Having a friend buy my Mac with NUS discount...

[CrackedButter]

From the HE website.

2. Placing Your Order

2.1 Eligibility

2.1.1 To place an Order and benefit from the special education discounts on the Apple Store for Higher Education Individuals you must be:

(i) 18 years of age or over;

(ii) a registered student of a higher education institution (http://store.apple.com/Catalog/uk/Images/routingpage.html) participating in the National Higher Education Agreement with Apple and possess a valid student I.D.; or

(iii) a teacher. lecturer, tutor or other superviser of students engaged or employed by an eligible higher education institution (http://store.apple.com/Catalog/uk/Images/routingpage.html) participating in the National Higher Education Agreement with Apple;

(iv) a parent purchasing on behalf of their child who is a student currently attending or accepted into a higher education institution (http://store.apple.com/Catalog/uk/Images/routingpage.html) participating in the National Higher Education Agreement with Apple;

(v) you must be purchasing Product(s) for your own use or for classes or for research.

2.1.2 Apple is entitled at anytime to require that you produce evidence of your entitlement to purchase under this provision. Apple reserves the right to cancel your order in its absolute discretion if we should determine that you are not eligible to purchase from this Apple Store for Higher Education Individuals. We will inform you if we cancel your order on the above basis. Any payments you have made will be refunded to you.

 

[Makosuke]

I only know the Higher Ed discount in the US since that's where I live and I happen to work at an educational institution, but this is something I've always sort of wondered about.

Formerly the education institutional discount was higher than that for Higher Ed individuals, but at this point they appear to be identical. Either Apple cut down its margins on individual purchases or isn't being as generous to institutions anymore.

CrackedButter quoted the legalese governing purchases, and that looks pretty much the same as the US higher ed terms, and this is where I get confused--the legal terms as I read them govern what you're doing at the time you make the purchase and your intent at the time of purchase. To quote the US Apple Store:

Higher Education - Faculty and staff of Higher Education institutions; and students attending, or accepted into a Higher Education institution are eligible to purchase. Purchases from the Apple Store for Education Individuals are not for institutional purchase or resale.

Now, that explicitly says that basically you can't use your "personal" discount for an institutional purchase, that you must be attending, accepted into, or working for a higher education institution, and that you can't be buying it for resale.

It's that "not for resale" that seems vague to me; does Apple intend this to mean that you can NEVER resell something you bought with a higher ed discount? It could, in theory, although it's rather obvious that NOBODY including Apple really cares what you do after a few years.

The fact that you can buy one new desktop, laptop, and mini per academic year rather implies that they expect you to be getting rid of the old one--Apple certainly doesn't expect you to have four laptops by the time you graduate. So does that imply that the "implied prohibition" on resale lasts for one year?

Seems most reasonable to me that "not for resale" really just means you're not going to immediately turn around and sell it to somebody without ever using it yourself. This does technically prohibit somebody from using their discount for somebody else, although theoretically if they didn't "intend" to resell it but decided they didn't want it after a day, then that's sort of a loophole.

I also note that the redress Apple reserves the right to is to either charge your card or bill you for the difference between the Edu price and the retail price. This again brings up a sort of statute of limitations--it lists no limit to the time that may elapse before they do this, but I'm rather willing to bet that it isn't legal for Apple to send you an invoice for the difference in purchase price if you were to sell a computer 5 years down the road.

This is all sort of legal nitpicking, and it would be interesting to hear from somebody who actually knows how the law works how far Apple's control of your hardware purchase extends.

Software, since it is always used under license, is an entirely different matter, of course. I do suppose Apple could revoke your MacOSX license if you violated the terms of use, but you could then go buy a retail copy of Leopard or whatever...

 

[spork183]

Oi! some heated opinions here.
Someone with access might copy the actual relevant terms here, and end the discussion ...

Interesting, the ethical questions. In a situational sense, how bound is the consumer to a moral code when a company may not follow the same code?

For the most part, the discounts for education aren't that much and the rules for eligibility cast a pretty wide net. That being said, the "super" discounts are obviously much more restricted, so the argument that sudden wide spread abuse will fleece apple of it's 1.3billion (that's BILLION) profit for last quarter is spurious at best. Mayhaps we should judge less and answer questions more. (Not directed at Canada, only quoted because I liked the "oi"...)

aside--I envy that automatic three year warranty.

 

[Amber]

Lots of interesting stuff here.

How does the NUS £50 3 year Applecare work? Is it the same as normal Applecare?

Crackedbutter, I'm sure the HE Extended warrenty is free and not the same as the £50 Applecare.

 

[CrackedButter]

Lots of interesting stuff here.

How does the NUS £50 3 year Applecare work? Is it the same as normal Applecare?

Crackedbutter, I'm sure the HE Extended warrenty is free and not the same as the £50 Applecare.

It might be free but to get the 3 year extended parts warranty, the institution has to buy the machine anyway for you, I mean your shifty friend. If you buy it from the NUS all you are going to get is the standard 1 year warranty. If you don't believe me then carry out your original 'don't do it by the books' ambition, the 3 year offer will not apply to you.

Do a search as well, there have been many threads about this subject or HE purchases.

I'm questioning why I'm even telling you this stuff because you are not entitled to anything you want to get your friend to buy anyway.

 

[RedTomato]

The link is no big secret, it's sent to the millions of nus members in emails, and is easily findable in a search of MR itself.

To save you the bother, here it is:

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/UkEdIndividualCustom?qprm=51287&family=iBook

I suggest instead you buy from the Apple Refurb store, it's 100% legal, and EXACTLY the same prices if you pick the right C2D models.

The models have full warranties, and there are stories of people getting models with extra RAM etc over what was ordered.

Some of the older CD laptops are FAR CHEAPER in the refurb store than via the NUS site.

