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READ How to get BestBuy discount for new RETINA MBP

Hi guys!

Just wanted to report back that the information in this thread totally worked for me. I called the local Best Buy and to my surprise they had one in stock (funny the Best Buy here got them in before the Apple store less than a mile away). I had them hold it for me and brought the printed image of the receipt from the OP, and a printed screenshot of my cart with the $1,999 price and the $100 card from the Apple website.

I logged into the Apple education store on my iPhone and had that ready to go. I was just very polite and patient. After showing them the phone, screenshot, and the image of the receipt, I got both the price match to $1999 and the $150 Best Buy gift card!

Thanks again, this thread and a phone call has gotten me a retina MBP faster and with less frustration than a week of hounding the local Apple Store. I have to say, the Best Buy people were even more friendly and helpful than the Apple Store staff. The Best Buy guys were eager to help, where the Apple Store staff just seemed tired of people asking.

The only downside was it took a good bit of time to get everything worked out, and you have to say no to their extra add-ons and service plans, but in the end it was totally worth it.

One other note, Best Buy offers 18-month no-interest financing as opposed to Apple's 12 month offer.
 
Last edited:
Robot Overlord said:
Hi guys!

Just wanted to report back that the information in this thread totally worked for me. I called the local Best Buy and to my surprise they had one in stock (funny the Best Buy here got them in before the Apple store less than a mile away). I had them hold it for me and brought the printed image of the receipt from the OP, and a printed screenshot of my cart with the $1,999 price and the $100 card.

I logged into the Apple education store on my iPhone and had that ready to go. I was just very polite and patient. After showing them the phone, screenshot, and the image of the receipt, I got both the price match to $1999 and the $250 Best Buy gift card!

Thanks again, this thread and a phone call has gotten me a retina MBP faster and with less frustration than a week of hounding the local Apple Store. I have to say, the Best Buy people were even more friendly and helpful than the Apple Store staff. The Best Buy guys were eager to help, where the Apple Store staff just seemed tired of people asking.
Click to expand...


how you get a $250 gift card??
 
I went to another best buy and the manager was confused by the discounts that apple is giving. She asked the apple rep to come over and verify. The apple rep said that since I got the $150 best buy card, I should only get $150 off the price of the laptop.

I agreed as that is fair, despite knowing what others got. The general mgr agreed but when they went for his approval he suddenly changed his mind and said he would only give me $50 off. He claimed his local apple store told him they are only doing $200 off and that's it. I told him that I don't mind holding if he would call apple again to verify. He then said that it doesn't matter. That is all he's willing to do and take it or
leave it.

At this rate. **** best buy. I was going to return it unopened if they wouldn't do the -$200. However, because of their dishonesty I opened it and will use it for the next 3 weeks until my apple order comes. When it does, I'll just return it.
 
timeslip said:
I went to another best buy and the manager was confused by the discounts that apple is giving. She asked the apple rep to come over and verify. The apple rep said that since I got the $150 best buy card, I should only get $150 off the price of the laptop.

I agreed as that is fair, despite knowing what others got. The general mgr agreed but when they went for his approval he suddenly changed his mind and said he would only give me $50 off. He claimed his local apple store told him they are only doing $200 off and that's it. I told him that I don't mind holding if he would call apple again to verify. He then said that it doesn't matter. That is all he's willing to do and take it or
leave it.

At this rate. **** best buy. I was going to return it unopened if they wouldn't do the -$200. However, because of their dishonesty I opened it and will use it for the next 3 weeks until my apple order comes. When it does, I'll just return it.
Click to expand...


i believe you can take the macbook and receipt to another bestbuy to match the price because some managers are b**chy and not willing to honor the discount..
 
Just out of curiosity, anyone know which DC Metro area Best Buy gave both the student discount plus $150 gift card? I tried my local BB in Germantown, MD and the manager told me that the most discount that store has ever given on an Apple product is $100. I even showed him a print out of the receipt that other people have posted as well as Apple's website showing both the discount as well as the App store gift card but he flat out ignored these "proofs" and discredited them as not genuine.

So anyone in the DC metro area know which BB is price matching as well as giving the $150 GC? Just FYI, I already purchased the Mac from a Best Buy in Delaware with $200 student discount but no gift card. I just want a local BB to price match the gift card since other people have had success getting both.

