Cheapest way to get a dell in CANADA

Hey all,

I've been looking at purchasing an m1330 for quite some time now and I'm interested in tips for getting the best deal on it.

I've read several threads that talk about calling the CSRs and asking them what deals they can give you to help complete the sale and that. Some people say this works, others say it doesn't, I'm definately going to give it a try.

There don't seem to be coupons like the US gets, although every now and again a flyer comes that has a coupon for "25 to 40% off**" its rarely the 40% in my experience.

I do have family and friends in the US and right now I could order an m1330 loaded up the wazoo with everything that i need and more for US$1683 and receive $270 in gift cards. A similarly priced system in canada is CAD$2100 and doesn't have the new LED screens

Granted, I would have to then have them mail me the laptop or go pick it up and probably pay customs on it, but even if i ship it registered male and pay taxes, etc on it, I can't see it costing more than just ordering one in Canada ($500 for taxes, them mailing it to me, and customs seems like a stretch.)

Any advice or recommendations?

 

If I had close friends or family in the USA, I'd ask them to order it for me with a good discount, and buy it from them, get the warranty transferred, and pay the taxes and duty. Canadian deals are nowhere close to US deals. They are rather insulting, actually.

 

Yeah, order it through your family. Dell Canada has made it PAINFULLY obvious they have no interest on being competitive with their american branch. Not only do americans get better deals, and avoid most of the taxes, but they also get to haggle with the CSR's... In Canada, the most i have ever heard someone getting for free, is a slightly better warranty and faster shipping. They'll rarely give you a deal on the machine as you have it speced, and even rarer, give you a discount on upgrades.

If you do everything to the letter of the law, I cant imagine you paying more then $200 to ship it into canada(assuming you DO pay duties on it, though that should be avoided since you would have your american family list it as a gift. The guys at the customs office are pretty lenient about that around X-mas, since its pretty obvious most of the mail crossing over is gifts)

 

Canadian Deals can be better than US deals. The US members say the same about Cdn deals.

Secondly, its almost impossible to get a warranty transfer and you CANT ship it back their for warranty work.

Finally, if you look through my previous threads somewhere, you will find one specifically on Getting the Best Deal....

actually here it is!

 

Flamenco, while I'm sure Canada can sometimes have better deals than the US, I need this laptop by January 26th and I really like paying $500 when our dollar is nearly on par with the US dollar. I don't really have that much time to wait for the "perfect canadian deal"

Aren't there just forms online for a warranty transfer? And since i'm purchasing the 4 year loaded warrantee get internation coverage why would it matter where I am to get it repaired?

Edit: Is it possible to purchase the laptop in the US and then buy a warrantee seperately through dell Canada?

 

I don't know personally, but Frazell says that warranty transfers can easily done. See posts 4 and 6 in:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=189407

Here are info links:

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/reftopic.aspx/pub/ccare/transfer_intl?~ck=ln&c=us&l=en&lnki=1&s=gen&cs=

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/reftopic.aspx/pub/ccare/transfer_notavailable?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~lt=popup

 

I just got a 1520 Blue Inspiron with

Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2 GHz
2GBs of ram
High Res 1440 x 900 screen
8600M GT video card
250GB 5400 RPM HDD
85 WHr 9-cell Batterie
and 3 years return to depot complete care

for 1700$ with tax. That includes a 490$ special that ends tonight and 100$ off the complete care that the sales rep gave me.

I dunno how good this is compared to the dell.com deals but looking at sites like future shop and best buy for the same price I have a waker processor and graphics card and no complete care.

 

Frankly, the warranty may not matter anyway. With the $700 (using the OP's numbers, 2100-1683+270=700) (albeit before duty and taxes) that you save by purchasing in the USA, plus the $250 saved by getting a one-year instead of a three-year warranty on the M1330 in Canada, you could pay for repairs out-of-pocket from the money you save, and probably still have money left over.

And, if it breaks down more than 2 years from now, it might be cheaper to just discard the computer and buy a new one at a what will then be a much lower price for the same spec, again from the US.

For most brands of laptop, Consumer Reports does not recommend extended warranties.