Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

bought an ipad that said "Demo - not for resale"

S

sjtnn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 15, 2010
10
0
Hi I need some help, i bought an Ipad from someone off CL. When i looked at it, it was still in mint condition and everything seems fine. It didn't come with a receipt though. When I took it home and fully inspected it, i saw under the 16gb sign that said "Demo, not for resale"


What is going on here? I called apple and they said i have to try and retrieve the receipt.

Should I bring it to the apple store? would they take it away from me because I dont want that to happen since i spent a lot of money on it.

Please give me some advice.

Thank You



-"UPDATE"

okay guys a good UPDATE on the situation, and probably one of my final posts bout this, so thank you again for are your help and comments.

Since he didn't respond my phone, i decided to email him and this was my message for those that wanted to see what i wrote check on page 5.

Funny, he responded within minutes asking to meet up again and that he had the receipt, so i drove out and met him at a local Starbucks and he refunded me back my money because he told me he also bought it from another person, and that person provided the receipt, so we had the receipt in front of us and the box and everything and I told him it could be stolen and all the things that I have learned from this thread and that he has to go to best buy with his current receipt and solve it.

So there it goes people, i managed to get back my money, learned a valuable lesson, and afterwards went to the apple store and bought the IPad myself at full price, something I should have done in the first place. I took it off my hands and now he has to deal with it.

I also told him that he had to contact me back on the progress and show me proof of what happen to it or else i will report him to the authorities since I have his contact info, and plus jointed down the serial numbers..etc for proof and made sure that local Starbucks had their security cams pointed at us when he arrived to refund me ( good thing I came first and brief to them about it and they were willing to do so with the cams).


WELL DONE DEAL, this thread can be close now, or can be open to those who still want to talk about it or for those that encountered the same situation. Its true what they say "Make sure you check them Pads"
 
2vae5fr.png



Buying strange iPads off the web because you just couldn't wait. :(
 
It appears your seller sold you a demo unit taken from Best Buy. See this article which says Best Buy mandates that its demo units be marked with the notation that's on your device (I don't think Apple's demo units are stamped with anything):

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/best-buy-ipad/

The good thing is that the demo unit is the same as a retail iPad (in fact, it was a retail iPad until it was set aside and stamped). The bad thing is that the seller probably took the iPad from a Best Buy without permission. You may have bought stolen goods.

What kind of advice do you want? Why would you take it to the Apple Store? For an exchange? But you didn't buy it from them, you bought it from a guy off Craigslist who apparently stole it from a store. I suppose Apple could take pity on you but there's no reason they have to do anything for you.

At best, you should get your money back from this douchebag seller. You could also report this guy to the police but then, you run the risk of taking your demo iPad as evidence and you being stuck without your iPad and your money. If you are stuck with the device, it should work fine although you may run into problems if you ever try to get warranty service on it.
 
The IPad works fine, and I was worried about the warranty, i checked it online says it expires next year but if I brought it into apple they would see that it was a demo unit.

Do they have the right to take it away from me? because I heard stories with that with the iphone.

I still have the guys contact number and it was funny he left his gmail account still logged, so i managed to look him up on facebook and found him.

Should I confront him about this and tell him or should I file a report so that they can see that his info is still intact and do something about it
 
sjtnn said:
The IPad works fine, and I was worried about the warranty, i checked it online says it expires next year but if I brought it into apple they would see that it was a demo unit.

Do they have the right to take it away from me? because I heard stories with that with the iphone.

I still have the guys contact number and it was funny he left his gmail account still logged, so i managed to look him up on facebook and found him.

Should I confront him about this and tell him or should I file a report so that they can see that his info is still intact and do something about it
Click to expand...

I would be wary. I'd definitely confront the seller about it. I wouldn't be happy with a "demo" unit, fully functional or otherwise. It's clearly stolen.

Can you take a picture of the back of it. Hide the serial number, but let us see how it says "demo unit" ?
 
There's no legitimate reason for you to be in possession of a demo model iPad. The iPad has only been out for less than two weeks.

Yes, they certainly can take it away from you when they see you're in possession of something you shouldn't have.

If the guy takes it back, that's the best for you.

If you "file a report" it will be taken from you since it's almost surely stolen. Why else would you have a demo model?
 
sjtnn said:
The IPad works fine, and I was worried about the warranty, i checked it online says it expires next year but if I brought it into apple they would see that it was a demo unit.

Do they have the right to take it away from me? because I heard stories with that with the iphone.

I still have the guys contact number and it was funny he left his gmail account still logged, so i managed to look him up on facebook and found him.

