iPod Touch 3g return nonsense

icedbullet

icedbullet

icedbullet

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Birmingham
Hello everyone

I have an odd return story to share with everyone. (This was the Bullring apple store in Birmingham btw)

Ok so my extremely well cared for iPod touch 3g (which I bought in late Feb 2010) developed an odd problem with the headphone connector, whenever the connector was rotated the volume would go up and down and emit static through the headphones. It would only do this intermittently.

So I booked a genius bar appointment where I was promptly told that I could exchange it for a new one. So I went home, backed up all my data then took it back to the store.

All was going well until my replacement arrived at the genius bar in a brown box. Now this is no exaggeration when I say my iPod touch was IMMACULATE. The guys at the genius bar didn't believe I had even used it (it lived its life in my rebeltouch case). Now I immediately took issue with my pristine, extremely well cared for iPod being replaced with some brown boxed refurbed unit with god knows what reused parts inside. I had every right to have my iPod which I owned since new to be replaced with a BRAND NEW unit.

So they brought the manager over, who told me all about the terms and conditions and how every brown boxed unit was all certified blah blah and that SOME components may be "recycled". So I took issue with the recycled bit, he then said that nothing was second hand inside the brown boxed unit. I explained to him the definition of RECYCLED and he promptly shut up. Now this conversation was generating a lot of interest from the nearby customers, seeing that I had a point and that the manager had been contradicting himself saying that the brown box replacement policy wasn't to save Apple money, only to turn around 5 mins later to say "yes we do give these brown boxed units out to save Apple money and allow us to give our products at lower prices". I was amazed at this guys contradictory nature. I then explained how this was a MANUFACTURERS internal fault not mine as my iPod had been properly looked after and was PRISTINE.

He kept refusing my requests for a brand new unit and then tried to scare me off by saying he had to escalate this to his superior...I told him that he could bring whoever he wanted, even Steve Jobs, and I would tell them all the same thing. I wanted my iPod replaced with a brand new unit. I said that if I went into curries after buying a sony mp3 player which had a fault, wouldn't they replace it with a brand new boxed unit?...again he couldn't give me a proper answer because he knew I was right. When I challenged him by saying ok, I want a full refund, he turned around and told me I couldn't have one now as it was over the 14day period...so I took issue with this too, saying that not only had apple taken my money, they now wanted to palm me off with a 2nd hand ipod. I said if I wanted a "recycled" iPod I would have gone to ebay.

So seeing the fact people were listening to me debating my point and beating his poor excuses with simple logic, he gave in and agreed to "this once" replace my iPod with a retail unit.

Do apple really believe they can get away with pawning off refurbed iPod touches to people who have had a manufacturers fault only 3 months after buying it BRAND NEW??? I didn't accept it and neither should anyone else...If I was wrong why did he back down and give me a brand new retail unit? I walked out with my new iPod and a lesson in how to never back down from these kinds of companies. I only hope that other people learn and benefit from this.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing from apple?
 
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I personally don't see an issue here I'm afraid. You can't exactly expect Apple to deliver replacement products to stores, where they'll be unpackaged by employees, in shiny retail boxes do you? It makes absolutely no economical sense. They'll use bog standard cardboard boxes to get the unit from A to B safely. There's no advantage to them of spending extra on shipping replacement parts in retail boxes, and in all fairness, there would be no advantage to you either. Don't get overly perturbed by the fact it was brought out to you in a brown box.

As for the 'recycled' iPod and your conversation with the manager, you seem like the kind of guy who likes to read up on his rights, terms and conditions. But that begs the question of why you hadn't read this before you decided to make your purchase, or take issue with your warranty replacement. It's all pretty clearly laid out in paragraph 2 there. And while I may not agree with the morality of it, I'm afraid in this situation, you were wrong.

And in answer to your question, he likely backed down because he deemed the cost of you making a fool of yourself in the middle of his store greater than that lost by providing you with a retail unit.
 
tim80bwi said:
I personally don't see an issue here I'm afraid. You can't exactly expect Apple to deliver replacement products to stores, where they'll be unpackaged by employees, in shiny retail boxes do you? It makes absolutely no economical sense. They'll use bog standard cardboard boxes to get the unit from A to B safely. There's no advantage to them of spending extra on shipping replacement parts in retail boxes, and in all fairness, there would be no advantage to you either. Don't get overly perturbed by the fact it was brought out to you in a brown box.

As for the 'recycled' iPod and your conversation with the manager, you seem like the kind of guy who likes to read up on his rights, terms and conditions. But that begs the question of why you hadn't read this before you decided to make your purchase, or take issue with your warranty replacement. It's all pretty clearly laid out in paragraph 2 there. And while I may not agree with the morality of it, I'm afraid in this situation, you were wrong.

