Saving £££ in the UK buying ANY Dell/AW system OR accessories - please contribute!

As of 21st July 2013, I will no longer be offering this service. It is with some regret that I will no longer be referring people to Dell, following the extremely appalling treatment that I have personally received from Dell over a recent warranty issue. If you wish to read more, you can do so over on this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-emea-dell-support-full-details-included.html

And this follow on thread;

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...l-support-full-details-included-part-two.html

I refuse to continue to provide Dell with leads that turn into profit - Private messages asking for assistance with discounts will no longer be responded to, and the same goes for messages asking for my rep's details for you to contact yourself.

Sorry it has to be like this, but I refuse to line Dell's pockets after the shoddy service they have afforded me.

Apologies to all, and good luck in your hunting to buy Alienware, if you choose to do so.

Kind Regards and Best Wishes to you all,

Stevie
​

Hi fellow NBR members.

Us poor people in the United Kingdom and other NON US locations (including Europe etc) need to have a dedicated thread so that they can go DIRECTLY to that thread to learn how to save money in their individual location.

I am gonna start this off by posting this thread and how I saved money on purchasing my Alienware system.

Although I looked throught NBR, I could only find advice on how to save money when buyiing in the US. Obviously, I found the majority of it was not applicable to me, being a UK resident.

I wanted start a topic so that we could reduce the RIDICULOUS prices being charged by Dell for the same configurations, in some circumstances....almost double that paid by US citizens.

I hope that ANYONE who has any money saving ideas will post them on this thread and, in turn, it will help out in getting the very best deal possible.

I will kick off by letting anyone who wants to know about a very good UK based rep. who managed to save me a small fortune on Alienware purchases.

Due to NBR rules, I cant post details here, but if you would like them, please feel free to send me a PM.

I would request that the PM includes:

Your Name
Your Location
Your contact details (for my rep - email & telephone preferable)
The system you are interested in (eg M17x R3 / XPS / AW Desktop etc)
Wether or not you are purchasing on Dell Finance or outright via your own methods.

In return for that, I will forward your contact details to the relevant Dell contact who helped me and he will contact you via email or phone as soon as possible.

Obviously, I would appreciate any feedback you have after your dealings with my contact but please do not divulge specific information about you deal on the open forums.

This is just something to kick off the UK based money saving guide, if anyone can contribute more to it, other ways, coupons etc etc....we all could do with knowing as we are amongst the very highest paying Alienware customers in the world.

Another useful thread can be found here http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/452304-how-order-dell-us-non-us-citizens.html and may help Non US residents IF they want to order a system FROM the US but please bear in mind import/shipping/duty.

Also, recently added 17th March 2011:

It has come to my attention that another avenue to save money on buying an Alienware system has come to light. I wont detail too much here but it is suffice to say that a great deal of money can be saved by looking at this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/562083-hidevolution-8.html

Ted, from HIDevolution HIDevolution.com - Specializing in customized computers, electronics, and mobile devices for gamers and professionals has recently joined the NBR forums. He specialises in overseas orders and there are lots of happy buyers who can provide testament to Ted's services. It is well worth a look at what Ted can do for you if you are looking to buy from the US and avoid the sky high Non-US prices that Dell charge.


EDIT: 4th July 2013:

Events have come to light which mean that I can no longer vouch for HIDevolution as a reputable source to buy from - please ignore my above recommendation. If you would like to see why I have decided to do this, please take a look at how they have treated one of their customers over on this NBR thread located here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...bad-experience-aw-re-seller-hidevolution.html

Enough said.

Thanks guys.

Good luck!

 

It's too bad that there aren't more honest people in this world. You could get one at US prices and have it shipped to you.

 

True - and even though im not buying or changing/upgrading, what I wanted to do here, is to try and help some other poor souls out who live in the UK and are faced with quotes of £1799 for a base spec R3....or anything else for that matter.

It shouldnt come to having to get someone from the states to post one over....thats ridiculous...and proposterous.

So, being the nice guy I am, I thought I would try and lend a hand!

 

I would not mind helping someone myself but there is a problem. Shipping from USA to UK is costly very costly then the guy in UK might get charged VAT or even custom fees making the laptop around the same price he would have gotten it in UK.

