Quantifying The Cost Of Business Lost

I mentioned three weeks back that I was having problems with the display of my MSI Wind U100 netbook, issues which I suspected were caused by a faulty LVDS cable interconnecting the LCD and the system board. Up to that point in time, I’d been unsuccessful in contacting MSI despite several attempts on my part, and since I’d bought the system in early October of 2008, it was (slightly) out of warranty. Skeptical, therefore, that I’d be able to convince MSI to grant me a gratis repair, I took advantage of an online promotion (which got even better a week-plus later) and snagged another Hackintosh candidate, Dell’s Inspiron Mini 10v (versus the Mini 10, which is not a Hackintosh candidate):

I placed my order on Sunday, November 15. Two days later (i.e. on the 17^th), I finally connected with MSI, who offered me a RMA. So I attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, to cancel my order that same morning with Dell. The customer service representative who I finally spoke with after navigating my way through the company’s telephone system (repeating my order number to a half-dozen different individuals in the process…and did I mention the interminable time on hold?) indicated that my system was already in production so, even though it hadn’t shipped yet, I couldn’t cancel the order. However, once I received the system, I could call Dell back and request a pre-paid return label along with a full refund.

The system shipped on the 22^nd and was in my hands two days later via FedEx (not bad for el cheapo claimed 3-5 day ’standard’ shipping!) I got back on the phone with Dell and, after tediously navigating my way through a different path in the company’s telephone system, finally connected with a product returns representative. Here’s where things get really odd. Note that the Inspiron Mini 10V I bought was already around $150 below its normal retail price…in part because I used a little trick to secure a further 3% discount (if you have a Dell Financial Services account, don’t select DFS as your payment option on checkout i.e. select a credit card instead, and you’ll be offered the discount as incentive to switch to DFS).

The product returns rep first offered me a $25 credit posted to my DFS account within 10 days if I changed my mind and kept the Inspiron Mini 10v. When I declined, she upped the offer to a $40 credit. At that point, I admit I was tempted; given enough time, I’m sure I could have come up with a decent-enough justification for yet another Windows XP-based system sitting around the house. So in order to squelch my consumptive tendencies, I quickly declined once again. The UPS prepaid return shipping label showed up in my email inbox a few minutes later, and the unopened box containing the Mini 10v is currently en route back to Dell.

A few questions and comments:

• Why wasn’t Dell able to cancel the order prior to shipment, thereby saving themselves return shipping expenses along with a refund of the shipped-to-me costs that I paid? I made it clear to the customer service rep that I had absolutely no intention of keeping the system once it arrived. And although granted I’d selected a few non-standard product options (the six-cell battery, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, and IEEE 802.11n), my configuration was likely one that Dell would still be able to quickly and easily find another buyer for.
• The sequential $25-then-$40 credit offers from the product returns rep showcase just how expensive it can be for a company forced to deal with a product return. There’s the roundtrip shipping costs mentioned above to consider, of course, plus the salaries of the multiple individuals with whom I spoke on the phone during my two calls. And don’t forget about the fact that Dell probably won’t be able to resell my system as brand new even though I never even broke the outer box seal; they’ll need to peddle it as refurbished goods. Speaking of which, there’s more salary-and-space expense; whomever processes my return and checks out the system to make sure it’s functional and suitable for resale.
• And I can’t help but wonder what Dell’s normal-day profit margin is on the Mini 10v, such that they can afford to be so fiscally generous with their offers during promotional periods.

By the way, if you’re interested in the Inspiron Mini 10v, it’s back on sale for the price I paid for mine. And if you’d like to try out the initial public beta of Google’s Chrome O/S on it in a native-not-virtualized fashion, Dell’s even created an image file that you can write to a USB flash drive and subsequently boot from.