Brown box or new retail box?

[Stealthipad]

They are lying. Apple will not replace a defective iPad with an iPad returned by someone else.

If the iPad is over a month old and has a "problem", you think they are going to hand you a brand new never sued device?

SHEEP!

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Not before refurbishing it, at least, which includes a screen replacement.

If in the eyes of the Apple tech, the iPad is acceptable to them, they do NOT replace the screen. These peoiple know that there is someone who will not suffer from OCD and will accept a less than blue white screen.

 

[Blorzoga]

If the iPad is over a month old and has a "problem", you think they are going to hand you a brand new never sued device?

SHEEP!

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If in the eyes of the Apple tech, the iPad is acceptable to them, they do NOT replace the screen. These peoiple know that there is someone who will not suffer from OCD and will accept a less than blue white screen.

So Apple employes are now diagnosing people with OCD ?

 

[Defender2010]

My local geeks say that these brown box units do contain some returns so you are really getting what someone else rejected.

Apple has no shortage of the refurbs with it's OCD buyers. They simply give you what the others rejected till it sticks or you get tired of trading.

Well your local geeks are wrong! Returns are "refurbished" completely, and there is no way of telling what someone else rejected the unit for....technically yes, someone may have bought one, returned it for an issue but the way you put it, it is boxed up in a brown box and pushed out to front of house again to the geniuses. Are you joking?

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If the iPad is over a month old and has a "problem", you think they are going to hand you a brand new never sued device?

SHEEP!

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If in the eyes of the Apple tech, the iPad is acceptable to them, they do NOT replace the screen. These peoiple know that there is someone who will not suffer from OCD and will accept a less than blue white screen.

...and you know Apple tech do you? Your statements are absurd!

 

[spiderman0616]

Honestly, I have not had good luck with brown box units. I don't have any conspiracy theories on whether or not I think they're new/refurbed/returned units because I've heard all kinds of different opinions on that. But I do feel like the new retail units have less problems.

My iPhone 4 had a wifi problem when I first got it, so I exchanged it. The subsequent units I got after that all had physical blemishes and they were all brown box replacements. (I say unitS because one got a dead pixel problem and one I dropped on tile and had to have replaced.) I'm not saying they were all malfunctioning. There were things the genius could have tried for my wifi issue but just decided to swap it instead. But they definitely all had physical blemishes. Nothing that was a deal breaker.

My original iPad 2 started getting dust under the screen after about 2 weeks so I replaced it, and I went through 3 more. Every time they gave me another one, I would take it home and realize that it had bigger chunks of dust under the screen than the last one. A couple of times, they were chunks I could see with the screen on. I ended up regretting even starting the return cycle to begin with.

My attitude has really changed about doing exchanges with Apple. While it's true that they usually have a lot of patience and will work with you until you're happy, some people will just never be happy and will drive themselves nuts. I've been there myself. We do hold Apple to a really high standard, but there are some standards even they can't meet. These are products that are mass produced in China by the millions. If you are upset because you paid "$x00 for a product and it should be perfect" then you may want to just do a return or sell it and just not buy Apple stuff anymore. Nothing they, or any other company, makes is perfect.

 

[iHeartsteve]

So Apple employes are now diagnosing people with OCD ?

Lol!

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Well your local geeks are wrong! Returns are "refurbished" completely, and there is no way of telling what someone else rejected the unit for....technically yes, someone may have bought one, returned it for an issue but the way you put it, it is boxed up in a brown box and pushed out to front of house again to the geniuses. Are you joking?

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...and you know Apple tech do you? Your statements are absurd!

Stealth enjoys making people think they're OCD. Lol. Sorry not going to work

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Honestly, I have not had good luck with brown box units. I don't have any conspiracy theories on whether or not I think they're new/refurbed/returned units because I've heard all kinds of different opinions on that. But I do feel like the new retail units have less problems.

My iPhone 4 had a wifi problem when I first got it, so I exchanged it. The subsequent units I got after that all had physical blemishes and they were all brown box replacements. (I say unitS because one got a dead pixel problem and one I dropped on tile and had to have replaced.) I'm not saying they were all malfunctioning. There were things the genius could have tried for my wifi issue but just decided to swap it instead. But they definitely all had physical blemishes. Nothing that was a deal breaker.

