So my old laptop is officially too unreliable to be used as anything other than a fire hazard. I decided a few days ago after months of pondering that I definitely wanted a Macbook Air because it looked cool. No really, I wanted to buy one of the most inconvenient computers on the market because it looked cool. Yeah, I’m willing to sacrifice every feature I use for a sleek, hipster counting machine.
That’s when the problems began. BestBuy has recently moved Macs from the back shelf of their store to a prominent display in the middle of the computer section. I swung by to grab one, but they don’t allow you to get the Apple student discount and free Ipod if you buy it at BestBuy. So I figured I’d just order it online on apple’s website and overnight it (I’m half impatient, half needing it before I leave town for a few days.) Before you can decide your shipping information, you must first select your billing method. I wanted to use the 90 days same as cash and just pay it off later - this is always a good decision if you’re disciplined enough to pay it off in time, just ask Clark Howard, consumer warrior. I *love* credit card debt, so I always use the same-as-cash-no-interest-but-we’ll-own-your-balls-if-you-don’t-pay-us option.
That’s where the problems really began. Once I had filled out the information, it said I was approved and I may now pick out my shipping method. Apparently “ships within 24 hours,” which has been visible all along, is useless information - The only two shipping methods give date RANGEs and neither will allow it to be overnighted. So apparently Apple’s belief is “If you get a Mac, we’ll ship it to you for free in like, say, 5-7 days or if you pay us $18 we’ll ship it to you in 2-3 days. ish. or thereabouts. We don’t overnight around here, that’s too convenient.” So I got to thinking how about I man up and do the 4 hour round trip to Chicago to get it from the Apple store.
That’s where the problems really, really began. Once you’ve applied for the 90 days no interest program on the website, you’ve used up your one chance at applying for NINETY DAYS. And here’s the kicker: the card cannot be used in the store for 7-10 days. So, in short, I’m unable to get this thing using the 90 days same as cash. Two hours on the phone later and I still can’t get my application voided and I can’t order the laptop online to be picked up at the store. Think about that. You can go to ANY OTHER RETAILER’S WEBSITE and order something for instore pickup - hell it’s even an option on most order forms. Some places like BestBuy even provide “in store pickup” signs for college students to steal and get misdemeanor charges. But Not Apple. The stores, they say, are a totally different system than their website. You can tell how good a company is by how internally synergetic it is. Apple? What a piece of shit company. They can’t even sell you a product they offer that’s in stock if you want to pick it up. By company policy, it must be shipped to you.
At this point I’m considering going back to Best Buy and using their TWO YEAR (note that some calendar systems that’s longer than 90 days) same as cash offer, but I keep my cool and I don’t. The cost of the laptop at Best Buy is about $100 more and doesn’t include the Apple Care program or a free 8gb Ipod touch ($528 value). It’s really a horrible deal.
So instead I’m about to just drive up and buy the damn thing in cash. I hate making purchases that large just in cash, it’s much less of a dent in the ol’ savings account to pay it off over 90 days since I haven’t been saving up for that particular purchase. Ugh.
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July 3rd, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Sauce was right, you should have kept this one to yourself.