Best Place to Buy Apple?

Ljonsesrainfrog on 18/08/2021 - 19:21

Amazon probably has one of the best return policies, and great discounts, but they don't ship anything Apple or Beats to NZ anymore.
I imagine Apple themselves would be good, but obviously everything will be RRP. Lots of frequent discounts from American retailers, but nobody ships to NZ.

I'm worried about buying something expensive from places like PB Tech and Noel Leeming, because I haven't had good experiences with them replacing a faulty product.
Are these the only options for us NZers since nobody ships Apple internationally?

General Discussion

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  • Drcspy on 19/08/2021 - 07:22
    +3

    Buy in Nz. Your bad experiences replacing a faulty product is probably because you haven't pushed retailers hard enough. They are sometimes unco-operative. I've never had any issue - you know why ? Because I know my rights under the CGA. If they say 'Oh it's out of warranty' that's completely irrelevant. Check out the Consumer Guarantees Act, (CGA). Retailers don't like it but it's the shoppers friend.

    Ps: Do NOT buy or be talked into any kind of 'extended warranty' They're a waste of money. The CGA is all you need.

    • ScoobyNZ on 19/08/2021 - 09:38
      +1

      Unless you want to cover your portable devices against accidental damage. Then it's a good idea.

      But in saying that, that's not an extended warranty anyway. It's a specific policy for Damage protection.

    • psychowei on 19/08/2021 - 10:58
      +1

      +1 for the extended warranty. Fun fact, If you cancel your extended warranty within 7 days of getting it, You can get a full CASH refund on it!

  • geardropper on 19/08/2021 - 09:42
    +3

    Countdown has decent granny Smith ones.Depends what your after.Pretty sure they have beats also ☺️

  • Wakrak on 18/08/2021 - 20:35
    +1

    If you do go through Apple, Cashrewards tend to have a decent cashback %. Could also try and get tertiary access.

    Are you after some headphones?

    • jonsesrainfrog on 19/08/2021 - 13:37

      Actually yes, I am after some headphones in the near future. Why do you ask?
      Also didn't know about cashrewards, so that will definitely be helpful in the future. Thank you!

      • Wakrak on 19/08/2021 - 13:39
        +1

        Cashrewards Apple NZ link

        https://www.cashrewards.com.au/apple-nz

        & was just trying to figure out what it was you were after. Can keep an eye out for you.

        • jonsesrainfrog on 19/08/2021 - 16:00

          Oh no need to do that. I really appreciate the offer though. And thanks heaps for your contributions here, I've found some good deals through you already! :)

  • geardropper on 19/08/2021 - 09:48

    Jokes aside I second the buy in NZ and from somewhere with a physical store incase there are issues it's easyer to deal with

    • huffboy on 19/08/2021 - 09:57

      pbtech?

      • Alan6984 on 20/08/2021 - 10:54
        +1

        Any big retailer is fairly safe - PBTech included.

        Most of them, if you just stand near the checkouts and make a fuss, they will cave quite quickly, especially if you are (loudly) saying things implying that they are not meeting their obligations with respect to faulty goods :-)

        Alan.

        • L3tstaxth1s on 21/08/2021 - 07:57

          "I'd like to talk to the manager please" ;)

          • Alan6984 on 21/08/2021 - 08:58
            +1

            @L3tstaxth1s: I've not had much luck with that ever - I'm probably not the right 'size and shape' :-)

  • Seeker on 21/08/2021 - 15:26

    Any Apple Authorised reseller in New Zealand should be fine. This link from Apple NZ may be helpful to find one. https://locate.apple.com/nz/en/

    But don’t discount Apple NZ - online.
    https://www.apple.com/nz/

    Customised products eg MacBooks and iMacs are often only available from the Apple store.

    They acknowledge New Zealand consumer law stating one can claim under New Zealand Consumer Law:
    https://www.apple.com/nz/legal/statutory-warranty/nz/

    From experience the few times I had to return something was a breeze, eg I would receive the replacement device before sending back the broken device I had. And at their cost. (Still under warranty).

    AppleCare+ may not be for everyone but has advantages such as accidental damage and additional technical advice.

    And as for their aftercare service, I have found them to be fantastic.

    Bargains? Well not easily found on the Apple Store, but around Black Friday they have some deals, as well as regular back to school deals usually late Jan to early March. And if one qualifies for educational discounts there is often a cheaper price to be found there too.

    Having said that - certain authorised retailers have ’10%’ type discounts on some Apple products from time to time.

    • jonsesrainfrog on 21/08/2021 - 21:05

      Awesome. Thank you so much for your detailed reply!

  • CheapThingsAreNice on 22/08/2021 - 22:55

    I'm worried about buying something expensive from places like PB Tech and Noel Leeming, because I haven't had good experiences with them replacing a faulty product.

    The decision to replace or repair is ultimately made by the same party no matter who you buy it from. All retailers will go through an AASP and providing anything other than that is super uncommon, because well…. apple computers are expensive, low margin. It normally wont be too different from dealing with apple directly.

    But remember, (some retailer) pay a lot of money in incentive (and feed their staff propaganda) to sell those extended warranties, so you may run into salespeople who would try to make this a teachable moment … for you to buy something with the warranty. Just avoid salespeople and deal with their customer service reps.

    /rant

    PB have the best price normally, but theirs is normally excluding the payment processing fees that every other retailer just pays. So add a few percentage if you dont want to use polipay.

    Personally, I've just used apple.com. If you have a University email then you can get some great discounts on their education site. I got an M1 macbook air for about $1300 earlier this year by the time I sold the free air-pods.

    Airpods max have been a bit cheaper on 1-day recently. I've been eyeing them up… but again $800 headphones are a bit insane

    • jonsesrainfrog on 23/08/2021 - 16:10

      Yeah and I suppose all the retailers are bound by the Consumer Guarantees Act here.

      I've just had a PB Tech staff make a big show of not allowing a replacement without video proof of the fault - for an item purchased literally the day before. And there are other instances on the internet of them doing crappy things like this to customers.
      Noel Leeming just doesn't sit right with me with some staff pushing their (almost predatory?) warranty onto you, and management for forcing staff to work during lockdown too despite not being an essential service.

      I've had good anecdotal experience with JB Hifi though.

      Amazon is obviously not a great company but at least they don't try deceive you out of returns/warranty (usually).

      I guess I will look at buying from Apple NZ directly. Cheers.

      • CheapThingsAreNice on 23/08/2021 - 22:59

        Noel Leeming just doesn't sit right with me with some staff pushing their (almost predatory?) warranty onto you

        As someone who worked for one of these kinds of stores…. it's a waste of money about 80% of the time.

        They (senior and upper management) act like if you don't buy the cover, then a cga claim is a big deal… with them going in to bat for you… But in reality its just a different check box on the paper work and the supplier normally replaces or repairs anyway.

        Yeah, this was a pain point for anyone over 19 doing those sales jobs

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