One thing I like about buying an Apple product is the “ah” moment when you open the box and get it out for the first time. That moment of admiring the design and congratulating yourself that you’ve spent your money well. Last week I had an even better moment that involved returning a Macintosh that I was unhappy with. Here is my experience with Apple. A few weeks ago my mac pro made a funny noise as it was booting up, and with the realisation that it was two years out of warranty, I panicked at the thought of what would happen if it failed. On impulse I bought a factory refurbished 27 inch iMac from the online Apple Store. It arrived the next day, and after unpacking it and placing it on my desk rather than having an “ah” moment I had a moment of dread. The computer was huge, it dominated my desk, it obscured my view out the window, it was just too big!
I found myself browsing the Apple store website to read their returns policy and to my surprise, you can return any product to Apple within 14 days if you are unhappy with it for any reason!
Obviously Apple do not want anyone to have a Macintosh computer and not be happy with it.
All I had to do was open my official Apple receipt e-mail and click on the order details, and then click on returns.
I was given this menu of the various reasons I might have for returning my product:
Have you ever seen such a generous returns policy? “Decided to buy elsewhere!”
“Chose a new product!” or “Changed my mind!”
I selected ‘changed my mind’ and hit submit and was informed that the next day Apple would send a TNT courier to pick up the computer from my house, and I would be refunded the full purchase price of the computer less the courier fee. The courier fee? $20!
He is the return invoice:
This means Apple have paid for the new computer to be delivered to my house, there are refunding me the full price of the computer, all I have to do is pay a very reasonable return cost.
It gets better. On Apple’s returns to site it says that due to Christmas the return window has been extended and so rather than the normal 14 days, any computer purchased between now and Christmas can be returned up to the 14th January!
The bottom line: Apple don’t want anyone to have an Apple computer and not be happy with it.
Another reason why I love Apple.
I love Apple … but the return thing is a consumer law requirement. Everyone has to do it.
yes for problems… but not for simply ‘I changed my mind’!
This is a crucial moment for me and quite enough for love:
“One thing I like about buying an Apple product is the “ah†moment when you open the box and get it out for the first time.”
:)
I love apple products too but when my wife and I tried to return her iPhone charger cable, which turned brown and cracked, she and I were treated as criminals. They refused to exchange it for one which worked even though it was under a year. They called over two others to inspect the cable. We felt like they treated us as teenagers trying to steal something and were in our 50s… It’s probably that particular store but it was not a good experience.