My original iPad 2 started getting dust under the screen after about 2 weeks so I replaced it, and I went through 3 more. Every time they gave me another one, I would take it home and realize that it had bigger chunks of dust under the screen than the last one. A couple of times, they were chunks I could see with the screen on. I ended up regretting even starting the return cycle to begin with.

My attitude has really changed about doing exchanges with Apple. While it's true that they usually have a lot of patience and will work with you until you're happy, some people will just never be happy and will drive themselves nuts. I've been there myself. We do hold Apple to a really high standard, but there are some standards even they can't meet. These are products that are mass produced in China by the millions. If you are upset because you paid "$x00 for a product and it should be perfect" then you may want to just do a return or sell it and just not buy Apple stuff anymore. Nothing they, or any other company, makes is perfect.

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm sure it really comes down to luck of the draw as well. I happen to get all defected iPads from the white retail box. And my brown box iPad seems to be perfect.

Apple designated the brown box replacements for a reason, whether or not the iPads are cherry picked or refurbs (although too early for that) however I do not think corporate intends to give customers who are already unhappy, another defected device. If apple geeks or QA decided to follow specific procedure to setting aside ipads for replacements, we do not know.

 

[Hello...]

My local geeks say that these brown box units do contain some returns so you are really getting what someone else rejected.

Apple has no shortage of the refurbs with it's OCD buyers. They simply give you what the others rejected till it sticks or you get tired of trading.

Get it right it's CDO like its suppose to be.

 

[Stealthipad]

So Apple employes are now diagnosing people with OCD ?

They see enough where it is getting pretty easy to diagnose

 

[sza]

I went today and got my iPad replaced. A genius swapped mine out for one in a brown box. I finally have one with no pink hue.

Anyone else have any luck w brown box replacement? Are these refurbished ones?

It is getting common that the new iPad is more than just a problematic one.

 

[iHeartsteve]

It is getting common that the new iPad is more than just a problematic one.

? What do you mean? Yes there are more QA issues w the new iPad opposed to the iPad2

 

[mrj412]

I am on my fourth iPad. The left backlight died on the first one on day 14, which was annoying because the screen was great with no dust, dead pixels or tint issues. The following three were all brown box exchanges. The second one had dust under the screen. The third one had the pink/blue tint issue.

The first two exchanges were easy, no questions asked. This last one the Apple store employee treated me terribly and acted like she was doing me a huge favor. She was condescending and told me that not even $5K screens are perfect.

I was offered one more and I stood there debating between the two, one with tint issues and one with a dead pixel. I took the one with the dead pixel since it was in the lower right corner of the screen. Much less noticeable then the color issue and one of the reasons I upgraded from my first gen iPad was to use iPhoto. Also, I figured a dead pixel is a real defect, rather than a subjective one like the tint of the screen. Of course, on this screen, a single dead pixel is still smaller than the dust that was under the glass in the middle of the screen of my second one.

She said she was making a note stating that I wasn't allowed to return this one. While I love my Apple products, this experience has left me concerned with buying future products.

I understand that I might be hard to please, but I intended to keep the first one and use it for a long time. I guess it was too much to ask for a replacement that was of equal quality. They seem to hand pick the display models, so you would think they might have a few hand picked ones for difficult customers like me so that they can leave happy with a single exchange.

Ok, done ranting for tonight.

 

[iHeartsteve]

I am on my fourth iPad. The left backlight died on the first one on day 14, which was annoying because the screen was great with no dust, dead pixels or tint issues. The following three were all brown box exchanges. The second one had dust under the screen. The third one had the pink/blue tint issue.

The first two exchanges were easy, no questions asked. This last one the Apple store employee treated me terribly and acted like she was doing me a huge favor. She was condescending and told me that not even $5K screens are perfect.

