iPad mini Won an iPad mini (shipped from Amazon) - Apple store exchange?

coolbreeze · Jul 22, 2013

So I participated in a web conference on some enterprise software. The company I work for is looking to go with a software partner for some expensive software, so I logged into the webex meeting.

At the end, they said (to my surprise) that they were giving away an iPad mini to one lucky participant. I've never won a thing in my life, but lo-and-behold, they pulled my name out of a hat.

I got an email later that said they were sending me an iPad mini (black, 16gig base version). I was skeptical until they forwarded me the Amazon confirmation with tracking.

It will be here on Wed.

While I'm happy to have a free base mini, I really would like to pay to upgrade it to a 32gig LTE version.

Will the Apple store entertain an exchange + payment on my end (obviously) for a sealed mini from Amazon? I really hope so.

Thanks.

old-wiz · Jul 22, 2013

Usually, when you return things bought from resellers, you have to return it to the reseller. Apple will not accept a return for something you bought from Amazon, so it's unlikely they would allow a "trade".

coolbreeze · Jul 22, 2013

old-wiz said:
Usually, when you return things bought from resellers, you have to return it to the reseller. Apple will not accept a return for something you bought from Amazon, so it's unlikely they would allow a "trade".

Well I did just this years ago with a MBP I bought from Amazon, so I thought I'd ask about the iPad. I can't return it to Amazon because I didn't purchase it. Was free.

I'll try anyway. It will be sealed and brand new, and knowing Apple they probably will just let me do it and enjoy the additional $350+ I will hand over to them.

mcdj · Jul 22, 2013

How will the Apple store manager know the sealed box you brought in actually has an iPad inside it, without opening the box?

Nefarious people have gotten craftier with shrink wrapping machines since iPads came on the scene, and I'm sure Apple's seen every trick in the book.

coolbreeze · Jul 22, 2013

mcdj said:
How will the Apple store manager know the sealed box you brought in actually has an iPad inside it, without opening the box?

Nefarious people have gotten craftier with shrink wrapping machines since iPads came on the scene, and I'm sure Apple's seen every trick in the book.

Lol. I could print the shipping notification from Amazon.

Ah well. I can't have a non-GPS tablet. If Apple gives me a wall of grief, I'll just sell it and get the Nexus 7.2.

No biggie. If Apple wants more money, they will play ball. If not, I don't care. I love Android equally, just trying to pay more to get a better model.

Cool with any outcome.

djfmf · Jul 23, 2013

The iPad has to come from an Apple store. I win iPads from Dave and busters and apple won't take store credit on them because the iPads Dave and busters give out have different serials, probably bought a discounted prices. You can do serial checks on apples website and it can tell whether or not it can take it back.

coolbreeze · Jul 23, 2013

djfmf said:
The iPad has to come from an Apple store. I win iPads from Dave and busters and apple won't take store credit on them because the iPads Dave and busters give out have different serials, probably bought a discounted prices. You can do serial checks on apples website and it can tell whether or not it can take it back.

The invoice from Amazon says it was $339, over MSRP so it wasn't discounted.

Where is this serial number returnability site located?

ramram55 · Jul 23, 2013

If you made it work last time, it maybe this time will be also, I would say it is a miracle, if they do.
You have a back up plan to get the nexus then go for it.

ritmomundo · Jul 23, 2013

I think you can return it to Amazon (as a gift). They'll give you store credit, and you can buy the model you want.

Or you can tell the Apple employee that it was a gift, and that you want a different model. They may do the same process (store credit).

Worst case, you can sell it on Craigslist, and use the cash towards the model you want.

batting1000 · Jul 23, 2013

mcdj said:
How will the Apple store manager know the sealed box you brought in actually has an iPad inside it, without opening the box?

Nefarious people have gotten craftier with shrink wrapping machines since iPads came on the scene, and I'm sure Apple's seen every trick in the book.