Also any suggesstions on local BB stores with managers that are not complete ******s? I went to 3 BB in Delaware to look for this computer and all the managers that I spoke with were rude with very poor customer service skills.
 
hi guys here is what happend with my rmbp purchase at best buy ( san marcos, ca). i walked into the store around noon and went right to the mac section, right when i got there the apple rep was cutting open a brand new rmbp to put it on display, before he could finish opening it i asked do u have anymore and he said nope only the display model and he said he doesnt know when they will be getting anymore. so i asked can i buy the one u are opening he said give me a min and walked away then came back like 3 min later and said yes u can and we will give u 5% off since its considered an open box item. i then asked him to give me the student discount and gift card, he was like i havent heard of this deal and he said how about i knock 2% more off and give u a discount on a warranty from best buy. i said no thank u to that then pulled out a print out of all the receipts u guys have posted and the sku numbers and said well mira mesa will do it but they are out so why wont u do it.(i really had no idea if mira mesa would do it i just lied) he said u drive a hard bargain but i cant say no to u having proof so he gave me both the gift card and the student discount, on top of the 5% open box discount. he told me the only thing was i had to come back in 2 hrs because he said store policy with opened laptops is they have to give it to the geek squad and make sure theres nothing on the hhd. i said but u havent even turned it on, he said doesnt matter so i left it alone didnt want to push to many buttons since i had not paid yet. so he took it over to geek squad but he didnt come back some other mac rep came over and said im taking over for him he went to lunch, i said ok and went to pay, before i paid i asked hey where is the applecare boxes i want to buy it along with the laptop, he said oh we dont carry it because we find it to be a rip off. but just then he offered me best buys protection service for 395 dollars, i said no thanks ill just pick up applecare somewhere else.this is when things got tense, he said with a tone in his voice (like he thought i was stupid) may i ask why u dont want our service and want applecare i said for one thing its more money for yours and secondly iv always had applecare and never had a problem. then he listed all the reason applecare was crap and how apple lies about what it does (now remember this is a mac rep telling me this) he said im going to ask u again why dont u want our coverage its far better. i stopped him and said to tell u the truth u are being very rude and secondly everything i have ever heard about u guys and your warranties is they are the worst pieces of crap on the planet and i dont even like shopping here because iv gotten treated like this more than once, im only here because u guys are the only one with this deal i found, i said now may i pls have someone else ring me up and ill be going. he got all red in the face and said u are making a huge mistake but what do i know im only the mac rep. (side note i never raised my voice or made a scene i talked calmly and at a normal lvl of volume and he never yelled either he just got really red and his tone got more stern.) so he got someone else and they started asking me if i wanted the same protection plan he told the guy dont even try with them ( my mom was with me because he paid for a bit of it)( she told the guy off too but thats for a different time) so i paid and left came back two hrs later computer wasnt done according to them so picked it up today and everything works great.( on another side note my mom and me both talked to the manager but he was no help, he was like well theres a law in california that says we have to offer that protection plan to our customers, but ill talk to him about his tone. my mom and me asked what about him being so pushy he said well he may have gone a bit over the top and ill mention it to him( he sorta said it like of course he was being pushy that what we want them to do and make the sale) he said sorry 2 or 3 times and said it wont happen again. sorry this was so long but thought u guys should know hope u have a better time than i did, at least i got the mac i wanted.
 
ffxman said:
hi guys here is what happend with my rmbp purchase at best buy ( san marcos, ca). i walked into the store around noon and went right to the mac section, right when i got there the apple rep was cutting open a brand new rmbp to put it on display, before he could finish opening it i asked do u have anymore and he said nope only the display model and he said he doesnt know when they will be getting anymore. so i asked can i buy the one u are opening he said give me a min and walked away then came back like 3 min later and said yes u can and we will give u 5% off since its considered an open box item. i then asked him to give me the student discount and gift card, he was like i havent heard of this deal and he said how about i knock 2% more off and give u a discount on a warranty from best buy. i said no thank u to that then pulled out a print out of all the receipts u guys have posted and the sku numbers and said well mira mesa will do it but they are out so why wont u do it.(i really had no idea if mira mesa would do it i just lied) he said u drive a hard bargain but i cant say no to u having proof so he gave me both the gift card and the student discount, on top of the 5% open box discount. he told me the only thing was i had to come back in 2 hrs because he said store policy with opened laptops is they have to give it to the geek squad and make sure theres nothing on the hhd. i said but u havent even turned it on, he said doesnt matter so i left it alone didnt want to push to many buttons since i had not paid yet. so he took it over to geek squad but he didnt come back some other mac rep came over and said im taking over for him he went to lunch, i said ok and went to pay, before i paid i asked hey where is the applecare boxes i want to buy it along with the laptop, he said oh we dont carry it because we find it to be a rip off. but just then he offered me best buys protection service for 395 dollars, i said no thanks ill just pick up applecare somewhere else.this is when things got tense, he said with a tone in his voice (like he thought i was stupid) may i ask why u dont want our service and want applecare i said for one thing its more money for yours and secondly iv always had applecare and never had a problem. then he listed all the reason applecare was crap and how apple lies about what it does (now remember this is a mac rep telling me this) he said im going to ask u again why dont u want our coverage its far better. i stopped him and said to tell u the truth u are being very rude and secondly everything i have ever heard about u guys and your warranties is they are the worst pieces of crap on the planet and i dont even like shopping here because iv gotten treated like this more than once, im only here because u guys are the only one with this deal i found, i said now may i pls have someone else ring me up and ill be going. he got all red in the face and said u are making a huge mistake but what do i know im only the mac rep. (side note i never raised my voice or made a scene i talked calmly and at a normal lvl of volume and he never yelled either he just got really red and his tone got more stern.) so he got someone else and they started asking me if i wanted the same protection plan he told the guy dont even try with them ( my mom was with me because he paid for a bit of it)( she told the guy off too but thats for a different time) so i paid and left came back two hrs later computer wasnt done according to them so picked it up today and everything works great.( on another side note my mom and me both talked to the manager but he was no help, he was like well theres a law in california that says we have to offer that protection plan to our customers, but ill talk to him about his tone. my mom and me asked what about him being so pushy he said well he may have gone a bit over the top and ill mention it to him( he sorta said it like of course he was being pushy that what we want them to do and make the sale) he said sorry 2 or 3 times and said it wont happen again. sorry this was so long but thought u guys should know hope u have a better time than i did, at least i got the mac i wanted.
Click to expand...