I was offered one more and I stood there debating between the two, one with tint issues and one with a dead pixel. I took the one with the dead pixel since it was in the lower right corner of the screen. Much less noticeable then the color issue and one of the reasons I upgraded from my first gen iPad was to use iPhoto. Also, I figured a dead pixel is a real defect, rather than a subjective one like the tint of the screen. Of course, on this screen, a single dead pixel is still smaller than the dust that was under the glass in the middle of the screen of my second one.

She said she was making a note stating that I wasn't allowed to return this one. While I love my Apple products, this experience has left me concerned with buying future products.

I understand that I might be hard to please, but I intended to keep the first one and use it for a long time. I guess it was too much to ask for a replacement that was of equal quality. They seem to hand pick the display models, so you would think they might have a few hand picked ones for difficult customers like me so that they can leave happy with a single exchange.

Ok, done ranting for tonight.

Wow your apple sales associates seem a bit harsh. 5k screens have issues also, lol they better not!! Good luck in your search.

 

[iMaven]

I had to return my iPad and he gave me one out of a brown box. It was in a white packing sleeve along with instructions. As he was unpacking and unwrapping the iPad, the woman next to me was replacing her iPod. Her genius guy had a small black box and she asked if it was refurbished, and he told her yes. I asked my genius guy if mine was refurbished and he said no because it's too early for refurbished iPads. I asked him why it wasn't in a white box and he said the reason it's in a brown box is because there is no USB cable and power adapter included in the exchange. If there was a problem with the cable or adapter, it would be in a separate box. Brown boxes are for warranty exchanges and the white boxes are for returns.

I don't think Apple has enough refurbished iPads to send to every Apple store this quickly. I'm sure they already had brand new replacement iPads in stock to deal with warranty exchanges.

 

[iHeartsteve]

I had to return my iPad and he gave me one out of a brown box. It was in a white packing sleeve along with instructions. As he was unpacking and unwrapping the iPad, the woman next to me was replacing her iPod. Her genius guy had a small black box and she asked if it was refurbished, and he told her yes. I asked my genius guy if mine was refurbished and he said no because it's too early for refurbished iPads. I asked him why it wasn't in a white box and he said the reason it's in a brown box is because there is no USB cable and power adapter included in the exchange. If there was a problem with the cable or adapter, it would be in a separate box. Brown boxes are for warranty exchanges and the white boxes are for returns.

I don't think Apple has enough refurbished iPads to send to every Apple store this quickly. I'm sure they already had brand new replacement iPads in stock to deal with warranty exchanges.

That's basically the answer I got last week. Way too early for refurbs. Did you find a good screen yet ?

 

[elee888]

I was thinking of swapping mine. If I do get one with a brown box, do those boxes have serial numbers on them? Do they want the original box that came with my iPad? I'm worried that they'll do swap and the serial numbers won't match anymore. Thus, it will make it harder for me resell it later. I had a problem several years ago with an iPhone swap and they just gave me a new phone out of one of those boxes, but the the phone's serial didn't match my original box of course...

 

[ZipZap]

Sad news today...another MR poster has died of bordum after reading too many useless posts and polls.

Services to be held on the Apple campus in Cupertino.

In leiu of flowers, donations can be made to the Bill Gates foundation for abused apple owners.

 

[iHeartsteve]

I was thinking of swapping mine. If I do get one with a brown box, do those boxes have serial numbers on them? Do they want the original box that came with my iPad? I'm worried that they'll do swap and the serial numbers won't match anymore. Thus, it will make it harder for me resell it later. I had a problem several years ago with an iPhone swap and they just gave me a new phone out of one of those boxes, but the the phone's serial didn't match my original box of course...

The brown boxes do have serial numbers on them. I wouldn't worry about the serial numbers matching the white box. You can simply explain it was swap out in description and that the serial number on the actual ipad is legit.

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Sad news today...another MR poster has died of bordum after reading too many useless posts and polls.

Services to be held on the Apple campus in Cupertino.

In leiu of flowers, donations can be made to the Bill Gates foundation for abused apple owners.

Keep your snarky comments to yourself. I guess you have a lot of time on your hands since you go around reading threads that don't interest you and taking the time to post a smart a** comment. Get a life