HP TouchPad

martin451

Anyone who thinks that paying £145 for the 16GB and £195 for the 32GB TouchPad is a good deal, when they were on sale a week or two ago by the same retailers for £89 and £115 respectively needs their head examined.

Both BestBuy (in the US) and CarphoneWarehouse (in the UK) are reported to have stated that they will be selling TouchPads at the previous firesale prices if/when they get more in stock. That remains to be seen.

There is no "new RRP". These retailers (the DSGi Group) are simply taking advantage of the huge demand for the HP TouchPad - but the demand was initially sparked by the huge reductions in price (sanctioned and set by HP). Why certain UK retailers are now raising their prices for a discontinued product (which they sold a week ago for over £50 less) is anyone's guess - and why anyone would want to defend such actions is inexplicable, unless they have links to these particular retailers or they cannot quite grasp the precepts of basic economics.

If people want to get these TouchPads at the lowest price possible without getting ripped off by unscrupulous dealers, stay tuned - more information will be posted here as soon as we get it.

Otherwise I would suggest trying moneysquanderingexpert.com

spart73

martin451 wrote: »

Anyone who thinks that paying £145 for the 16GB and £195 for the 32GB TouchPad is a good deal, when they were on sale a week or two ago by the same retailers for £89 and £115 respectively needs their head examined.

Both BestBuy (in the US) and CarphoneWarehouse (in the UK) are reported to have stated that they will be selling TouchPads at the previous firesale prices if/when they get more in stock. That remains to be seen.

There is no "new RRP". These retailers (the DSGi Group) are simply taking advantage of the huge demand for the HP TouchPad - but the demand was initially sparked by the huge reductions in price (sanctioned and set by HP). Why certain UK retailers are now raising their prices for a discontinued product (which they sold a week ago for over £50 less) is anyone's guess - and why anyone would want to defend such actions is inexplicable, unless they have links to these particular retailers or they cannot quite grasp the precepts of basic economics.

If people want to get these TouchPads at the lowest price possible without getting ripped off by unscrupulous dealers, stay tuned - more information will be posted here as soon as we get it.

Otherwise I would suggest trying moneysquanderingexpert.com

I think your missing the point that these touchpads are less than half their original price! In basic economic terms you are paying HALF THE VALUE of the product. £250 is an absolute bargain for a dual core capacitive touchscreen tablet with wireless charger and case NOTHING on the market comes close comparison to this deal, unless I'm proven otherwise?!

As for the comments that it was £89/115 a week ago... that's over people pay the £250 or move on.

I just can't grasp how people are "disgusted" having to pay £250.

martin451

Kathrynt

HP's UK store still appears to have TouchStone Charging Docks for the TouchPad in stock for £34.50 (free P+P): http://h41112.www4.hp.com/promo/webos/uk/en/tablet/touchpad-accessories.html (this links straight to the TouchPad case, just click on the TouchStone image under "Accessories" to see the Charging Dock details).

Alternatively, CarphoneWarehouse were selling TouchStone Chargers for the TouchPad at half price a week or so ago (£35) and might be getting more in-store this week - it might be worthwhile phoning round your local branches:
http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/laptop-redirect/tablet-accessories/hp-touch-pad/buy/HP-TOUCH-PAD-TOUCHS-DOCK

Hope this helps.

martin451

spart73 wrote: »

I think your missing the point that these touchpads are less than half their original price! In basic economic terms you are paying HALF THE VALUE of the product. £250 is an absolute bargain for a dual core capacitive touchscreen tablet with wireless charger and case NOTHING on the market comes close comparison to this deal, unless I'm proven otherwise?!

As for the comments that it was £89/115 a week ago... that's over people pay the £250 or move on.

I just can't grasp how people are "disgusted" having to pay £250.

Looks like there's some reverse economics going on here - "why pay £89 when you can pay £145? Why pay £115 when you can pay £195?" Absolute bargain. LOL

I wouldn't be too hasty in paying these inflated prices when there's still a chance that further stock might be on sale in the UK very soon (e.g. this week) at the £89 and £115 prices. Remember people were saying "it's over" a week ago and retailers were selling TouchPads at the reduced prices a day or so ago when more stock miraculously appeared in-store (i.e. CPW).