Paragraphs please. I struggled reading this.
 
If someone offers me a warranty. I just act like i'm interested. I say...how many days do I have before I can purchase it? They say you have 30 days. Then I say okay I'll really think about.


I just go home and forget about the warranty. Everyone wins. Feelings aren't hurt.

THE END>
 
Dammit Cubs said:
If someone offers me a warranty. I just act like i'm interested. I say...how many days do I have before I can purchase it? They say you have 30 days. Then I say okay I'll really think about.


I just go home and forget about the warranty. Everyone wins. Feelings aren't hurt.

THE END>
Click to expand...

When I told the local Best Buy guy that I'll think about purchasing the warranty later, guess what his rebuttal was?

"Yeah but then your computer purchase and warranty will be on two separate receipts and what if you lose your warranty receipt and then it will be really bad so it would be better if you just got it today because then it would be on one receipt."

WAT :eek:
 
Great thanks seven for clarifying that. Yeah I agree the numbers are strange...I looked at that damn receipt for 30 minutes trying to figure everything out and I still wasn't positive. It was more complicated on my end though because they refunded it to the CC so you never know what'll happen. But as far as I can tell my process was identical to yours.


seventhreewun said:
so trey m,

RETURN
it was 2049.99 because the 150 discount was from $150 gift card deducted from price since they couldnt refund a promotional gift card so they subtracted that from the full price (i dont know why the numbers seem strange)

SALE ITEMS
they rang me up for 1849.99 (subtracted the $200 discount and $150 gift card so -$350 from total) and then paid me a difference in cash of about $230.

hope that answers your question
Click to expand...
 
iPhone Addict said:
When I told the local Best Buy guy that I'll think about purchasing the warranty later, guess what his rebuttal was?

"Yeah but then your computer purchase and warranty will be on two separate receipts and what if you lose your warranty receipt and then it will be really bad so it would be better if you just got it today because then it would be on one receipt."

WAT :eek:
Click to expand...

OMG!!! I just bought a tv from best buy and they said the EXACT SAME THING. My friend overheard and he was like that is just lazy. LOL. I tell them, well I have a best buy rewards card (free) and it keeps track of all my receipts even if i lose them.

Warranty = commission. They can suck my balls if they want commission.
 
iPhone Addict said:
When I told the local Best Buy guy that I'll think about purchasing the warranty later, guess what his rebuttal was?

"Yeah but then your computer purchase and warranty will be on two separate receipts and what if you lose your warranty receipt and then it will be really bad so it would be better if you just got it today because then it would be on one receipt."

WAT :eek:
Click to expand...


Best Buy employees have a LOT of pressure on them to upsell credit cards and protection plans. They can lose their job if they fall short of quota too often.
 
Dammit Cubs said:
OMG!!! I just bought a tv from best buy and they said the EXACT SAME THING. My friend overheard and he was like that is just lazy. LOL. I tell them, well I have a best buy rewards card (free) and it keeps track of all my receipts even if i lose them.

Warranty = commission. They can suck my balls if they want commission.
Click to expand...

True. OTOH, you can sometimes get a price break if you appear interested in the maximum warranty but say the total cost is too much. I've had them drop the product price -which is key. Despite what a salesperson says they don't 'give you the latest model,' they only refund up to what was paid; so dropping the price on the item is in their best interest to sell the warranty.

