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Apple Stops Accepting Returns and Exchanges in Hong Kong Ahead of New iPhones
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Lol no exchanges either?
So if you get a lemon out of the box, its straight to the Genius Bar appointment hassle and refurb land, even with new retailbox inventory readily available?
Sounds chill/seems legit
What a privilege and an honor for such an expensive phone
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Edit I’ll keep this here anyways but Apple is allowing exchanges on defective products,
So if you get a lemon out of the box, its straight to the Genius Bar appointment hassle and refurb land, even with new retailbox inventory readily available?
Sounds chill/seems legit
What a privilege and an honor for such an expensive phone
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Edit I’ll keep this here anyways but Apple is allowing exchanges on defective products,
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That's right. Hong Kong folks are used to being 2nd class citizens anyway, doesn't hurt much to be treated the same when buying a phone.
You missed this part: "As an exception to the rule, Apple will still honor exchanges for defective products in Hong Kong at its sole discretion."
I understood it from the seller's perspective, as they are always looking to profit from demand.
My question was more geared towards the demand, which you answered somewhat. I don't quite catch the "tweaks and SIM lock" issues. What does that mean? I'm looking for why a user would go through such financial hoops to use Apple's smartphone instead of something else...
I stand corrected thanks!
Sometimes I reply off the headline alone,
Still have fun convincing the staff to do a retail exchange on a defect, something beyond the obvious “it doesnt turn on” — ymmv
I’d rather return and rebuy with no hassle
From South China Morning Post linked in the story: "The gadgetry set off a security alarm and an examination by customs officials revealed the collection of iPhone 6 and iPhone 5s models bound tightly to his chest, stomach and thighs."
That's not cool. Don't do that. You know it's not. Respect the Asian community, man.
Is there also an English version of that site.
I thought HK was bilingual so most if not all sites originating from HK are bilingual.
Thanks for your posts regarding the topic, very informative.
Been to HK once, hope to visit again one day.
Well, that's because of the restrictions they put on the models sold in China. Some say not only do they have the SIM/Carrier lock problem in mainland, Apple also configure their iPhones sold in China in a slightly different way the prohibits some apps to be installed, messages to be received and sent.
Hence, the desire of skipping over the above restrictions, iPhones sold in Hong Kong can be considered foreign goods by those in China. (Most people in Hong Kong don't care about iPhones are foreign goods or not though lol)
The thing is that there is so much on foot traffic at the border where it is impossible to get every one passing to get through dectors. Usually there is a custom officer kind of visually identifying the more likely offenders into one line and then let through the rest to speed thngs up. The photographed guy was just unlucky / inexperienced to get into the free lane.
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English sites exist but they are nit even close in accuracy and how much they cover. For electronics you can search with roman numeric model numbers, get a pretty good idea on the averge price, and then despite the shop details being in Chinese you can still use the map locator to know roughly where / which mall the shop is at. The actual stores usually have English speaking salesmen anyway.
The city is bilingual at the most important places, but since the majorty are ethinically Chinese so there are all sorts of street / layman stuff only exclusively known among Chinese speakers.
ok,, so u you gotta do run it over.. and you have a defective phone. It's surprising what u can get away with even with Apple's policies..
First look, I thought it was bombs ........... Damn!! Some people would do ANYthing to make some extra coins - lets see.... fill every openings with drugs wrapped in baggies, strapped iPhones to body, swallow crap and then on the other end ......... feel free to add to the list :-
on the other end ......... feel free to add to the list :-
It was a different kind of alarm, not a metal detector. There are no metal detectors at the land border crossing.
Have you actually read the policy? It involves sending back to the Apple online store and being sent a new one. It's not a case of going into a retail store, giving it to them, and walking out with a new one. Repairing the broken one at the Genius Bar would probably be quicker.
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Your "some say" is wrong. If you buy from an Apple Store, the phone is unlocked.
There are also no blocks on which apps can be installed, nor any blocks on messages sent and received. FaceTime audio is disabled at the request of the carriers. If you knew anything about the state of their infrastructure when the iPhone first came to China, you'd understand why. Why not reimplement it now? Good question. Maybe the encryption makes it less desirable for the Chinese to allow... There are many countries which have banned VOIP outright (Saudi Arabia among them) where FaceTime and FaceTime audio aren't available on phones for that marked. Please don't peddle exaggerations and lies.
Not stolen. Smuggle across the border because the launch in mainland China is usually a couple of weeks after HK.