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"14 days to return after /order/ date"

SPNarwhal

SPNarwhal

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 22, 2009
1,260
156
illinois
Long story short, I couldn't justify buying the iPad 3 at the moment (Lots of costly car repairs that take first priority) and went to the Apple Store to return 2 of them. (Mine and my girlfriend's)

When I got there, I was talking to the employees, and they seemed pretty frustrated, and actually pretty darn rude. I informed them that I did order 4 on announcement day, and don't really know which 2 I still had since they were all the same model. (The other two were for parents, which they kept.) - They asked me multiple times why I wanted to return them, I explained that I just drove to Florida and back, and have to get a Timing, Serpentine belt, Water Cooler, Tie Rods + ends, and ball joints replaced on my car, can't really afford to keep the iPad. Then they got really confused as to why they were shipped to Florida when I'm in Illinois, which was after I already told them the story.

Anyway, to the point. A genius walked up to me and told me that they're not supposed to let me return them, since it's "14 days after ORDER" and I ordered them on March 7th (announcement day.) - So that means by the day I actually GOT the iPad 3, I would only have 5 days to return it if I wanted to.. And also, if I decided to return it within those initial 14 days that the product isn't even released yet, I wouldn't even be able to since after it's marked as ready for shipment, you can't return it..

I'm assuming that guy's wrong? Not that it really matters, probably not enough to make a thread over. But I couldn't find a recent return policy thread to jump onto, and would like some insight anyway. I rarely ever pre-order products, and this is my absolute first time returning any product to Apple. That can't possibly be their correct policy.

(They let me return them, by the way. Although extremely rude about it. Apparently they don't like when people return things.)
 
I returned my preorder from the Apple website back to them via Fedex this past Friday and they just credited my credit card today, so I assume the guy is wrong.
 
Here is the link: http://store.apple.com/us/help/returns_refund

"If you want to return an item, you can ship the item back to Apple, or bring it to any U.S. Apple Store for a full refund. For eligible Mac, iPad, iPod, and third-party products, you have up to 14 calendar days from the time you receive your item(s) to initiate a return."

In other words, the guy doesn't know what he's talking about.
 
me too

I just returned a pre-order yesterday, so that was clearly more than 14 days AFTER ORDER but less than 14 days since received. Total NQA at the apple store.
 
I also returned 2 and noticed the rudeness. I also noticed the rudeness when I purchased one on the 16th. I was just buying then. Ok why the return I ordered 2 32 gb vzw and AT&T and then changed my mind and wanted 64 gb.

I love apple and love there stock but if there store employees continue to act as if they are direct from corporate and helped develope the products themselves there customer service will cause folks to look elsewhere.

I know not all employees act this way but the 3 I recently dealt with all need an attitude check. Get over yourself every question I ask you never give a straight answer, you work at the mall.

Female at Georgetown store
Male at Annapolis store
 
Returned mine as well at the Mall of GA Apple Store. Window was supposed to be 14 days from when it was received, but the guy had to get a manager override to get it to go through because their POS system was looking at the order date to determine the window as well.

No trouble with getting it back though. Guy doing the return (and the guy that had to do the override) were very helpful and not the least bit rude.
 
Some stores have employees that seem to think they personally are there to defend Apple from what they perceive as unfairness--rather than follow store policy. It's unfortunate, and their attitude actually ends up hurting the company since the experience gets posted here. I would be tempted to call the store manager or a customer service rep and let them know what you went through.
 
Yeah, Apple is starting to feel the pain every retail operation experiences once store growth starts booming -- uneven hiring. When the retails stores first opened they were staffed by true Apple fans. Now they have to hire more "free agent" employees who regard their work as just a job rather than an Apple Evangelist. So the level of customer service and in-depth knowledge about the products now is pot luck.
 
barkomatic said:
Some stores have employees that seem to think they personally are there to defend Apple from what they perceive as unfairness--rather than follow store policy. It's unfortunate, and their attitude actually ends up hurting the company since the experience gets posted here. I would be tempted to call the store manager or a customer service rep and let them know what you went through.
Click to expand...

Yeah, at least 3 employees asked me why I was returning them, and by the 3rd time I just said "because I don't want them." and the guy asked "Okay, but is there a reason?" - I felt like I was being interrogated or something.

Anywho, not trying to revive this thread just to comment. I'm trying to be e-Green and not make a new thread for a new question.

How long do refunds typically take to show up in a bank account?
I know it's only been a day, and I'm not worried whatsoever, but curious. They still haven't shown up in my account.
 
ugahairydawgs said:
Returned mine as well at the Mall of GA Apple Store. Window was supposed to be 14 days from when it was received, but the guy had to get a manager override to get it to go through because their POS system was looking at the order date to determine the window as well.

No trouble with getting it back though. Guy doing the return (and the guy that had to do the override) were very helpful and not the least bit rude.
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me and the Apple employees were very cool.

----------
Aces2412 said:
I also returned 2 and noticed the rudeness. I also noticed the rudeness when I purchased one on the 16th. I was just buying then. Ok why the return I ordered 2 32 gb vzw and AT&T and then changed my mind and wanted 64 gb.

I love apple and love there stock but if there store employees continue to act as if they are direct from corporate and helped develope the products themselves there customer service will cause folks to look elsewhere.

