Has anyone heard of Marbella, Dirt cheap MACs
Has anyone heard of this website? http://www.purchaseprogram.com/sites...stem_risc.aspx I found them in the back of my Mac Addict magazine. They are brokers who supposedly buy 100 MACs at a time and you get a huge discount. Like an Ultimate configuration for the price of a low end configuration. They do make you pay a nonrefundable reservation fee of $250, Sales Tax and you may or may not pay for shipping depending on the reseller. They also say that the price of the system may change a little because it is just a target price, but you are under no obligation to buy if you dont get the price you want, but the reservation fee is non refundable so you eat the $250 if you cancel your order. Is this a scam? It looks legit but I was wondering if anyone has gone through with the process and got a dirt cheap system.
Comments
http://www.orlando.bbb.org/nis/newse...33000024000693
In my opinion, It sounds like the $250 reservation fee is the way they make money.
Example: the "target price of a new top of the line G5 dual 2ghz is quoted at $1,999 (your example). You pay the $250 non-refundable reservation fee. In August you get an e-mail that says "sorry, we couldn't get the target price, the price is now $2,989 (wow, $10 off!). You say no thanks, they keep your $250. You decide it would be cheaper in the long run to go ahead a pay the $2,989. They ended up making almost full retail, you pay sales tax (why if they are not located in your state?), and unfortunately, you didn't qualify for the free shipping, so you also owe a $190 shipping fee. Or they could charge a $280 shipping and handling fee which would be so outrageous that you would probably just eat the $250.
I would never make a non-refundable $250 deposit on a computer that has no firm quoted price and no information on eventual shipping fees.
Originally posted by Mount_my_floppy
Nothing to do with anything really but it bugs me when people call them MACs they are not media access controls they are Macs short for Macintosh...
That drives me nuts too. It's an abbreviation, not an acronym.
Here's why: I know for certain what resellers make on their machines. It amounts to shit! I've looked at major distributors pricing. They often sell the machines to RESELLERS for $100 less than retail....sometimes $50. Now, that's for a single machine. But $1000 less.... to a customer? No ****ing way.
Apple's developer pricing is approaching their cost. Apple makes about 30% on its desktops. So, if Apple is selling it $2999, there's no way you are buying it for $1999 from a reseller. No way.
First, just look at their disclaimer that states that they do not purchase, sell, or resell anything. They keep your $250 reservation fee, but tell you from that point on you are basically at the mercy of some unidentified reseller. So they are clearly letting you know that they are not responsible for anything.
The site says that a non-refundable reservation fee in required to eliminate fraudulent orders (huh?) and then in the same paragraph states that if you reserve your machine by paying in full, and you then cancel, they will refund your money minus the $250 reservation fee. If the fee is to eliminate fraud, what kind of fraud is there in paying upfront, in full?
The "resellers" will not ship any machines before all payments are made in full. This is not unusual. But they also state that Marbella is charged a $525 restocking fee by the reseller if you cancel your order before payment (?) Since it is stated that the resellers do not consider your order real until they receive full payment, and you have not payed for the machine (only the $250 fee to the broker) what is there to restock? The reseller never considered your order "real" since you hadn't paid in full, and obviously nothing has been packed or shipped.
And here is a real flag for me. Besides being charged a non-refundable $250 fee for a computer that A) has no firm price
For all I know maybe this company can get a better deal on a computer. But there are way too many variables for me to send them $250 in return for no promises.
Originally posted by Matsu
I think I'll start a mac broker myself. ATTN all UK residents, if you're interested in getting reduced rate mac laptops, e-mail me.
Yes email him and send the money to me.