Bethany and I have been talking of an Apple for the last couple of years and now that our main computer croaked, we decided we'd investigate properly.
Off to the Apple Store. There happens to be an Apple store just a few miles from us, so we paid them a visit. Where else are you supposed to hang out on Friday afternoons? We looked at the iMac's, the software, talked to some of the specialists, got some prices, and moved on.
They have a current "education" special that's pretty hard to beat right now too. Between $50-$100 off the price of the computer, a free 8gb iTouch, a free all-in-one printer, and a discounted 3yr service plan.
We liked what we saw, but we wanted to shop around.
Off to Best Buy. Call me crazy, but I like Best Buy. I always have. They seem to do pretty good and doing me right and helping me out. Well, knowing they were an authorized retailer of Macs and PCs, we did some side by side comparisons. The desktops were not near as neat and clean looking, and we needed something with more horsepower than a laptop.
We questioned the "education" special to see if they'd honor some price matching...
This is where things went odd.
The ever abundant Geek Squad approached and offered his advice and expertise. Our conversation went a little like this:
ME: You're an authorized retailer, and Apple has an education special going on which includes $100 off the computer, an 8gb iTouch, a free printer, and a 3yr warranty plan; will you honor that?"
HIM: Have you thought about the warranty? Our Black Tie Protection? It covers better than the Apple Plan. Ours is accidental too. (Their plan was twice the Apple Care plan)
ME: Yes. I plan on using the one included with the education plan. Do you honor it though?
HIM: I'm not sure. I'll have to check with a manager. We have printers for $30 too, so I wouldn't be too concerned over that.
ME: I'm not. It's just in their package.
HIM: Ok. I'll be right back.
*Queue the Jeopardy theme music
HIM: Ok. The best I can do is knock $150 off the computer price. The rest are rebates and we don't match it.
ME: But you're an authorized retailer. You can't match the adds from your supplier?
HIM: Nope.
ME: Well, sorry we're not buying it here.
Needless to say, we went back to the Apple Store. And since this is a personal blog, I'll write my feelings about them too.
I waited WAY TOO LONG to make my purchase. I knew what I wanted, yet I found it odd that I had to wait as long as I did to seal the deal. After nearly 30mins of toying around, we were finally seen and given our merchandise. Once helped though, it was a breeze!
Walking out, it felt like we had hit a gold mine. Our loot:
a 24" iMac
an 8gb ipod Touch
an HP all in one Printer
a 3yr Apple Care Warranty
I'd say it turned out pretty well! And now the desk is clean and neat, and nothing could make it too much better.
