Buying from US Education Store in UK

A university friend of mine recently told me about how he went about buying his MacBook Pro at the beginning of our degree; he said he found the number for the customer service line on the main Apple site, ordered via the American customer service centre, and was sold his computer at US prices; despite it being dispatched to him from within Britain with a British keyboard & power adapter...

Do you think that would work if I tried it, or was the customer service assistant who took his order wrong to charge him at US prices?

I'm asking here as it would save me a considerable amount on my planned purchase of my own MBP (the 2012 model, when it's released) if it is allowed, but if not I'd waste a significant amount of money on a pointless international phone call...

So; yes, no?

He was the beneficiary of a mistake by the CSR (or possible fraud by him, if he doesn't work for a US educational institution). IMO.

Think he be pulling your whatsit. Only way he could do that was by having it sent to a US address.

Hmm... I see no reason for him to just make it up (unless he was trying to make me waste my money on an international phone call, and he doesn't seem to type to troll people like that).

I guess it was either a lucky (for him) mistake on the part of the CSR; or they forwarded the order to Apple UK, charging him at British prices, but quoting the cost in US$ and he simply made a mathematical error converting back to GB£ making him think he got it cheaper (or, it may even be that the CSR just absent-mindedly said dollars when they meant to say pounds; either way, he obviously never checked his bank records!)...

Fair enough, still seemed worth asking though!

How it works Down Under is Apple transfers any orders and/or inquiries directly to Apple Australia. Like you in the UK we pay a tremendous hike in the price even whilst the Aussie dollar is higher than the green back. WEith the AUD at US$1.04 today, a Magic Mouse from Apple USA would costs $66.30. Apple Australia charges AUD$75.00

harryb2448 said:

How it works Down Under is Apple transfers any orders and/or inquiries directly to Apple Australia. Like you in the UK we pay a tremendous hike in the price even whilst the Aussie dollar is higher than the green back. WEith the AUD at US$1.04 today, a Magic Mouse from Apple USA would costs $66.30. Apple Australia charges AUD$75.00

Click to expand...

To be entirely fair, Apple does tend to err on the high side when it comes to currencies that fluctuate a lot compared to the US dollar.

Looking at a chart over the past year, it would appear that the Australian dollar meets this definition of "a lot" in about the same measure as the Canadian dollar. Up here we generally pay prices that are often (but not always) 20 percent higher than US prices. And that's before tax.