How does that help you? The warranty is returnable even if you keep the product. Buy the warranty, get an extra discount and then return the warranty for a full refund the next day. You can see the laws on this for each state on the warranty documents.
 
I just got back from the NYC BBY on 44th and 5th and bought the new MBA, not the MBPR. Here's my story in a nutshell.

I brought a print out of the OP's receipt and the Mac Store Online printout with the 13 inch MBA for $1,149. Long story short the guy at the register, "KC," said everyone tries this and that the Education Store is NOT an advertised price, but I was eligible for the $150 gift card. He was a little uptight about it, but not a complete ******, so I did not want to force the issue. We did go back and forth about why one store would do it and another won't, but he would not budge. No, he was not the manager either. I was still getting a total of $150 in value back so at the end of the day it is about even. Had they had the MBPR in stock and I was being screwed out of $200 + tax off... I'd have marched myself up to the Apple store on 59th and bought it there.

I'm going to email corporate since myself, along with everyone on here, is sick of the inconsistency. If I can get $50+ tax back great, if not, I still think the BBY card over the Apple Card makes it a better deal anyway .
 
jfriedman8 said:
I'm going to email corporate since myself, along with everyone on here, is sick of the inconsistency. If I can get $50+ tax back great, if not, I still think the BBY card over the Apple Card makes it a better deal anyway .
Click to expand...

I'm assuming that is the only reason you decided to go to BB instead of Apple. I find it hard to spend $100 at iTunes. At least you can buy something tangible with a BB gc. Try Plastic Jungle, they give up to 92% for that card.
 
jfriedman8 said:
I just got back from the NYC BBY on 44th and 5th and bought the new MBA, not the MBPR. Here's my story in a nutshell.

I brought a print out of the OP's receipt and the Mac Store Online printout with the 13 inch MBA for $1,149. Long story short the guy at the register, "KC," said everyone tries this and that the Education Store is NOT an advertised price, but I was eligible for the $150 gift card. He was a little uptight about it, but not a complete ******, so I did not want to force the issue. We did go back and forth about why one store would do it and another won't, but he would not budge. No, he was not the manager either. I was still getting a total of $150 in value back so at the end of the day it is about even. Had they had the MBPR in stock and I was being screwed out of $200 + tax off... I'd have marched myself up to the Apple store on 59th and bought it there.

I'm going to email corporate since myself, along with everyone on here, is sick of the inconsistency. If I can get $50+ tax back great, if not, I still think the BBY card over the Apple Card makes it a better deal anyway .
Click to expand...


Sorry to hear. I would also suggest posting on the Best Buy forums. A few other MacRumors members have. A Best Buy rep should be responding Monday or Tuesday.

http://forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Best-Buy-Geek-Squad-Policies/bd-p/Policies

There are a couple threads going, or post your own. :)


Edit: Also, to anyone who purchases from Best Buy don't forget to get a /use your Reward Zone card, depending on which model you get, it's about $50 worth.
 
I was originally only given the BB gift card when I bought my RMBP. I argued with everyone and finally had to send an email to the store's general manager. I pointed out the inconsistency between stores, and included screen shots of my apple.com shopping cart. He finally refunded $200 to my credit card...phew that was a hassle.
 
jimmyz80 said:
I was originally only given the BB gift card when I bought my RMBP. I argued with everyone and finally had to send an email to the store's general manager. I pointed out the inconsistency between stores, and included screen shots of my apple.com shopping cart. He finally refunded $200 to my credit card...phew that was a hassle.
Click to expand...

Hey I've been arguing with them too. Same store. Got the same runaround as you. I don't know if it's possible on here but if theres any way I could get you to private message me that email address I'd appreciate it.
 
can i still get an education discount from BB and the gift card if I'm only buying the base 13" macbook pro?
 
note235 said:
pretty sure you can but the discount is around $50-100?
Click to expand...

im pretty sure its $100, not 100% though, and do you think I'll get the gift card too? do i just go through the same steps as I would for a retina macbook pro?
 
serb said:
im pretty sure its $100, not 100% though, and do you think I'll get the gift card too? do i just go through the same steps as I would for a retina macbook pro?
Click to expand...

yep i think it'll work
with the hassle too lol
 
whats up ppl,

I went to Bestbuy Imperial Ave in Orange County CA, its by Brea. The manager there was helpful as I didn't know they would price match the .edu pricing.
But in my case it was a 13" that I got, which they took of 100$ and told me they would give me a $150 gift card. Totally helpful people and not scamming me in anyway. I went in there totally clueless if they would price match and they exceeded the deal Apple offered. Try going there for your retina mbp
 
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