Stay tuned folks.

prowla

It seems to me that the current PCW bundle makes the TouchPad for £197.50, as the dock and case are available for £35 and £17.50.

That's a hefty mark-up (£82.50) from £115.

The fact that they cost a lot more a while ago is irrelevant; the manufacturer pulled the plug because they weren't selling at that price (ie. they weren't worth the money).

I could use one as a handy internet browser, and the firesale prices make it ideal. But more than that is questionable and a shop nearly doubling it for pure profit does not make it a good buy.

spart73

martin451 wrote: »

Looks like there's some reverse economics going on here - "why pay £89 when you can pay £145? Why pay £115 when you can pay £195?" Absolute bargain. LOL

I wouldn't be too hasty in paying these inflated prices when there's still a chance that further stock might be on sale in the UK very soon (e.g. this week) at the £89 and £115 prices. Remember people were saying "it's over" a week ago and retailers were selling TouchPads at the reduced prices a day or so ago when more stock miraculously appeared in-store (i.e. CPW).

Stay tuned folks.

why pay £89 when you can pay £145? You can't. You can't find one today for that price. Get with the program and quit complaining, your already getting a £250+ discount.

mcarth342

Where are they selling the HP now, cannot find any on the web at either price

martin451

spart73 wrote: »

why pay £89 when you can pay £145? You can't. You can't find one today for that price. Get with the program and quit complaining, your already getting a £250+ discount.

Get with the program and stop making excuses for unscrupulous retailers/ebayers who are out to rip off UK consumers. We're trying to save money for consumers here - not line the pockets of greedy retailers (the clue is in the MSE website name).

I think you'll find that the DSGi "bundles" (e.g. the 16GB "deal" for £199, which was available very briefly on Friday) incorporated significant markups for the retailers as prowla pointed out quite eloquently above.

Anyone who is capable of basic arithmetic could work this out for themselves (or see my post above, if you're having difficulty, where I've already worked it out for you).

You conveniently seemed to forget to mention the 32GB TouchPad "bundle" rip-off where DSGi priced the 32GB TouchPad at £197.50 (up from the original firesale price of £115).

Since when did an £82.50 markup/increase = "a £250+ discount"? Epic maths fail.Duh.

See my comments above about BestBuy and CPW who have stated (unlike PCWorld, Currys and Dixons) that they will honour the original firesale prices when they get new stock in. If they do that it will show that some UK retailers do actually have a degree of integrity.

Back on topic: if any people (who actually want to save money and avoid getting ripped off) have any news on the reported incoming TouchPad stock at Argos and CPW, please let us know here.

martin451

mcarth342 wrote: »

Where are they selling the HP now, cannot find any on the web at either price

McCarth342

It seems that PCWorld are still advertising the 32GB bundle on their website as being "Available for home delivery":
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hewletpack-touchpad-32gb-tablet-pc-touchpad-case-wireless-charging-dock-11342081-pdt.html

But some people who ordered this on Friday are beginning to suspect that Currys/PCWorld might not be able to fulfil all of their orders - as was the case with the PC World Business website fiasco a week ago - where they took peoples' orders and their money without having the required number of TouchPads in stock or without any stock being accessible via their suppliers. They then cancelled most of the orders but held onto peoples' money for up to a week. You have been warned.

Personally, I wouldn't give them the business - unless they dropped the TouchPad prices to their original firesale levels. Even then, I wouldn't trust them to be able to fulfil their orders, going on past performance.

Phil_Jones

Phil_Jones wrote: »

i rang up PC World earlier to see if they could honour my original order (which the money was taken for, then refunded) of the 32gb touchpad at £115.99 now they had it back in stock.

they fobbed me off with some excuse about it being a bundle now. i spoke to a supervisor and pointed out if i had ordered the touchpad, case and charger in the bundle 2 weeks ago it would still have only been £204.99 but they wouldn't price match it.

i've sent an email to the CEO but doubt it will do any good.

got a reply to my email today (thought it was strange to come on a sunday) basically saying it was being looked into and they'd be in touch within 72 hours.