And in answer to your question, he likely backed down because he deemed the cost of you making a fool of yourself in the middle of his store greater than that lost by providing you with a retail unit.
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Did you not read the full post ,they offered him none new item ie: maybe recycled parts e.t.c not a new item in brown box or am i reading it wrong ?
 
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.one. said:
Did you not read the full post ,they offered him none new item ie: maybe recycled parts e.t.c not a new item in brown box or am i reading it wrong ?
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No, you are reading it correctly. However, if you take a look at the page I linked to, you'll see that Apple make no guarantee whatsoever of replacing faulty items with new parts. I don't actually see what's wrong with this in practice to be honest. As long as they're in a condition identical to or better than that of the original and work the same, what does it matter? A refurbished, essentially brand new, iPod is going to be in a better condition than one that has been used for 3 months, no matter how immaculately it has been kept.

The only thing I would criticise on the Apple employee's part is his denial that the OP could obtain a refund. The warranty terms seem to suggest that this is a possible alternative to replacement. It is left unclear as to whether this is discretionary though.
 
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iPod Touch 3G?

Do you have an iPod or an iPhone? =\

And anyway i think your being too picky, there is nothing wrong with a refurb in perfect condiction to replace your broken one
 
Legally, Apple don't need to replace it with a new one, all they need to do is replace it with a refurbed unit that's in the same condition as the one that it's replacing.
 
When I had my iPhone 3GS replaced in January past the replacement (brand new) iPhone came in a 'brown' box without any accessories like instruction manual, cable etc....
 
Good on the OP for standing up for themselves. However I'd like to know if the employee had said the iPod in the brown box was a brand new device, just not in retail packaging if the OP would have taken it.
 
I don't see the problem, the replacement will do 100% of what it's meant to, and as far as I know will be in pristine condition. At the very least this re-furb unit has been fully tested and is known to work. Which IMO proves it to be in better condition than a brand new one which aren't individully quality controlled. I dont see what you're 'gaining' by insisting on a new unit?

As far as your 'Curries' analogy go, they're not a 'manufacturer store' and don't have the facility or enough sales/return of one item to have a refurb programme, so they take the full cost on the chin.

If you were to have a mobile phone handset with manufacturer fault which showed its ugly head 6 months down the line, it would be sent away for repair before being replaced, would that be an issue to you?

Apologies, but I used to work in retail sales, and I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of arguments like this. The fact that the employee couldn't come up with a proper response to your argument is down to the employee themselves, not the company policies.

I'm glad to know that you've got what you wanted, but it only occured to get rid of the 'hassle' rather then the store failing to your debate.
 
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To be honest I think your stance was a little ridiculous.

If the exchanged unit was pristine on the outside then whats the problem?

I've had two 2G iPhones replaced and the exterior of all of them was perfect.

I think you were being a tad OTT TBH.

[BTW my iPhone 3GS that is a year old is "pristine" because its been in a case, and i'd still accept a brown box replacement]
 
icedbullet said:
I had every right to have my iPod which I owned since new to be replaced with a BRAND NEW unit.
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Nope you dont, not under statutory consumer law - amazed that you thought different really - its not like your returned product was actually new...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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I had my second hand 3GS replaced with a refurb from a brown box.

I was MORE than happy to have my week old, second hand scratched iPhone be replaced with a clean, scratch free, not to mention working phone!
 
I was with you, and assumed you were going to say the repl was scratched or dammaged...

however what they were offering was totally fair..

I'd have thrown it at you... but thats probably why i dont work in a store..
 
I was delighted when Apple instantly brought out (in a brown box) a perfect condition replacement 3g iPhone after a fault occurred. Eight months down the line from purchase and I got an instant replacement in perfect condition. Any other mobile phone and I'd be filling out forms and getting it sent away for assessment.

Thanks very much and personally I couldn't care less if it came out in a brown box, carrier bag or on a scarlet pillow covered in rose petals. I think the OP should seriously re consider whether you have been fair in this situation.
 
rpn said:
When I had my iPhone 3GS replaced in January past the replacement (brand new) iPhone came in a 'brown' box without any accessories like instruction manual, cable etc....
Click to expand...

This will have been a refurb no matter what you were told. They are recased and so look brand new.

And OP, what an overreaction - do you have OCD?
 
Working at Geek Squad Repairs (Well CPW but we are in the process of rebranding) I know all our faulty iPhones unless liquid damaged or customer damaged get exchanged straight away for brown box refurbs from apple. Cuts down on turn around time and majority of the time the refurb is as good as new and in better condition than the phone being swapped.
 
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