Apple screwed me out of $830

[JonaM]

Members are picking up on the box issue. Does anyone know what are the trade-in terms and conditions concerning the original box? does the T&C's specifically say a trade-in must be in it's original box otherwise it will be rejected for trade-in?.

The box was for returning the new phone, not the trade-in phone.
Generally if you return a purchase for a reason other than it being defective it must be in original packaging and saleable condition for a retailer to accept that.

 

[deebinem]

It’s worth $100 on eBay.

Please, oh please, show me the listings where I can get a 12 Pro Max with that type of damage for $100.

 

[the future]

Lmao people thinking it’s cool Apple requires the original box to process the trade in.

This is a forum of cruel corporate mouthpieces

OTOH, this is also a forum full of naysayers eager to bash Apple for anything and everything. Alas, sometimes the foam from their mouth also covers their eyes and impacts reading comprehension. Because …

The box was for returning the new phone, not the trade-in phone.

 

[0423MAC]

Never mail in a device for trade-in. Too many variables in where something can go wrong.

If you are too lazy or can't get to a store then SELL it yourself via swappa/eBay/Facebook marketplace.

 

[KeepCalmPeople]

Sorry to hear that OP. You have every right to be annoyed. You sent in your phone based on an in-store assessment, only for the phone to be-reassessed with a different outcome a while later, with no recourse to reverse the purchase. I don't think there is anything you can do about it at this point, though. Maybe write a letter to Apple?

 

[jforsander]

So now I can’t return my new phone, am being charged an extra $830 I can’t afford, even though my device was WORTH $830 and someone messed up in the trade-in department.

This appears to be a screw up by Apple/Verizon that’s not your fault. Probably best to try to escalate with the Apple Store Manager or a Senior Advisor to see if they can make things right.

Regardless, you shouldn’t buy an expensive iPhone if you can’t afford it unless you get a massive trade in credit. That’s just not financially smart.

 

[RobertSeattleWA77]

Never mail in a device for trade-in. Too many variables in where something can go wrong.

If you are too lazy or can't get to a store then SELL it yourself via swappa/eBay/Facebook marketplace.

Absolutely! Mail-in trade-ins can sometimes feel like sending your precious tech on a wild adventure with too many opportunities for mishaps. It's like trusting a pizza delivery for a gourmet meal. 😄

 

[eltoslightfoot]

I feel like all the advice in this thread - save the box, only visit a Verizon store in person, etc., (which I followed and got my $830 trade in value) is simply all of us having the voice of experience in our heads.

Which is due to stuff like this happening to us. I know the OP is suspended, but seriously, can we all be a little less judgy. There is a reason we do all this stuff and it is because at one point we were all in a situation similar to the OP.

Phew. Now I will quit judging all the judgers.

 

[Lioness~]

Sorry to hear that OP. You have every right to be annoyed. You sent in your phone based on an in-store assessment, only for the phone to be-reassessed with a different outcome a while later, with no recourse to reverse the purchase. I don't think there is anything you can do about it at this point, though. Maybe write a letter to Apple?

If you call in and let Apple connect you as they want, you can easily skip the first 4-5 people they connect you to. They are useless, and just waste your time.
If you want to get anything out of Apple if you have problem, ask for a higher up senior/boss, and don't settle with the newbies etc. They otherwise connect you to.

I have almost forgotten those times when I had trouble with something and how Apple tire you out by connecting you to people who know absolutely nothing, and you are used for their training.

Be persistent and very demanding, and get a Senior at Apple to fix this for you in 5 minutes.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

This is a lesson in always doing your trade in in person.

I traded in my old iPhone 12 Pro Max with a Verizon carrier deal for the new iPhone 15 Pro Max. My screen had a tiny crack on the bezel of the old iPhone, but that should be fine - according to the iPhone trade in questionnaire, I’m eligible for $113 through Apple, or up to $830 through Verizon, even with a minor crack. So I send in my device, but get a revised value for $0. I tried to appeal it but they insist it’s worth $0. (I made a post about this a while ago with a different account, they listed “shattered chin place” as the reason)

So I get it sent back and take it to the Apple Store, and they do their own analysis with their trade in MRI, and they say it’s worth $830 through the Verizon trade in (the same exact deal I sent it in for in the first place), but they can’t reapply it retroactively because it’s been more than 14 days since purchase.

They said that they could make an exception and I can return my new 15 Pro Max past the 14 day deadline, at which point I can just buy a new 15 pro max and trade in my old phone with that purchase, getting the full trade in amount.

The kicker - they will not and cannot do a return unless I have the cardboard box the phone came in, which I no longer have.

So now I can’t return my new phone, am being charged an extra $830 I can’t afford, even though my device was WORTH $830 and someone messed up in the trade-in department. And there’s seemingly nothing I can do.