A "brand new" sealed Mac Mini 2012 model I bought a couple weeks ago from Amazon (sold and shipped by Amazon) came with non-Apple RAM and a bad RAM slot. Had to return it to Amazon and then buy one directly from Apple.

Breaking Good · Jul 23, 2013

coolbreeze said:
While I'm happy to have a free base mini, I really would like to pay to upgrade it to a 32gig LTE version.

Will the Apple store entertain an exchange + payment on my end (obviously) for a sealed mini from Amazon? I really hope so.

Thanks.

I have heard of people having success doing this. The important thing is to do it quickly (don't wait a month) and leave the box unopened.

charlituna · Jul 23, 2013

old-wiz said:
Usually, when you return things bought from resellers, you have to return it to the reseller. Apple will not accept a return for something you bought from Amazon, so it's unlikely they would allow a "trade".

Correct. You can ask but don't get upset if you are refused. Because the general rule of thumb is that all returns even to exchange, have to go back to the company/store it came from.

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coolbreeze said:
Lol. I could print the shipping notification from Amazon.

That proves nothing. I can fake a shipping notification for anything.

Lucky for you then don't charge for open box items. So when the manager, if they decide to let you return it, opens it to prove what's inside, you won't lose any value. And they likely will.

You are more likely to run into issues of them having approved this give away on the condition that the serials are non returnable and the system knowing this and having no option for anyone to override.

old-wiz · Jul 23, 2013

batting1000 said:
A "brand new" sealed Mac Mini 2012 model I bought a couple weeks ago from Amazon (sold and shipped by Amazon) came with non-Apple RAM and a bad RAM slot. Had to return it to Amazon and then buy one directly from Apple.

I would have thought that Sold by Amazon would be a real "brand new", not something broken and opened.

batting1000 · Jul 23, 2013

old-wiz said:
I would have thought that Sold by Amazon would be a real "brand new", not something broken and opened.

Same here. I had a gift card for Amazon which was why I did it. The first boot was fine, but the next day, I had problems where it'd beep three times when I powered it on and it randomly rebooted several times. It eventually wouldn't even boot up. Apple told me it had RAM they'd never seen before and that it looked like their RAM but didn't have their logo/branding.

old-wiz · Jul 24, 2013

batting1000 said:
Same here. I had a gift card for Amazon which was why I did it. The first boot was fine, but the next day, I had problems where it'd beep three times when I powered it on and it randomly rebooted several times. It eventually wouldn't even boot up. Apple told me it had RAM they'd never seen before and that it looked like their RAM but didn't have their logo/branding.

WOW! I am shocked that Amazon would do anything like this. It's a good thing I would never buy a Mac or iPad from Amazon anyway. How can Amazon sell "new" something that is obviously not new?

batting1000 · Jul 24, 2013

old-wiz said:
WOW! I am shocked that Amazon would do anything like this. It's a good thing I would never buy a Mac or iPad from Amazon anyway. How can Amazon sell "new" something that is obviously not new?

Yeah, I was surprised considering I'd never had any issues with Amazon in the past. The Genius at the store gave me a printout which described the problem and mentioned how they attempted to fix it and it still didn't work right, so I included that in the return package. Ended up just buying the Mac mini right there at the store and used the college discount on AppleCare

Apple offered to fix it for me under the warranty, but after what happened, I figured I should just buy one from Apple instead.

old-wiz · Jul 24, 2013

I hope you were able to get Amazon to refund your money!

I wonder how much stuff purchased on Amazon is not really "new" but rather returned/repackaged as new/modified/simply used?

darngooddesign · Jul 24, 2013

coolbreeze said:
Will the Apple store entertain an exchange + payment on my end (obviously) for a sealed mini from Amazon? I really hope so.

Did you ever call Apple to get an accurate answer?

iosuser · Jul 25, 2013

old-wiz said:
WOW! I am shocked that Amazon would do anything like this. It's a good thing I would never buy a Mac or iPad from Amazon anyway. How can Amazon sell "new" something that is obviously not new?

old-wiz said:
I hope you were able to get Amazon to refund your money!

