Crazy Crucial Prices

Locatel · Jul 21, 2006

If you enter the Crucial site and search for an upgrade through
the Crucial Memory Advisor Tool you will find that when you follow the steps for a Macbook 13" 2.0 GHz Black you will end up with a 1GB memory upgrade part # CT541625 costing $149.45. If you do the same procedure for a Macbook 13" 2.0 GHz White you will end up with a 1GB memory upgrade part # CT541621 priced at $140.99. Depending on the color of the MacBook they lead you to one memory or the other. Same machines, different part numbers, different prices. I contacted Shannon Adamson, Direct Sales and Support Representative at Crucial and questioned about this. Here is a sumary of the answers:
"...CT541625 and CT541621 are ultimately the same part...The reason the part numbers are different is because they are specific to that particular computer."
They insisted there was not any price difference between the two and I insisted I was getting different values. Then I got this answer: "I disabled my cookies and I now see the difference in price. I do not know why the price is different."
Is there such a thing as a "specific computer" when we are talking about the black/white version of the 2.0GHz Macbook? Aren't they the same machine?
Someone posted this in another thread:
"Well I'd recommending NOT using Crucial because they use dynamic pricing on their website, meaning they read the cookies from your browser, check your buying pattern, and determine how much to charge you based on your cookies."
It makes me wonder because they said the price was the same, but never told me how much, and only after disabling the cookies they started to see the difference. Weird or what? Is this a ripp-off? They may have the best upgrades around, but this doesn't give them the right to treat costumers this way. I'm still waiting for a convincing explanation from them...

Zman5225 · Jul 21, 2006

i've always recommended http://www.datamem.com . I try to steer people away from crucial because of their memory pricing practices (dynamic pricing.) In the past you could look up the same memory on 3 different computers in your house, and get 3 different prices.

I don't really think they have the best upgrades either. DMS offers the same warranty and guarantee on their memory as crucial.

Keebler · Jul 21, 2006

Locatel said:
If you enter the Crucial site and search for an upgrade through
the Crucial Memory Advisor Tool you will find that when you follow the steps for a Macbook 13" 2.0 GHz Black you will end up with a 1GB memory upgrade part # CT541625 costing $149.45. If you do the same procedure for a Macbook 13" 2.0 GHz White you will end up with a 1GB memory upgrade part # CT541621 priced at $140.99. Depending on the color of the MacBook they lead you to one memory or the other. Same machines, different part numbers, different prices. I contacted Shannon Adamson, Direct Sales and Support Representative at Crucial and questioned about this. Here is a sumary of the answers:
"...CT541625 and CT541621 are ultimately the same part...The reason the part numbers are different is because they are specific to that particular computer."
They insisted there was not any price difference between the two and I insisted I was getting different values. Then I got this answer: "I disabled my cookies and I now see the difference in price. I do not know why the price is different."
Is there such a thing as a "specific computer" when we are talking about the black/white version of the 2.0GHz Macbook? Aren't they the same machine?
Someone posted this in another thread:
"Well I'd recommending NOT using Crucial because they use dynamic pricing on their website, meaning they read the cookies from your browser, check your buying pattern, and determine how much to charge you based on your cookies."
It makes me wonder because they said the price was the same, but never told me how much, and only after disabling the cookies they started to see the difference. Weird or what? Is this a ripp-off? They may have the best upgrades around, but this doesn't give them the right to treat costumers this way. I'm still waiting for a convincing explanation from them...

wow...are they allowed to read your cookies and do that? (i'm slightly oblivous to the ins and outs of privacy issues).

i ordered for my g5 from them. i loved the speed of the order getting to me, but i'll rethink this the next time i go to upgrade.

wow.

i would have thought the different pricing would have come from having different modules...ie. higher GB sticks would be more b/c they have more value in terms of more ram/stick.

this is nuts if this is the case.

WildCowboy · Jul 21, 2006

Yes, Crucial has been pulling this crap for years, and it's why I stopped buying from them even before their prices became no longer competitive.

