

[brian_riendeau]

First up, I can verify that when you return something like RAM to Dell, you get a money refund on it. No merchandise credit or anything along those lines. Since every part on a Dell order is customer chosen, everything on your invoice on a Dell purchase has a line item value (that could be zero) and you are entitled to get a credit on those parts if you return them. You do not see these values, but some with some persitence on the phone Dell will tell you the value of a given item. Something like, "How much credit would I get if I returned just the CDRom" helps. By default, the CS reps assume you are stupid and will try to prevent you from returning parts because they do not want to leave anyone with a non-working system.

I returned the RAM from a Dell system and was given back $104 on a 128MB stick of RAM that came with my Dimension. How is this, or any action like this considered fraud?

 

[luketrot]

Fraud? Funny, I paid their invoice price, I returned their product, and its fraud to receive a credit? The issue here isn't fraud, Dell does not invoice there products correctly. This is why you will never see a breakdown invoice of your system. Because a Flat Panel will be $90 and a stick of ram will be $200. Dell is obligated to return any product on the invoice. Usually telling CS that you spoke with tech makes things easier. Simply put, Dell does not accurately invoice there products to save time thus saving money. This is no different then using multiple rebates against them or any other "HOT DEAL".

 

[luketrot]

BTW, this whole deal was about LYING to Dell saying you are part of a small business. This is acceptable yet returning products back to Dell is fraud?

 

[luketrot]

Ram was $80ish
HD was $100
You will get credit for tax

 

[K-squared]

The term "credit", means credit towards the method of payment, if prior payment was made. If the prior purchase was shipped and billed by invoice (ie. net 15 days), it means that either the return (defective) part or payment is due after 15 days. In the latter case, your credit offsets the invoice balance due.

Business (and business accounting) is based on credits and debits (accounts receiveable, accounts payable). Let's say two businesses enter into a business transaction - Company "A" sells $100 of a product or service to Company "B". At the time the order for the product or service is placed, "B" incurs a debit of $100 which is recorded against their accounts payable ledger and "A" incurs a credit of $100 which is recorded against their accounts receiveable ledger. If the transaction is reversed (order cancelled, order returned), "B" receives a credit of $100 (which could be handled numerous ways) and "A" incurs a debit of $100 (which could be recorded numerous ways).

A "merchandise credit" is basically an accounting gimmic where the merchant never truly "credits" you the money you've already paid for a product or service. Essentially they keep your money and give you an IOU (in the form of a store letter of credit, purchase card, etc.) that you can exercise at some later date.

Originally posted by: brian_riendeau
First up, I can verify that when you return something like RAM to Dell, you get a money refund on it. No merchandise credit or anything along those lines. Since every part on a Dell order is customer chosen, everything on your invoice on a Dell purchase has a line item value (that could be zero) and you are entitled to get a credit on those parts if you return them. You do not see these values, but some with some persitence on the phone Dell will tell you the value of a given item. Something like, "How much credit would I get if I returned just the CDRom" helps. By default, the CS reps assume you are stupid and will try to prevent you from returning parts because they do not want to leave anyone with a non-working system.

I returned the RAM from a Dell system and was given back $104 on a 128MB stick of RAM that came with my Dimension. How is this, or any action like this considered fraud?

 

[brian_riendeau]

Right, it is a given that all credit will be given back to the original form of payment, unless it is a merchandise credit. I said money refund because of previous posts that were saying credit would only be given in the form of merchandise credit.

When I purchased my Dell, through the business divsion, my credit card was charged right away and had the balance on my credit card. When I returned the RAM, that amount was credited back to my credit card. Simple enough, and there was no 15 day wait or anything before I was actually billed. Regardless of the accounting behind it, I consider myself billed as soon as I have a balance on the credit card.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Ok - let me ask a simple question.

Did you tell a lie in order to effectuate a return of the parts?

If so, that is arguably a fraud. Would Dell make the refund without the deception?

