Apple, Trust & $100 Store Credit

[sanford]

Some people are unhappy about the $100 store credit for early iPhone buyers from both Apple and AT&T stores. But I think it's worth noting that Apple is really hanging themselves out here and trusting their customers, too. If you bought your iPhone at an Apple Store for $600 and the price dropped within the 14-day return period, they'll know if you took it back and got a $200 refund or however Apple is handling it. But if you bought your iPhone at an AT&T Store for $600, either within the 14-day return period and you went in and got a $200 refund from AT&T, or you bought it much earlier and you called AT&T and raised hell and they gave you some amount of refund or account credit to keep you happy, Apple will know by serial number when the phone was sold so they can verify it was sold before the price drop, and they'll know it was sold by AT&T, but they'll have no way of knowing if you actually went into AT&T and got a $200 refund before the 14 days ran out or not, and they won't know if you otherwise convinced AT&T to give you a special out of return period credit or refund. Even if there was an easy way to find out, AT&T would be prohibited by law from discussing your account or credit transactions with them with anyone from Apple or anywhere else.

Basically Apple is offering a $100 store credit to anyone who bought, before the price drop, an iPhone at Apple outside the 14-day return period, or anyone who bought an iPhone at AT&T any time before yesterday, Sept. 5th, whether AT&T did reimbursed them in some way or not. All the AT&T $600 iPhone buyers are completely on their honor on this one.

So for everyone who is mad at Apple for only $100 and only store credit, realize they are trusting something like 1 out of every 7 iPhone buyers not to sign up for the store credit if AT&T gave them some sort of credit -- because from what I've heard AT&T is handing out a lot of refunds and account credits to people who bought an iPhone at one of their stores or via their online store, no matter when they bought it. I mean, Apple is trusting a lot of iPhone customers as much as they expect us to trust them. That shows some quality corporate ethics, I think.

 

[HawaiiMacAddict]

Re-read Steve's letter again. You have your facts incorrect. The open letter specifically makes mention of crediting only those who have not been otherwise compensated. In other words, if you previously received any sort of credit from either Apple or AT&T, you will NOT receive the "additional" $100 credit.

HawaiiMacAddict

 

[sanford]

Re-read Steve's letter again. You have your facts incorrect. The open letter specifically makes mention of crediting only those who have not been otherwise compensated. In other words, if you received any sort of credit from either Apple or AT&T, you will NOT receive the "additional" $100 credit.

HawaiiMacAddict

No, no. Of course not. I get that part and have read it. I'm saying for Apple buyers they can check and see if they compensated you for that iPhone; for AT&T buyers, they can't. So they are trusting all the AT&T buyers, that if they were compensated by AT&T they won't sign up for the $100 store credit anyway.

 

[dagomike]

I suspect right now they're deciding how much effort they should put in to prevent people from double dipping. Certainly Apple could get together with ATT and see who they credited, but it's probably not worth it. Really, that $100 could end up just costing apple as little as $25, and technically could make money from fence-sitting purchases.

 

[sanford]

I suspect right now they're deciding how much effort they should put in to prevent people from double dipping. Certainly Apple could get together with ATT and see who they credited, but it's probably not worth it. Really, that $100 could end up just costing apple as little as $25, and technically could make money from fence-sitting purchases.

I think you're right. Let's say someone uses their $100 store credit toward an Apple BT headset. That headset costs Apple maybe $40, max. You pay $30 over the $100 credit. So it costs them $10, while researching each Apple retail sale to see if a refund was issued might cost them $25. So they actually save money by just checking to see if the iPhone serial number sale date is earlier than Sept 5th -- maybe they can even see how much the phone was sold for by serial number -- and if it was sold before the date for $600 just issuing a store credit. Customers are happy, hassle is low, double-dippers are a finite number, anyway, and that hard cost of $100 store credit is not so much when it all comes out. If it's used for peripherals, the wholesale cost on those is really low. If it's used toward a Mac or something, it's no more than the education discount -- and they still make money on those education sales.

But as for getting together with ATT to see who was credited, if ATT releases to Apple your private account information, ATT is going to be on the hook for a lot more than a $100 store credit. They won't even let my wife ask questions about my account. I have to call. Everywhere is like that, not just ATT. Apple knows ATT can't release private account information, so they probably realize they'll just have to eat the double-dippers, at least the ones from the ATT side. That's what I mean about Apple trusting their customers here a bit, too.

You'd think they'd assume if you bought within the return period, people would go in and demand a refund, but there are going to be a lot of people who left town or just crawled back into a hole or whatever who won't have any idea Apple dropped the iPhone price by $200 until months from now when they happen to wander into an Apple Store to pick up some little item they need. Mac forum readers don't really represent the average customer.