 

Shipping from the UK to the USA means you will get smashed with VAT and duty fees. I ordered a painting over the internet once and the total cost ended up being over 30% more than the original pricing. I paid an extra thousand pounds or something ridiculous and that is with the old VAT %. It was a present for my wife and they wouldn't release it until paid. The government do more damage to the economy than anything! There is a way to get round it but I wouldn't want to label an expensive and new laptop like that as a gift they will stop it and investigate you would end up in serious trouble. You can get away with it with as poster or something cheap but not an alienware laptop.

Gone are the days of stuff floating through customs unnoticed, it's all high tech now with scanners they are far more strict you can't get out of it! You could lie about the price but again this is completely illegal and a lot of trouble to make it look realistic, especially if they contact Dell with the order number inside, not worth the hassle IMO they can be very thorough when they want to, you will get done for about 5 different charges and get a fined thousands.

 

Quite right Joe. The average UK citizen would have to pay VAT at the rate of currently 20% and import duty also. This would be based on the complete value of the item being shipped, including costs TO ship, therefore, techically, nullifying alot of the potential gains.

Although, given the ridiculous price tag of the R3 atm, this may STILL seem plausible, which itself, is hysterical.

Hence the thread really. I just hope that the thread will grow with more money saving ideas for UK people who really WANT to buy an Alienware/Dell system but at a SENSIBLE price.

 

Your VAT rate recently went up as well - from 17.5% to 20%. Wonder how this is playing into the news stories of price hikes across the board. I was just looking at this and it seems as if cellular service, Internet, fuel - just about everything was hit.

 

The whole lot BatBoy, everything in the UK has ovenight become 2.5% more expensive due to vat, current fuel (petrol/diesel) prices are at an all time high of £1.30 per litre.....(would love to pay US prices to fill my car up which now costs over £70gbp for a tank)....this , on top of everything else is crippling the economy.

Whilst these systems would be deemed "luxury" items, people still want to save as much as possible.

We face more hikes in the general cost of living with more rises in prices for various things....its a nightmare...global recession has hit us all but our government are really useless.

I wont rant on about "living in Britain" but you get the drift eh fella?

 

Lol yep, even a lot of foods were hit! It's pretty much universal these days apart from a few things like baby clothing. My job requires driving, I'm spending an extra £5 a week just on fuel think of that over the entire year with other stuff. They tax the hell out of necessities so people have less to spend to drive the economy. Thankfully my wife is a US citizen and we eventually plan to leave this this place.

 

And if you are really serious about ordering from the US I could talk to some of the wifes family in the states and get it directed to you with some chatter, I am friendly with them, but it would take some organising and time. Remember you will get smashed with VAT, duty, handling fees ontop of what you pay as well as shipping. The weight of the laptop is significant I believe it you would pay at least $50 alone even with the cheaper USPS if not more. With global priority you would get bleeding hammered! I wouldn't profit from it or see the thing so you might want to add in $50 or something to sweeten the in-laws even though they'd probably do it for free! There's a lot of cost there man but this is realism of what would be required. Also it wouldn't plug into the wall here in the UK if it was designed to be in the US, you'd need an adapter or some sorts

 

The problem isn't Dell, its the absurd "Progressive" VAT tax...

 

To be fair then why is the r2 more expensive in the US while in the UK it is much cheaper? VAT is a big problem, I admit but at least there would be consistency with the pricing if it was the case of just 20% extra. You pay nearly double for an r3 here in the UK at the moment not just 20%, not even equal to other pricing lists. There is more it than just tax and liberal blaming. I think they force any pricing here because they know some will buy it so it can subsidise other countries. Just my opinion.

 

So the R2 is "relatively" cheap in the UK but the R3 is significantly higher? Sounds like someone has a pile of R2's to move perhaps? But then again Dell is primarily build-to-order.... that is odd... wish we were so lucky...

It could be that Dell-UK, etc has a different set of agreements on production and perhaps costs are different? Surely the internal divisions to Dell don't compete with one another on options for parts in bulk and factory order priority do they?