Does anyone have any advice or tips?

It does suck and I empathize.

But - consider the "Glass half full" strategy. You're no longer tied to Verizon for 2 years or whatever, to get that "Discount." Take the opportunity to switch carriers. I switched to T-Mobile, who would pay up to $1,000 for any phone you still owed money on. Got my carrier costs slashed in half, AND my phone payments eliminated!

 

[ignatius345]

I'm in potentially a similar situation and slightly worried. Anybody have any direct experience with Verizon trade-ins?

I took advantage of a Verizon trade-in deal (directly with Verizon, not through Apple) where I get $800-something for my 13 Mini. I have the new 15 Pro but have a couple more weeks to make the trade-in.

The Mini has a few scuffs around the edge. It's also still under AppleCare+. I'm worried Verizon is going to see the scuffs and screw me. Should I (gulp) drop the Mini "accidentally" and get it replaced by Apple before doing the trade-in? I just don't want to get dinged by Verizon to the tune of $800.

 

[msackey]

And considering all the repairs and refurbishing Apple is willing to do on devices to resell them, the notion that they can't take it back without the product box is ridiculous to me.

I don't know... doesn't sound too ridiculous to me.

In many countries, there are no such return policies for products that are sold. You buy it and you own it. Merchant will not accept return. (I don't know if that's the case for Apple products outside of North America.) It seems to me that return policies in the US are generally pretty laxed

Yeah, the box requirement seems like something created to have an excuse to refuse returns. It is not like they reuse the box.

That being said, pictures may be misleading, but to me it looks like the screen is ruined. I'm not sure what exactly those questionnaires ask for, but it seems very optimistic to hope for $830 for this phone.

Regarding the box issue: perhaps it's a requirement so it's harder to sell a fake iPhone or re-use the box and misrepresent whatever is actually in it? But regardless, Apple is pretty clear that to return items, box and all needs to be part of the return. This is pretty standard for all returns in the US and Canada. From Apple:

[*]Please ensure that the item you're returning is repackaged with all the cords, adapters and documentation that were included when you received it.( https://www.apple.com/shop/help/returns_refund )

 

[msackey]

Never mail in a device for trade-in. Too many variables in where something can go wrong.

If you are too lazy or can't get to a store then SELL it yourself via swappa/eBay/Facebook marketplace.

I agree that it can be dicey to send device via mail for trade-in. It is possible that shipment damages the item. It is possible that recipient damaged the item upon opening and blame it on the party sending in the trade-in. Unfortunately, not everyone can do a trade-in in person. I'm lucky to live like 10 minutes from an Apple Store and another 20 minutes to yet another Apple Store. Not everyone lives close to one

 

[msackey]

I'm in potentially a similar situation and slightly worried. Anybody have any direct experience with Verizon trade-ins?

I took advantage of a Verizon trade-in deal (directly with Verizon, not through Apple) where I get $800-something for my 13 Mini. I have the new 15 Pro but have a couple more weeks to make the trade-in.

The Mini has a few scuffs around the edge. It's also still under AppleCare+. I'm worried Verizon is going to see the scuffs and screw me. Should I (gulp) drop the Mini "accidentally" and get it replaced by Apple before doing the trade-in? I just don't want to get dinged by Verizon to the tune of $800.

Is it possible to go to a Verizon store and directly obtain the trade-in value immediately?

 

[msackey]

I feel like all the advice in this thread - save the box, only visit a Verizon store in person, etc., (which I followed and got my $830 trade in value) is simply all of us having the voice of experience in our heads.

Which is due to stuff like this happening to us. I know the OP is suspended, but seriously, can we all be a little less judgy. There is a reason we do all this stuff and it is because at one point we were all in a situation similar to the OP.

Phew. Now I will quit judging all the judgers.

Maybe some were too judgy. Not sure. But, two things that really caught me was the OP did not admit any fault and totally blamed it on Apple; second, the pictures OP uploaded showed it's not a crack but actual missing glass AND a dented corner. I think OP misrepresented the condition of their iPhone.

 

[vinegarshots]

A broken 12 Pro Max is not worth $830 in cash. As far as I know, for those Verizon promotion trade-ins, they take your phone and then give you a monthly credit over a couple years (in this case, $830 split up over 36 months or something), and if you cancel your plan, you don't get the remainder of the "value." They do it to lock you into your Verizon plan for extra time, not because they phone is actually worth $830.

That phone is realistically worth a few hundred dollars at best. Sell it on ebay. You're not losing money.