 

[luketrot]

Ok, Let me ask you a simple question, would Dell offer you this system if you where not a Business?

Most reps will issue you a return without much grief. Some like to hear that you have spoke to a technician. Their reasoning is to ensure you do not accidentally disable you system and spend hours with tech trying to trouble shoot the issue only to find your running non DDR ram with a SCSI HD forced to fit with an IDE cable.

So is it fraud? No, however anything is arguable.

Why does Dell want to avoid people from doing this? To ensure people are getting a complete system that tech can support.

 

[brian_riendeau]

"If so, that is arguably a fraud. Would Dell make the refund without the deception?"

I do not believe I lied to get my return. I just told the rep the system ran like junk with 128MB of RAM and I need more RAM or I was going to return the whole thing if I was forced to keep the 128MB stick in there.

As a counterpoint to the lying, if you get a stupid rep who refuses to setup the return for the RAM, what else can you do except spin up a BS story for them?

 

[happybob]

luketrot, did you actually talk to the tech support first, or did you just call customer service and told them that you talked to tech support? did they issue you shipping labels to have you ship those parts back for free, or did you have to ship them back on your own? restocking fees?

can you explain to us exactly how you manage to return those parts? who did you call, what did you tell them?

don't worry, i'm not a dell rep, but i'm sure there are a ton of people here who would like to try to call them to return those parts too.

 

[CherryBOMB]

Originally posted by: happybob
luketrot, did you actually talk to the tech support first, or did you just call customer service and told them that you talked to tech support? did they issue you shipping labels to have you ship those parts back for free, or did you have to ship them back on your own? restocking fees?

can you explain to us exactly how you manage to return those parts? who did you call, what did you tell them?

don't worry, i'm not a dell rep, but i'm sure there are a ton of people here who would like to try to call them to return those parts too.

I second the Motion*!*

 

[luketrot]

Its not like I would be afraid if you where Dell..

Dell has a 30 day return policy, you can return anything you buy from Dell within 30 days. Its not immoral, illegal, or unethical.

So, Call Customer Service and ask to return the memory or HD. If they say, oh that is a packaged deal, tell them you have already ordered replacement Ram/HD. These Reps only want one thing, to get you off the phone under 6 minutes. Sometimes its faster to push back and let you know its a bundled machine and you will need to speak with tech. They will "TRICK" you into letting them x-fer you to tech. It's almost funny.. Anyhow, if you say you spoke with tech it may make things go smoother. If you don't and you demand to return the system if they don't return the item you will get the same results. However then everyone is frustrated..

As far as call tags go.. (Prepaid return shipping) I asked for it and they didn't hesitate to send airborne to my house. Your mileage may very. Once again, remember the 6 min rule. If they are going to spend 20 minutes arguing or 10 minutes calling airborne they will call Airborne.

Finally, you won't speak to Dell. You will speak to a call center that handles Dell inbound CS calls. They could care less if they save Dell money or not. They only care about meeting their call times and customer satisfaction goals so their call center looks good and they look good for their Boss.

 

[nagibbs]

What is a good value ram to use with this system (2 - 256mb sticks of PC3200 ram). Thanks

r.gibbs@insightbb.com

 

[ericlp]

Originally posted by: luketrot
Its not like I would be afraid if you where Dell..

Dell has a 30 day return policy, you can return anything you buy from Dell within 30 days. Its not immoral, illegal, or unethical.

So, Call Customer Service and ask to return the memory or HD. If they say, oh that is a packaged deal, tell them you have already ordered replacement Ram/HD. These Reps only want one thing, to get you off the phone under 6 minutes. Sometimes its faster to push back and let you know its a bundled machine and you will need to speak with tech. They will "TRICK" you into letting them x-fer you to tech. It's almost funny.. Anyhow, if you say you spoke with tech it may make things go smoother. If you don't and you demand to return the system if they don't return the item you will get the same results. However then everyone is frustrated..