Based on what else you've looked at on their site, they'll offer you a different price for the same item. If you surf around looking at high priced things before finally going to a page for a RAM stick you'll get one price. If you open up a different browser with no Crucial cookies in it and go directly to the same RAM, you'll often see a lower price.

Buy from OWC or DMS.

Eidorian · Jul 21, 2006

Zman5225 said:
i've always recommended http://www.datamem.com . I try to steer people away from crucial because of their memory pricing practices (dynamic pricing.) In the past you could look up the same memory on 3 different computers in your house, and get 3 different prices.

I don't really think they have the best upgrades either. DMS offers the same warranty and guarantee on their memory as crucial.

Tell me about it. We ended up buying all our RAM via my iBook because it was $20-40 cheaper buying it via Safari then IE on Windows.

brepublican · Jul 21, 2006

Zman5225 said:
i've always recommended http://www.datamem.com . I try to steer people away from crucial because of their memory pricing practices (dynamic pricing.) In the past you could look up the same memory on 3 different computers in your house, and get 3 different prices.

I don't really think they have the best upgrades either. DMS offers the same warranty and guarantee on their memory as crucial.

I saved more than $50 just last week by buying my memory from DMS.

Crucial sucks.

WildCowboy · Jul 21, 2006

Here is the original (I think) thread where MacRumors folks got onto them...

Edit: Nice to see emw and I are on the same wavelength...

emw · Jul 21, 2006

There was an interesting discussion about this almost 2 years ago. It's funny to see the problem still exists.

(not sure how I remember that from so long ago)

Edit: Looks like the Cowboy had the quicker draw...

joebells · Jul 21, 2006

amazon does something kind of similar or at least they used to a couple of years go.

solvs · Jul 21, 2006

Why not just buy Crucial RAM from Newegg? Seems to be cheaper anyway, and no BS. I'm also happy with OWC, but I hear good things about Datamem. CanadaRAM raves about them and he's a Ram, so he should know.

spicyapple · Jul 21, 2006

Zman5225 said:
i've always recommended http://www.datamem.com .

Thanks! I just bought 2 GB from them and they were $40 cheaper than crucial.com. My time on MR, well spent.

Abstract · Jul 21, 2006

I have not recommended Crucial one time since I found out about the Dynamic pricing they use. I don't know why people keep recommending them.

And wow, we're all showing our age in that Crucial memory pricing thread.

Quite a few of us posted in that thread many years ago.

Get your RAM from OWC, 18004memory.com, New Egg, datamem, etc. Please avoid Crucial, and don't give them a dime of your money.

iGary · Jul 21, 2006

The 6GB I bought for my PM is the last RAM I will buy from Crucial.

My PB had Data Mem in it and my iBook had OWC.

Locatel · Jul 21, 2006

WildCowboy said:
Yes, Crucial has been pulling this crap for years, and it's why I stopped buying from them even before their prices became no longer competitive.

Based on what else you've looked at on their site, they'll offer you a different price for the same item. If you surf around looking at high priced things before finally going to a page for a RAM stick you'll get one price. If you open up a different browser with no Crucial cookies in it and go directly to the same RAM, you'll often see a lower price.

Buy from OWC or DMS.

Here are Shannon last words:
"Thank you for your reply. I did some research with my department and they are telling me that the website automatically updates the prices and different times. When you saw the prices, one of the computers probably wasn't updated at that time. We cannot read what your browser has on it, so there is no way we can read your cookies."
Believe me, I went through the buying process again (Crucial Memory Advisor Tool) on a different computer and...the prices got higher!!! Then I instantly changed the user (Windows XP) and tried again...they got even higher!!!

Well, what can I say? They really suck!!! I have a word for this kind of business practice, in behalf of all users I'll keep it to myself...

drake · Jul 22, 2006

Yep. Just tried it from my XP and a pair of 1gb modules were $311.63. When I tried it from Vista, they were $293.99.

