Heads up , re- MBA's from Viking Direct UK

Just thought I should post this up here

I bought a Rev A 1.8 SSD from Viking Direct a week or so ago , I think I got the tip from here , so thanks for that ! But when tried to take up the ilife 09 upgrade offer , I was told my Serial is invalid

I went into the online warranty checker , and again , there was no record of the serial - I assumed there had been a problem with my registration , so I went in and manually registered the Air via my Apple account
.... I then went back into the Warranty checker , and it is showing my warranty as due to expire on 16th August 2009 !! meaning my warranty would be 6 months or so short !

OK so this is not the end of the world , there is an option to amend the details , which required me to fax my receipt to Apple , which I have now done , so all is well, But I can't help wondering what would have happened in 9 months time , if I'd had a fault , and in the meantime mislaid the receipt ? (my previous experience of Apple warranty was that the receipt was not even relevant, so I wouldn't have been overly cautious about looking after it !)
On the whole , it is better rectified NOW than 9 months down the line when you have a problem , or find that you can't apply your AppleCare

Just thought I should mention it , if you bought an old MBA from Viking , best check your warranty.

Oh I agree totally ! , at the end of the day looking after your receipt is only common sense , But I must admit I had ( from previous experiences ) convinced myself that the warranty was based on the registration of the serial ,and therefore may not have looked after the receipt as well as I should
I certainly could have envisaged myself running around like a headless chicken in a 11 months time ! , and then having to go through the proccess of getting the warranty amended before I could even start trying to get any problem sorted out

As you say , a nice timely reminder to look after the receipt !

As for the ilife upgrade , Well, I just though I'd chance it , in the UK site there is an option if you bought direct from Apple , OR from an Authorised Reseller , I assumed that anyone reselling Apple products must be classed an "Authorised Reseller" ? If not at least I tried .

Yes , I got the £862 deal too , My mate who paid >£2,000 for his was a little put out by this ,and mumbled something about it being "second hand rubbish" - when I pointed out that it was brand new he looked like he was going to cry

SeaneyC said:

How long did it take for your guys orders to be processed?

I put my order in yesterday afternoon but it's still at "held for authorisation" wondering if yours took weeks to come or a few days, would be nice to have my 1.8 SSD to come before the weekend!

Click to expand...

Bit of a sore point for me (I am a little impatient when it comes to these things ! )

Firstly ,I should say that I have used Viking Direct at work and been amazed by their excellent , quick service , WRT Stationary etc.

However ....
I placed my order on Sunday 18th Jan, Paid by Visa Debit Card , and supposedly qualified for "Next Day" service , realistically I knew this meant a Tuesday delivery , so I booked the day off work.
Monday morning , I get a call from someone claiming to be from Viking , telling me that as my order was a 'high risk' item , they could not accept the Debit card payment , and I would need to pay by BACS.
I was a little concerned , so I hung up and telephoned Vikings CS , and they confirmed that this was a legitimate request , so I took their a/c details , and arranged the BACS , Now , I am not familiar with BACS payments , but was advised by the lady from Viking that it 'may take 24hrs' - it ended up taking two days !! , I was VERY concerned as the lady that gave me the account details was from an indian call centre ,and I worried that I had misheard the numbers (although , of course I had triple checked at the time) , all I know is there was an £862 hole in my account , and Viking didn't have it ! I had thought that BACS transfers were only supposed to take a couple of hours now ? seemingly not !!
Anyway , Wednesday came , and after MANY phone calls to Viking , they confirmed they DID have my BACS , and the goods would be despatched and with me Thursday - which they were !
So not BAD per se , but still not the next day service I had hoped for , I assume there is a problem with Debit card payments ,and normal Credit card ones would be fine (although when I asked for alternative payment options I was only given the BACS option )
I should add that all the way through the procedure , the Viking website showed status as "Processed" , and the delivery quoted was Tuesday 20th - with no online tracking at any time , So I wouldn't pay much attention to that.

Yeah you know what it's like ... I was really annoyed while waiting , but as soon as the guy handed me the box on Thursday , I forgot about all my troubles ! , 3 working days for delivery isn't really bad ! But you're right , when I look at how good the Air is , and how much money I have saved I cannot help but be happy with life at the moment !

I got confirmation from Apple that they have corrected my Puchase date this morning , but when I went onto the ilife upgrade site , it is still coming up as "invalid serial" - So I am starting to think that maybe Viking don't count as an "Authorised Re-seller" , Ah well , it was worth a try !