 

R2 has been the same price on the site for months on end, it is still the same premium as before, it is not cheap at all it is just what it is. However, that can be used as a measure stick since it is static. The price of the r3 is just awful and unjustified, since these laptops are all assembled in China I don't see what a huge difference parts should make to the price. Even before VAT and shipping it is well overpriced.

And Dell will overpriced here like nearly all corporations until people stop buying and protest at the tax.
Rip-Off Britain - The Consumers Champion, Rip-off, Ripoff Britain, ripoff, rip-off uk, ripoff uk, ripped-off, rip of, rip-of, council tax increases, council tax rises, fuel prices, petrol prices, consumers, consumer complaints, brassed-off britain, b - hugely informational on the rip off that has been going on in this country for years between the government and large corporations. Dell just proved this case even more by their pricing and I do strongly believe that the UK subsidises cheaper prices elsewhere because they get away with it, it must do when looking at their overall bank balance.

 

I think the real reason why prices are so high in the UK isnt so much to do with Dell pricing, although that contributes significantly.

Moreso to do with the huge levy put on by our government to "import" goods from outside the UK into the UK.

Obvioulsy, any system bought in the UK is "imported" to a degree, as they are manufactured outside of Britain. The British VAT man will want his share of these goods, currently 20%. So, Dell obvioulsy have to factor in this cost to their pricing along with any other ancilliary costs.

Of course, this makes the price we see on the UK site much much more expensive than other sites....simply because VAT/import fees etc are pre-calculated into the Dell price....take off the VAT etc and you would be left with a "more reasonable" base price.

Now, Dell base price to start with must have been set very very high in the first place WITHOUT the addition of these extra costs...I mean, even if you deduct say 25% of £1799.00 for vat etc, the cost then is STILL much higher than the US price.

So the argument (as such) isnt really about UK taxes (as much as they hurt)...its about how Dell set a base price that is too high and THEN has these fees on top!

Anyway, I wont go into whinging about our economy, the thread was created to help others who DO want to buy AW from the UK....

 

I also want to point out as well that you can still buy reasonably priced laptops in the UK even with the VAT rate. Asus for instance are much cheaper and they seem to operate at a profit. Dell's profit margins with prices like that must be astronomical. Its not fair pricing at all. I hope no one buys it. Can you imagine what the pricing will be for an m18x with dual 485's? You'd have to remortgage to family home for that thing!

 

True. Its an exhorbetent profit margin / markup on the R3 if you buy in the UK. The only real way around it is to try and get a good deal via a rep....hence the topic.

Anyone with any other ideas, feel free to contribute.

Or you can PM me for contact info for good AW/Dell reps.....

 

Quidco takes off 10% on Alienware... + dmxdimension.com for all the dell evalue codes for all the different configuration starters.

 

Could you give any sort of ballpark numbers of what constitutes a good deal here?

I was considering investing in a 3-5 year laptop and looked at M17x and the UK base version is >80% more expensive than US version (and upgrades and more expensive too) so there is no chance in hell I'm throwing hard-earned money away on this when Asus, Sager, HP Envy, etc have far better value-for-money.

The base version even comes with a tiny HDD and rip-off in the upgrades there (although would want a hybrid drive where possible).

 

I would say that best value would be to upgrade vertain things "after" purchase, things like Ram, maybe HDD to SSD etc....them main things to get right at the outset are cpu/gpu and the screen.

Given the base spec of the R3 in the UK, i think your gonna be looking at £2000 as a minimum list price....what I do is play around with the website configurator with various specs.

Once you have settled on a spec you like, you can drop me a PM if you like and I can put you in touch with my rep who should be able to offer you a better than list price deal.

Hope this helps.

 

So, has ANYONE actually bought an R3 from the UK? - if so, post your details here, let us know what spec you got and how much it cost (if thats not being too nosey!)

 

Lets re-focus the thread and get back on topic - which is saving money when buying an AW system in the UK.

For Order Status posts, see the order status thread based on system ordered.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-order-status-discussion-thread-part-2-a.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/508330-m15x-order-status-discussion.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/487300-m17x-order-status-discussion-part-3-a.html
(for the 17xR3, order status posts are currently acceptable in the 17xR3 owners lounge simply due to the first systems not landing yet).

