Hi All, I apologise for the rant but this is making my blood boil and I wanted to tell people the story.
My mother is 64 years old and ever since she first saw my ipad she's wanted one. To hear her speak an iPad is a miraculous futuristic device filled with wonder.
This new year she told me she was thinking of getting one and asked me which one she should get. I told her to get the new iPad, wifi only, 16gb on the basis that she would not want to pay for a sim card and planned predominantly to use it for photo editing (but not storing) while she was out and about - particularly when she went on holiday. She wrote this information down.
The next I heard from her she'd gone to a small computer shop in Sevenoaks, Kent, UK with an ipad advert in the window rather than going to an apple store because she wanted to "support local business". This is where things began to go wrong.
Firstly the man in the store upsold her the 3G model on the basis that it was selling at a discount (£459 instead of £499) and she could use it on holiday without explaining to her that she'd need to get a simcard and would then incurr roaming charges! I told her to change the order (the store didn't actually appear to have any ipads in stock, they took a credit card payment and promised to deliver) or better yet get a refund and we'd go to the applestore together. The store ammended her order to a 16GB Wifi only model and refunded £70 to her card so that she'd paid £389 as they didn't want to cancel the order. So far so mildly annoying.
The real problems began when she picked the ipad up it turned out not to be the new ipad she'd asked for but to be an iPad 2, 16gb wifi only. When i saw what she'd been sold i immediately called the store and told them that she must have been handed the wrong ipad and we would come into exchange it. The store insisted otherwise: 16gb, wifi only ipad 2 for £389. £10 less than she should have been able to get a retina ipad for.
To hear the store tell it she came in specifically asking for an ipad 2 3g model, that the store had made the order and that she'd then changed her mind to an ipad 2 wifi only model and that the store had generously adjusted the order. This is ridiculous as my mum would quite simply have walked into the store with the piece of paper upon which she'd written down "new ipad, 16gb, wifi only" following our conversation.
I asked the store how they could describe selling a 2 year old ipad for £60 more than the retail recommended price of £329 as "discount on the apple price" which is how they'd described it to my mother or how they could justify selling someone an old product they hadn't asked for at only £10 less than the retail recommended price of the brand new ipad.
They told me that £389 is a great price for an ipad 2, 16gb wifi and that i know "nothing about retail".
I asked them to do the decent thing and either exchange my mother's ipad for a new one for which i'd be willing to pay the retail reccommended price of £399 or give my mother a refund. They refused on both counts.
My mum is upset because she feels that she has bought old technology at new technology prices when all along she was trying to buy the new ipad. She feels pretty stupid even though it's not her fault and the purchase is tainted. The iPad is no longer a thing of wonder for her, instead it's a reminder that someone ripped her off.
My mother is 64 years old and ever since she first saw my ipad she's wanted one. To hear her speak an iPad is a miraculous futuristic device filled with wonder.
This new year she told me she was thinking of getting one and asked me which one she should get. I told her to get the new iPad, wifi only, 16gb on the basis that she would not want to pay for a sim card and planned predominantly to use it for photo editing (but not storing) while she was out and about - particularly when she went on holiday. She wrote this information down.
The next I heard from her she'd gone to a small computer shop in Sevenoaks, Kent, UK with an ipad advert in the window rather than going to an apple store because she wanted to "support local business". This is where things began to go wrong.
Firstly the man in the store upsold her the 3G model on the basis that it was selling at a discount (£459 instead of £499) and she could use it on holiday without explaining to her that she'd need to get a simcard and would then incurr roaming charges! I told her to change the order (the store didn't actually appear to have any ipads in stock, they took a credit card payment and promised to deliver) or better yet get a refund and we'd go to the applestore together. The store ammended her order to a 16GB Wifi only model and refunded £70 to her card so that she'd paid £389 as they didn't want to cancel the order. So far so mildly annoying.
The real problems began when she picked the ipad up it turned out not to be the new ipad she'd asked for but to be an iPad 2, 16gb wifi only. When i saw what she'd been sold i immediately called the store and told them that she must have been handed the wrong ipad and we would come into exchange it. The store insisted otherwise: 16gb, wifi only ipad 2 for £389. £10 less than she should have been able to get a retina ipad for.
To hear the store tell it she came in specifically asking for an ipad 2 3g model, that the store had made the order and that she'd then changed her mind to an ipad 2 wifi only model and that the store had generously adjusted the order. This is ridiculous as my mum would quite simply have walked into the store with the piece of paper upon which she'd written down "new ipad, 16gb, wifi only" following our conversation.
I asked the store how they could describe selling a 2 year old ipad for £60 more than the retail recommended price of £329 as "discount on the apple price" which is how they'd described it to my mother or how they could justify selling someone an old product they hadn't asked for at only £10 less than the retail recommended price of the brand new ipad.
They told me that £389 is a great price for an ipad 2, 16gb wifi and that i know "nothing about retail".
I asked them to do the decent thing and either exchange my mother's ipad for a new one for which i'd be willing to pay the retail reccommended price of £399 or give my mother a refund. They refused on both counts.
My mum is upset because she feels that she has bought old technology at new technology prices when all along she was trying to buy the new ipad. She feels pretty stupid even though it's not her fault and the purchase is tainted. The iPad is no longer a thing of wonder for her, instead it's a reminder that someone ripped her off.
