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Apple Online Store ban

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DMG35 said:
OP just out of curiosity were you out of your 14 day return window on these MacBooks?
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First one. It died in the third week after purchase. Contacted AppleCare for troubleshooting and then I was was forward to AfterSales that ordered a replacement even being out of the 14 day returning period. I didn’t even requested it, they offered it right away. As well as. 100 € good will feature for the inconvenience (this was obviously reverted when I returned the third air and got refunded).
I never was rude, even having some reasons for that, considering the enormous inconvenience this whole situation was for me. I simply understand issues can happen, and everyone is doing their best.
And again, what bothers me most is being banned and not being able to know why.
I consider myself an honest, hard working person, and I was never treated like this.
I deeply value my reputation and all this is simply taking a toll on me.
 
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Apple is within its rights to not let this customer purchase online. However, the correct and decent thing to do is to inform him as to why they have made that decision. Apple seems to have a habit of "forgetting" that simple and honest communication is the best way to operate, whether in business or in life in general.
 
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7422736m said:
Air nr 1 died out of nothing (case opened with AppleCare and after troubleshooting, they started a replacement)
Air nr 2 was bent and had randomd reboots. One time it was charging and noticed a burning smell from the USB-C port. Never turned on
Air nr 3 was bent - left bottom foot was impossible to lay on the desk surface. It was at least 1 - 1,5 difference.

Having this kind of issues, I am curious if any of the forum users would keep any of the Airs.
I am deeply disgusted to see that Apple's customers tend to doubt other customers and simply tak every decision coming from Apple, no matter how unfair it might be.
Obviously, every private company has the right to pick its customers.
I simply expected a serious company as Apple claims to be, to be a bit more transparent and disclosing with its customers the reason they are being prevented from placing orders.
It's a basic right, in no means it forces Apple to disclose any inside information. Every information that regards a certain customer, has to be disclosed to that given customer.
We are used to that kind of treatment in the EU.
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Do you live in the EU and are you talking about an EU Apple online store? If yes isn’t it possible to request under the GDPR that the store sends you a full disclosure of all the data they have on file about you ?
 
7422736m said:
Air nr 1 died out of nothing (case opened with AppleCare and after troubleshooting, they started a replacement)
Air nr 2 was bent and had randomd reboots. One time it was charging and noticed a burning smell from the USB-C port. Never turned on
Air nr 3 was bent - left bottom foot was impossible to lay on the desk surface. It was at least 1 - 1,5 difference.

Having this kind of issues, I am curious if any of the forum users would keep any of the Airs.
I am deeply disgusted to see that Apple's customers tend to doubt other customers and simply tak every decision coming from Apple, no matter how unfair it might be.
Obviously, every private company has the right to pick its customers.
I simply expected a serious company as Apple claims to be, to be a bit more transparent and disclosing with its customers the reason they are being prevented from placing orders.
It's a basic right, in no means it forces Apple to disclose any inside information. Every information that regards a certain customer, has to be disclosed to that given customer.
We are used to that kind of treatment in the EU.
Click to expand...

damn, just sounds like a string of bad luck
 
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7422736m said:
I don't know about you, but I deeply value the money I spend on my purchases.
You have 3 buttons in a case, 2 click, the third doesn't.
Why should I keep a 65 euro case with this inconsistency?
This is a basic right customers have.
And you know what? If you watch thos lovely keynotes, claiming the perfectly crafted products Apple makes, you should have already came to the conclusion that is Apple who creates such demanding customers.
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Absolutely, you have a basic right as a customer to keep returning, and Apple has respected that right.

Apple also have a basic right to not to business with you, and they are exercising this right. They also have a right to not have to provide you with reasons/justifications, and they are exercising this right.

Seems fair.
 
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7422736m said:
First one. It died in the third week after purchase. Contacted AppleCare for troubleshooting and then I was was forward to AfterSales that ordered a replacement even being out of the 14 day returning period. I didn’t even requested it, they offered it right away. As well as. 100 € good will feature for the inconvenience (this was obviously reverted when I returned the third air and got refunded).
I never was rude, even having some reasons for that, considering the enormous inconvenience this whole situation was for me. I simply understand issues can happen, and everyone is doing their best.
And again, what bothers me most is being banned and not being able to know why.
I consider myself an honest, hard working person, and I was never treated like this.
I deeply value my reputation and all this is simply taking a toll on me.
Click to expand...

I wouldn’t sweat it too much. I think a little time will pass and the ban will just go away. Have you tried buying something and not using your AppleID? Just don’t sign in and order as a guest and see if that works.
 
Similar to casinos who ban smart people who can count cards in their head. They make the rules and even though you are acting legally and not cheating, if you are beating them, even though they have all the advantages, they get pissy and throw you out. I disagree with such actions but what can you do.
 
bknaepen said:
Do you live in the EU and are you talking about an EU Apple online store? If yes isn’t it possible to request under the GDPR that the store sends you a full disclosure of all the data they have on file about you ?
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I submitted a request form on a privacy matters pages at apple website. Did it a week ago but haven’t got any reply til now.
DMG35 said:
I wouldn’t sweat it too much. I think a little time will pass and the ban will just go away. Have you tried buying something and not using your AppleID? Just don’t sign in and order as a guest and see if that works.
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I can’t get my payment methods accepted on Apple Online Store.
It seems Apple checks Apple ID snd maybe CC holder.
 