Eidorian · Jul 22, 2006

Locatel said:
Here are Shannon last words:
"Thank you for your reply. I did some research with my department and they are telling me that the website automatically updates the prices and different times. When you saw the prices, one of the computers probably wasn't updated at that time. We cannot read what your browser has on it, so there is no way we can read your cookies."

They just read the browser header. No need for cookies or anything. I had a Windows box via IE and an iBook with Safari right next to each other. The iBook kept turning out lower prices.

mkrishnan · Jul 22, 2006

Eidorian said:
They just read the browser header. No need for cookies or anything. I had a Windows box via IE and an iBook with Safari right next to each other. The iBook kept turning out lower prices.

When she mentioned clearing cookies, I think she must have meant that *her* cookies on *her* computer were causing her to see prices for the two products when they were synchronized, and when she cleared her *own* cookies, she saw what the OP saw.

But it's a funny system they use... it doesn't sound very efficient if they have to roll out the price of the same component to several different part numbers rather than pulling the information JIT from a central source (that only sees the one price).

KingYaba · Jul 22, 2006

This thread makes me happy that I'm an OWC customer.

Locatel · Jul 22, 2006

As long as there are companies like OWC and DMS, I can't find any plausible reason for someone to recommend Crucial. I had seen so many recommendations that decided to check it out, and bumped into this surreal experience...well, just one more non-returning customer...

yojitani · Jul 22, 2006

awesome! a 2GB kit for a MB only $178 from DMS! Crucial was nearing apple prices for the same kit.

This is the best tip I've had from MR in a long time!

Thanks!

yt

EDIT: $302.81 from Crucial - at least from my safari!

Makosuke · Jul 22, 2006

I used to recommend crucial if you wanted to go "guaranteed high quality"--I have a couple gigs of their stuff in my G5 and was happy with the service and price. But when someone here recently turned me on to their dynamic pricing shennagans, that was it as far as I'm concerned--I'm not going to support a company that pulls that kind of stunt, period. Their prices are a lot less competitive than they used to be anyway, but even if they weren't, I wouldn't touch the stuff. (Or maybe they ARE... but I'm just not shopping right! How can I tell?!)

PaulinMaryland · Jul 22, 2006

Crucial's price reflects your buying patterns

I'm guessing this means the following:

If you own the black MacBook, your RAM will charged at a higher price, because Crucial believes that you have more money or are less price-sensitive.
If you've bought from them before, you'll be charged more, because Crucial believes you're less liikely to go elsewhere if you find the price too high.

Either way, it's appalling. I think I'm going to alert Crucial to this thread so they can see how their carefully crafted policy has just exploded in their face. Crucial, count me among the many Macrumors readers who will steer everyone he know away from your store.

Oh, and fire the guy who sold you on this policy.

generik · Jul 22, 2006

Capitalism at its finest

On the other hand with communism, free memory modules for everyone! If you will work 24/7 raising those cattle!

Locatel · Jul 24, 2006

PaulinMaryland said:
I'm guessing this means the following:

If you own the black MacBook, your RAM will charged at a higher price, because Crucial believes that you have more money or are less price-sensitive.

If you've bought from them before, you'll be charged more, because Crucial believes you're less liikely to go elsewhere if you find the price too high.

Either way, it's appalling. I think I'm going to alert Crucial to this thread so they can see how their carefully crafted policy has just exploded in their face. Crucial, count me among the many Macrumors readers who will steer everyone he know away from your store.

Oh, and fire the guy who sold you on this policy.

How long would it take to call the cops if McDonalds charged you $10 for a BigMac because you were wearing an Armani instead of jeans?

joebells · Jul 24, 2006

I really don't think alerting them to this will change anything amazon has been called out on this in some fairly mainstream press I believe and they still do it. freaking despicable and a heck of a way to reward a customer with their loyalty.

Crazy Crucial Prices

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