Another bad Apple experience (gift card is a black hole)

[msackey]

Since you said the MacBook Pro was defected, why did you want to make a full refund over repair/replacement?

I probably would have done the same.

A repair or replacement may not be brand new. I think it probably WOULDN’T be brand new.

 

[nexusrule]

Hanging up the phone is not bad customer service? I guess because there are people who are as tolerate as you, they continue to behave badly.

The chat agent and the girl in the store told me that I would get the credits today. They misled me and Apple should so something rather than asking me to buy using credit card again. Quite frankly, I don't want to continue to invest on Apple. I just want to spend the 2K+ gift credits.

I think your post speaks for itself: "4 hours have passed" ...entitled much?

 

[MayaUser]

Hanging up the phone is not bad customer service?

everything in life has a limit...if someone tells a 1 day story to a customer care person (that has to help as much more customers per day as they can)....that was the right call..to hang up for a customer that cannot understand...probably you are in early days...grown ups they understand how things works in life, logistics, automatisation and so on
I wonder if your brand new car has a windshield wiper defect...if you dont want to replace your car with a brand new one in 4 hours
I think this post was created to be funny

 

[KaliYoni]

I think this post was created to be funny

User posting histories are your friend...

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

User posting histories are your friend...

Yeah I was ready for a good story till I saw the OP, I am guessing the exchanges were far less pleasant than indicated

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

Hi, I ordered a MacBook Pro online and it is defective. So I returned it to the store for a refund. I paid for the machine using 2 gift cards and credit card. The girl said it would take 4-5 days to get back the money I spent on the credit card. As for the two gift cards, I would get back the points almost instantly. I asked her to check and she scanned my cards. It was zero. I asked her if she could issue me a new gift card and she said no as I should get back the points soon. Previously, I also contact Apple via chat and the guy also said I would get back the gift card points right away when I returned the machine.

Four hours have passed but I still cannot use the gift cards to buy things. I contacted Apple CS and explained the situation. The girl said it would take a few days to get back the gift card points. I told her that today is the last day for BF Sale and I need to order today. I asked to speak to a supervisor. She told me to hold but then an answering machine asked me to enter an extension number. How do I know? I called Apple again. The second guy said that he did not 'care' what other people told me. He said that I need to wait for a few days. During the call, he did not want me to speak to a supervisor even I asked him politely. I said that I wanted to complain. He told me to go to apple website to provide feedback. I told him that I need to get this sorted out today and he hung up my phone. Call Apple the third time. Sales transferred me to the store manager of the store I visited. Waited for a long time and nobody answered. I called the store two times and finally somebody picked up the phone. I asked to speak to the manager but she refused. Instead, she asked what happened. Then, she told me that if I want to order today, I pay by credit card. I told her that I would prefer to spend that $1K+ gift card credits. She said that there is nothing she can do. Then, I called Apple again and asked to speak to the supervisor. Again, the person asked me the story. She told me that she would transfer me to Sale. Waited for over 15 minutes and she came back saying that it would take 12-48 hours for a supervisor to call me back. This is strange. I wonder if any supervisor would call me. I asked her name politely a few times but she refused to tell me. I told her that all the agents I talked to gave me their name and she refused to do it, I would still be able to find out. She then told me a name. Then I asked her which department she belongs to. She said Sale. Then, she said that I should get a call by Thursday. She suggested me to use my credit card to buy again if I want to take advantage of the BF Sale.

Apple only wants us to spend more and more money. They made it very easy to make the purchase but made it very hard to get back the gift card points. Previously, I traded in my old MacBook Pro. They also gave me a gift card rather than cash.

I get that it's frustrating for you to not be able to get a particular BF deal or forced to pay now and then be stuck with a large sum of gift card points. But it's not Apple's fault that you chose to return your purchase so close to (or on?) BF.

But I'd also say that it's not on the employees for giving you incorrect info on how fast points are refunded. They can't do anything:

Certain computer/merchandise systems just won't allow for instant returns, refunds, etc., because they also track the product and don't allow you to "manipulate" inventory repeatedly on the same day, or needs time to process the return. This would especially be true if you bought the machine on the same day as you're trying to return it.

Bigger, more modern retailers usually have quite elaborate safety measures for handling funds and merchandise. It's nowhere near a situation where someone can just override the system and hand you a new gift card or refund you cash or credit, not even the highest manager at the store. It would be impossible or they'd get fired.