7422736m said:
We are used to that kind of treatment in the EU.
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Ah, this explains it. What about your history with other companies? A lot of big companies subscribe to services that report difficult customers across a wide spectrum of sellers. So if Apple sees you are repeating this pattern not just with Apple but with all the other sellers you do business with then they'll ban you just because you've demonstrated that you're one of those that they can't satisfy no matter how much they bend over backwards for you.
 
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No issues at all with other companies. I use to shop at amazon, never had any issues.
 
I mean, that’s a lot of returns. I have only had return one thing ever. And it was like 5 years old at the time (screen de-lam). And they fixed me up real good. Unless you’re MKBHD the odds of needing to return handfuls of devices each year should theoretically be astronomical in my experience. But hey, maybe you won the worst lottery you could win. Maybe you’re fussy. Not my place to decide, but it sounds like they have?
 
how complicated is this...get it non-BTO in person, have a friend buy it, or refurb. revisit in a year.
 
applesed said:
how complicated is this...get it non-BTO in person, have a friend buy it, or refurb. revisit in a year.
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Yes, there are several ways of getting an air.
The thing here is that I am an hard working person, and I deeply value my reputation of an honest person, and this situation makes me terribly uncomfortable and disheartened.
 
beastly said:
Unless you’re MKBHD the odds of needing to return handfuls of devices each year should theoretically be astronomical in my experience.
Click to expand...

I doubt he returns anything. I'm sure he gets demo's from time to time, which of course is different.
For things he extensively tests, I'm sure they buy and then re-sell them.
 
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Quick question:
When you contacted AppleCare, did you get a confirmation e-mail that your ΜΒ Air was defective and it was flagged for replacement?

If not, you may fall victim to the call centre advisors trying to prop up their sales. what happens is that, if you're within the eligibility period to return the item for a full refund, is easier and more beneficial for them(at employee level) to cancel your previous sale, mark it as "buyer changed his mind" rather than "defective unit", and then register a completely new sale under your name. You get a new MB Air (you still have to return the previous one), and they add an extra sale to their books. In your eyes, it seems like just a legit replacement of a defective product, and you praise Apple for their amazing aftersales care, but in your account, it registers like you returned an item, and then you bought another one.

Usually, this would not be a problem because it would happen only once per customer, and he will never know, but you got unlucky and happened 3 times. So the system now will show that you ordered and cancelled the same item three times and now your account flagged as “suspicious”. It may not ever show that these items were defective.

What makes me very suspicious of foul play here, is that if the 14-days return period lapsed, they shouldn't offer you the option to return the item. they would normally ask to inspect it first and offer you a repair or exchange.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
If memory serves they have a policy of not matching over a certain percentage.

Honestly I just hate Apple stores now anyways. They are such a shell of what they were 15 years ago in terms of customer service and experience
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Yes, they only match up to 10%.

I agree the service has gone downhill in recent years. They used to be more friendly and more efficient.

Where do you usually shop for Apple stuff? I can't imagine buying expensive stuff online, especially from a place that doesn't accept returns.
 
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cygy2k said:
This isn't unheard of and is actually something all major retailers do. Best Buy, Amazon, Target, etc all do this and many actually have a third-party that uses algorithms to monitor return habits and places various types of flags on accounts in real-time. Some of those flags are informational, some require manual review, and some are hard stops on buying or returning something online. You most commonly hear about people getting hit with these bans by Best Buy and occasionally Amazon as both appear to have tighter threshold than others.

If you didn't do anything wrong (not assuming either way), yes it can feel unfair. However, people don't understand the amount of fraud, loss, etc that comes with online retail so they've had to resort to various countermeasures. Just like you might get the occasional bad purchase, they may flag the "innocent" buyer.

Use MR as an example. Each time a new product comes out, or like with iPhones multiple varieties come out, people always post about how they're going to buy some and return whichever they don't like. They have every right to do that. But, Apple also has every right to monitor for that and if a person does it often without having enough normal, non returned purchases, they can decide the cost isn't worth the customer. Just because you kept one doesn't mean the profit offsets the 3-4 you've returned over the past year or two.
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You are speaking to the "retail equation" I think... but it does not prevent a customer from making a purchase, it just bans them from making returns after so many returns/purchases and bases it off the actual dollar amounts of the purchases.

I wonder if Apple in the EU uses something different that goes further than a temporary ban on returns and actually bans purchases?
 
When I worked at Apple 15 years ago we had a customer come in to buy a laptop. He demanded we open the box so he could inspect it. We told him he would have to pay for it and if there was something wrong we would return it. He bought it , opened the box and booted it up and said he saw some dead pixels. Me, the head genius and store manager and did not see any dead pixels. We returned it and brought out another one to the same result. After third one did not satisfy the customer we did the return and the manager apologized, that we could not produce a laptop to his satisfaction.
 
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jahall05 said:
You are speaking to the "retail equation" I think... but it does not prevent a customer from making a purchase, it just bans them from making returns after so many returns/purchases and bases it off the actual dollar amounts of the purchases.

I wonder if Apple in the EU uses something different that goes further than a temporary ban on returns and actually bans purchases?
Click to expand...
You can’t ban somebody from making the return here. You are allowed to open and inspect goods purchased online (to the same level you could inspect and test the goods in store) and return for any reason. This is a right we have by law as consumers in the UK and in the EU
 
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