For refurb goodness, go here, http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore then click on refurb at the bottom right of the screen.

I've included both links so that you can compare for yourself.

BTW, the HE and NUS and Education stores in the UK don't have a refurb sections so you can't get a double-discount.

xx Tomato

 

[CrackedButter]

The link is no big secret, it's sent to the millions of nus members in emails, and is easily findable in a search of MR itself.

To save you the bother, here it is:

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/UkEdIndividualCustom?qprm=51287&family=iBook

I suggest instead you buy from the Apple Refurb store, it's 100% legal, and EXACTLY the same prices if you pick the right C2D models.

The models have full warranties, and there are stories of people getting models with extra RAM etc over what was ordered.

Some of the older CD laptops are FAR CHEAPER in the refurb store than via the NUS site.

For refurb goodness, go here, http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore then click on refurb at the bottom right of the screen.

I've included both links so that you can compare for yourself.

BTW, the HE and NUS and Education stores in the UK don't have a refurb sections so you can't get a double-discount.

xx Tomato

Why didn't I think of this? Damn, it's so simple. "Like putting too much air into a balloon" - Extra clever points to the person who knows the quote.

I've actually been pricing up some of those systems against the HE discount since I'm entitled to it, and those refurbs are quite a good price when comparing them to HE pricing.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Interesting, the ethical questions. In a situational sense, how bound is the consumer to a moral code when a company may not follow the same code?

Well,
1) It's not a moral code, its a contract, which both parties agree to abide by when they enter into it,
2) The supposition that the other party may not be following a moral code is just that, your supposition and your definition, which may or may not be accurate, but
3) The only relevant thing that voids a contract is the other party breaching the written terms of that specific contract (or breaching the law of the land relative to commercial contracts). So you can't break your terms of a contract even if the other party did something you object to in another area.

 

[caligula357]

when you receive your new shiny macbook, do you have to send anything off (like serial numbers), for the warranty?

i think i heard that for the HE free 3 year cover you have to keep the order number you were given online.

 

[Henri Gaudier]

Go for it Amber!

If you can do it - don't hesitate. All the nay sayers are drones disguised as clergy. Apple stiffs you with it's entire product range.

From the BBC -

However, in September last year, the group (Apple) defended the price differential saying that "the underlying economic model in each country has an impact on how we price".

Translation - we'll screw our customers whenever possible.

 

[davidjearly]

It might be free but to get the 3 year extended parts warranty, the institution has to buy the machine anyway for you, I mean your shifty friend. If you buy it from the NUS all you are going to get is the standard 1 year warranty. If you don't believe me then carry out your original 'don't do it by the books' ambition, the 3 year offer will not apply to you.

Do a search as well, there have been many threads about this subject or HE purchases.

I'm questioning why I'm even telling you this stuff because you are not entitled to anything you want to get your friend to buy anyway.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The 3 year warranty is standard for ALL HE customers in the UK not just via your institution.

Goodness, get the facts right before posting such junk.

 

[Vazza]

Just to clarify to those who are still confused, the 3 year warranty HE agreement applies to both individual and institutional purchases on the HE site, as well as NUS purchases.

I believe NUS discount is more than standard HE. How would he go about it?

As far as I can see, the discount obtained from the NUS link above and the HE store is exactly the same.

 

[MrPineapples]

So if I buy a new Mac Pro with the NUS discount (which my girlfriend is entitled to) is that immoral?

We will both use the machine but I will be paying for it? I have researched it & this seems to be the cheapest way to get the machine.

Is there any reason I would pay the extra £270 to get it directly from apple?

The NUS price is still £150 more than the standard American price, so I can't see is bankrupting Apple.

 

[RedTomato]

So if I buy a new Mac Pro with the NUS discount (which my girlfriend is entitled to) is that immoral?

We will both use the machine but I will be paying for it? I have researched it & this seems to be the cheapest way to get the machine.

I gave up playing Mr Morality Cop a long time ago, but if she is using the mac pro for academic work, then seems fair enough. It isn't important who pays for it, as long as it is used for educational purposes.

 

[MrPineapples]

To be honest morality isn't an issue for me here,

I bought my girlfriend & iPod last Christmas with the Education discount when I was no longer a student, apple still email me with the student prices even though I finished a year & a half ago. We pay ridiculous prices in the UK for electronics.

She will be using the machine for Uni work but only until June when she Graduates, but we wont be breaking any rules so seems like a good deal to me.

 

[CrackedButter]

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The 3 year warranty is standard for ALL HE customers in the UK not just via your institution.

Goodness, get the facts right before posting such junk.

Really? How come we have multiple threads on these boards proving otherwise? People with NUS cards have purchased Apple machines which come only with the standard warranty.

Don't get me wrong, I want to be wrong but that is not how it is. My facts are correct, you're wrong, wrong, wrong.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/263293/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/229448/

 

[tuartboy]

We pay ridiculous prices in the UK for electronics.

I actually did the conversion from £1,349 to USD and it's over $2,600.

Jeez ow...

Even this HE discount you speak of is like $2,200....




You could try moving???

 

[davidjearly]

Really? How come we have multiple threads on these boards proving otherwise? People with NUS cards have purchased Apple machines which come only with the standard warranty.

Don't get me wrong, I want to be wrong but that is not how it is. My facts are correct, you're wrong, wrong, wrong.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/263293/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/229448/

NO! Those other threads 'prove' nothing. It doesn't matter if you have an NUS card. If you are a staff or student member at a Higher Education Institution in the UK you are eligible for the 3 year warranty. It is as simple as that. You don't even need to go to the NUS Store to get it. The HE Agreement has nothing to do with NUS.

See attached screenshot, and I repeat: Wrong, wrong, wrong. Just pure wrong.

David