I know not all employees act this way but the 3 I recently dealt with all need an attitude check. Get over yourself every question I ask you never give a straight answer, you work at the mall.

Female at Georgetown store
Male at Annapolis store
Click to expand...

SPNarwhal said:
Yeah, at least 3 employees asked me why I was returning them, and by the 3rd time I just said "because I don't want them." and the guy asked "Okay, but is there a reason?" - I felt like I was being interrogated or something.

Anywho, not trying to revive this thread just to comment. I'm trying to be e-Green and not make a new thread for a new question.

How long do refunds typically take to show up in a bank account?
I know it's only been a day, and I'm not worried whatsoever, but curious. They still haven't shown up in my account.
Click to expand...

That's usually what I say when I return something. There's no point in trying to give them an explanation, just tell them you don't want it anymore.
 
In a store the order date is generally the date you received the item so that may explain why there systems are set up that way.

I would just bring a printout of the policy and hand it to the sales person if the tell you its from the order date.

The person helping me at the counter may ask the reason for the return. I give it. If anyone else asks, I ignore them. If the manager comes out and asks I say, "I have a 14 day no questions asked return".

If they insist on something more, I ignore them.
 
They are def wrong. The return date starts when you receive item.

Refund took 4-5 business days on the ipad3 I returned. I may have to do that again but since I'm getting same exact model, it will be even exchange.
 
Aces2412 said:
I know not all employees act this way but the 3 I recently dealt with all need an attitude check. Get over yourself every question I ask you never give a straight answer, you work at the mall
Click to expand...

Yeah i know that feel! Nothing worse than a customer service with an attitude.
My experience, the pretty one ( specially the pretty male! ) tend to give more attitude and arrogance tone.. Who do they think they are lol a supermodel?? Its a computer store for god sake not a runway! Dont give me that fierce look! I just wanna give you money and take my macbook.. Even a model cant top their attitude.. Sometimes i feel i will be more satisfied if there's a robot or vending machine just to get something.

But fortunatelly there are still few good one i believe. Last time this genius guy help me transfer my screen protector from old to new ipad and did it perfectly. He even tried to transfer the "wet install" bse back skin which unfortunatelly didnt go well. I wrote a good feedback for him afterward hopefully the manager sees his top notch service.

Bring back the geeky n humble one Apple! :)
 
I returned one on Monday-- the system seemed to indicate I was outside my return window, but the employee seemed to indicate that the system wasn't set up to accommodate preordered items. She knew it was eligible for return but still had to get a manager to override in order to process the return.

(returned it because I decided I'd prefer an LTE model. My first thought was that I'd have to sell my iPad at a loss-- really glad Apple has that 14 day return window, saved me some trouble and some money.)
 
Well, I guess I'll throw in my rude genius story too.

I went in to try to get an exchange for another unit because of the yellow tint issue. I go in and book an appointment to see a genius and in ten minutes, she walks up to me.

As soon as she hears me say the word "iPad", she rolls her eyes and sarcastically says "and how many new iPads did you buy and would like to return?" I figured the sarcastic tone was kind of rude but didn't put two and two together and at that point, I was just trying to explain the tint issue anyway. Yes, I am Asian btw ;)
 
Reimer said:
Well, I guess I'll throw in my rude genius story too.

I went in to try to get an exchange for another unit because of the yellow tint issue. I go in and book an appointment to see a genius and in ten minutes, she walks up to me.

As soon as she hears me say the word "iPad", she rolls her eyes and sarcastically says "and how many new iPads did you buy and would like to return?" I figured the sarcastic tone was kind of rude but didn't put two and two together and at that point, I was just trying to explain the tint issue anyway. Yes, I am Asian btw ;)
Click to expand...

Lol... I am waiting to see pics of a guy with a hand truck full of iPads.
 
I exchanged my new iPad at the Genius Bar yesterday because of dust under the screen. The store person gave me a new one but said it was a one off exception and that if the replacement was worse, then too bad for me... These were mass produced in the millions so my problem was too minor and they don't usually consider it a fault!

Not the first time I've encountered the stereotypical arrogant Apple Store staff!..:(
 
jltj said:
I exchanged my new iPad at the Genius Bar yesterday because of dust under the screen. The store person gave me a new one but said it was a one off exception and that if the replacement was worse, then too bad for me... These were mass produced in the millions so my problem was too minor and they don't usually consider it a fault!

Not the first time I've encountered the stereotypical arrogant Apple Store staff!..:(
Click to expand...

I was told the same thing when it came to the yellow tint issue but as long as you're within the 14 day period, I don't think it matters.
 
I just started the return process online for my iPad. Decided to go with a 32gb instead of the 16gb I ordered during preorder. Anyway, I got mine on launch day, and when I went online it said I had until April 1 to initiate a return. It was simple to do and they even sent me a prepaid FedEx tag, so it's free to ship it back.

I love Apple.
 
Eric8199 said:
I just started the return process online for my iPad. Decided to go with a 32gb instead of the 16gb I ordered during preorder. Anyway, I got mine on launch day, and when I went online it said I had until April 1 to initiate a return. It was simple to do and they even sent me a prepaid FedEx tag, so it's free to ship it back.

I love Apple.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was easy, I just did that as well with an AT&T version I got for a family member, also going to switch to a Verizon.

Note to everyone shipping back a return, make sure you get a receipt when you drop it off.
 
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