All the best to anyone who wants to buy a good ol’ Dell here in India. They sell laptops but will not pick up the phone if you want to buy one. You cannot just buy one over the website and you have to wait for them to call you. Even the automated e-mail mssg that the website generates asks you to call back Dell if no one gets back to you in 2 days time.That means they know it is quite probable!
But the bottomline is that Dell offers more value then any other laptop in India or indeed the world over. You can get a fully loaded Dell for less then 3/4 th the cost for less capable notebooks from other brand.
I have some tips from my experience.
TIP 1
If you call up as a home user, Dell will treat you like sh**. If you have any friend who run a business and if you don’t buying it under the business’s name, then that is the best way of having Dell India get back to you immediately. Luckily, my dad has a business and also a Sales Tax Number( which is what is reqd.). I called up as a home consumer and I was kept waiting on the phone.
Next I called up posing to be a business man and I was routed through promptly to a nice guy who helped me out rather well. He even admitted that Dell India was not focusing on the home segment and was concentrating on the corporate segment( and thus trying to push a way more expensive Latitude down my throat rather then an Inspiron)
Also, please ask for the direct number of the rep at Dell that you speak to so that you can call him up directly without going through the EPBAX everytime.
TIP 2
Remember you can and HAVE to bargain with Dell. The idea is to key in on a low spec first and extract a price from the rep. Then you offer to upgrade the laptop but only if he throws in goodies for you. This is what I did.
I keyed in on a inspiron 630m WITH 40 Gb HDD and 512 RAM and DVD-RW for about 50K delivered.
Then I asked for a RAM upgrade to 1 Gb. He was happy and offered the upgrade for about 3000 bucks. Then I threw in my catch. I told him that he’ll have to offer me a free upgrade on my HDD to 80 Gb, offer me a free extra adaptor and a larger battery( 9-cell instead of a 6-cell). Now these small upgrades don’t cost Dell a lot, but they make a lot of value to us, the end customer.
Now he can give me all the stuff for 3000 bucks extra for the RAM or nothing at all. Remember, Dell’s primary intention is to clear inventory as soon as possible before they become obsolete( which will happen in a month or two’s time), so as long as they get an incentive in the form of an upgrade, they will not mind throwing in the rest. I bargained very hard and closed the deal for just 52, 500 for all the goodies thrown in. Saving almost 3000 bucks on an already good price.
So by upgrading my RAM to 1 Gb by paying 3000 extra, I got the following free:
A tru-life screen
Extra Adaptor( To keep one at home and one at office and escape the drudgery of winding & carrying it with your laptop when travelling everyday)
40 Gb to 80 Gb HDD Upgrade
Mouse
Upgrade from 6-cell to a 9-cell battery( meaning an hour of more battery life)
All this on a centrino for 52, 500 all inclusive including delivery, taxes and carry bag, I think is a bargain!
When bargaining, the rep will tell you that they are offering it at the lowest price possible, but that is all bull-crap. Tell him that if he matches your price, you’ll write out the cheque immediately.
TIP 3
I got a shock after I got the quote mailed to me. The specs whoed that the laptop did not have a PCI-Express slot( similar to but faster then a PCMCIA slot). I called up the Dell rep and now he tells me that the manufacturer has stopped supplying it for some time!
I was stuck and wished I had confirmed the presence of all the minor parts when I ordered. Please don’t repeat this mistake! Confirm that you have every small thing and ask him/her if they don’t have supply of any part before you start
negotiating. I decided to buy it anyway because it was great value for me and I did not have the time.
All the best guys! Get to me on anandfalana@yahoo.com should you have any doubts or clarifications!