After receiving one more misleading email from Dell today, I have decided to expose their techniques.

Their last email was featuring a Dimension 3100 that was previously advertised for £369 and now selling for £299. The picture is representing a nice looking computer with a TFT screen. Click here to see the Email advert

An Intel Pentium4 2.8ghz coming with XP home, 160Go HD, 1024 DDR2 ram for £299!!! what a bargain but it says Excl. VAT and Delivery… Oh ! there are also 2 asterisk… Let see the small print…. “** Now Price quoted includes Free Delivery and special Price Reduction Offer if any”

Hum… Ok I am lost here…. Let s click on the More details button then !

What have we got here…. didn’t it say £299 before ??? Yes ? so why is it saying £383 now?? That s even more expensive than the price the Computer was going for before!!! and it now says with no asterisk “VAT and Shipping NOT included”. And where is the TFT SCreen??? oh it is now an option for £40! Nice one! But ok, it now says “initial price also includes and upgraded support service for your added protection. Alternatives are available” …. What the hell does this mean??? I see a grey box towards the bottom of the page. It says, “The following options are default selections included with your order” “1-Year Collect and Return service” … Would that be the trick?? Hold on i saw something above.. in the section called “Cover it with Dell Support Services” oh I see, by default, what they call the “Basic: 3-Year On-site service & Multimedia E-Learning [Included in Price]” has been selected and just above you have an option called 1-Year Collect and Return service [subtract £84.00] Nice one 😉 I thought it was the default selection! Alright enough said! If this is not a misleading advert with pushy techniques what is this ? I wonder if someone could bring such techniques to a Small Claim court… I might investigate the idea one day if I get bored.