Thanks.

 

Was just curious to see if anyone from the UK had managed to get a "deal" on the R3....(eg..money off via negotiation)

 

Understood but posting there and then here is simply cross posting. The order status thread exists for this reason - to provide a common discussion thread for order status posts. Order Status posts (specs, etc.), in the linked threads I listed. To discuss further, send me a PM.


Thanks.

 

Sorted

10char

 

how do i send steviejones133 a pm???

 

Hi. You need to have a few more posts on the forum to activate PM's.....I cant even PM you and I cant post my rep's details in the thread.

Maybe one of the moderators can act as a go between until you have got PM's available.

 

how many posts do i need to be able to pm?

edit: its ok its 5 posts, i checked the help thread.. thanks

im ordering the m17x r3 top spec, with 2x aw2210, keyboard, mouse speakers etc comes to £6200 without discounts, so im hoping to get a decent discount as im ordering alot of stuff.

 

Great. I am sure my rep wil be able to get you a very good price for all of that. PM me when you can.

 

yeah ive sent you a pm, forgot to say im a personal customer.

 

I ordered my original R2 from the USA from a company called HidEvolution. It took approx 5 weeks from ordering to delivery - my main concern was whether or not they were legit. Plus you need to have the 3 year warranty to get Dell UK to fix any issues (its well worth getting the 3yr warranty anyway & subsequently I did have issues with my last laptop and they replaced with a new R2 under Dell UK). Anyway the point is you that ask HidEvolution to declare the value of the goods when they are posting them to you. Mine was delivered by FedEx with a value of £500 - subsequently my import tax was £89 or there abouts. HOWEVER, and take note here people, if FedEx should lose or damage your laptop you will only be insured at the value you declared it at!!! That is the risk.

 

No worries. I have sent you a reply. Good luck and let me know via PM how it works out for you!

 

Thats once heck of a gamble you took. Im not so sure that I would want to possibly face losing all that money...whats the offset on that? - eg how much did you save opposed to how much you possibly stood to lose? - im thinking on a £2k system, you saved around £300 on taxes but stood to lose £1500 if lost or damaged....thats one heck of a lot more to lose and im a probability kind of guy....probably would happen to me lol

Anyway, as i am posting and in the true spirit of trying to save us UK buyers money on anything AW related, I found a good buy on a TactX mouse for those that are interested.....half Dell price of £80.00....for sale here: DELL Alienware TactX 9 Button Laser Mouse 5000 dpi NEW on eBay (end time 28-Jan-11 17:16:40 GMT) (hope im not cross posting as I had posted in the AW main forum too....just incase anyone with an AW desktop didnt see it via the m17x forum)

Gotta be a bargain at that price!

 

Unfortunately, it is cross posting and not permitted. Since this thread is on 'UK and saving money/deals' please stick to this thread.

Thanks.

Questions can be directed to me or another mod via PM.

 

Ah well, not to worry....maybe lots of people who dont actually want to buy a SYSTEM (as that is what the thread title states) but WOULD like to save ££££ on anything to do with AW & UK will now miss out on a cheap UK accessory. Just hope they take a look at this thread.....

PM sent.

 

Please keep in mind that when you are falsely declaring item £££ on your package you are commiting tax evasion. I agree that the VAT and Duty is unfair but you are taking a bigger risk than just losing out on your systems insurance if it gets damaged. Generally customs are OK with honesty if you are late with taxes and own up they will give you a shot at paying it back with fines but if you knowingly try to deceive them they take it much further. Not only that but after hearing stories about people getting caught in the past for this sort of thing... they make it very awkward to even recover the package you could be waiting for months and who knows what state it will be in! I say don't take the risk as they watch electrical goods closely especially stuff like laptops. If you are buying a brand new system if they opened it up all they would need to do is contact Dell with the service tag / order number or whatever information is in there to find out the real value. Dell will not protect you! What's more is you could also get the sender into big trouble too. Just be careful guys it could backfire! Be smart. Better to buy a refurb and declare it as second hand/used, it's 5% VAT not 20% on second hand goods, then and at least you have valid legal standing.

