Dell’s Online Store Hit with Changed Prices

As a boss, one of the biggest hurdles you may ever have to face is the letting go of a single employee, or many. In the tech world, and well, in any business in general, layoffs are inevitable, and when they happen, it’s seriously unfortunate. It means hard workers are out of a job, and are unable to easily feed their families, pay their rent and generally take care of the necessities of life. So I’m sure it was with angst that about 700 Malay Dell employees found out they were getting the boot.

Dell currently employees about 4,500 people in Malaysia, so 700 is about 16% of its workforce. Some speculate the reason for such layoffs, as the general consensus is that Dell hasn’t been blowing our minds with new products as it once has. But, the global economy issues is sure to be at fault as well, and who knows, perhaps netbooks have a lot to do with it. It’s hard to tell, at least right now.

For those 700 to-be-laid-off employees, one or more may have decided to have a little bit of fun before leaving, as many prices of products on Dell websites were changed to outrageous figures, both on the low and high-end. Of course, no one can say for certain that this was the result of a disgruntled employee, but the timing is impeccable. So what could you have potentially bought if you were quick enough?

Well for modest peripherals, a USB laser mouse was being sold for $3,999.99, while an Inspiron AC adapter was listed at $710 (not a far stretch from the regular price, though). Need a 120GB SATA hard drive for your notebook? Look no further than the $21,000 option. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there were many processors marked down to unbelievable prices, such as an X3110 Xeon for $16.99, L5430 Xeon for $12.99 and 5060 Xeon for $10.99. Apparently, thousands of orders went through, but I’d be highly doubtful to believe that they will be processed. It’s still funny, though.

Maybe it’s a coincidence, but Dell’s recent round of layoffs seems to have sparked a flurry of price mistakes on Dell.com. According to the Wall Street Journal, Dell has plans to lay off 16 percent of its 4,500 strong workforce in Malaysia — that means that 700 people will be out of a job by the end of June 2010. Interestingly enough, around the same time the layoffs were announced, numerous price mistakes started hitting Dell’s website.