Dell has sent out an email to their Employee Purchase Plan (EPP) customers, previewing its EPP Black Friday sale. Employee Purchase Plan members are those who have special memberships through their school, work, or other agency, but there is a slight loophole in the way Dell does things with EPP accounts (more on this later).
The Black Friday EPP deals Dell previewed in its email include the following:
On Black Friday, EPP members who buy a Dell Studio 15 laptop, which starts at $999, a $303 savings with the following specifications: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300 (2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache), Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English, 500GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) with Free Fall Sensor, and 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz, you can get a Dell Inspiron Mini 10v for $99. The Inspiron Mini 10v is a netbook that comes with Windows XP Home, in case you don't know. Normallyk, the Inspiron Mini 10v starts at $279, so that's essentially another $180 in savings.
Another Black Friday deal for EPP members is the Inspiron 15 laptop. You get Windows® Vista Home Basic, an Intel Celeron 900 Processor, 2GB Memory, 160GB Hard Drive, CD/DVD Writer, and McAfee SecurityCenter, a 15 month subscription for $449, a 109 instant savings.
Finally, on Black Friday, Dell is also offering EPP members the Inspiron 537s Slim-Tower with Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English, 320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache, sans monitor for $349. That's only a $39 savings, but if you think about it in percentages, that's about a 10% discount.
Now here's the seeming loophole that many have used for years. If you go to the Dell EPP site, you will be asked to enter your EPP member ID. However, there is a link on the page that allows you to enter without a valid ID.
Kosher? It's probably not. Does it work? It definitely does, at least until now. I know a number of people who have leveraged the Dell EPP program, Black Friday or not, this way. Should you do it? It's up to you.
Remember, however, that the EPP discount is pretty darned good, even without Black Friday. So you should, if you plan to opt into this, glance at the EPP site occasionally.
Written by Michael Santo
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