Pricing Considerations

When shopping computer vendors and prices you need to consider:

• Aldens computer prices shown, usually include a multi (two, three, or four) year on-site warranty performed only by experienced Alden technicians with A+ and Network + certifications.

• By contract, all our service work must be completed within 3 working days for workstations or 2 working days on servers, from the reported problem. Parts used for warranty are all new, not factory-rebuilt nor repaired.

• Because we have to repair everything on-site, we spare nothing to make sure these are top quality computers that are shipped to work correctly out of the box the first and every time.

• All CPUs have longer lasting "ball-bearing" fans. Power supplies have long-lasting ball-bearing fans also.

• We guarantee compatibility with all operating systems (Unix®, Linux, and MS Windows®) with all standard motherboards sold for five years.

• We provide all tech support for products sold at no cost by A+, Network+, Novell and Microsoft certified personnel for the length of the warranty. This support is provided without a waiting queue from 8:00AM until 5:00PM daily with a toll-free number.

• All freight charges are included in our prices for computers. Parts are charged at $10 per order regardless of size.

• KCDA®, WSIPC® or other contracts regulate our prices.

• All products sold are guaranteed: Y2K compliant, FCC "A" and "B" Certified, UL Listed, Microsoft PC99 and NT4.0 or Windows 98/2000 Logo Certified.

• All our products are manufactured by ISO 9001 or above-certified manufacturers.

• According to our school district clients, we ship faster than all other vendors. Custom computers average 8 days from order to delivery. Parts orders shipments average 48 hours to receipt of goods.

• Our sales and service staff both have an average of over 9 years of experience.

Most important
Through the several state contracts, we have $150K in cash deposits that guarantees our performance on the items listed above. Many vendors do not provide the support, service, or warranty promised once you pay them.

We have been providing products, support, and services to schools for 22 years. During that time Alden has won more than twice as many computer bids/contracts for schools in Washington than any other dealer, vendor, or brand because,
All things considered, Alden has the lowest prices.

That is why Alden has been the largest supplier of Windows computer products to K-12 schools in Washington for the past three years.

Alden prices may seem higher but the cost includes:

• Our contracts require us to pay them a contract usage fee on all sales to their clients under their contracts. This fee is included in you cost quoted and billed. This helps to reimburse the bidding agencies for the very expensive process of preparing, legal review, administrating, and auditing the contract vendors.
  This adds 2% to the cost clients pay.

• Most all parts used for service and warranty work are new not reconditioned. Reconditioned parts are ten times more likely to have problems than new parts. All defective parts returned to Alden are returned to the manufacturer for credit.
  This adds about 1/2% to the cost clients pay.

• We guarantee compatibility with all operating systems (Unix, Linux, and MS Windows®) with all standard products sold for five years. As a result, we buy products from more reliable manufacturers and sometime have to pay labor and parts replacement costs when things become incompatible.
  This adds about 1% to the cost clients pay.

• The $150K in Letter-Of-Credit or cash deposit that guarantees our performance on service and compatibility cost us 12% in interest or $18,000 a year in loss of working capital.
  This adds about 2/10% to the cost clients pay.

• By contact, Alden must provide technical support for all standard products provided under the contract. Clients need not wait in phone queues of the original equipment manufacturers. Our phone support averages less than 30 seconds hold time and we are able to answer correctly over 90% of all questions on the first call.
  This adds about 1/2% to the cost clients pay.

All together these added cost increase our prices about 5.2% over what could be sold had contract requirements and good customer service not been a factor.

Alden Associates wins the "Customer Care" award for "quality in the on-going service and support given to customers." This was award at the Gartner Group - System Builders Summit on March 6th 2001, and again in November, 2004.