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Buying a MBP from reseller?

I

InSides

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 6, 2007
21
0
Hi all,
finally time to replace my Santa Rosa 15" with the Sandy Bridge one.

I am from Europe, but will be flying in to Vermont in a few days, and wanted to get the Mac while in the US.

But, there are no Apple stores in Burlington, VT. I see there is a company called Small Dog, labeled as an Apple Specialist.

So, several questions:

1. Is it the same buying from a Specialist as from the Apple store? I am asking in terms of warranty, exchange, support etc.

2. If I get the MBP from an Apple Specialist, and something goes wrong, would I be able to return/exchange it in an official Apple store?

3. Would an Apple Specialist honor the educational discount?

Thanks!
 
2. You must return it to the reseller in order to get a refund. If you take it to Apple, it will be dealt as normal warranty case. It will be fixed, of course, but if you want to return it for refund, then you must deal with the seller.
 
Apple has no restocking fee so exchanges/returns are more realistic with them.

A friend of mine recently bought a MBP from macconnection and it came with a dent in the bottom and a clicking harddrive. MC told him they could give him 50 bucks (even though the backplate costs 73) and that if he wanted to exchange the system he could, but if they found no issue with the computer they would charge a 20 percent restocking fee (even though there is clearly a dent in the bottom). So after taking the computer to the applestore to determine if the harddrive was defective, they said it was "normal".

The guy at the applestore never even took off the back plate. He just assumed the dent had no internal effect. This blew my mind considering the dent is exactly where the harddrive is located. Mac genius? lol

Sorry for the mini-rant but in this case the reseller and apple kinda screwed mi amigo!

Take that into consideration.
 
A similar question:

If I buy a CTO Mac from the Apple online store and it comes defective or damaged can I get a replacement for it at a physical Apple store?

I'm asking cause I live in Berlin, where there are no Apple Stores, and I'd sure prefer to haul the thing over to Hamburg and to deal with a real person rather than shipping it back to Apple.
 
iDemiurge said:
A similar question:

If I buy a CTO Mac from the Apple online store and it comes defective or damaged can I get a replacement for it at a physical Apple store?

I'm asking cause I live in Berlin, where there are no Apple Stores, and I'd sure prefer to haul the thing over to Hamburg and to deal with a real person rather than shipping it back to Apple.
Click to expand...

It is possible, I've heard stories where it has worked. However, the store may not have that BTO in stock so you would have to wait for it anyway. It is best to deal with the store where it was bought from, i.e. online store in this case. It can always be a hassle if refunds have to be made.
 
Hmm. I guess I'll have to risk it.

Berlin should finally get an Apple Store at the Kudamm later this year, after Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Oberhausen, and now Dresden. Go figure...
 
Anyone have any experience with MacMall shipping and handling? I know that UPS probably does the shipping, but does MacMall pack the computer box within another box to keep from damage during shipping? I've heard horror stories of MBPs being shipped in their box only and being roughed up in the shipping process. Would like to avoid that situation at all costs.
 
iDemiurge said:
http://www.9to5mac.com/47329/germany-calling-apples-new-berlin-retail-store-revealed/

Don't know if it's reliable. Sounds good enough to me.
Click to expand...

Quite a strange place, but there might be the most wealthy persons living in.
I would have thought something like Potsdamer Platz would be a place for the Apple Store, though the Potsdamer Platz is filled with more tourists than anything.

We'll see. Hopefully they don't destroy the facade too much, I remember watching a movie or two in there.
 
I also thought it very conservative of them to go all the way west. Maybe they want to stay out of trouble since their stores use a lot of glass :rolleyes:

If I'd been asked to guess I'd have said somewhere in Mitte...
 
iDemiurge said:
I also thought it very conservative of them to go all the way west. Maybe they want to stay out of trouble since their stores use a lot of glass :rolleyes:

If I'd been asked to guess I'd have said somewhere in Mitte...
Click to expand...

Warschauer/Ecke Revaler I would propose. The glass gets renewed every month I guess.

Yeah, Mitte might have been nice, but Berlin really lacks a city centre, therefore they went with the classy Kuhdamm I guess, even hough it is slowly dying out since the train station got demoted.
 
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