iMac on finance? Anyone know about these?

[monte]

I was talking to a builder mate of mine who has just got a 27" iMac through this company below. He told me he pays £12 a week for 3 yrs, But, after 18mths he gets a brand new iMac and gets to keep his old one. He just pays for the new one for another 18mths at £12per week (completing the 3yrs).

Is this a good deal? Sounds to me like after 18mths he could sell the first iMac and get back at least what he has paid in finance therefore making it free

This is the website...just scroll down to the £12.70 deal 

http://www.hardsoftcomputers.co.uk/apple/imac/

I would be interested to hear your views 

[Top Cat]

I cant tell you about the deal, but i have a 27" iMac and it is immense   

The car equivalent would be a rolls royce.    

[andrewparker]

Funnily enough we got a mailer at work about the Mac Mini Server + 5 iMacs deal. We scratched our heads for a good while trying to work out what is in it for them. I just don't get it.

[vRStu]

Well I can see for instance the first one works out at (very roughly) £1500 for the 3 years which is probably about right with a bit of interest added. so what I don't get is how they effectively give you two for the money??

You would also need to be a business user.

[monte]

I know....Its crazy. It just sounds too good to be true. 

It says they have been established 15yrs, Apple approved dealers, and they have 7 branches nationwide. Has anyone here, heard of them before?

[micaerin]

A friend of mine who has his own business told me he has ordered 4 imacs, so ill let you know more when  they turn up, looks to good to be true especially the 18 month bit

[andrewparker]

The margins for retailers on Apple products are minute, so it's not even like they're getting the kit cheap from Apple.

[Richn83]

if you look at the basic macbook pro, I reckon they can make there money back after 18 months with a small profit, and I bet the majority is made from the extras and by shipping large volumes they must be able to get the unit price down.

[micaerin]

A friend of mine who has his own business told me he has ordered 4 imacs, so ill let you know more when  they turn up, looks to good to be true especially the 18 month bit

Just an update after chatting to my mate, he has since cancelled his order as he says after the 18 months they will give you new Macs but when the 3 years is up you have to give the newest mac back to them so you only really get to keep the original one you had.
not such a good deal after all

[sam]

Theres always a "catch" so to speak. Maybe an apple finance plan would be better?

Why are they going to give you something for nothing.....

[vRStu]

They charge £9.20 + Vat for the Apple iMac 21.5-inch 3.06GHz.

156 weeks so 156 x £9.20 = £1435 + Vat making a total of £1686.36 against a purchase price of £1138 Inc but for 4GB RAM not 6GB so i guess you could round that to £1200.  That's a cost to borrow of £532.19 for the term including the option to purchase (£39 + Vat).  

Assuming you are Vat registered this would fall to £452.93 for the term.  It would probably also be tax deductible as office equipment.

I think your friend may have misunderstood the upgrade option.  From what I can see they will, in 18 months, contact you and offer to upgrade your equipment.  Assuming you do then the original equipment is yours to keep and you then commence a new agreement for a further 36 months on the new equipment.  There appears to be a sliding scale on the amount and value of the upgrade available.

http://www.hardsoftcomputers.co.uk/leasing.htm

http://www.hardsoftcomputers.co.uk/flexi.htm

[keith]

You maybe able to write of those payments after 3 years saying the pcs are fecked, take out another 3 year plan. From a tax point.