Firstin.co.nz rip off AGAIN

It looks like firstIn.co.nz are at it again with misleading retail prices.

I have blogged about FirstIn’s inflated prices before here, and also their misleading specs on products here. And yep they are at it again!

Today I see they have an 2nd hand (they say refurbished – but by who?) MacBook Pro for $1599 that they say saves $300. (In case the page disappears I have pasted a screen shot below).

Well I did a comparison with the only site I know always sells refurbished Apple gear – Apple NZ.  And I find their STANDARD price on this unit is $1527 (again image shown in case this link dies).  Now I will explain that the Apple product is a 2.4GHz processor, where as the FirstIn is 2.53, but Apple also have the 2.66GHz model, with a larger (320GB) hard drive for only $1699.  So that’s $200 LESS than the supposed standard price FirstIn claim, for a BETTER unit.  Take a look for yourself – Apple sell heaps of refurbished stuff all the time. So where is the $300 saving?  What’s this based on?   In fact it’s $72 MORE than Apple, plus Apple do free shipping, so that’s (up to) another $10 saved, depending on where in NZ you are.

It took me 30 seconds to find this price, so FirstIn cant claim they didn’t know.  This what they do for a living (sell stuff online), and they REPEATEDLY inflate their so called RRP to show larger discounts than are really there.  In this case they are actually charging MORE than a comparable unit. I would MUCH prefer to by direct from Apple – I trust them when they say its refurbished, and I also trust Apple’s pricing (coz they don’t mess with it, and they rarely discount). It goes without saying I don’t trust FirstIn.

Black and White Version: FirstIn.co.nz continue to be misleading on their pricing/discounts.  I don’t trust them.

PS: Click on either image below for a larger view.  Both images copied from their respective web sites at 1.15pm on 12 July 2011.