Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple GiveBack Question

lambertjohn

lambertjohn

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 17, 2012
1,680
1,763
So I ordered a Series 4 watch on October 15th, and it's not due to deliver to me until sometime around Nov 12th. Kinda sucks. Anyway, armed with proof of my order, I took my Series 3 watch into my local Apple store with the intention of selling it back to them for $150 credit (current value) towards my Series 4 purchase. I just figured since I already purchased the Series 4 watch, they'd go ahead and credit $150 back to my credit card. But no. The Apple lady told me they need to see the Series 4 watch and get the serial number off it in order to give me the $150 for my Series 3 watch. Ok, I get that. They're not going to just throw $150 at me without proof that I actually own a Series 4 watch. All good.

She did offer to give me a gift card on the spot, but I declined. Told her I'd wait for my Series 4 to get delivered to me and then I'd come back and get the $150 credit towards the $460 I've already spent on the watch. That is, if the GiveBack amount is still $150 in two weeks. Might be less. Seems to be going down every couple of weeks. So that got me thinking...

My local Best Buy has Series 4 watches in stock right now. If I buy one from them and take it into the Apple store and use the serial number off that watch, will that qualify me for the Apple GiveBack program and the $150 credit I've got coming for my Series 3 watch? Or do I have to buy the watch directly from Apple in order to qualify for the GiveBack credit?

Anyone been in this situation before?
 
I believe it is designed for purchases made from Apple - also they can’t refund your card if you didn’t buy it from them - I believe they’ll only refund or give a gift card
 
Why not just do the Give Back online. The return box comes around the same time as your purchase, the S4, and when Apple gets the S3 back in the pre-addressed box, they credit the card you used to purchase the S4. You can keep the charger & strap.

Or use iStockNow to set an alert for when your local store has the model you want and you can do it all at once in store. And then cancel the online order.
 
Agree that it has to be purchased from Apple.

Note that the refund includes the tax they collected on the sale, so it would be $150 plus tax.

I do not think the gift card would have any tax added to it, so the refund is really a better option.
 
E3BK said:
Why not just do the Give Back online. The return box comes around the same time as your purchase, the S4, and when Apple gets the S3 back in the pre-addressed box, they credit the card you used to purchase the S4. You can keep the charger & strap.

Or use iStockNow to set an alert for when your local store has the model you want and you can do it all at once in store. And then cancel the online order.
Click to expand...
I wish I knew that before I chose the gift card option lol. Oh well, hopefully Tuesday's announcement will give me things to spend the gift card on (Fingers crossed but not holding my breath for PowerMat and AirPods!)
 
As others have said, the watch needs to be purchased at Apple for this giveback program to qualify. I did this myself. I had the watch 4, took both my watch 3 and 4 and did the give back and Apple has credit me back $250 on my credit card I used to buy the watch 4(that's what it was when I did mine). I'm glad I was wearing my watch 4 as they needed the serial number for my watch 4.
 
E3BK said:
Why not just do the Give Back online. The return box comes around the same time as your purchase, the S4, and when Apple gets the S3 back in the pre-addressed box, they credit the card you used to purchase the S4. You can keep the charger & strap.

Or use iStockNow to set an alert for when your local store has the model you want and you can do it all at once in store. And then cancel the online order.
Click to expand...

What I heard is that GiveBack online ships your watch to Brightstar, who is contracted by Apple to take mailed-in Apple products and issue credits corresponding to their value. The problem, and I've read about this in numerous posts on the Internet, is that many times Brightstar will assess your mailed-in item and come back with a value that is lower than that promised online by Apple. They'll claim the item is damaged when it's not, or doesn't work, when in fact it does, or has scratches or dings or nicks, when it doesn't, etc. etc. At which point, you have to fight them for the promised value of the item or have them send it back to you. I wan't nothing to do with that. I'd rather just walk into an Apple store and hand it over to an Apple person and get the credit Apple promised me right then and there.

What I'm probably going to do is go up the Apple store tomorrow and trade in my Series 3 for an Apple gift card, then when my Series 4 comes in, I'll go back up to the Apple store and refund it and rebuy it using the Apple gift card + credit card. Convoluted, yeah, but at least I'll get today's Apple GiveBack price for my watch and not whatever it is in two weeks (which could be $100, who knows?) Hey, money is money. Gotta get it while the getting is good! Now, if the Chinese would just hurry up and build my watch and ship it to me, life would be perfect. Until the Series 5 comes out, that is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EedyBeedyBeeps
tromboneaholic said:
It's Phobio now. Personally, I traded in 3 watches without incident.

I took photos of my watches, and the screens powered on showing the serial numbers just in case.
Click to expand...

Smart man! You're one of the lucky ones. But it's sad that you had to take pictures of your watches just so you wouldn't get screwed. Unfortunately, with Phobio and Brightstar, a deal is never really a deal. The whole mail-in GiveBack program is definitely a scam in my opinion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back