[MacDV] Marbella Technologies New Major Discounter of New Macs

[Stan Glass]

On Wednesday, March 12, 2003, at 08:18  PM, Thubten Kunga wrote:

> <http://www.applepurchaseprogram.com> and 800.310.2256
>
> Anybody notice this program that claims to be able to sell us new dual 
> 1.25 GHz Macs for $989?
>
> New Full Page ad is in the April MacAddict (p.69) Magazine.
>
> Must put up a $250 non-refundable deposit toward the purchase price to 
> be included in the deal.

I noticed that this appears to be a shopping network scheme, e.g., if 
you are not delighted with the price we can negotiate, you don't have 
to buy. While these are not necessarily scams, they are seldom 
successful since the network will generally not be able to produce the 
volume discounts that established high-volume dealers can produce. 
Notice also that there are no listed prices for any of the various 
systems, except for the nebulous, purchase [some] new Mac for under 
$1000-- perhaps a new blueberry iMac, and no general statement of the 
actual percentage of discount one could reasonably expect by using 
Marbella-- large discount is very subjective.

Since Marbella acts as a paid by-the-unit broker only, and not as an 
authorized Apple representative through whom one can get at Apple's 
deep pockets, it will probably not be willing to intercede on the 
customer's behalf should there be a problem with the order.

I would be very cautious before I gave Marbella $250, with no guarantee 
that my savings would significantly exceed that amount. For example, 
Marbella could take one's $250, purchase the system from MacMall and 
then bill one for the MacMall cost plus additional S&H, and still make 
$250 on every transaction. Marbella could do this and not violate one 
statement, especially the one that says, "We negotiate large discounts 
with Apple resellers for selling in volume." In other words, Marbella 
does not deal directly with Apple, but with large resellers, like 
MacWarehouse et al, and how can Marbella increase their volume when the 
large resellers don't charge their customers a nonrefundable $250?

Perhaps I just don't get it, but I'm leaving my wallet safe, sound, and 
cozy in my back pocket.