 

[pixelshaders]

Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store.

jobs has already stated pretty clearly.

 

[TXCraig]

I agree... I'm happy he gave us the gift cert. Think of all millions of dollars in free Apple got when all of us crazy people stood in line for a phone. I think Steve did not want to upset this customer base. We are all a winners all the way around.

 

[sanford]

Puck,

Thanks for doing that for me so I didn't feel like I had to. My point, as you so astutely noticed, is that AT&T legally *can't* discuss my private account with Apple. Any credits, refunds to credit cards, whatever AT&T did for me in a private financial transaction, they *by law cannot discuss with Apple* unless I authorize it. So of course my point is that Apple is hanging themselves out there for some abuse by people who AT&T has already issued some sort of credit, refund or consideration on their account's bill.

And TXCraig seems, unlike some other posters here, to understand that I can read and I know Steve Jobs writes in his letter that the store credit is only for people who haven't otherwise been compensated, but that Apple is trusting a lot of people they can't check up on -- I mean, really, all iPhone customers since AT&T, to manage the customer service angle, was also handing out a lot of account/bill credits even to people who bought their iPhones at Apple Stores a long time ago, way outside the return period and the free contract cancellation period and not even from their own stores.

So my point was just that Apple is opening themselves up to abuse to make it right for iPhone customers. I'm sure they know this. I'm sure they also know that a certain probably unfortunately large percentage of customers are going to "double dip" and take credits from both AT&T and Apple. But still as a gesture of customer service and good faith, they're going to hand out $100 store credits anyway. Ultimately, my point being that Apple is doing the right thing for all iPhone owners even though some iPhone owners won't do the right thing and will wind up with extra compensation.

When my Xbox 360 broke after 16 months, Microsoft had already extended to three years the warranty on that defective, overheating, poorly designed piece of, well, garbage from the hardware standpoint. We'll fix them all for free, the president of Microsoft said. Until I called and they wouldn't fix mine for free because I had only two red lights showing on the front panel rather than three, even though my problem was the same heat-related problem that caused them to extend the warranty in the first place. No three lights, no coverage. We already had a Sony PlayStation 3, but needless to say, that's now *all* we have in the high-end high-def games console category.

Apple, as huge as they're getting in a couple of industry segments, as amazingly popular as they've become, well, obviously, they still are a different kind of company. And that's good to know.

 

[Angelo921]

Some people are unhappy about the $100 store credit for early iPhone buyers from both Apple and AT&T stores. But I think it's worth noting that Apple is really hanging themselves out here and trusting their customers, too. If you bought your iPhone at an Apple Store for $600 and the price dropped within the 14-day return period, they'll know if you took it back and got a $200 refund or however Apple is handling it. But if you bought your iPhone at an AT&T Store for $600, either within the 14-day return period and you went in and got a $200 refund from AT&T, or you bought it much earlier and you called AT&T and raised hell and they gave you some amount of refund or account credit to keep you happy, Apple will know by serial number when the phone was sold so they can verify it was sold before the price drop, and they'll know it was sold by AT&T, but they'll have no way of knowing if you actually went into AT&T and got a $200 refund before the 14 days ran out or not, and they won't know if you otherwise convinced AT&T to give you a special out of return period credit or refund. Even if there was an easy way to find out, AT&T would be prohibited by law from discussing your account or credit transactions with them with anyone from Apple or anywhere else.

Basically Apple is offering a $100 store credit to anyone who bought, before the price drop, an iPhone at Apple outside the 14-day return period, or anyone who bought an iPhone at AT&T any time before yesterday, Sept. 5th, whether AT&T did reimbursed them in some way or not. All the AT&T $600 iPhone buyers are completely on their honor on this one.

So for everyone who is mad at Apple for only $100 and only store credit, realize they are trusting something like 1 out of every 7 iPhone buyers not to sign up for the store credit if AT&T gave them some sort of credit -- because from what I've heard AT&T is handing out a lot of refunds and account credits to people who bought an iPhone at one of their stores or via their online store, no matter when they bought it. I mean, Apple is trusting a lot of iPhone customers as much as they expect us to trust them. That shows some quality corporate ethics, I think.

I bought the 4gb phone for $500, am I still entitled to the $100 credit or is it just for the buyers of the 8gb iPhone?

 

[PharmD]

I bought the 4gb phone for $500, am I still entitled to the $100 credit or is it just for the buyers of the 8gb iPhone?

All early iPhone buyers, 4 or 8 GB versions.