Wayne and Erika Pfeiler

Two weeks ago (Sept 15th), I placed an order through Dell's website for a new digital camera. To my frustration, I found out the next day that the thing is backordered, and probably won't ship until October 17th. There was no mention of this anywhere when I placed the oprder! This makes me mad since I wanted my new toy right away. I looked online to compare prices with other places, and try to find it cheaper/sooner, with the intention of cancelling the Dell order if I found one. I soon found out how good of a deal I got with Dell. The camera's MSRP is about $550, but most places sell it for about $500. On sale, it might run around $460-$480, and don't forget taxes and/or shipping charges. The total price I agreed to with Dell was $401.68, so no other place could come close. I'd rather not pay an extra $50 to $100 to get the camera right away, so I decided to wait unless I found a really good deal elsewhere.

Here's a wrinkle. I found out Dell likes to keep customers happy so we'll be more likely to buy from them again. So I go online to chat with their people and ask if they can give me a discount or something to compensate me for having to wait. The nice guy offers me a $35 "concession coupon" toward a future purchase. I ask if he can also upgrade my shipping to a faster method, but he said he wasn't allowed to do that. So I take the coupon and feel a little better. Dell frequently runs sales on camera memory. I've seen a 1 GB SD card for around $45, so I may grab one of those soon.

Wonder how I found such a good price on the camera? Check out Deals 2 Buy. You have to watch for a really good sale. The last time I found this camera so cheap was back in June.