As far as call tags go.. (Prepaid return shipping) I asked for it and they didn't hesitate to send airborne to my house. Your mileage may very. Once again, remember the 6 min rule. If they are going to spend 20 minutes arguing or 10 minutes calling airborne they will call Airborne.

Finally, you won't speak to Dell. You will speak to a call center that handles Dell inbound CS calls. They could care less if they save Dell money or not. They only care about meeting there call times and customer satisfaction goals so their call center looks good and they look good to their Boss.

Very Well Said.... This most likely will work with other Service Departments as well. This is really interesting ... Tho, I find this rather wrong to do this. I think we all got a really good deal. Why take advantage of it any further? Doing something like this may not be immoral, illegal, or unethical to you... I don't believe it's Illeagal... But I believe that if you are getting a good system for free shipping and stiffing them with a 200 credit so you are really getting the system for only 100 bones it's pretty sad in my view. All this is going to do is make a bunch of people (not me) that are going to try to scam off of Dell.

One question you have to ask yourself... Do you like good deals that dell keeps giving us? I think enough people do this and they may just make it harder to get a good deal. Since it makes me wonder how Dell can even make a profit off selling a system for 350 bucks? I don't know ... am I the only one that feels this way? I am sure I won't be making a call to DELL CS even if it is outsourced over seas and this is simple to do.

This is a LOOP HOLE... It's on the edge of a 'SCAM'. You got a awsome deal you got free shipping a years warranty and dell even gave most of us faster ram then what was stated on the order....

Ommmmmm...... What comes around goes around! How is your Karma?

*do the right thing* If you think you got a good deal and above and beyound service... Hmmmmm

'nuff said

 

[watjac]

It is a scam and kind of wrong but then again they should also let you configure it without ram and/or hard disk as many people are going to want to put larger disks or a disk tower that they already have in if its going to be used as a server and/or use different memory.

 

[watjac]

Ericp these systems are probably sold as loss leaders, like how walmart will sell a new blockbuster movie that everyone wants for less than they buy them for it gets people into walmart and then they usually buy more things. This is probably dells version it gets dells name out there and hype built up. Also as other posts have thought of many, many people will upgrade their memory and hard drive and such as they have no idea what is compatible with what and how to install things and dell can make tons of money off of those upgrades like the memory, we can go out and buy 128 MB's of ecc for around 30 dollars, Dell isn't going to be paying even that much because of the bulk they buy in. But they charge us 100 dollars for it and extended warranties I bet a lot of people go for th extended warranty and will never use it. Thats money in dells pocket right there. This is what I imagine dell is doing but who knows maybe they have other reasons like extra stock to get rid of. It costs money if product just sits there and it looks bad on the books.

 

[luketrot]

Here is the deal, Dell makes money off the upgrades. Keep in mind this is a Business system not a home PC, and is not available to the general public. Most businesses will upgrade this system to match their needs. This thread is promoting scamming Dell, lying and faking a business name paying bottom dollar on a promotion that was never ment for us. I find it odd that suddenly ethics are a concern when 6 pages ago people where pushing others to fake business names etc to get into a promotion that was otherwise not ment for them. Yet mentioning returning a few items off your invoice and it?s a scam?

BTW, I actually ordered the computer through a legitimate business, did you?

How is your Karma?

 

[ericlp]

Originally posted by: luketrot

BTW, I actually ordered the computer through a legitimate business, did you?

How is your Karma?

Yes, I do... LightHouse Computers..... Want to see an invoice?

My Karma is Fine.... How is yours?


Point was to make people on here think a bit. Ommm, this isn't a rebate. I am not trying to get people NOT to do this. If you think it's right... Do it... Don't jump all over me since ... If you thought it was OK, then you wouldn't be posting all these posts trying to convice yourslelf or reasure yourself what you did was right...I'm just making a point.

Ok, I don't think it's right.... I'm not stopping anyone from doing this like I could anyway? I'm just wondering how many others think like me. Pro Choice man. Do what you gotta do.

Have a good one...

