Buyer Beware

[sbavington]

Buyer Beware:
Be careful buying equipment from OWC Macsales. The sneak a 90 day warranty on used computers they sell. In May i spent 1,200 on an M1 Mac Mini. Yesterday the memory failed.

I got this from them when i asked for help:

"Dear Mr Bavington,
Thank you for contacting Other World Computing. I’m sorry to hear that you can't reinstall macOS on the 2020 M1 Mac mini that you purchased from OWC, and that Apple Diagnostic is returning a PPM001 code. Unfortunately, the Mac mini was purchased on May 20, 2024 and is no longer under warranty.

The memory is an on-board part of the Apple Silicon chip; this would be a board-level repair that we do not have the resources to perform in any case."

I will never buy anything from these people again!

 

[dmr727]

What kind of warranty do they promise on a used computer?

 

[sbavington]

It looks like 90 days. My bad for not reading the fine print

 

[icanhazmac]

90 days on used equipment, not refurbished, seems normal. By any chance did you check your credit card for an extended warranty? I am not sure if those only apply to new items or not but I believe they double the warranty period, not sure if that will help.

 

[russell_314]

It looks like 90 days. My bad for not reading the fine print

This is 90 days more than if you bought a used Mac off Facebook marketplace or Craigslist. I don’t even think you get 90 days buying from eBay.

If you want a warranty your best bet is buy refurbished from Apple. Of course you’ll pay more but it’s worth it IMO. As someone above said check to see if your credit card offers a warranty. Some of the better cards do.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Yes 90 days for used tech is normal if not towards about best. I'm not sure what we should expect. Apple only offers a year on brand new unless one pays more.

And a memory failure for a relatively new M1 Mac is actually Apple's fault (with perhaps some shared on how the prior owner treated the device) than OWCs. Apple made/sourced the faulting RAM, not OWC.

I'm quite sympathetic with you OP in that you laid out $1200 with expectations for many years of use, only to be let down by a non-repairable part of Silicon Macs not long after the purchase. We all face the same scenario if any part of Silicon conks... which can happen at any time. At least some of that "beware" should perhaps be assigned to Silicon itself in that when any part conks, it's all toast.

Meanwhile, if you/we had chosen many PC options and some RAM conked, we could- in many cases- put in new RAM and carry on. If SSD conks, put in new SSD and carry on.

We've readily embraced a system with pretty much no repairability in matters like this. When it lets us down, the only remedy is "buy a new Mac" or perhaps go PC with replaceable RAM, SSD, etc. so we retain an ability to fix parts when they break without having to buy entirely new.

Pay Apple much more for new to get 4X more warranty... and optionally PAY MORE to buy yourself 2 more years of Apple coverage... but then if it conks after that, it's same boat with much more out of pocket. Yes, you got 3+ years out of it vs. 3+ months but the result- and feeling- would be the same.

 

[Bigwaff]

It looks like 90 days. My bad for not reading the fine print

I know it doesn't help your current situation but OWC does offer an extended 2-yr warranty on used Macs they sell.

OWC Eclipse Extended Service Protection for your Mac

Add up to 2 years of protection and peace of mind for your Mac coupled with lifetime USA-based tech support.

eshop.macsales.com

There is a banner right on the main Mac mini sales page

New & Used Mac mini Desktops from OWC

Configure your own Mac mini with a variety of refurbishments and upgrades from OWC. All our Macs are tested and inspected by Apple Certified Technicians.

eshop.macsales.com