Bit of a big essay coming!!!
but i feel so very strongly about the whole situation that i have added myself to this forum to just add support to those that have smashed the refresh at 2pm on the 5th to grab what should have been a good chance to get your hands on an 8700k (out of the so called 30 that should have been available).
This practice of opening retail packets and taking advantage of a poor situation to rip off loyal customers is disgusting.
It's priced out the people who are on average wages that have already sold their rigs in order to fund the launch day.
Some of us have had a considerable wait as it is and now without a pc with no further savings to pay the premium on what should never have been a premium.
It was sent by Intel distribution services as retail packs at cost price with the understanding it would fulfil some customers demands (at RRP). It was never intended for non oem chips to be binned. Intel can't be happy either as this has given them even more of a bad name and essentially put people in a position of disappointment and may even now want to jump ship to Intel's biggest rival instead (even if that is only 30 people)
It's a horrid way to treat loyal customers and there should be some kind of sanctioning or trade law (thats if there isnt already?)
Intel must feel slightly mugged off themselves seeing their retail chips sold to ocuk at cost thats designed for consumers, opened by the retailers then sold at a premium of £800!
It may even put ocuk at the bottom of intels distributions order list (further punishing the customers)
Those 30 retail packages should really be in the hands of 30 standard consumers at rrp, who instead are now pc-less for weeks/months because they couldn't afford the (roughly) 125% price hike!
Come Christmas, we won't see Tesco or main branch toy stores opening collectable sealed kids toys to find the rare one in order to sell it for over double the RRP, I dont think i have even seen any renowned company sell toys or other products designed for retail in shortages for anything more than RRP.
This practice on retail products doesn't exist until 3rd parties (the buyer) resells them on the likes of ebay to make a profit, its never the retailer themselves as its frowned upon...i'm sure it must also be because of some fair trade/retail ethics law!
It's always been first come first served and if you snooze you lose and that's fine by me however i was there at 2pm launch on the 5th and there was 0 available and i have the screen shots straight from the horses mouth that confirm it was all retail packs they had and opened/binned.
Oem i feel is fine to do what you wish and offer the premium to those who can afford and want delidded silicon tested chips, but not retail packs, especially in times of shortages without the standard options of retail components being available to the normal consumers (especially when essentially what stock you had was distributed to you and intended for this very sole purpose).
Its just my opinion but to me its so morally wrong on all levels and a real insult to loyal customers that were personally told to watch out for afternoon stock launch to arrive and go live at 2pm just to find out that none even existed at rrp. It's unfair and unethical and it has left people without a pc who are on lower wages because they simply were/are unable to afford to fund this excessive, inconsiderate greed policy.
Yes ocuk seem very open and honest in these tactics/policies but even that also comes across more like a power trip with 2 fingers waving in your face.
How ocuk can't see this as morally wrong and how so many seem fine by this practice is beyond me.
I for one will look into laws around it but it seems pretty shady to me.
It's not oem that bothers me or the fact they offer a premium for binned cpus with better clock frequency potential, it's the fact it's retail packages opened and the taking advantage of a poor situation in a milking process of loyal customers.
To end the rant, I want to add that i realise that ocuk maybe were the only retailer in the uk with 30 8700ks at launch, but they forget that they were given those 30 because of their reputability and brand name, a name of fame that was given to them by the very people it's attempting to rip off or inconvenience for weeks/months.
