Apple courier (UberEats) stole 2 MacBooks I ordered. Apple will not help.

[JSRinUK]

For me there is a simple Rule of delivery or ordering.
Expensive Goods only buy from Amazon selled and from Amazon delivered.

Why ? I get a Code and only with the Code the Item can get delivered.
Easy like that. I do not get why Apple is not just doing this.
And if there is a Problem, even after close to 2 Years, you get help, sometimes a complete refund.

I no longer buy expensive items from Amazon *because* of the code system. There’s a common scam going around where the delivery driver opens the package, replaces the contents with something cheap (like a book), seals it, and delivers it.

Because you give the passcode, you’ve accepted delivery. Amazon don’t care that it’s a different item, they only care that an item was delivered to you. Trying to prove you got the “wrong item” is far more difficult than if you don’t receive any item at all.

I’ve cancelled several orders I would have bought from Amazon because they say “a code is required”. That’s a definite deal-breaker for me.

 

[jlc1978]

In many countries, 1) “Leave at Doorstep” is not done for high value items , and 2) the drivers take photo evidence of their deliveries, sometimes with the recipient and sometimes just with the door number shown and items.

Photo evidence is not all that good because a driver could take a picture and then grab the stuff. Apple could include an AirTag in deliveries above x in value, the marginal cost would be minimal and the AirTag would be a free bonus; or better yet, create a low cost one off version to include inside the device box.

As others have said, it is incredible and against all common sense that Apple continues to use Uber. It matters not at all that they used to use another firm that then was purchased or taken over by Uber (according to at least one poster). Is Apple so cheap and driven to make extra pennies that they continue this way of operating?

Uber probably provides the most flexible delivery method since they can surge if needed and Apple likely does not pay any fixed fee to keep them around.

Why tarnish a quality brand by using a low class delivery service for the last step to the customer? And then try to get out of resolving the issue for the customers who do have problems.

I suspect the number of issues, in percentage and dollar terms, is not big enough for Apple to change its delivery method.

Edit:Typo

 

[Collage]

Apple doesn't tell you how your item will be delivered. It just says $9 for same day delivery or free for next day delivery. Back in December 2019 I used the same day delivery for my iPhone 11. Later I found out it was Postmates making the delivery so they knew what they were delivering because it was a white apple bag that was not sealed in any way. I don't see myself using this service any more.

I can just see a long line of Uber drivers parked near an Apple store waiting for their new laptop, iphone or apple watch.

They could give you options: "Your items will be delivered by an experienced UberEats driver. Do you want some food with that?"

 

[genexx]

I no longer buy expensive items from Amazon *because* of the code system. There’s a common scam going around where the delivery driver opens the package, replaces the contents with something cheap (like a book), seals it, and delivers it.

Because you give the passcode, you’ve accepted delivery. Amazon don’t care that it’s a different item, they only care that an item was delivered to you. Trying to prove you got the “wrong item” is far more difficult than if you don’t receive any item at all.

I’ve cancelled several orders I would have bought from Amazon because they say “a code is required”. That’s a definite deal-breaker for me.

Maybe I still live in a somewhat protected area (and usually you can see if they've fiddled with the package) because I've never had a problem like this, even with cheap suppliers and lots of orders around the world, whether it was guitars from the US or cheap electronics from China or even tubes for guitar amps from Russia, but that was a few years ago....

So you might have to find a store again before there is no longer 1.

 

[Macky-Mac]

As others have said, it is incredible and against all common sense that Apple continues to use Uber. It matters not at all that they used to use another firm that then was purchased or taken over by Uber (according to at least one poster). Is Apple so cheap and driven to make extra pennies that they continue this way of operating?
Why tarnish a quality brand by using a low class delivery service for the last step to the customer? And then try to get out of resolving the issue for the customers who do have problems.

I have no doubt that Apple's sale prices already include a share of however much Apple estimates that they will lose due to theft. We customers are already paying for whatever Apple loses by using Uber.

 

[JSRinUK]

Maybe I still live in a somewhat protected area (and usually you can see if they've fiddled with the package) because I've never had a problem like this, even with cheap suppliers and lots of orders around the world, whether it was guitars from the US or cheap electronics from China or even tubes for guitar amps from Russia, but that was a few years ago....

So you might have to find a store again before there is no longer 1.

Another scam around here is that a delivery driver will use the same “doorstep photo” for several drops. Often there’s a FB post with someone asking “do you recognise this door?”, and several people will reply that they got the same photo with their delivery notification. So Amazon believes the parcels have been delivered when they haven’t.

I was walking home from work the other evening and saw a half-dozen or so Amazon boxes scattered in the ground (all empty). I’m guessing these were opened and taken by the delivery driver.

I truly would not buy anything expensive from Amazon any more. It’s not worth the risk.

 

[Pierre535]

Another scam around here is that a delivery driver will use the same “doorstep photo” for several drops. Often there’s a FB post with someone asking “do you recognise this door?”, and several people will reply that they got the same photo with their delivery notification. So Amazon believes the parcels have been delivered when they haven’t.