But at the end of the day, the "fault" lies with the systems/machines/computers(whatever you want to call it) that handles your gift card points(funds) and not with Apple or the employee.

I'm not saying it's optimal. But that's just the all-things-digital Word we live in. The machine "decides".

 

[MBAir2010]

sorry humans
this is the future of shopping and customer commerce
especially when the crypto-currency will be enforced.
were big corp and banks make more money by holding on to yours!

I fear purchasing an ITouch through .com and using a debit card

 

[msackey]

[...]

Certain computer/merchandise systems just won't allow for instant returns, refunds, etc., because they also track the product and don't allow you to "manipulate" inventory repeatedly on the same day, or needs time to process the return. This would especially be true if you bought the machine on the same day as you're trying to return it.

Bigger, more modern retailers usually have quite elaborate safety measures for handling funds and merchandise. It's nowhere near a situation where someone can just override the system and hand you a new gift card or refund you cash or credit, not even the highest manager at the store. It would be impossible or they'd get fired.

[...]

I'm not saying it's optimal. But that's just the all-things-digital Word we live in. The machine "decides".

Exactly.

I can imagine employers not wanting to allow for manual entry to indicate that someone has received inventory, or if they allow it, only a limited selection of employees have the access rights to do that and only in certain special cases (whatever that threshold is).

 

[DanteHicks79]

I probably would have done the same.

A repair or replacement may not be brand new. I think it probably WOULDN’T be brand new.

So? Refurb'd machines are just fine. My 2018 Mac Mini has been solid, and it's a refurb.

 

[DanteHicks79]

Anytime I had to issue refunds to a credit card to customers in telecom, we always said 5-7 business days to expect the funds to be returned - and that interim is solely determined by the card issuing bank. Typically, the funds were credited back well in advance of that estimate, but...

 

[Lihp8270]

So? Refurb'd machines are just fine. My 2018 Mac Mini has been solid, and it's a refurb.

Would you pay full retail price for a refurb?

 

[hg.wells]

Would you pay full retail price for a refurb?

Refurbished systems are not full price, and include a brand new battery and new casing. I prefer them as they go through a more thorough QA inspection and come with the exact same warranty.

 

[DanteHicks79]

Refurbished systems are not full price, and include a brand new battery and new casing. I prefer them as they go through a more thorough QA inspection and come with the exact same warranty.

They're referring to the fact that if Apple replaces the unit you paid full retail for, it would be a refurb - not a brand new un-opened item.

And no, I'd ask them to credit back the difference between the two.

 

[msackey]

So? Refurb'd machines are just fine. My 2018 Mac Mini has been solid, and it's a refurb.

I don’t disagree with you. I have bought refurbished Apple products myself.

I think though that if I’m buying something brand new, I’d want the replacement (if it is an early replacement as opposed to maybe needing to exchange one 9 months down the line) to be also brand new.

 

[Bandaman]

So? Refurb'd machines are just fine. My 2018 Mac Mini has been solid, and it's a refurb.

Refurbs are generally better than brand new because they are returns that Apple themselves fix and make sure are working 100% after diagnosing them before reselling them. And 100% of the refurbs I've ever gotten from Apple have no discernible difference from brand new ones aesthetically. They are always pristine.

 

[E.Lizardo]

This is why I hate the holiday shopping season, everyone becomes impatient and those who work in retail bear the brunt of the frustration(sometimes anger and threats) for very little pay. People are willing to trample someone to death to save $200 on a tv. Fights break out over who got to the last microwave oven that was $30 less "today only". Common decency and respect disappear to save a few dollars.

I’m not accusing the OP of this behavior but then again, we are only getting one side of the story.

Yep. I've been on both sides of the sales counter and had to eat many a "poop" sandwich because someone wants to cause a scene. I've also had the unpleasant task of informing a customer that the information someone else gave them is wrong, then I'm the bad guy. My experience leads me to side with the workers 90% of the time as they are powerless, often including managers. If there is a legitimate beef it's usually with people far away that make the rules. Aside from that I agree with the other poster that Apple's BF sales are a joke and hardly worth walking across the street for.

