I’ve ordered many products from Dell over the years, and in all the times I’ve used the return policy to send back a product, I’ve only ever returned a product that was defective. In those instances, Dell gives out a UPS shipping coupon that you print out, tape to the box, and ship back at no cost. Today I phoned up Dell to request an RMA for my Zen Vision:W. I decided to return it because it was simply too large – I knew it would be thick, but 26.4mm is more then obese, it’s HUGE. When I said I wanted to return the product, the Dell representative offered me a $70 discount to keep it – making the final price only $300 CAD (I paid $369 CAD including tax). A $70 discount isn’t bad at all, but even at $300 it’s still too big. I didn’t like the controls on it much either. Because I was returning a product I didn’t like, rather than a defective product, I’m on the hook for paying return shipping to Ingram Micro (Dell’s supplier) on Ontario.
So this little experiment with the Zen Vision:W is likely going to cost me about $20 or so (the shipping cost), which isn’t bad. I can’t imagine how expensive it would be if I had ordered a 30″ LCD monitor and didn’t like the results – local stores such as London Drugs will allow me to return products for any reason with 15 days as no cost, which is certainly more appealing than what Dell offers. Something to be wary of in the future!