This has been updated. They have "suggested" that Dell do something to compensate the customers. Dell is sending out $30 coupons for each monitor order.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/01 [...] or-mishap/

$30 coupons still costs them some big bucks for the large number of sales. I really don't know which side to take. On one hand you have Dell, a reputable and established company that makes severe pricing errors so maybe they deserve it? Or, you have consumers that go out of their way to purchase this incredible deal and by backing down, you hurt the customer. You could also just have customers that take advantage of this mishap but then again, who wouldn't?

$18 million is a hefty price to pay.

This is not the first time Dell has done this. I Ordered a 1TB external hard drive from them that was mis-prices at 20 or so dollars a few months back and they canceled all of the orders for that item. They need to live up to their mistakes. I should have looked for legal action.

I would like to grab some for $15 LOL.....

wish it was a 21 inch LCD i be all over it LOL

for $18 million, someone is losing their job over this. They just did the same thing with the government agency I work at. We are getting like 25 HIGH END ($4k-$5k each) machines about half off because they misquoted them.

Dell has been making serious pricing errors on their site too many times, only to cancel orders placed. You'll see this happen occasionally if you visit sites like bensbargains or slickdeals. They get away with these errors by covering their tracks in small fine print - but I think that it happens way too frequently. Dell needs to be put in check.

The people ordering it knew it was a mistake, that's why it's 26,000 people ordering 140,000 displays. They're all going on ebay for $100 each.

who really uses such a small monitor anyways?

Can I take this ad to Best Buy for a pricematch?

I use a Dell 19 inch LCD.

That's what's wrong with this world. Too many people wanting something for nothing, or in this case $15. I've worked retail for 15 years and all I see are inconsiderate a-hole customers who don't care about anything but getting what they want. I don't go to your workplace and act that way. I say screw the customers and Taiwan and Dell should tell them that there will no longer be any orders accepted from Taiwan. Dell will lose less money in the long run. Good riddance to a-hole customers.

A typing error like this was likely caused by one single employee. Think about how much shit he is over this!! haha

He just lost his company $18 million!

DouglasThurman has it right, though I am sure he could have put it a little more eloquently. Taiwan needs Dell right now, but Dell does not need Taiwan.

I'm sure if the Taiwanese government wanted to press the issue that much, Dell could close down and sell their factories there, putting plenty of folks out of work, and transfer those jobs to Malaysia, Thailand, India, New Guinea, or any number of places whose citizens would sign over their first born for a chance at more employment.

This is how I got my guitar amp. I didn't push it or anything, I simply called and asked if it was really priced about 50% off from normal. It was supposed to be 5%, but he offered it to me at 50% anyway.

Now THAT's a good company I've bought from again. =]

Then again, I was only costing him about three hundred dollars, as opposed to 18 million.

As someone said congratulations on saying it's such a mistake and they should own up to it. If you were a small business would you feel the same. I like to get the best deal as much as any but this is just a giant screw up that will cost jobs if made to stand.

I really wish most websites I deal with had to conform to the kind of laws B&M stores have to live with, at least the ones around here. Find a HDTV on the shelf marked $299 instead of $2999? Sold! THEN they get to pull the low price down.

In these times of high unemployment, extra folks hired to read the latest web pages before they go live (and potentially cost the company millions) would be a benefit. Too bad all they have to do is go "Ooops, sorry" instead...

it wasn't just the LC monitor. the laptop as well. the price was 8499 NT(taiwan dollars) but dell misplace it as 499. A lot of people place the orders, some even order 200 laptops in once. Dell was expecting couple million lost because of this, now history repeat again and again.....

I understand that this was an error, but Dell is known for their "errors". I bought a Dell 630i (big mistake) and the specification sheet was not accurate. The motherboard only had 8x lanes, not the 16x lane they listed. Also, although it listed compatibility with crossfire, this only worked with a very limited number of cards. They also lied about the lights on the system reacting to game play. I returned the system for a full refund and built my own machines from then on. Dell simply is too sloppy to deal with.

Well, in South Africa most retail outlets have a policy, that the price on the shelf is the the price you pay,mistake or not. Last year one guy bought, 8 x 42" Sony Bravia's at a store my friend does the IT for. The price was listed on the shelf and on their systems for about $200 each, instead of $2000.
Luck like that never happens to me.

Captaincharisma (sorry i dont know how to quote.

First you say "wish it was a 21 inch LCD i be all over it LOL" Then get mad at me for trying to take advantage of it. hypocritical much?

But the main point is they are responsible for the prices they list up there. If i go to a store and an item has a 20 dollar price tag but it rings up for 40 im going to be taking that item with me paying $20.

Now for dell..sure this is a much bigger volume but its the exact same situation. They put a price tag of 20 dollars on it and then turn around and say oops we screwed up but were not going to let you have it. Its bad business but then again (except for the HD) I never buy dell as I like quality, so this may be common to them. It is their responsibility to make sure their prices are correct on the website not the users buying the items. Sure this was an obvious screw up but that doesn't change the facts.

As for taking them to court I know its hard to tell on the net but that was meant in a sarcastic way.

Dell makes this kind of mistakes all the time....How many of us have jumped on a FP deal on slickdeals or fatwallet, only to have Dell send us an email canceling the order? If fact, it sort of becoming a game to see "who will get canceled first" with some of Dell's deal. If you tried calling them to complain, they'll tell you that they're sorry of the "technical error"(in an Indian accent of course) but can't honor the deal. If the U.S. imposed a similar law like Taiwan, Dell would of been out of business already!

If I own the store. My policies would be customers is never right.

It is an honest mistake, people are fallible. Im sorry you don't get a 19" lcd monitor for 15 dollars. It obviously was a typo.... Yes quite a few customers stumbled onto a typo, but no one actually believed that this was the sale price, come on guys. I just dont see how Dell should be out 18 million. I would be more upset if it wasn't such an obvious typo, but 15 dollars, yea I would buy it too and wait to see how quickly my 15 bucks came back into my account.

A 19 inch for $15 hmmm...idk could make a good secondary monitor to work on a pc, too small for a primary

Off topic...but does anyone else think its a bit weird that I don't have to type my password in when I make a comment but I do when I give a thumbs up or down?

i went to walmart last night and picked 2 of these up for $25 each. Now im reading they should have been $15 ?? wtf ?!

It doesn't matter whether it was a typo or not. dell screwed up majorly and should cough up the dough for the mistake. False advertising isn't fair to the consumer. The company should know how important the pricing is and not make the mistake.

dell has been doing this "mistake" many times. For me I will get the $15 LCD too since I always buy their pc, laptop for company use. My mind tell me they are cheap, why not buy some to replace the old CRT. Why $15? Its small, maybe a dead inventory dell is trying to get rid off and many other possible reason. Do I call dell to find out that? I dun think so cuz the price is there I thought they were dumping the inventory for cheap. My company use the same way to dump old product. A $69 webcam discounted to $5 +tax.