Apple screwed me out of $830

[oliverades]

This is a lesson in always doing your trade in in person.

I traded in my old iPhone 12 Pro Max with a Verizon carrier deal for the new iPhone 15 Pro Max. My screen had a tiny crack on the bezel of the old iPhone, but that should be fine - according to the iPhone trade in questionnaire, I’m eligible for $113 through Apple, or up to $830 through Verizon, even with a minor crack. So I send in my device, but get a revised value for $0. I tried to appeal it but they insist it’s worth $0. (I made a post about this a while ago with a different account, they listed “shattered chin place” as the reason)

So I get it sent back and take it to the Apple Store, and they do their own analysis with their trade in MRI, and they say it’s worth $830 through the Verizon trade in (the same exact deal I sent it in for in the first place), but they can’t reapply it retroactively because it’s been more than 14 days since purchase.

They said that they could make an exception and I can return my new 15 Pro Max past the 14 day deadline, at which point I can just buy a new 15 pro max and trade in my old phone with that purchase, getting the full trade in amount.

The kicker - they will not and cannot do a return unless I have the cardboard box the phone came in, which I no longer have.

So now I can’t return my new phone, am being charged an extra $830 I can’t afford, even though my device was WORTH $830 and someone messed up in the trade-in department. And there’s seemingly nothing I can do.

Does anyone have any advice or tips?

 

[Bigwaff]

How did Apple screw you? Because you need the original packaging for the 15 Pro Max?

 

[RokinAmerica]

Pix would help. One person's version of a "small crack on the bezel" can be another persons grand canyon.

 

[minik]

Wait, I think I read similar post on Reddit days ago.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Unless I am misunderstanding, you sent the used phone using Verizon's trade in process and are mad that Apple won't rectify the situation that is not of their doing.

 

[oliverades]

Unless I am misunderstanding, you sent the used phone using Verizon's trade in process and are mad that Apple won't rectify the situation that is not of their doing.

Nope! This is Apple’s trade in process. All done through Apple. They work with Verizon (and all the other carriers) for the carrier deals, but the trade in is processed by Apple.

Again, to be clear, in store they determined that it SHOULD be worth the full $830. They ran both internal diagnostics and took photos of the front and back of my device, and it should be $830. It falls under these conditions from the trade in questionnaire at checkout.

Pix would help. One person's version of a "small crack on the bezel" can be another persons grand canyon.

I’ve also attached a picture.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Nope! This is Apple’s trade in process. All done through Apple. They work with Verizon (and all the other carriers) for the carrier deals, but the trade in is processed by Apple.

Again, to be clear, in store they determined that it SHOULD be worth the full $830. They ran both internal diagnostics and took photos of the front and back of my device, and it should be $830. It falls under these conditions from the trade in questionnaire at checkout.

I’ve also attached a picture.

Apple hired a company called Phobos to do trade-ins not done in person, if I am not mistaken. They have a very bad reputation of screwing people over.

You threw away the box. That is on you, not Apple. Apple would have made it right for you if you hadn't done that.

 

[oliverades]

How did Apple screw you? Because you need the original packaging for the 15 Pro Max?

Because according to all their tests my phone is worth $830, but someone doing their trade ins falsely flagged it as having a “broken chin plate” (which is not an iPhone part), and there is absolutely 0 recourse for rectifying that mistake. I can’t even return my old phone because it’s past the 14 day window and I don’t have the box (despite the fact that it took them 25 days to tell me I wouldn’t be getting any trade in value after all). So l’m being forced into paying the $830 out of pocket, even though it was their mistake that flagged my phone as worth $0 in the first place.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Yeah this is all due to Apple I bet. I took advantage of this deal to get rid of my 13 Pro Max that had a similar chip on the front and back. I mentioned this to the Verizon employee I was working with at the time. She documented it as cracked and I proceeded with the upgrade. I returned the Pro Max to the store and she was like, "why does it mention a crack on the front and back?" I showed her, and she noted it again.

I got notification a week or two later that I received the full $830. Sorry OP, Apple should be better than that in their store.

 

[JPack]

Why did you dump the box?

 

[kmm333]

Buy a box on eBay or get one from a friend. Hopefully the serials don’t need to match.

 

[snak-atak]

How did Apple screw you? Because you need the original packaging for the 15 Pro Max?

That’s why I NEVER throw away anything until the deal is done!

 

[BeatCrazy]

Phobio strikes yet again.

 

[JPack]

Buy a box on eBay or get one from a friend. Hopefully the serials don’t need to match.

Based on my experience, they need to match.

For anybody thinking about throwing away their box (why even consider doing that?), know that Apple's return policy is very lenient. Their 15 day policy is effectively 30 days. Unless you really piss off their retail specialists, they almost always let you return it.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

OP: your fellow consumers should have some empathy. I bet their takes would be very different if they were in your shoes. While no surprise, some seem to be blaming YOU for this. 🙄

If you feel wronged by any seller, hold the grudge and never give the seller another cent. There’s plenty of fish in both phone maker and cell service seas. Don’t reward bad service. If you face true “can’t afford” hardship, sell the phone to someone else to minimize the loss and bail out of the walled garden now. Use the old phone on any service other than Verizon then replace it with a non-Apple phone when you can.

Or, if this is just a big venting session, reward 2 very rich corporations bad customer service choices by paying them the cash they expect so they have no way to even notice any kind of service error on their part.

If the former, both are far too rich to miss you but if many would react similarly they might eventually notice and improve service policy for special cases like yours.

