Purchase on Amazon, exchange to Apple Store?

[MixTracks]

If I buy a MBP through Amazon, and find out that it has 20 dead pixels and a faulty usb port, for example, can I drive up to my local Apple store to exchange it? Or do I need to deal with Amazon directly.

Why I ask, because it would be nice to order through Amazon b/c of the price, but I like the idea of being able to return the MBP to the store if there is a problem/issue and not deal with hold times and shipping.

 

[iGary]

Yes, you can take it to the Apple Store.

 

[w8ing4intelmacs]

Actually, you can take it to the Apple store and they'll look at it, but you might still have to deal with hold times and shipping anyway (no real repair work is done at the Apple store itself). If you had a crashed hard drive, I'm sure they would send it in as an AppleCare replacement, which is exactly what you'd have to do if you called AppleCare yourself.

 

[Artful Dodger]

Actually, you can take it to the Apple store and they'll look at it, but you might still have to deal with hold times and shipping anyway (no real repair work is done at the Apple store itself). If you had a crashed hard drive, I'm sure they would send it in as an AppleCare replacement, which is exactly what you'd have to do if you called AppleCare yourself.

When I got my Intel iMac from Amazon the SD was DOA, they said to bring it to the Apple Store so Apple could confirm this. Next it would be Apples move as to replace the SD or have Amazon ship me a new one. The SD got replaced "at " the Apple Store as some repairs under a certain level are done right there and not shipped out. Seven days later I had my Core Duo back and in great working order.
The short answer is it's up to Apple if they want to swap it or have Amazon send you a new unit. Hope that helps

 

[w8ing4intelmacs]

The SD got replaced "at " the Apple Store as some repairs under a certain level are done right there and not shipped out. Seven days later I had my Core Duo back and in great working order.

Seven days?!? I have had many repairs done under the first year warranty, including a faulty logic board, white spots in the display, and a crashed hard drive (not all on the same machine). Each one, Apple sent out a box (free of charge). I sent it in (prepaid by Apple), and I got it back within four days. Apple warranty has got to be tops in the business.

 

[Acehigh]

Yes you can bring it to the Apple store... but they might not give you a replacement on the spot. They will either mail you it or you will pick it up a few days later.. But I could be wrong. I just back from the Apple Store and got a Replacement MPB since I was having problems with it. They did ask if i brought it at the store and offer the replacement. What they did was did a return with mine bad one and i brought this one with a new receipt and return date.


So i doubt they will be able to do that with the Amazon one.

 

[MixTracks]

Thanks guys.

I was afraid of that. It shure would be nice to take a problematic MBP up to the store for a exchange of another one, instead of waiting for shipping and stuff.

But the savings of the money is nice from Amazon.

 

[slyydrr]

If it's anything to consider... Amazon has GREAT customer service as well... I've never dealt w/ Apple so I can't compare the two, but Amazon's CSR staff is by far the best I've ever dealt w/ bar none. Seems like regardless of whether you purchase through Amazon or Apple, you're in a winning situation.

 

[Artful Dodger]

Seven days?!? I have had many repairs done under the first year warranty, including a faulty logic board, white spots in the display, and a crashed hard drive (not all on the same machine). Each one, Apple sent out a box (free of charge). I sent it in (prepaid by Apple), and I got it back within four days. Apple warranty has got to be tops in the business.

Yeah, seven days since they didn't have any of the SDs in stock for the Intel iMacs. I live by an Apple Store so that's where I went with it and I was very comfortable with a repair that would be handled there. Besides, FedEX takes its time with shipping and that was the hold up, aside from not having the SD in stock for the new Macs.

 

[McCarron]

If it's anything to consider... Amazon has GREAT customer service as well... I've never dealt w/ Apple so I can't compare the two, but Amazon's CSR staff is by far the best I've ever dealt w/ bar none. Seems like regardless of whether you purchase through Amazon or Apple, you're in a winning situation.

I'll agree and then also disagree. Especially with repairs, communication amongst the company seems to be very poor.

I've been dealing with them all week in getting my MacBook Pro replaced. I have a horrendus LCD whine that just started happening on Monday night. Tuesday after work I went to the local Apple Store and the Genius said it'd take a month or so to repair, and wouldn't be a replacement. He suggested I return it to Amazon if I can.

