About to make a purchase (Canadian)

I'm just wondering how to haggle with the dell operators to get free stuff, credit, upgrades, overnight delivery etc. What things have you guys said that have worked? If you get a hard to crack guy, would you hang up and try to get another person? I'm mostly worried about delivery date, because I absolutely MUST have this laptop by September 3rd.

I'm planning on getting either the Vostro 1400 or the Inspiron 1420 with these specs:
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7100 (1.8GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB), English edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic, English edit
LCD DISPLAY 14.1 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD Display with TrueLife™ edit
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Integrated 2.0 mega pixel Web Camera edit
MEMORY 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 Dimm edit
HARD DRIVE 120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability, w/o Roxio Creator edit
GRAPHICS CARD 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS edit
WIRELESS CARD Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card edit
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated High Definition Audio edit
Essentials
PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE No Microsoft Office edit
SECURITY SOFTWARE No Anti-Virus/ Security Software edit
HARDWARE SERVICES 1 Year Return to Depot Service and Technical Support edit
ONLINE DATA STORAGE 10GB for 1 Year Online Data Backup by Dell DataSafe edit
DELL NETWORK ASSISTANT DELL NETWORK ASSISTANT 1.7, NO INSTALL edit
DELL SUPPORT CENTRE DELL SUPPORT CENTER 1.0 edit
DELL SUPPORT DELL SUPPORT 3.4 edit
AUTOMATED PC TUNEUP 1 Year Dell Automated PC Tuneup edit
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate) edit
BATTERY OPTIONS 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery edit


What I want to know is, what are the components that are causing huge delays? I'm willing to change certain parts to make sure that I can have my laptop built in time. From reading around, I'm hearing things like pink lids will take long, glossy screen takes longer than matte. What else is there?

Does the e-value coupon for $325 off of a $1299+ inspiron only apply to US dell? I've only seen a $50 coupon for Vostros for Canadians So, seeing as Vostros and Inspirons are practically the same, which one would ship faster (I'm thinking since all vostros are black, that's one less delay to worry about), which one has more discounts (maybe inspirons have coupons I've missed somewhere). If, the laptop can't ship in time, when is the latest time possible to cancel it without any penalties?

 

Your best bet is to call on the last day of the month or on a Friday, as they are eager to meet their weekly/monthly quotas and will bend over backwards to close the deal.

Also, keep asking about the lowest price they can give you. Be polite and also praise them and how great they have handled the call and Dell's customer service. Or you could take the other route and be annoyed and sound like they're wasting your time. It depends on the rep to decide which approach to take.

Anyway, keep asking them what the lowest price they can offer is and compare with other brands like Lenovo, etc. Tell them you can just go pick up a Lenovo and be using it now but you still want to try out Dell even though they have a long waiting time for delivery. Tell them this is just one of the many purchases you'll be making for your home business and want to try out their service before you decide and purchase 3-4 extra machines

I called on a Sunday, so the rep wasn't interested in lowering the price, but he did want to close the deal and finally offered me a a Targus wireless mouse and a Belkin bag for free. Their combined worth is about $75USD, so got a good deal.
Although, I really don't have the patience to bargain and i wanted to close the deal myself on that first call (didn't want to waste time). If you keep them hanging for a day or two and keep telling them to lower the price to the best possible, you'll be more lucky.

 

Good luck getting it by the 3rd of September. I ordered my Inspiron 1520 on the 3rd of August and I'm just praying I get mine before September.

 

I got them to go down close to a couple hundred dollars (cdn). I had the maximum price I was willing to pay for the system planned out, I also had researched the cost of all the upgrades and comparables with lenovo. I started with "I'm looking for a laptop and am shopping around, comparing what is available". I went through the components I wanted with the rep. However, I did have the website with the system I wanted on a computer in front of me. I also had a spread sheet with the value of the different upgrades available. When he quoted me the total (with all the upgrades I wanted), I said that was more than what I was willing to spend, I was hoping to only spend (an amount significantly lower). He said he could throw in the webcam for free (bringing the amount down), I said that was still over my budget, could he throw in the hard drive and screen upgrade? He said no, then I said "well I wasn't completely convinced to buy a dell, but if he could give me my system for my budget he'd have the sale". I also emphasized that dell routinely gave away free upgrades so I could always wait and call back when there was a sale. Eventually he said he'd have to go "talk to his manager". I waited, he came back, said only the hd upgrade, I said look we're only $100 a part, pretty close. So I got him to come down another $25 on top of the upgrades. By then it met the price I was willing to pay for the system so I agreed.

It took about half an hour and I really had to know the cost of everything, and be willing to play the "game" that all sales people play when they are trying to make a sale. I was not pushy and I was fully prepared to walk therefore I did not sound too eager to buy the laptop and made it clear that I had other options but would take a good deal.

 

So I talked to a dell rep (not a manager). I got quoted for 1184 tax included, and was able to argue it to 1100. I tried to ask for things to throw in but he was insistent that there was nothing more he could do. I tried the budget idea, the fact that I could look elsewhere, tried out some coupons (that I knew wouldn't work) and played the disappointed game. I remember seeing somewhere on these forums...somebody posted a $50 coupon off for a Vostro 1400 for Dell Canada. If anybody knows about it, please post the e-value code for it. If I can get that on top of the $84 discount that guy gave me and maybe if I can talk to a manager and maybe get some freebies, I'll be satisfied and take the purchase. I desperately need to make this order, so please help me guys.