Nothing speaks louder than 💰💰💰. Especially if more than only you vote with their dollars when bumping into similar negative policy decisions made over fostering goodwill. It’s not always best to maximize shareholder ROI in every opportunity… UNLESS customers will whine loudly but keep right on raining record revenue upon those who have done them wrong.

If you can’t go at this as hard as that, my next move would be attempting to climb the customer service ladders at both Verizon and Apple until you get a more favorable resolution. Seek supervisor, tell the tale and then seek their supervisor if you get the same rejection. Keep trying to climb until this is resolved or you reach a gatekeeper who will block you from any further attempts to get help.

Maybe you’ll get lucky at some point up the ladder where someone chooses customer goodwill over hard interpretations of policy (AKA “Special case exception”). At $1,000+ every couple of years and a $1,000+ in service revenue every year, maybe someone will choose your future brand loyalty potential over present revenue maximization? Else, don’t reward them with ANY future business.

If ladder-climbing doesn’t get you anywhere, seek out any publicity channel to tell your story in a way likely to generate bad publicity. Consumer advocates love poor consumer “David” vs. enormously-rich corporation “Goliath” tales where the wrong seems obvious to any objective viewer, listener or reader. Bad publicity with reach can get prompt remedies. Goliaths generally detest looking bad/greedy for the many… especially over a paltry (to them) $830.

 

[JamieLannister]

Lesson learned: always take care of your devices so you won’t have to go thru any trade-in issues.

 

[CM-F]

Well, just don’t buy online, don’t use mail in.
eCommrrce has no value for the customer.
Just visit the nearest and trusted retail location where they either take your order and confirm it right away including your rebuy value or don’t.
No eCommrrce surprise, no hassle, no underpaid drivers and call center agents of sub contractors.

 

[RokinAmerica]

I have to be honest, although I have saved many boxes ( old MB/GPU, I put in old box), I have also thrown away many. I have never had to return or RMA anything tech, so I was not aware this could be an issue. Lesson learned here. Thanks to those that edumacated me. 👍

 

[CMoore515]

Wait, I think I read similar post on Reddit days ago.

Yeah, I did too.

 

[matsan]

Why not sell the phone through something like Craig’s List? Can’t be in the interest of Apple or the carrier to give you money for the old device?

I just sold my two year old 12 mini on a local auction site here in Sweden and got paid $275 whereas Apple trade in on apple.se would offer a maximum of $190 for that device.

 

[rspeaker]

Hmm. Hmm. I worked in Apple Retail for 9 years, did hundreds if not thousands of trade-in inspections in-store.

That crack/chip at the top would have been a denial from me.

That being said, lots of my peers would say phones didn't have cracks to get the customer the full value. Now, this was fine until the end of the month when we'd get a report saying the store approved $50k in trade-ins but only $35k met the criteria, so the store was gonna be dinged $15k. It was never traced to specific employees, though, so employees didn't have much incentive to not give the full value for broken trade-ins (besides wanting to abide by company policy and not cost Apple money.)

I've been away from Retail for several years, but I wonder if the store employee is counting it as full value simply because they don't care, and not because your phone actually meets trade-in criteria for full value.

 

[Darren.h]

The whole trade in thing sucks. And the average Full featured phone has gotten too expensive.

I suspect in the future a whole lot of people will hold onto their old phones until it breaks.

Much like the HUGE 30 percent decline in new Apple Silicon Macs. The WOW factor has worn off with Apple Silicon and people have stopped upgrading cause what they currently have does the job

 

[MacProFCP]

This is a lesson in always doing your trade in in person.

I traded in my old iPhone 12 Pro Max with a Verizon carrier deal for the new iPhone 15 Pro Max. My screen had a tiny crack on the bezel of the old iPhone, but that should be fine - according to the iPhone trade in questionnaire, I’m eligible for $113 through Apple, or up to $830 through Verizon, even with a minor crack. So I send in my device, but get a revised value for $0. I tried to appeal it but they insist it’s worth $0. (I made a post about this a while ago with a different account, they listed “shattered chin place” as the reason)

So I get it sent back and take it to the Apple Store, and they do their own analysis with their trade in MRI, and they say it’s worth $830 through the Verizon trade in (the same exact deal I sent it in for in the first place), but they can’t reapply it retroactively because it’s been more than 14 days since purchase.

They said that they could make an exception and I can return my new 15 Pro Max past the 14 day deadline, at which point I can just buy a new 15 pro max and trade in my old phone with that purchase, getting the full trade in amount.

The kicker - they will not and cannot do a return unless I have the cardboard box the phone came in, which I no longer have.

So now I can’t return my new phone, am being charged an extra $830 I can’t afford, even though my device was WORTH $830 and someone messed up in the trade-in department. And there’s seemingly nothing I can do.

Does anyone have any advice or tips?

If it’s worth $830, why not sell it on eBay?

 

[ThailandToo]

If it’s worth $830, why not sell it on eBay?

It’s worth $100 on eBay. And I would say that’s a bad crack with a hole in the screen. You can see the inside of the iPhone. I am not surprised. I always save my iPhone/Apple boxes in case there are any problems. I don’t think you should be blamed by everyone but I also think you should own some accountability rather than blaming Apple. I do think Tim would screw you over as it would add maybe 1/10000000000 of 1 penny to his annual stock grant.

 

[laptech]

If what I am seeing on the pic is correct, that is not a crack in the top left corner of the screen, that is physical screen damaged, a small chunk of glass has come out of the screen. That would be an immediate denial of trade in for me if I was the one inspecting the iphone.