 

[brian_riendeau]

"One question you have to ask yourself... Do you like good deals that dell keeps giving us? I think enough people do this and they may just make it harder to get a good deal. Since it makes me wonder how Dell can even make a profit off selling a system for 350 bucks? I don't know ... am I the only one that feels this way?"

"This is a LOOP HOLE... It's on the edge of a 'SCAM'. You got a awsome deal you got free shipping a years warranty and dell even gave most of us faster ram then what was stated on the order...."

This entire forum is filled with "loopholes". Buy item A, pricematch item at retailer X, send in rebate Y, and do not forget about coupon code Z when you order. Then you get a 120GB hard drive for $10!!! $10!!! RED STEAMING HOT DEAL, EVERYONE JUMP ON IT!!! I never see people in those those going, "WHOAH! Better not send in that rebate or Maxtor will not make any profit!" Or, "I decided not to pricematch because I want to make sure these deals are around in the future and not save the $50." Almost every really Hot Deal on this messageboard is costing a company to lose a lot of money on something they may have been able to turn a profit on.

If you do not want the RAM and CDRom or any other item included with a computer from Dell, send it back. This is perfectly fine and acceptable within Dell's policy. Dell's 30 day customer satisfaction policy applies to EVERY ITEM on your order. Not the entire system as one big piece. They only try to prevent you from returning items because they do not want to leave you with a non working system. I was not thinking about screwing Dell when I sent my RAM back, I honestly did not want it. I am sure luketrot did not want the items he sent back either, otherwise he would still be using them. These Hot Deal orders account for a *very* small overall percentage of Dell's business, it is not likely they will pick up on what people are doing and change the policies.

And guess what, these deals do not exist because Dell wants to do you a favor and give you a system for $399 or anything like that. They exist because Dell knows that people get roped in by the low initial price tag, then add on tons of upgrades from there. Also, companies and consumers are likely to be repeat buyers after a positive experiene. A $400 400SC system can eventually lead to tens of thousands of dollars in additional servers and hardware. As stated earlier, these systems are loss leaders designed to rope you in. Deals like this will always be around.

 

[luketrot]

I'm simply out to get the most for my money. I'm not willing to steal or scam, just simply using Dell's policies to my advantage. Will Dell benefit from my purchase? Absolutely, I received a wonderful machine at a wonderful price; friend's family and co-workers will all here about my satisfaction.

Your edited comments imply I am trying to convince myself? Not at all, additionally I am not trying to promote or disapprove any actions taken from this thread. My original post was simply to offer additional savings from components that appeared the majority of members here where not interested in.

I think most would agree if your buying a system with components you will never use, its worth contacting CS and requesting a return for them.

To answer all my PM's:

Ram ~$80
HD ~$100
CD-Rom -- (If you return this item you will get NO credit)
Video Card -- (No Credit)

Dell Customer Care: 1-877-773-3355 424 for the menu options

By nature they will not want to leave your system unusable, explaing you have already spoke with tech will make things go smoother, however should not be necessary.

 

[Kwad Guy]

No, this is not a loophole, this is a scam. Pure and simple. If you called customer service and told them "I want to return the memory and hard drive because I plan to buy them elsewhere" they would not allow you to return them. In other words, you can't return them if you are truthful with Dell. Ergo, it is a scam.

Why not call Dell and tell them that you got your system and the processor was missing? If they send you another, you'll have two processors. What a great deal. And, by your logic, it's not a scam because Dell will allow it. Oh, yeah, sure, you had to lie to get that second processor. But I'm sure you can convince yourself that that's OK. You seem to be good at that sort of thing.

It is surely sickening to watch people scam the system and then rationalize it. In the end, we all pay for these schenanigans with higher prices and much more restrictive customer policies.

I only hope that Dell is monitoring this thread and changes their policy immediately. Heck, maybe I'll alert them. I mean, if this isn't a scam, then it definitely won't hurt to let them know, right? They won't change their policy if this is something that is allowed under their policy?

Kwad