So I called them on Tuesday, I was told a replacement would ship out on Wednesday and that I'd receive it on Thursday. They told me to print a UPS shipping label and then ship mine back once I get the new one and finish data transfer. I repeated this with him over to confirm the process because he wasn't the best at understanding English (India call center I believe) and he always agreed that it will happen. But he couldn't order it and had to hand it off to his supervisor, but that it WOULD be done.

Well I never got a shipment notification over night, so I called on Wednesday to find out where it was. I was told it was still processing, but to try again later. I called again later and was confirmed that it would push through. No more than 30 minutes later I get an email saying they had to pick the old one up first, THEN I'd get my new one. So I immediately called up and I was told by the CSR that Amazon doesn't ship out the replacement beforehand, only after I send it back to them and they test it. But after explaining that I was promised this by the other guy and neither of the other two CSRs I talked to that day said it'd be a problem, so she got permission to push the order though. But it was too late to ship on Wednesday, so it would ship on Thursday to arrive Friday.

First thing this morning I awake to find a notice from Amazon saying they can no longer provide me a replacement because the item is no longer carried. Yet it's still listed as "Ships in 24 hours" on the website. So I called them first thing this morning, and she saw what I saw and pushed the replacement through yet again. I called them again an hour ago to make sure it'd make it through by their "next day" shipping deadline of 2:30CST. The CSR couldn't help me other than emailing the CSR from earlier to tell her boss to push it though. It's now 2pm CST, 5-6 hours since I called them and 30 minutes til they can place the order to ship today to get it on Friday. If it doesn't, I wont be able to return it to Amazon because my 30 days is up on Saturday and was told that if it's not in the hands of UPS by my 30 days that I'll get charged a fairly large restocking fee. How is that for customer service?

I have my fingers crossed.

 

[Flyinace2000]

The apple store does no repairs instore on laptops. They are shipped out.

 

[airkarol]

Yeah, seven days since they didn't have any of the SDs in stock for the Intel iMacs. I live by an Apple Store so that's where I went with it and I was very comfortable with a repair that would be handled there. Besides, FedEX takes its time with shipping and that was the hold up, aside from not having the SD in stock for the new Macs.

apple uses dhl around me

 

[slyydrr]

I'll agree and then also disagree. Especially with repairs, communication amongst the company seems to be very poor.

I've been dealing with them all week in getting my MacBook Pro replaced. I have a horrendus LCD whine that just started happening on Monday night. Tuesday after work I went to the local Apple Store and the Genius said it'd take a month or so to repair, and wouldn't be a replacement. He suggested I return it to Amazon if I can.

So I called them on Tuesday, I was told a replacement would ship out on Wednesday and that I'd receive it on Thursday. They told me to print a UPS shipping label and then ship mine back once I get the new one and finish data transfer. I repeated this with him over to confirm the process because he wasn't the best at understanding English (India call center I believe) and he always agreed that it will happen. But he couldn't order it and had to hand it off to his supervisor, but that it WOULD be done.

Well I never got a shipment notification over night, so I called on Wednesday to find out where it was. I was told it was still processing, but to try again later. I called again later and was confirmed that it would push through. No more than 30 minutes later I get an email saying they had to pick the old one up first, THEN I'd get my new one. So I immediately called up and I was told by the CSR that Amazon doesn't ship out the replacement beforehand, only after I send it back to them and they test it. But after explaining that I was promised this by the other guy and neither of the other two CSRs I talked to that day said it'd be a problem, so she got permission to push the order though. But it was too late to ship on Wednesday, so it would ship on Thursday to arrive Friday.

First thing this morning I awake to find a notice from Amazon saying they can no longer provide me a replacement because the item is no longer carried. Yet it's still listed as "Ships in 24 hours" on the website. So I called them first thing this morning, and she saw what I saw and pushed the replacement through yet again. I called them again an hour ago to make sure it'd make it through by their "next day" shipping deadline of 2:30CST. The CSR couldn't help me other than emailing the CSR from earlier to tell her boss to push it though. It's now 2pm CST, 5-6 hours since I called them and 30 minutes til they can place the order to ship today to get it on Friday. If it doesn't, I wont be able to return it to Amazon because my 30 days is up on Saturday and was told that if it's not in the hands of UPS by my 30 days that I'll get charged a fairly large restocking fee. How is that for customer service?

