According to PCWorld.com, if you just bought one of the much hyped Dell Inspiron Mini 10 notebooks from QVC, you got a "raw deal."
QVC started selling the Mini 10 about a week ago for $559, claiming that the retail value was $688.
However, if you checkout Dell's website, the a Mini 10 with the exact same configuration (1.6GHz Intel Atom processor Z530) plus shipping is only $487--$72 less than the QVC price and a whopping $201 less than what QVC claims is the retail price.
QVC's President and CEO, Mike George (AKA King George) came from Dell and has built up what appears to be a mutually beneficial relationship between the Q and Dell--much to the dismay of loyal viewers tired of being inundated with all the hour-long Dell shows. Why wouldn't he get the best price for his customers?
Was QVC or Dell preying on naïve shoppers?
Posts
ok, i'm in no shape to do math (*ever*) but i was on dell's website today and, yes the price was lower on the mini 10 (around $300 for the basic jobbie), but when i went to "build" my netbook by clicking on the "pink" button, it added an extra $30 to the price. and that was before i got to the whole "4GB w/Paint Shop Pro card" thingy, the LoJack capability, the "not-at-home-but-need-to-access-my-home-desktop-files" thingy. etc.
ReplyDeleteare we *really* sure that the dell.com price is lower than the intro price on qvc???? i did buy mine from the Q and it's supposed to ship on 3/13........(fingers crossed that i love it)! it's got every feature that i'm looking for in a netbook, like the large screen (i was at best buy today and checked out the 8" mini dell - too small, btw, at a price of ~$300), the webcam, the built-in wireless, the large harddrive, etc......
i'm keepin' my faith in the Q!!!
tara
my bad, the starting price at dell.com is $399, not ~$300....
ReplyDeletetara
Hey Tara! I'm totally relying on PC World's judgement here. I wouldn't trust myself to build it with the exact same specs. I'm not a technical nincompoop, but I would be afraid that I would overlook something.
ReplyDelete-qb
QVC really doesn't have good prices on computers. They load them up with software no one uses to justify the price. You can always get a better deal somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteThe Netbook prices on Q have been above market value since they debuted them last year. My guess is they negotiated a fixed price and then the prices fell and Q was stuck.
ahh, well, i've been known to buy $400 handbags, so what's an extra $72 on a netbook....
ReplyDelete