Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

True that... on a slightly unrelated subject, is it true that Apple deduct VAT refund down to 15% or thereabout? A friend visited London few monhts back and she wanted to buy an iPhone with Pounds being shit (she was literally laughing) and the effective 20% discount... Apple Covent Garden says that they would take a 5% handling fee to process her VAT refund, so effectively VAT refudn is only 15%. Isn't VAT refund sort of just done at the airport with showing receipts and maybe items?

I challenged them about what does their 'processing' entail, do we get the money back on the spot, and they said all they'd do is give us a VAT receipt so we get our money bakc at the airport, isn't that kind of the same as the till receipt?