Should I pay by credit card?

Polly

I'm spending almost £700 on a home computer from a reputable local company. However, they are charging an extra 2.5% for credit card payments. I always pay by card when its anything 'big' to get the extra protection this offers but is there any point in paying the extra £18 in this instance?

mistyarthur

i wouldnt pay the extra not if there reputable and you dont think youll have a problem

Voyager2002

Do check what you can get from other companies. Dell would sell you a very high-powered machine for less than that, with no credit card fee and cash-back if you buy through quidco or TopCashBack.

geordie_joe

Try haggling. Go in the shop to buy the computer, once you get to the point where they say there will be an extra charge for paying by credit card say "Oh no, I don't want to pay extra for paying by CC, I'll go and buy it else where."

You never know, they may waive the charge for you.

Clive_Woody

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Do check what you can get from other companies. Dell would sell you a very high-powered machine for less than that, with no credit card fee and cash-back if you buy through quidco or TopCashBack.

Agree with that and if you push Dell a bit they throw in a decent extended warranty to help ease any concerns:

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/emea/segments/dhs/odg_special49?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1

You could save yourself a good bit of cash, and Dell will happily accept credit cards.

Polly

Thanks for all the advice. I've pasted the spec below and would appreciate comments re value for money. As regards haggling, I know the owner of this company through my work and would be embarrassed to haggle. However, if its not a good deal, I can still walk away - haven't committed to buy just yet. The computer is mainly for my kids to use and I requested the extra security to prevent unsuitable sites etc. Also asked them to quote for the larger screen and the extra capacity for them to pay computer games. Thanks in advance for the helpful advice.

Quantity Product Description Price/U NET VAT
0.00 M DELL OPTIPLEX S/N: HKMJ83J
0.00 M
1.00 S1 Base: OptiPlex 755 MT Core 2 Duo E4400 (2Ghz) 270.00 270.00 47.25
0.00 M DVD Drive: 16X DVD +/-RW - Vista
0.00 M Floppy Drive: 3.5 Floppy Drive
0.00 M Hard Disk Drive: 160GB (7,200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
0.00 M MISC: Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Black Mouse
0.00 M MISC: Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Black Mouse
0.00 M Memory: 2.0GB 800MHz NON-ECC DDRII Memory (2 x 1GB)
0.00 M Operating System: English - Vista Business (32Bit OS)
0.00 M
1.00 18667 + E-SCAN 2003 INTERNET SECURITY SUITE 1 USER 1 YEAR OEM 17.02 17.02 2.98
1.00 17840 + 22" LCD MONITOR GNR TS2200W SIL/BLK RET 139.45 139.45 24.40
1.00 06420 + PEAK GE-FORCE 8500GT256MB TV/DVI PCI-E RET 46.15 46.15 8.08
1.00 19240 + ASUS WIRELESS PCI CARD WL-138G 54MBIT RETAIL 14.07 14.07 2.46
1.00 S1 + MS OFFICE 2007 HOME AND STUDENT V2 (LICENSE ONLY) 67.28 67.28 11.77
1.00 S1 + CYERPATROL 7.6 INTERNET SAFETY 1 USER 2 YEAR OEM 32.95 32.95 5.77
0.00 M
0.00 M PLEASE NOTE:
0.00 M DELL OPTIPLEX 3 YEAR ON-SITE DELL WARRANTY FROM
0.00 M MANUFACTURING DATE.
0.00 M ALL SOFTWARE LICENSES SUPPLIED, INSTALLED AND
0.00 M ACTIVATED.
STG
Net Amount 586.92

VAT Amount

103.76

Carriage

6.00 Delivery

Total 696.68

All Credit Card Transactions are subject to 2.5% Surcharge.

Mikeyorks

That's a business machine spec .. are you sure you really need it? You've got 3 year cover bundled into the price .. and you can't reduce it. I only ever choose minimum cover on Dell PCs as they're generally so reliable - and that reduces the price considerably. But that only seems to be an option on 'personal' machines.

Have a look at 'building' one yourself on the Dell site - and compare the prices. Where (eg some of the software) Dell don't offer an equivalent just mentally uprate the price with that.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/4x_optix_755?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&l=en&s=bsd

But I don't think your supplier (it's certainly not the base 755 he's providing .. he's uprated the processor, for instance) is ripping you off. The monitor upgrade is a significant extra cost.

But if that's what you asked for - the cost looks adjacent to what Dell charge for 'direct' sales. On your original question ..... I similarly always use a CC for internet purchases. But if this is a local supplier you know - I'd go for the Debit Card!

derrick

Just pay £5. on the card, that will then give you all the protection re Section 75 Consumer Credit Act, you do not need to pay all the purchase price via the card.