Rediculous Pricing by Dell Hong Kong for Alienware m11x?
February 20th, 2010 Posted in PersonalUPDATE: Price has been reduce so that it is now more inline with price around the world!
I have been checking out the Alienware m11x, as I am looking for a portable gaming laptop… I was pretty excited when I read on engadget and gizmodo about this computer during their CES2010 coverage. However, I wasn’t so excited after I learn about how much Dell Hong Kong is going to charge people in Hong Kong for this computer. Dell Hong Kong have price this computer at HKD13999… I changed one option (harddrive to 500gb) and increase my price to HKD14199… this is equal to USD1831.13… however if you check out the price of this computer in the USA market, you will realize, Hong Kong is about 65% more expensive than USA… 57% more expensive than Canada… and 40% more expensive than Singapore…
So me being me, I email Dell Hong Kong to inquire about this issue. Initially, Dell representation told me they are contacting their marketing department about this issue. A few days later, after a few more email back and forth, a Dell representative have decided to call me to discuss this issue. On the phone, this person claim that the computer cost more in Hong Kong due to better specification compare to other country. I told them this is a lie… and that if the computer is compare with the same specification, Dell Hong Kong is charging 40 to 65% more than other country. Once this Dell representative realize I know what I am talking about, she than changes her story by telling me that this is their marketing department decision. Their marketing department decided that this is how Dell want to position Alienware in Hong Kong and this is the marketing strategy that they are going to take. I told them this is crazy as their marketing department does not know what they are doing. I told them I understand that each company has their right to price their product however they want, usually this difference are due to operating cost in different region and local import and sales tax. However, at a 65% premium, this is way over the top of a fair and honest thing to do. I told Dell Hong Kong, I will be referring this to the Hong Kong Consumer Consult and do my best to warn Hong Kong people about this rediculous / rip off pricing by Dell Hong Kong. I wish them best of luck as the only responds from customer will be to boycott Dell Hong Kong by not buying their product.
Finally, I send Dell Hong Kong another email to show them that I have already submitted a complain to Hong Kong Consumer Consult and I have show them a price comparison with the latest Song Vaio Z115 series, with better specification on its CPU (Core2Duo SU7300 vs Core i5), bigger and better LCD (with higher resolution), with a better version of windows 7 (home vs professional), while all at similar size and footprint… Sony is actually cheaper than by about HKD2000… This is just my way to show them that Dell Hong Kong marketing department have no idea what they are doing, they are simply pricing themselves out of the market.
As a final though, what I hate is that fact that Dell Hong Kong try to lie to me about the reason why their computer is more expensive. They try to convince me that their computer is more expensive because of the specification, only later to change their story. This is what I hate about it. So I guess, Dell just lost my business with them forever… I swear to Dell in my last email, I will never buy another Dell / Alienware computer (neither will my family nor my family business) until Dell Hong Kong fixes their broken pricing scheme.
Just my two cents… so for our Hong Kong computer buyer out there… beware of this rip off… don’t buy the new Alienware m11x in Hong Kong.