Re: [SLUG] Re: eee pc 900 (20080709)

[Rev Simon Rumble <simon@xxxxxxxxxx>]

This one time, at band camp, Richard Ibbotson wrote:

> PC World (for example) which is hated by a lot of people for it's 
> incompetence

They're hated with very good reason.  If you've heard the stories of 
Best Buy high-pressure say-anything-to-make-the-sale tactics, this 
place is very much in that league.

This guy managed to get over a hundred thousand quid out of them through 
the courts.  Hilarious!
http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/A187_04.html

> It's very unusual for this kind of retail chain to shift large piles 
> of EeePCs with Linux installed.  They are trying to move XP versions 
> off the shelf but that doesn't seem to work too well :)

They wouldn't really care, to be honest.  It would all depend on the 
profit margin, and how many ancillary sales they can make alongside the 
laptop.  I'm sure they'd be pushing their worthless extended warranties, 
external mouse and keyboard, laptop bags etc etc.

On the issue of GST being levied on private imports: there's no 
published lower limit, but they don't tend to hassle you for them to 
stop a shipment and charge GST when it's books, CDs, t-shirts or 
similar in small quantities.  If it comes in via one of the big courier 
companies (DHL, Fedex) you're more likely to get it stopped, but having 
"Computer" written on the customs declaration kinda guarantees it'll get 
stopped by any route.

The problem here is that customs apply a 20% uplift to the invoiced 
price before applying GST as they assume you're getting it at wholesale 
prices (despite the fact you're only buying one), so you end up paying 
32% GST!

-- 
Rev Simon Rumble <simon@xxxxxxxxxx>
www.rumble.net

The Tourist Engineer
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