 

[Bandaman]

Yep. I've been on both sides of the sales counter and had to eat many a "poop" sandwich because someone wants to cause a scene. I've also had the unpleasant task of informing a customer that the information someone else gave them is wrong, then I'm the bad guy. My experience leads me to side with the workers 90% of the time as they are powerless, often including managers. If there is a legitimate beef it's usually with people far away that make the rules. Aside from that I agree with the other poster that Apple's BF sales are a joke and hardly worth walking across the street for.

I love standing in line behind these people. A few months ago I had someone screaming at a customer service desk employee because there was a sale and his wife could have saved like 20 cents and I'm pretty sure the gas it cost him to go back there with the item and complain was a lot more than that, but whatever. Retail is awful and I don't miss it.

 

[hajime]

I picked up an order containing three items. When I checked my visa card, it showed that Apple charged me three times in different amounts on that day. I could not recognize the other two charges so I called Apple. The lady told me that Apple cannot create a gift card out of nothing. As a result, they discounted each of the three items. Then, charged me the discounted total and total amount of the gift cards separately before issuing the gift cards. For example, supposing that an Apple Pencil costs $100 and it comes with a gift card of $20. Rather than charging $100 and offering a gift card of $20, they first charged $80 from the visa card. Then, charged another $20 separately and sent us a gift card of $20. Why they did that to make things more complicated? At one point, she just told me that I should have read the details of the promotion.

Anybody knows how the promotion works?

 

[cardfan]

I picked up an order containing three items. When I checked my visa card, it showed that Apple charged me three times in different amounts on that day. I could not recognize the other two charges so I called Apple. The lady told me that Apple cannot create a gift card out of nothing. As a result, they discounted each of the three items. Then, charged me the discounted total and total amount of the gift cards separately before issuing the gift cards. For example, supposing that an Apple Pencil costs $100 and it comes with a gift card of $20. Rather than charging $100 and offering a gift card of $20, they first charged $80 from the visa card. Then, charged another $20 separately and sent us a gift card of $20. Why they did that to make things more complicated? At one point, she just told me that I should have read the details of the promotion.

Anybody knows how the promotion works?

That’s how it works. You explained it yourself with the pencil. 100 dollar pencil. They charge you 80 for Pencil and 20 for free gift card.

If you were to return the pencil you’d get 80 back. But you would be stuck paying for a 20 dollar gift card because it’s not “free” at that point.

 

[hajime]

It also seems to be that if the total amount of an order of several items is, say $1000 and if we pay $990 by visa card and $10 from gift card. If we return one item which costs $500 for example, they just give $500 gift card credits. Anybody has such experience?

 

[0128672]

It also seems to be that if the total amount of an order of several items is, say $1000 and if we pay $990 by visa card and $10 from gift card. If we return one item which costs $500 for example, they just give $500 gift card credits. Anybody has such experience?

Gift cards or Apple Account credits? Did you specify how you would like to receive the refund? The refund policy doesn't specify how Apple refunds split transactions, but when I had a similar return as you're describing, I was asked how I'd like to receive the refund.

 

[hajime]

Gift cards or Apple Account credits? Did you specify how you would like to receive the refund? The refund policy doesn't specify how Apple refunds split transactions, but when I had a similar return as you're describing, I was asked how I'd like to receive the refund.

Gift cards. I went to the store and told the employee that I would like the refund to be back to the credit card and she said OK. When I went to the Apple online store to check the status, it says that it would be back to a gift card. Since I have not received amything, I can’t tell what will happen.

Just like any case I have with Apple recently, different people told me different things and even somebody provided me with wrong information which Apple could verify by checking the recordings, they are not responsible for what they said. Another example is that I returned a defective MacBook Pro 16" 2021. They told me on the phone that I would get back the shipping cost. However, when I returned it, the employee said the shipping cost is not refundable even Support determined that it is defective.

 

[hajime]

They just updated the information. They credited to a gift card and I am stuck with them with more gift card credits.

 

[wonderings]

Sounds like they have a policy and system that takes a few days to refund gift cards. I would say you have an argument here if there was something in writing that says you get immediate refunds, if not then it is unfortunate but the reality of the situation.

What I don't understand is if you bought a brand new Mac and it was defective why are you asking for a refund and not getting the machine itself replaced under warranty?

 

[darkus]

Patience is not something that exists much anymore huh