I was walking home from work the other evening and saw a half-dozen or so Amazon boxes scattered in the ground (all empty). I’m guessing these were opened and taken by the delivery driver.

I truly would not buy anything expensive from Amazon any more. It’s not worth the risk.

That’s a pretty wild baseless guess. porch pirates are everywhere!

 

[JSRinUK]

That’s a pretty wild baseless guess. porch pirates are everywhere!

If it was “porch pirates”, why would several people get the same doorstep photo?

 

[Pierre535]

You were talking about empty boxes! Anyone could have emptied these, why guess at the driver, baseless accusation.

 

[JSRinUK]

You were talking about empty boxes! Anyone could have emptied these, why guess at the driver, baseless accusation.

Your suggestion of “porch pirates” is similarly “baseless”. You believe what you wish to believe. Having almost had a laptop stolen by a driver before I realised what was happening, and seeing posts from other customers, I no longer trust Amazon with expensive orders.

 

[jlc1978]

Your suggestion of “porch pirates” is similarly “baseless”. You believe what you wish to believe. Having almost had a laptop stolen by a driver before I realised what was happening, and seeing posts from other customers, I no longer trust Amazon with expensive orders.

I suspect it's a combination of things. Sometimes a driver, others porch pirates, and sometimes just a wrong address drop off. Given Amazon's fascination with metrics, I suspect if a driver is regularly stealing items they'd catch it based on the number of complaints; which doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I would think a ride share driver would be more likely given it would be harder to track since they aren't under some overall franchisee's company.

 

[laptech]

The problem with these type of thefts is that at some time in our lives we have all suffered the same, a theft of a postal package and because it is seen as a petty crime our police are not interested and thus it falls upon the merchant to sort the problem out via insurance or we have to via our own insurance (home contents insurance that sometimes has cover for theft inside or outside the home).

Psychology experts will tell anyone, petty crime if gone unpunished will always lead to larger crimes taking place because the person committing the petty crime feels they can get away with it. It has been well over a month now since the OP reported the theft to the police. What have the police done? virtually nothing apart from obtaining CCTV footage from the OP's building and contacting Apple. Just how many reports have the police sitting on their desks of thefts from Uber drivers and yet nothing is done. How do you think it would look if police officers went to Uber's HQ with the purpose of arresting numerous Uber drivers. The media would have a field day with that. Uber would not be able to live down the PR nightmare of having it exposed that a large number of their drivers are going to be arrested but no instead, such police reports are left to wait in the wind with Uber able to get away with hiring drivers who steal peoples packages. Uber will not care about this one driver stealing OP's macbooks. They will just fire the driver and move on to hire another one and as always it is us the public who are the ones left picking up the pieces.

 

[laptech]

Apple - Legal - Sales Policies - Canadian Retail Sales

www.apple.com

...As Apple takes care of the dispatch of the products you purchase on the Apple Store, the risk of loss of, or damage to, product(s) shall pass to you when you, or a person designated by you, acquires physical possession of the product(s)…

Physical possession never took place therefore the risk of loss or damage passing to the customer is null and void. Apple therefore takes the risk of loss or damage.

 

[green_diyos]

@Six0Four any update for 21 December?

 

[chmania]

I had never purchased anything directly from Apple before. After I ordered an M4 Mac mini, I came across this thread. In our country, any parcel is delivered directly to hand or to an agreed-upon drop-off point.

Anyway, I contacted Apple by sending an inquiry for a phone call, and an Apple representative got in touch with me. I discussed the delivery matter and I was reassured that I need not worry, and that when the Mac mini arrived at the first delivery point in Europe, I would be informed. Once it was handed over to the courier company, they would also notify me.

Well, everything went as promised. I even received the telephone number of the courier (driver) handling the international transport and was informed of the time slot when they would be at my location. I couldn't be home during that time, so I called the driver to let him know. He told me he would leave the parcel at an official drop-off/collection point in my city, from where I could collect it. Once the driver handed over the parcel to the drop-off/collection point, the system took over, and I received an SMS with a code.

I picked up the parcel, but I didn't open it in front of the person who handed it to me; I waited until I got home. The parcel was not empty, nor was there a brick inside—it contained the Mac mini. I also received notifications from both Apple and the courier company confirming that it had been delivered as soon as I collected the parcel. I opened it a few hours later. I had no witnesses at the drop-off/collection point when I received it, nor at home when I opened the parcel.

Even if I had stayed at home during that frame, I would still have collected an unopened parcel from the driver, without knowing what was inside. No courier is obliged to wait for us to open the parcel and check its contents. All the driver does is collect the parcel and deliver it. The parcel itself is the item, not its contents.

 

[masotime]

Ordered 2 Macbooks for $2500 from Apple (Canada). Paid for their same day delivery service which they use Uber for and it says delivered but it wasn't.

I never really understood the desire for “same day delivery” on such expensive / critical items.

If I really needed “same day delivery” I would take a plane / drive there myself. It’s just asking for trouble for expedited delivery through such an unreliable channel like “UberEats” - there’s a reason it’s called “UberEats” - it’s for inconsequential items like dinner for which an alternative is easily available at low cost.