Should I confront him about this and tell him or should I file a report so that they can see that his info is still intact and do something about it
Click to expand...


yes they have the right to take back what is theirs. it doesn't matter if you bought it. stolen goods are stolen goods. i would advise you report the guy to the police and maybe they will work with you to recover your money from the guy. as for the ipad, it will have to go back to apple or best buy.

from my experience apple stores do mark their ipads as demo unit not for resale.
 
elfxmilhouse said:
yes they have the right to take back what is theirs. it doesn't matter if you bought it. stolen goods are stolen goods. i would advise you report the guy to the police and maybe they will work with you to recover your money from the guy. as for the ipad, it will have to go back to apple or best buy.

from my experience apple stores do mark their ipads as demo unit not for resale.
Click to expand...

exactly if it gives u his name report him and work with the police
 
hey this is what it looks like

149mw4i.jpg


I Will try to contact the guy and see whats going on, if not i'll take it back to apple so that they can file a case against this if possible.

Good thing i have his info or else I Would be really worried.

I should have just waited for apple to restock their IPads.
 
Working with the police is not going to yield you the results you want.

For one they will file a report take your iPad as evidence.
So now your out of your money and iPad but hey you have the frustration of dealing with paperwork and court hearings etc.

Yeah they can put this guy in jail but he'll probably receive a restitution case and pay slowly for your money. At this point you've only dealt with aggravation frustation and still no iPad.

Going to the police is not always a good resolution.

Is up to you. But I were in your case I'll try to work something out with the seller and if that fails to blossom into happiness. Then just deal with it.

If it's working fine don't sweat it.

Trust me i dealt with a similar situation before it is not worth it.
I simply learned to not buy anything of craiglist that's of how high value
 
Try rearranging the icons and see if you can. The Apple units that are out for demo in the Apple Stores have a special build of the OS to prevent that from happening. I was looking at them the other day and wondering how come the press/jiggle/move wasn't working. I asked an Apple employee and that's what they told me.

Your situation sucks. Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
If you can't get your money back, don't take it back to Apple since you don't know for sure where it came from, Apple or Best Buy. Who knows, maybe there's a legitimate reason why this guy has it. YOU should take it directly to the police and file a report yourself since you have a stake in this too: the money taken from you. Let the police do their job and let them investigate. The police will contact Apple or Best Buy if necessary. But get your name on the police report by filing the report yourself, if it comes to that. Good luck!
 
Wow I just tried that now, its not moving

megatronbomb said:
Try rearranging the icons and see if you can. The Apple units that are out for demo in the Apple Stores have a special build of the OS to prevent that from happening. I was looking at them the other day and wondering how come the press/jiggle/move wasn't working. I asked an Apple employee and that's what they told me.

Your situation sucks. Good luck with whatever you decide.
Click to expand...
 
To be quite honest, you're mildly screwed. Reload the OS, throw a case on it so you forget about the "demo" marking, and just use it. If it breaks, well then, just pay out of pocket to get it fixed. If you get a call from best buy or the police or whomever, just please ignorance.

But first try to see if you can return the iPad for a refund from who sold it to you. My above comment is based on that not being possible. If the guy stole it, more than likely you're not getting your money back.
 
nasa25 said:
To be quite honest, you're mildly screwed. Reload the OS, throw a case on it so you forget about the "demo" marking, and just use it. If it breaks, well then, just pay out of pocket to get it fixed. If you get a call from best buy or the police or whomever, just please ignorance.

But first try to see if you can return the iPad for a refund from who sold it to you. My above comment is based on that not being possible. If the guy stole it, more than likely you're not getting your money back.
Click to expand...

Maybe if you tell the guy if he does not refund you , you will report it to the police he might get scared into refunding it. Or he could also get angry enough to something bad if he knows your address... lol

Not a great situation.
 
Reser said:
Maybe if you tell the guy if he does not refund you , you will report it to the police he might get scared into refunding it. Or he could also get angry enough to something bad if he knows your address... lol

Not a great situation.
Click to expand...

I would take the higher road here. If you piss off the crook, you're for sure not getting you're money back. Just say politely that you were not aware that it was a demo unit and that's not what you were after. Would it be possible to get your money back.
 
nasa25 said:
I would take the higher road here. If you piss off the crook, you're for sure not getting you're money back. Just say politely that you were not aware that it was a demo unit and that's not what you were after. Would it be possible to get your money back.
Click to expand...

However if the guy stole an Ipad from a store, exactly how fourthcoming do you expect him to be with giving refunds? I really do not see that happening lol..
 
Good old blackmail. ;)

Always there when you need it.

LOL, srsly though, you're screwed. Call him up and be nice. But if you DO decide to muscle the guy around a bit, DO give us all the details.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back