 

The equilivant system on the UK website was approx £2500. Everything on the UK site was more expensive than the US site and to top it all off some of the components were not as good as the M17X US system. After speccing it up, HIDEvolution markup and 3day FedEx delivery I still managed to save approx £500!

Dont get me started on the UK tax system. If it was a fair system then I would have no hesitation paying the import tax - unfortunately its not and we pay through the nose for everything ........ I will leave it at that.

 

I'm just giving this info out for the guys who are not well informed and want to order from abroad. If you are completely aware of the the risks then that is down to the individual.

You can save yourself a bit of money, however ignoring the legal side for a second, it's risk vs reward. If you get caught doing this you will lose a lot more money than you would if you had paid UK prices and end up with a criminal record.

 

Its a fair point and yes it is completely down to the individual.

However you do get more value for money by ordering from Dell USA (and a name engraved plate ). With a VAT rate of 20% its hardly worthwhile ordering form the USA and declaring at the full value - but no risk = no reward

 

I think we can now see both sides of the coin on this one....importing from the US can have its benefits....its also got its downsides too.

If anyone is considering doings so, I would STRONGLY recommend getting ALL the information together FIRST before you order. You will need to know the total cost of importing, including UK vat / duty / shipping costs etc.

It may be possible, as MooneyD stated to "reduce" the amount you pay with regards to these fees - BUT - ordering from Dell US, they will NOT do the same, so be warned if you are thinking of doing this as you WILL be liable for fees at the FULL UK rates.

 

I agree with you 100% Stevie - its best to know the risks BEFORE you decide to buy from the USA. Also Dell USA WILL NOT deliver any of their products to the UK. You need to use an intermediate company - in my case it was HidEvolution.

Also another point - if you do decide to go down the same route as me you have to remember that since you are not the actual person making the order on the Dell website (the company you use will) you will not be able to track the order. Intermediate businesses are hesitant to give out this info as it will give you the system price (which you should know anyway) but it will also reveal the markup applied to the final price you have been quoted by the comany in question. There are some warranty issues but you can fill out a "transfer of ownership/country" form on the Dell website. The URL for this is somewhere in the forums . Make sure you do this the minute you receive your laptop!! Very important.

 

Good point to remember about "transfer of warranty" otherwise RMA requests would really cause heartache having to send back to the states! - I personally did not know that this could be done so good info! +rep.

 

One thing about ordering from the US or getting a US machine.
Is the Dell warranty worldwide? I know other manufactureres will tell you to shag off if you have a US machine in europe

 

I think you have to contact Dell to transfer the warranty to the uk. I would contact Dell UK before purchasing though to find out for sure.....ya dont really wanna be havin' to send your system back to the states for rma...personally, I cant see a problem with warranty transfer......

 

You have to buy the 3yr basic service plan. That includes the international warranty and to be honest you should probably get this anyway.

 

Negative - International warranty is included with any warranty which offers on-site support (at least if its purchased in the US - check the UK purchase terms to confirm). There are specific conditions to this -

Review my post here -

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/549462-alienware-warranties.html#post7079913

As for the length of warranty, I agree that a longer warranty is always the best choice when purchasing a new system if you want to preserve your investment. It is quite costly now to extend your warranty after purchasing.

 

First post updated with additional money saving information for Non-US residents looking to save money when buying an Alienware computer.

Enjoy!

Regards
Steve.

 

Seeing that most of the people seeking help would be residents of the UK I think its safe to say that they'd be transferring their service tag

And I can vouch for this, cause I bought my system from the US and had it shipped and service tag transferred to the UK and I have the basic 1yr NBD warranty that comes standard and I've been able to call in for repairs perfectly fine with no issues The minimum 3YR warranty issue is just a gimmick from Dell/AW to force you to buy the extra upgrade, though its handy, not everyone can afford it or dont need 3 years (like me).

 

I got around 150/300 pound by talking to the sales women but I still in the end refused it since it was low to very mid specs. I just thought it was too crazy of a price that even that much money off it's still too high.

 

Some sales reps are better than others