To be fair, Apple themselves shouldn’t bother to even offer such an option… that would remove the temptation for people to make bad decisions like this.

 

[Expos of 1969]

I never really understood the desire for “same day delivery” on such expensive / critical items.

If I really needed “same day delivery” I would take a plane / drive there myself. It’s just asking for trouble for expedited delivery through such an unreliable channel like “UberEats” - there’s a reason it’s called “UberEats” - it’s for inconsequential items like dinner for which an alternative is easily available at low cost.

To be fair, Apple themselves shouldn’t bother to even offer such an option… that would remove the temptation for people to make bad decisions like this.

Unfortunately the use of UberEats to deliver expensive items is yet another example of Apple management not being able to or not wanting to put themselves in the shoes of their customers when making decisions on serious issues that can cause harm. It would be a bit more acceptable if Apple treated the customers who are negatively impacted with respect, honesty and a genuine desire to resolve the issue which was not their fault.

 

[chmania]

Unfortunately the use of UberEats to deliver expensive items is yet another example of Apple management not being able to or not wanting to put themselves in the shoes of their customers ...

When you receive a parcel, whether expensive or not, do you open it in front of the courier, or would the courier wait until you check the contents? Are couriers in your country obliged to do so? Is it the courier's business to know what they are delivering? Aren't couriers responsible for delivering parcels, not the contents inside them?

 

[Six0Four]

I never really understood the desire for “same day delivery” on such expensive / critical items.

If I really needed “same day delivery” I would take a plane / drive there myself. It’s just asking for trouble for expedited delivery through such an unreliable channel like “UberEats” - there’s a reason it’s called “UberEats” - it’s for inconsequential items like dinner for which an alternative is easily available at low cost.

To be fair, Apple themselves shouldn’t bother to even offer such an option… that would remove the temptation for people to make bad decisions like this.

You don't understand why someone who is incredibly busy with work would choose Apples same day delivery option for only $13? I've stated a few times in this thread that Apple does not tell you their "courier" is actually Uber Eats before you make the purchase. There was no reason not to be confident I would receive my package.

 

[Six0Four]

@Six0Four any update for 21 December?

Sent in my rebuttal letter to the bank yesterday. Just waiting on a reply.

 

[masotime]

You don't understand why someone who is incredibly busy with work would choose Apples same day delivery option for only $13?

Why would someone trust a same day delivery option for $13? FedEx overnight costs at least $50 for something like that - it’s a definite red flag that anything “$13” is not going to come with the same guarantees as a reliable courier.

There’s obvious risks… someone must be accepting that risk to get that cheap rate, consequences shouldn’t be a surprise when things don’t work out…

 

[laptech]

Why would someone trust a same day delivery option for $13? FedEx overnight costs at least $50 for something like that - it’s a definite red flag that anything “$13” is not going to come with the same guarantees as a reliable courier.

There’s obvious risks… someone must be accepting that risk to get that cheap rate, consequences shouldn’t be a surprise when things don’t work out…

Your forgetting something. Apple used to use a company called Postmates that handled Apple's local deliveries and there did not seem to be a problem with Postmates over the years, well none that springs to mind but as soon as Postmates was bought by Uber there has been nothing but problems with Apple customers saying their orders have been going missing. Ever since Uber arrived on the scene and their business practice of hiring people of question character and background on the lowest wage possible, there have been thousands upon thousands of complaints from customers over the years of their orders going missing.

Like I said, I never heard of Postmates having this problem.

 

[Six0Four]

Why would someone trust a same day delivery option for $13? FedEx overnight costs at least $50 for something like that - it’s a definite red flag that anything “$13” is not going to come with the same guarantees as a reliable courier.

There’s obvious risks… someone must be accepting that risk to get that cheap rate, consequences shouldn’t be a surprise when things don’t work out…

It's Apple I didn't expect them to use a food delivery service to delivery laptops.

Maybe I thought when ordering $2500 worth of stuff from them they can somehow justify only charging $13 to drive it over by a proper courier which I thought they were using.

Amazon does free same day delivery for toothpaste, why wouldn't I think Apple could do it for $13?

 

[chmania]

The heading states, "Apple courier (UberEats) stole 2 MacBooks I ordered." If the courier was indeed UberEats, they would know who the driver was, and the driver would know their own identity. Isn't this heading an outright accusation? Is the original poster prepared for a potential defamation case?

 

[russell_314]

Photo evidence is not all that good because a driver could take a picture and then grab the stuff. Apple could include an AirTag in deliveries above x in value, the marginal cost would be minimal and the AirTag would be a free bonus; or better yet, create a low cost one off version to include inside the device box.



Uber probably provides the most flexible delivery method since they can surge if needed and Apple likely does not pay any fixed fee to keep them around.



I suspect the number of issues, in percentage and dollar terms, is not big enough for Apple to change its delivery method.

Edit:Typo

The real thing is Apple doesn’t care because it’s not costing them money when the Uber driver steals the item. Why would they change it if they’re still getting their money? Unless there’s some negative consequence to them they don’t care if all of them get stolen.