Decent Dell honours PC offer after online price cock-up

Changes mind after punters ditch orders

By Linda Harrison in New York • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 7th November 2000 16:06 GMT

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Dell is do the decent thing and honour a cheap PC offer made after an online price cock-up.

Last month a glitch on the direct PC vendor's site let eager punters take advantage of ordering computers with two concurrent special offers. But they were later told they would have to cough up hundreds of dollars more than the price stated on the site, causing many to get miffed and cancel orders with the US giant.

Dell has now had a change of heart, no doubt scared of losing customers and face had it welshed on the deal, and says it will stick to the original quote.

"Hopefully we can win the business back of customers that wanted to cancel their order," Dell representative Tom Kehoe told CNET.

The glitch affected two models in Dell's Dimension L range of computers. E-shoppers were offered a machine with Intel Celeron 566MHz for $295, or with Pentium III 800MHz for $435. Neither had a monitor, but were touted with both a one-off $100 promo and three-year warranty worth $99 by accident.

Apparently most of the bargain hunters discovered the Dell offer on the techbargains.com Website.

Amazon, Buy.com, Argos, Egghead and Staples have all seen online price fiascos over the last year. ®