Best Buy are allowing the $150 Microsoft student discount on a Surface Pro 3 on open box units with an up-charge
By Stephen Pate – When Microsoft announced the cool $150 price cut on the Surface Pro 3 for students, some reporters said Best Buy was matching the price.
The discount puts a Surface Pro 3 within striking distance of an iPad Air at $649 versus $499 with the Surface Pro 3 having the advantage of a 13″ screen, full Windows 8.1, Intel i3 processor and the ability to run all Windows programs.
If you want the discount, you might try going directly to Microsoft Online or at a Microsoft store. I found Best Buy playing “hard to get” with on the discount.
I went to the Halifax, Nova Scotia Best Buy on the weekend to test them.
After pretending to know nothing about the $150 off, the sales clerk did offer the discount. It wasn’t quite the same as the Microsoft deal. Presented with a valid student card, they offered me an open-box Surface Pro 3.
Apparently I couldn’t get a new Surface Pro 3 but they would give me a used one. That didn’t sound like the same deal. Nor did they offer the student price on the keyboard.
Then the sales person and his manager tried strong arming me into $20 a month for “extra” coverage. Those extra warranty offers are pure profit for the dealer and a bad deal for consumers, in my book. The contracts are fixed for 2 or 3 years and not cancellable or transferrable.
When I refused the “extra” contract, they went cold on the discount and started talking about extra paper-work.
Research done, I left the store. It is easier to get the $150 discount directly from Microsoft Online. The discount ends on September 4, 2014.
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