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tclamp07

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 26, 2008
83
0
Hey guys/gals I have a quick question... So to make a long story short I have had three iMacs in the past three weeks. I bought the c2d 27" iMac and have had numerous issues with each one including screen flickering, hdd noise etc... I am now on my third iMac and it is also having issues with a line on the bottom of the screen and some video issues and also a very annoying high pitch whine when I have the screen brightness maxed out. So the problem is I was out of town for six days due to some family issues and now I am past my 14 day return policy. The last exchange was made on October 29th. Do you think apple would allow me to return the iMac because I have had so many issues or am I sol? Sorry for the long post and I really appreciate any input.
 
It depends on their goodwill, but you still have warranty, so they are obliged to repair the issue. If it still exists after the repair, you can bring it in a second time, and after three repairs and the issue still persisting Apple normally exchanges the Mac for a new one.
 
It depends on their goodwill, but you still have warranty, so they are obliged to repair the issue. If it still exists after the repair, you can bring it in a second time, and after three repairs and the issue still persisting Apple normally exchanges the Mac for a new one.

Yeah you are right when it comes to the warranty but I am pretty much fed up with all the issues I have had. I would like to actually return the computer and hold off from buying one for a few months to maybe work out some of the kinks or at least address them. So do you think I might have a little wiggle room in returning the iMac?
 
Why not call them and find out?

They let me return my Mac Pro on day 16 (the day the iMacs were announced)
 
Why not call them and find out?

They let me return my Mac Pro on day 16 (the day the iMacs were announced)

I will I just wanted to get some opinions on whether or not I have some leg room.
 
I will I just wanted to get some opinions on whether or not I have some leg room.

There is always leg room. Explain how many you have returned and how its really frustrating. As long as you are polite and explain your situation the customer rep can issue a refund, you can ask to deal with a manager if you like, say that you wish to speak to a manager cause its the third faulty mac and you are disappointed. As its your third fault mac you have a good case. If it was your first one, diff story.
 
It's case by case. You'll find tales of friendly easy going Apple reps saying "sure sign here ok your card has been credited". Then you'll find the pissed off reps who may make you beg and plea and then you'll just find the kind that say "10% restocking fee" with no room to budge. In short, nobody here really knows what may go down. It's up to you and the apple rep that fate ends up putting you in front of or on the line with. Before I share my personal experience in a situation like this might I suggest the most important thing to do is usually to kill them with kindness.

My personal experience: I wanted to return my first gen 3.06ghz for the 2nd gen 3.06 ghz imac and I was 20 days past date of purchase. I took a chance and drove down to my nearest Apple store (1 hour and 45 minutes South) and hung out for awhile. I looked at different macs, asked some reps a few questions, and was just a shopper for a bit until I could get an idea of who might be the most willing to help me out in that store. I know I know shame on me as I was APPLE REP PROFILING! :eek:

But it worked - the guy I decided to approach was not only friendly but the on duty store manager. The deal I asked him to make was to waive the 10% restock fee but in return I'd spend that amount again in his store. He said "I think that is a fair deal". So I walked out with my then latest and greatest "new" iMac, Spore, Parralels 4, and a sweet pair of new iphone buds. All products I would have purchased anyway so I didn't end up losing that $200 + dollars.

Good luck mate sorry to hear you are having such a bummer time with what are normally amazing computers. Post back and let us all know how things pan out once they do.
 
So I called apple and explained the situation and I am supposed to get a call back on tuesday to see what my options are. They said I can return it if I want to but there calling me back to see if I can get an upgrade to the i5 model so we will see how that goes but Im not counting on that.
 
So I called apple and explained the situation and I am supposed to get a call back on tuesday to see what my options are. They said I can return it if I want to but there calling me back to see if I can get an upgrade to the i5 model so we will see how that goes but Im not counting on that.

If you can return it, just return it. Getting the i5 model still may get you the same screen issues, unless your real motive was just to upgrade to the i5 from the get go?
 
If you can return it, just return it. Getting the i5 model still may get you the same screen issues, unless your real motive was just to upgrade to the i5 from the get go?

I see what your saying but it is nit my intention at all to get a free upgrade. What it comes down to is at the end of the day I want/need a mac so I would rather have a mac than not. Another thing is I'm kind of looking at this as a gamble. One shouldn't have to gamble with quality when it comes to a $1700 machine but at the same time I would rather take the risk with a better machine. Do you know what I mean? Anyway I won't even know if that's a possibility untill Tuesday and chances are they will just say that I need to pay the difference. I'll keep you guys postedonce I find out what theregoing to do.
 
Looks like since your past the 14 days the two real options you have would be to work with the warranty and try to get these issues fixed, or sell the computer and get back what you can.

Personally I think it is BS that you had to go through 3 computers. One would think that they should allow you to return it, but that would be highly unlikely.

good luck.
 
Looks like since your past the 14 days the two real options you have would be to work with the warranty and try to get these issues fixed, or sell the computer and get back what you can.

Personally I think it is BS that you had to go through 3 computers. One would think that they should allow you to return it, but that would be highly unlikely.

good luck.

Yeah thats what I figured when I called applecare but they said that they would allow me to return it and give me a full refund which is nice but they also said they would look into upgrading my imac to the i5 which would be nice but is unexpected.
 
Why would they offer an i5 CPU upgrade if u had issues with the screen?

I dont know to be honest and just to clarify they have not offered that yet they just said they would look into it. Also there are a few issues with the imac including screen flickering, video card problem where if I watch a flash video or a dvd my computer will randomly start fragmenting and pixelate the video and I will have to do a hard restart, hdd issues with noise, that high pitched whine when brightness is turned etc...
 
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