London: the pitfalls of buying Apple devices in the UK

In the break between the events of the London Panasonic Convention, I managed to look into one of the local Apple Store. For the first time in my life I was in the official store of the apple corporation in the world. And right on the threshold there was a gap pattern - so everything turned out to be colorful and attractive. A spacious two-story room, packed to capacity with iGadgets, with which any visitor can mess around. And dozens of sales assistants scurry around in branded blue T-shirts with a white apple. In general, I could not resist and took all this mess on the video.


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Harsh reality

However, this is not at all enthusiastic material in honor of Steve of our Jobs, as it may seem at first glance. This (oh, horror!) Warning. I came to the Apple Store for a reason: I needed to buy two iPhones 4. Knowing that in the UK there wasn’t a shortage of “yablofon” lately, I scrolled in my mind a microfilm about how I happily pick up phones from the Apple Store, put them in a beautiful package with a string, which they give to every customer, then return the VAT to the airport, and then enjoy life in every way.



Having walked around the store a lot, I turned to the girl-consultant: they say, I want an iPhone. And better just two. Cute Asian sent me to the second floor. Having climbed up the stairs, I learned that there are no phones available - it is necessary to pre-order. By the way, just in case, I tried to make it even from Moscow, but for some reason the system categorically refused to work. A miracle did not happen in London, "iPhones" still did not want to be reserved.

The third consultant for some reason could not clearly speak in English, and the fourth happily reported that with pre-orders everything is not as easy as it seems. You need to go to the site from 7 to 9 in the morning, reserve your iPhone, and then from 10 to 12 come to the selected store and pick up the order. Earlier - no, no, later - also impossible. Needless to say, the pre-order system still did not work from 7 to 9 in the morning ?:)

At this moment, my patience was over, and I did not go to the Apple Store anymore. Exactly the same fiasco suffered several of my colleagues. As a result, two bought the unpacked iPhone 4 from the Indians in the next block, and one returned to the store on the third day of the trip and suddenly the phone was still sold to him. True demanded unpack and activate on the spot. Such is the market economy with a selective sales system. Everything is exactly like in the Futurama series about the EyePhone.

Maths

Many still do not understand why everyone is so eager to go to Europe behind iZhelezkami, because their prices are not too different from the Russian ones. The secret lies in the value added tax, which can be returned at the airport before departure. To do this, you need to request in the Apple Store a special Tax Free check, which then you need to look at the TaxFree special payment stand. The customs officers will carefully study the purchase (or they will not pay attention to it at all; then how lucky they will be) and put a stamp on the check. And then two options: the money can be returned immediately at the local box office (be afraid of the queues!), Or to a debit card, if the purchase was paid for with it. Return exactly 11%, if you choose a bank transfer, or 11% minus 2.95 pounds sterling for each check in cash. Buying a 32-gigabyte iPhone 4 in London at the official price of £ 599 will turn into such a financial history: 599 x 47.5 = 28 452. This is the local price in terms of rubles. We remove the VAT, multiplying this amount by another 0.89, and we get 25,322 rubles. That is how much the coveted smartphone will cost for a Russian tourist in Albion. In Russia, as you know, this gadget is sold from the hands at a price of 32,000 rubles, and the average price in retail stores is about 36,000. In short, there is something to fight for.

PS

In fairness, I note that there is an alternative way to get an apple smartphone, without shopping. Any iGadget from the Apple Store range can be ordered with delivery via the website, and this form, unlike the pre-order system, works fine. In the case of London, the purchase is brought within three days, but for this you need to be tied to a specific place and, most often, time.