I wonder how much stuff purchased on Amazon is not really "new" but rather returned/repackaged as new/modified/simply used?

Chances are whoever bought that defective Mac Mini unknowingly bought it from a third party seller. I don't doubt third party sellers will sell used or opened items as new, but not Amazon directly, which is why I've never bought anything other than phone cases and such sold by third parties, and only if it's fulfilled by Amazon.

And Amazon does not sell iPad Mini, only by third party sellers. I don't believe you can return a gift and receive Amazon credit on items sold by third parties.

old-wiz · Jul 25, 2013

iosuser said:
Chances are whoever bought that defective Mac Mini unknowingly bought it from a third party seller. I don't doubt third party sellers will sell used or opened items as new, but not Amazon directly, which is why I've never bought anything other than phone cases and such sold by third parties, and only if it's fulfilled by Amazon.

And Amazon does not sell iPad Mini, only by third party sellers. I don't believe you can return a gift and receive Amazon credit on items sold by third parties.

Right..there's the 3rd party sellers on Amazon and I avoid them like..well...windows machines. Seriously, I don't trust the "fulfilled by Amazon" deals - they are simply ot to be trusted.

readymade524 · Jul 25, 2013

batting1000 said:
Same here. I had a gift card for Amazon which was why I did it. The first boot was fine, but the next day, I had problems where it'd beep three times when I powered it on and it randomly rebooted several times. It eventually wouldn't even boot up. Apple told me it had RAM they'd never seen before and that it looked like their RAM but didn't have their logo/branding.

Ram in new Apple computers are not branded as Apple ram, or at least hasn't been for quite some time. Your Mac Mini likely just had a bad ram slot from the factory. Not sure why you were told it wasn't their ram.

batting1000 · Jul 25, 2013

readymade524 said:
Ram in new Apple computers are not branded as Apple ram, or at least hasn't been for quite some time. Your Mac Mini likely just had a bad ram slot from the factory. Not sure why you were told it wasn't their ram.

That's what they told me. Regardless of what hey told, I had actually removed and reinserted the RAM several times prior to going to the Apple Store and it wasn't green like I've seen in every Mac mini video I've watched, but it was black. I'm not sure if the Genius meant to say logo or if he meant it as some sort of marking or whatnot that signifies that it's Apple RAM.

Mr. Buzzcut · Jul 25, 2013

batting1000 said:
A "brand new" sealed Mac Mini 2012 model I bought a couple weeks ago from Amazon (sold and shipped by Amazon) came with non-Apple RAM and a bad RAM slot. Had to return it to Amazon and then buy one directly from Apple.

I don't think any of my Apple PCs have Apple RAM. iMac, couple MBPs bought from Apple and Best Buy.

As far as the Mini goes, I say it's worth trying to swap it.

Lindsford · Jul 25, 2013

coolbreeze said:
Well I did just this years ago with a MBP I bought from Amazon, so I thought I'd ask about the iPad. I can't return it to Amazon because I didn't purchase it. Was free.

I'll try anyway. It will be sealed and brand new, and knowing Apple they probably will just let me do it and enjoy the additional $350+ I will hand over to them.

Amazon is authorized to resell MacBooks.

Amazon is NOT an authorized seller of iPads. They sell them exclusively through 3rd parties and their open box Warehousedeals.

Night Spring · Jul 26, 2013

batting1000 said:
That's what they told me. Regardless of what hey told, I had actually removed and reinserted the RAM several times prior to going to the Apple Store and it wasn't green like I've seen in every Mac mini video I've watched, but it was black. I'm not sure if the Genius meant to say logo or if he meant it as some sort of marking or whatnot that signifies that it's Apple RAM.

I think there are probably some types of "Apple authorized" RAM that Apple uses in its manufacturing process, and what the Genius likely meant was that the RAM he found was not one that was installed in the factory by Apple.

iPad mini Won an iPad mini (shipped from Amazon) - Apple store exchange?

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