Outraged at Apple - please give me advice and calm me down

[PDE]

I purchased a macbook from amazon.com in mid-september. It arrived with very squeaky hinges so I took it to the Apple Store on 5th Avenue and showed it to a genius. He was very nice, thought a little bit about it, and then went off to talk to his manager. He came back and said that since it was purchased from the amazon, they normally cannot swap it for a new one, BUT that he would make an exception this time. I was very grateful and thanked him, telling him that I'm grateful for not having to send a brand new computer in for repair.

He took the old computer and said he'd move the hard drive over to the new one, then came back with the new ten minutes later. I got a receipt that simply had the two computers' serial number on them, showing that they had been swapped.

I've decided that I might sell the macbook, but couldn't find the apple store receipt, so I emailed Apple to ask for the receipt, which they sent me promptly. The problem is that IT IS A RECEIPT FOR AN OPEN BOX MACBOOK SOLD TO ANOTHER CUSTOMER. That means there were two owners before me! One who bought it and returned and the other bought it and returned too, getting a discount for it being open box!

I am furious that they did this to me. I also had a week down time when it had to go in for repair because of a faulty display. I would never have agreed to replace my brand new macbook with one that had been owned by two people before me!

What can I do???? I have the receipt and box of the original computer, but I no longer have the receipt for the exchange.

 

[jonharris200]

So my first question is: Did Apple send you the correct receipt (to which I presume the answer is 'yes')?

My second question is: Did they give you an open box one deliberately or was it a mistake - hard to know for sure.

My third is: Have you tried taking it back and explaining that you were not told it was an 'open box' one. Given the way they have helped you quickly on two occasions, and to some extent gone the extra mile by bending their own rules slightly, don't you think you owe it to them to give them the chance to respond? You never know, you might get money off or an apology and a brand new replacement.

Hope I've understood your situation correctly. I say you lose nothing by returning to the store (assuming you can) and telling them your story.

 

[PDE]

yes, the receipt is correct and yes, they SEEMED helpful, but at the same time they of course did know that this was not a new computer. The genius obviously got it from somewhere and it wasn't a sealed box!

I will go back to the store and hopefully they will be professional enough to swap this out for a new one. I paid for a new one, not this. It affects its sales value a lot, and I think people are less inclined to buy a computer that has been owned by three people.

I actually had somebody who was interested in buying it and I was going to meet up tomorrow, but now I can't do that.

I really am angry and that doesn't happen often. I feel I don't have any evidence that they didn't tell me that it was an open box computer (an open box computer that had been owned by two people before me, since the receipt they sent me stated that it was open box - but with somebody else's name!). I will definitely fight this.

thanks for your reasoned response.

 

[ChickenSwartz]

Can I ask...why are you selling this?

Are you selling as "New-bought from Apple." If so you are kind of taking advantage of their generosity assuming you get the situation taken care of...on that note, I would just go to the store, see if you can ask the same genius if you can talk to the manger that he talked to the day you went in before, he know what is going on. If you can't find out who that was then find any manager, they are the only one that can help anyway.

Just stay calm, I am sure this was an oversight and they will straighten it out.

 

[jonharris200]

Personally I think you'll get further by telling your story in a reasoned way rather than playing the anger card.

I'm also not sure either way whether the box would definitely have been opened at the time the genius did the swap for you. Remember that refurb models are boxed again as new - it may have been a machine that was returned to a different store than the one you were in.

At the very least, though, Apple has (a) given you a squeaky machine (b) made some kind of error with the replacement machine. Therefore, you have a good case and probably just by being polite and firm you will get what you need from them - even if the paper trail isn't quite complete.

Anyhow, good luck and I hope it gets resolved ... perfectly.

 

[PDE]

Can I ask...why are you selling this?

Are you selling as "New-bought from Apple." If so you are kind of taking advantage of their generosity assuming you get the situation taken care of...on that note, I would just go to the store, see if you can ask the same genius if you can talk to the manger that he talked to the day you went in before, he know what is going on. If you can't find out who that was then find any manager, they are the only one that can help anyway.

Just stay calm, I am sure this was an oversight and they will straighten it out.

I'm selling because I was impressed by my friend's MBP and have decided to get one. Well, up until today I THOUGHT that this was a new item. And had I not misplaced the receipt, I would have sold it as an item that was new when I received it. Whose generosity? Apple's? Giving me a computer that was owned and rejected by two other people is not exactly generous. It may just be a mistake, or they just thought it doesn't matter.

I was so impressed with their service, that I was going to write a note to the store to tell them. I didn't for whatever reason...

Luckily I can sleep on it before I go tomorrow..

 

[PDE]

Personally I think you'll get further by telling your story in a reasoned way rather than playing the anger card.

I'm also not sure either way whether the box would definitely have been opened at the time the genius did the swap for you. Remember that refurb models are boxed again as new - it may have been a machine that was returned to a different store than the one you were in.

At the very least, though, Apple has (a) given you a squeaky machine (b) made some kind of error with the replacement machine. Therefore, you have a good case and probably just by being polite and firm you will get what you need from them - even if the paper trail isn't quite complete.

Anyhow, good luck and I hope it gets resolved ... perfectly.

According to the receipt I received (which was given to another customer when they bought it), the computer was sold as an open box item to that customer. that means it was rejected by the customer before him and then he gave it back to the store, and then the store gave it to me.

If they had told me that it was a computer owned and rejected by two other customers, I would have just sent it back to amazon and received a genuinely new replacement for free.

thanks for the advice. I'm calming down.....

 

[jonharris200]

Like I say, hope you get it sorted. Post and let us know.

 

[PDE]

Like I say, hope you get it sorted. Post and let us know.

Thanks, will do.