 

[msackey]

Absolutely! Mail-in trade-ins can sometimes feel like sending your precious tech on a wild adventure with too many opportunities for mishaps. It's like trusting a pizza delivery for a gourmet meal. 😄

I know I'm getting off topic, but this is the same way I feel about buying Apple products and having them shipped to my home. Or, going to Apple store to hand them an item to repair and have them ship the item back to my home. I do not prefer such expensive products shipped to my home. I much rather go to the store to pick them up because right there and then I can reject the product if say the box is damaged or I open it and there are issues with the item. If I'm at home doing all of that, it's much harder to say that the fault was not mine but the shipper's or Apple themselves.

The one time I did have an item delivered to my home was in the early COVID stages when all Apple stores were closed or it could be that I was fearful of contact (can't remember which). I bought an iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard and had it shipped to my home. The iPad Pro turned out fine; the Magic Keyboard not so much. The keyboard had a very small misalignment (when shut you can see one edge was slightly warped). Luckily, I was able to exchange it without hassle. Whew!

 

[ChrisA]

The whole trade in thing sucks. And the average Full featured phone has gotten too expensive.

I suspect in the future a whole lot of people will hold onto their old phones until it breaks.

Much like the HUGE 30 percent decline in new Apple Silicon Macs. The WOW factor has worn off with Apple Silicon and people have stopped upgrading cause what they currently have does the job

Yes! Exactly. Look at the market for toilets. Everyone has one or more of these in their home and people only buy new toilets if theirs breaks and is unrepairable. It is the same with all mature technologies. When a product category is first invented it changes rapidly then it gets harder and harder to think of new features. Phones and computers are headed the way of toilets. Everyone has one and sees no need to replace it. We are not there yet but this is where it is headed.

 

[laptech]

I feel like all the advice in this thread - save the box, only visit a Verizon store in person, etc., (which I followed and got my $830 trade in value) is simply all of us having the voice of experience in our heads.

Which is due to stuff like this happening to us. I know the OP is suspended, but seriously, can we all be a little less judgy. There is a reason we do all this stuff and it is because at one point we were all in a situation similar to the OP.

Phew. Now I will quit judging all the judgers.

And the bit in bold is why people should use the search function before creating an account and repeating stuff that has already been repeated. There are threads from last year and the year before that and the year before that where someone has made a new account just to ask the same question about trade in's and the advice is always the same, go take the iphone in person. I have no doubt when the next iphone model is released the exact same thing will happen again, someone will complain about their trade in experience, create a new account and ask has it happened to anyone else and what did they do.

 

[IG88]

This is a lesson in always doing your trade in in person.

Also a lesson to keep the box. At least until the trade has gone through.

Who throws away a new phone box that fast?

 

[coachgq]

This is a lesson in always doing your trade in in person.

I traded in my old iPhone 12 Pro Max with a Verizon carrier deal for the new iPhone 15 Pro Max. My screen had a tiny crack on the bezel of the old iPhone, but that should be fine - according to the iPhone trade in questionnaire, I’m eligible for $113 through Apple, or up to $830 through Verizon, even with a minor crack. So I send in my device, but get a revised value for $0. I tried to appeal it but they insist it’s worth $0. (I made a post about this a while ago with a different account, they listed “shattered chin place” as the reason)

So I get it sent back and take it to the Apple Store, and they do their own analysis with their trade in MRI, and they say it’s worth $830 through the Verizon trade in (the same exact deal I sent it in for in the first place), but they can’t reapply it retroactively because it’s been more than 14 days since purchase.

They said that they could make an exception and I can return my new 15 Pro Max past the 14 day deadline, at which point I can just buy a new 15 pro max and trade in my old phone with that purchase, getting the full trade in amount.

The kicker - they will not and cannot do a return unless I have the cardboard box the phone came in, which I no longer have.

So now I can’t return my new phone, am being charged an extra $830 I can’t afford, even though my device was WORTH $830 and someone messed up in the trade-in department. And there’s seemingly nothing I can do.

Does anyone have any advice or tips?

If you can’t afford it you shouldn’t have bought it.

 

[scrapesleon]

you do know u can sell your old devices on ebay right

 

[Vega20]

Never mail in a device for trade-in. Too many variables in where something can go wrong.

UPS lost my trade-in once in transit and Apple still honored it. Grateful as it was one of the few exceptions where trading it in was worth more than selling myself. If it is physically damaged though there's not much OP can do.

 

[jagolden]

Always keep the originalboxes and do-dads that come with an iDevice. If youever decide to do a private sale when you are upgrading, the presentation makes it look like new and gives it greater perceived value.
Even though used, the person byuing it gets that Apple “unboxing” feel/experience.

 

[Zest28]

How is a super old iPhone 12 Pro Max with a crack in the screen worth $830?

A brand new iPhone 15 Plus costs the same, so who in their right mind would buy your super old phone with a crack for $830?