Another XoticPC Sager Order

Finally getting around to ordering a nice Sager gaming behemoth. Most of my previous laptops have tended towards the smaller side, so looking forward to being able to enjoy glorious high def gaming. From everything I've read, the Sager NP8652/Clevo P650SG will more than satisfy my needs (mostly RTS/open-world gaming, CIV/Total War & Elder Scrolls).

My order will be for a basically stock Sager NP8652 with the 1080P IPS screen, Windows 8.1 and a 2-year warranty. The idea of an Intel i7-4290 and a 980M in a relatively thin machine with a nice clean look makes me start to twitch in anticipation.

From all the resellers available, XoticPC seems to be the most polished experience. That said, before I place my order there seems to be a few issues to be sorted out before I feel ready to drop over one and a half large. Basically trying to figure out this whole discount thing. The website may well have a detailed walk through of this but unfortunately the FAQ seems to not function under iOS (either iPhone or iPad), and the order process and payment descriptions, though seemingly thorough, just seem to confuse even more. I did talk with a sales rep, I cannot exactly remember his name, I think it was Mike?, and he helped explain things a lot. But, unfortunately I lost the chat transcript and still have a few more questions about combining discounts. As helpful as the chat feature is and any help I may receive here, it says something about a website design if you need lots of hand-holding to put an order through.. I read something about XoticPC planning to overhaul their website a bit, and I think this is probably sorely needed.

Spoiler

XoticPC offers a military discount and a cash rebate, along with free shipping for the Sager NP8652. I am still not 100% on whether these 3 will all combine. Though I do know the cash rebate drops from 3% to 2% when combining with the military (or student) discount, for some mysterious reason. I don't want to sound ungracious for a discount, but this policy takes a promotional feature and adds an unnecessary negative feedback. With it like this, is it even worth it for the hassle of trying a secured check payment versus simply going with the military discount and free shipping and then paying with a credit card?

Hopefully I can quickly sort these, admittedly small, issues out and let you all know how my order process goes.


So now I have gone through the ordering process and my notebook is on its long way here. So I will update this post and tell you all how it went.

Here's the timeline:

01/16/15 - Initial order (applied for cash payment w/ military discount)
01/20/15 - Changed order to reflect CC payment (lost cash rebate, received free shipping, but lost out on being able to apply military rebate)
01/21/15 - E-mail Notice: Entered Phase 1
01/22/15 - E-mail Notice: Entered Phase 2
01/23/15 - E-mail Notice: Entered Phase 7

 

Hello NewVet,
Welcome to NBR.
Unfortunately we are not allow to post about discounts on the forum. You do need at least 5 posts to send a PM so you wont be able to do that. But if you click on my name in my signature you can send me an email directly and I will be happy to answer your questions.

 

Thanks for the speedy reply. Just sent out an e-mail.

 

Got you replied to, let us know if any other questions come up. You can reply to my email directly, or post here as long as it doesn't involve us having to list any pricing

 

As well as everything else worked out, it's a slight shame the discounts offered are mostly just simple eye-candy that makes you think you are getting a slightly better deal. Actually applying the discount is a whole can of worms. Unless your bank offers free outgoing wire transfers, the cash discount is not worth it. And for some strange, annoying, reason, XoticPC combines free shipping with the cash rebate but won't combone free shipping with the military/student discount. But these are all slight issues, while as far as feedback and everything else so far in the ordering process, XoticPC has been great.

 

The reasoning behind the discounts and the way they lay out. The Free shipping, military, and student discounts are all discounts out of the bottom line and there is only a certain point we can hit before we're told to stop by the pricing Sager and other manufacturers as well as our books allow. The cash discount is offered because we aren't charged a transaction fee for those payment methods whereas the normal price has those fees built in. Since we aren't charged those fees we pass that discount off to the customer in the form of the cash discount. We technically don't allow the combination of any discounts with one another but do make the exception for the cash discount but do have to reduce that to 2% in order to keep manufacturers and our own books happy.

The cash discount can be used with wire transfer as well as check and money order. Banks do typically charge for wire but some do not and others may not charge a whole lot. Lots of our customers use it and still enjoy a pretty sizable chunk off their order total as a result. Unfortunately though it won't be the best deal for everyone and why we still allow the check/money order options despite most places now refusing to take them due to fraud experienced. Now the backside of that is our policies to pay by those two are very strict and quite honestly something I'd find to be a pain to do myself, but the times require it to be like that to protect ourselves. So if the bank does charge fees and those fees make the cash discount not worth it, there are the check/money order options which will get you the same discount just a little annoying to provide the documentation we require.

I personally would pay by card as the savings don't add up enough to warrant the trouble for me personally but a lot of people are willing to go the extra steps to save a buck. So long as it's being used we'll keep offering the option.