Online s-hopping

[kingandy]

Despite coming to accept that Dell are actually a viable option for the part-time computer user these days, and my occasional eyeing-up of their deals of the hour, my recent purchase of a PC Format magazine (in particular, the article on how to build yourself a games-geared box for less than £300) has spurred me once more with the belief that self-builds are the way forward. If nothing else, it means I can buy some of those bits and bobs that I've been delaying on the basis that I'd probably get some with the new box.

I mention this purely because, as a result, I have been browsing some online electronics stores and have thus formed opinions of their relative merit. I disapprove strongly of CCL - largely because of their price display policy. They are doing everything they can to mislead the user: once you're past the front page the ex-VAT price is displayed more brightly and more prominently than the price including tax, and the VAT-included prices themselves are of the 'pennies lower' variety - the old trick of pricing something a few pennies lower (for example, 9.99) so that the brain is tricked into thinking it is a significant amount cheaper.

Conversely, though Dabs Direct also follow the 'pennies lower' path, not only does their display price including VAT, but their mini-basket sidebar shows you all your items and includes shipping - so the amount listed is what you actually end up paying. To further confuse the issue, CCL's basket is lurking at the top of the page, doesn't list your items (only a total quantity) but does, confusingly, include VAT. So you look at the bright pink number at the top of the page (say, £173.22), click through to the basket, and in the "totals" box you have a bright pink including-shipping-but-without-VAT (£153.37) and a meek grey actual-total-with-shipping-and-vat (£180.21), neither of which are the number you just clicked on.

This irritated me immensely. It's not so much that I was tricked - I was, by the promise of a £150 CPU-mobo-memory bundle, but only briefly before I spotted the £200 price tag - it's the attempt that offends. So despite the appeal of the aforementioned bundle (it was pretty much what I wanted, except for the low memory) I shall not be enjoying their fine products.

It probably does not help that I was beginning to feel confused and decrepit as a result of scrolling through pages and pages of DDR24200 S775 SATA eSATA PCI type stuff and becoming thoroughly lost.

Comments

[samharber.livejournal.com]

I blame mrssshhh for leaving there.

I've found Ebuyer to be quite good, notwithstanding Neils nightmarish struggle with them.

[arwel.livejournal.com]

I got all my PC bits from Ebuyer and I had no complaints.

[kingandy]

I did have a look at them, but I tend to stay away from them on the basis that they are the Wal*Mart of online electronics retailers: The stuff is cheap, but you can only buy what they want you to buy, and it's cheap.

That said, the monitor I bought from them is still hanging together (though it came without a DVI cable), and the main reason I've ruled them out of my PC purchase is that they don't appear to sell the motherboard I want. But then, neither do anyone else, so maybe I will rethink.

[mj-uk.livejournal.com]

i must say im not a fan of dell, considering that my company is 80% dell machines they tend to fail and the cases are horrible to mess about inside of.

ALthough the machines are (relatively) old i could be being unfairly unjust.

But since when have i let a small thing like logic stop me ranting?

[kingandy]

More recent Dell machines do appear to be much, much better to get inside.

[mj-uk.livejournal.com]

getting inside wasnt really a problem, it was doing anything with the components that was... You needed a fucking crowbar and sledgehammer to get anything out

[samharber.livejournal.com]

True. Current case designs make life so much easier...

[mrssshhh.livejournal.com]

Dell consumer products and Dell business products are of a different calibre.

Dell have put a lot of effort into getting a larger slice of the consumer market, and have made leaps and bounds in the field of "not being sh*t" - despite my long history of self-builds and personal choice, I would likely consider buying a Dell machine if mine were to go poof.

[kingandy]

I was about to take exception, but then I realised what you meant by 'go poof'.

[mrssshhh.livejournal.com]

The ex vat / inc vat thing is all directly from the MD of CCL.

Despite the efforts of myself, Pui and Simon D, insisting that consumers prefer an "honesty first" policy, the MD was of the mind that once the consumer had gone through the effort of shopping, they would think "sod it" upon realising that everything wasn't quite as cheap as they imagined, and continue the purchase.

That said, CCL does always poll -very- well in consumer press.

[stsquad.livejournal.com]

Dell are likely to get my next purchase too. Especially as they have started making their Linux ready boxes available over here.

[paulgregory.livejournal.com]

PC Format's far too gamey for my taste these days, it's not true to the spirit of ST/Amiga Format - I'm definitely a PC Plus guy now (although I'm trying to cut down on magazines). What do you think?

But your ex-vat-rage is fascinating. If you could log in and set a preference for how prices were shown, would that be sufficient to shop there or would the default ex-VAT prominence make it be unlikely that you'd get to the stage of setting up an account?

[wibblefish.livejournal.com]

not sure if still true but dell used to have a habit of using non standard mobo, psu etc so if anything went outside of warranty you had to get the expensive custom parts from them.

once finances allow I'm contemplating going over to the dark side & getting a mac.

did hear that the .99 prices was also some sort of anti staff theft thing but can't recall the detail at mo.

[kermix.livejournal.com]

I can see the value of a Dell or another package deal, because it's what I recommended for my parents when they needed their first computer, but I've always built my own (for better or worse). It used to just be less expensive to buy my own parts, but now it's about choosing the parts I actually want.

It's still a little intimidating and frustrating at times, but I know enough to know what won't work with what, and most of the frustration is usually due to the fact that I'm replacing something that's died and I have to live without it until I get it replaced.

[stsquad.livejournal.com]

I got bored of the effort that BYO entailed. These days the pricing for getting someone else to build it for you is pretty competitive. The last one I got from CCL worked a charm and they even cleaned up the cabling with nice ties which I would have never bothered with.

Of course component selection is still important, but more from a Linux driver support point of view than getting the last 5% of performance out of a system. PC's long ago where fast enough for pretty much everything I do.

[looby-lu.livejournal.com]

Have you had a look at aria.co.uk? They have a decent range of machines at a reasonable price and you can even avoid the delivery charge by driving there yourself.