I have my fingers crossed.

Obviously I can't guarantee anything, but I'd be willing to bet that they'd make an exception for you, especially since they have call logs and could see that this thing originated before your 30 days. They've made exceptions for me before so I know that it can be done. On top of it, if you're not completely satisfied, fill out a complaint on their website... they'll give you some sort of a gift certificate.

If you want, keep me updated (PM or whatnot), I'd like to see what happens... Just don't want to threadjack, so with that being said, back on topic!

 

[McCarron]

Obviously I can't guarantee anything, but I'd be willing to bet that they'd make an exception for you, especially since they have call logs and could see that this thing originated before your 30 days. They've made exceptions for me before so I know that it can be done. On top of it, if you're not completely satisfied, fill out a complaint on their website... they'll give you some sort of a gift certificate.

If you want, keep me updated (PM or whatnot), I'd like to see what happens... Just don't want to threadjack, so with that being said, back on topic!

Well as of right now I FINALLY see the order for the replacement unit, and it hasn't shipped yet. Delivery estimate is Monday now, and I've seen those dates get pushed out many times. This is completely unacceptable, especially when I was told I'd receive it by yesterday originally. I'll call them after I get breakfast at the work cafe, better to not call angry and hungry, and then post to see what they say.

 

[McCarron]

I talked to a CSR named Chris who said that the item had not shipped yet but was all boxed up and awaiting UPS to pick it up. So he explained that it wont arrive today, but not until Monday. I find this unacceptable because I was told that I would be docked a 15% restocking fee earlier if the product was not returned within the 30-Day window. The problem is 15% is about $375. Chris was great and told me that he would extend my return period an extra week, but could not promise me that I wont get docked the extra fee. He said to call back if I did get charged this fee, but this wasn’t pleasing to me because I don’t want to deal with the hassle of getting this fee refunded to me when I shouldn’t be charged it to begin with.

As of 11:00AM CST I have no tracking number.

 

[tivoboy]

my experience

So, my experience buying some g5 imacs and intelimacs from Amazon, was that the apple store would of course initiate warranty and repair service, but that a "swap out" was out of the question. Within a certain period of time, they always said, send it back to the vendor

In all my cases that was Amazon. Amazon DID send me a UPS code for return shipment and as SOON as the shipment was pickup up by UPS and in their system, they shipped a replacement product.

But it was not just drop off at the apple store and pickup a new one there. And I can honestly, understand that.

 

[Macky-Mac]

If I buy a MBP through Amazon, and find out that it has 20 dead pixels and a faulty usb port, for example, can I drive up to my local Apple store to exchange it? Or do I need to deal with Amazon directly.

Why I ask, because it would be nice to order through Amazon b/c of the price, but I like the idea of being able to return the MBP to the store if there is a problem/issue and not deal with hold times and shipping.

you're talking "exchange" but they're apt to be talking "repair" for most issues short of a DOA computer

 

[MixTracks]

Thanks guys...

I figured I am only saving the sales tax by buying through Amazon, even with the $150 off and the A9/Amazon Credit discount.

I am thinking I will just go up to the store and buy it.

 

[coachingguy]

My experience...

I got a 12" 1.33 iBook last fall from Apple. It worked but was acting strangely out of the box. I happened to be going down to the twin cities (Mpls/St. Paul) for conference the next day so I brought it with. After the Conference and about 20 minutes before the Southdale Apple Store closed I brought it in and logged on to the que for the Genius. About 5 minutes before they closed he got to me. I showed him the problems. He asked how long I'd had the iBook. "About 27 hours" I replied. He went and grabbed his manager. After telling the manager the problem (the track pad had a mind of it's own) and how long I'd had the computer, the manager went into the back room, grabbed a new iBook box, had me sign an invoice and said "We apologize for the difficulty." I walked out the door with a new iBook that has worked flawlessly since.

 

[MixTracks]

And there you go

Purchase at the Apple store justified

 

[itsbetteronamac]

I know I had a similar problem when I got my Powerbook, although I got it through the apple store. I was within my 14 days, which I am assuming you are, and I just returned it for a new one. That was way easier than getting it fixed, and I didn't have to worry about getting refurb parts and what not. You could possibly do something like that. Or maybe just be like hey, it's within the 14 days and give me a new one... you never know, it may work.