The Zeitgeist

I am sure that they’re just within the bounds of the the law, but APC really disappointed me today with what I consider to be a rather deceptive marketing program. I have a couple of APC UPSes whose batteries need replacing. So, I went over to the APC web site to see what their prices were for the replacement batteries. I noticed after I filled in the model info that they were offering me 3 options:

1. Simply replace the battery on each unit
2. Replace the battery and get new firmware/driver software; what they call a “UPS ‘Re-charge’,” or
3. “Trade Up” to a brand new UPS at “up to a 35% discount” off of the retail price.

The batteries aren’t cheap, for my particular model. the BP1100, are ~US$120 each before tax and shipping. The “recharge” option isn’t that attractive, since the firmware is already download-able from the web site. The “trade up” program looked interesting… so I entered the serial numbers of my old APC UPSes, and selected basically equivalent but slightly higher-powered replacement models from their product list and checked the price. I was really shocked to see that their “discount” really amounted to about $10 more than the typical street price for the same equipment. And, if I bought it from their web site, I would pay sales tax and a very high shipping cost even if I selected the slowest shipping method making the APC price about 20% higher than the street price. Ouch.

I called APC to discuss this — I was sure there must be some mistake — and was told by one of their “solution providers” to whom I was connected to via the APC toll-free number:

“Well, yes, the discount is ‘up to’ 35%, and since APC can’t control what its retailers charge for APC products; APC’s prices, even with a 35% trade-in discount, might be higher than someone else’s regular advertised price.”

Translation: “Our discount isn’t a discount at all…”

Very disingenuous, in my opinion… and not a way to keep customers of long standing, like me.