compusa and applecare problems?!?!?

[amemoryoncelost]

So I bought a powermac G5 on closeout at compusa in june. I got a dual 2.7 for 1800, pretty good deal I thought and with no interest for 12 months, figure I could pay it off and make out alright. So I take her home and a day later decide to get applecare, so I go back in, without my powermac, grab it and a USB modem and total it back up. So what they do to join the applecare with the powermac was take the powermac as a return and then sell it back to me, so it was all on one receipt. So what happens is, when she types the serial number back onto the receipt, it's the wrong serial number, one digit was off, everything but one number, an 8 instead of a 6.(by the way, didnt notice this until now) So anyways, fast forward three months, I'm back from a bunch of travelling and hectic work schedule and just getting around to registering everything. I can't do the applecare online, so i call in and tell them the story. They say, call compusa and have them get you a new receipt. So i call them, manager is super rude, saying it's scanned in, so there is no possible way there could be an error, so after telling him four times that I didnt have a barcode to scan when I got the applecare, he goes, oh man, call back in 45 minutes and ask for karla, she's on break, she can help you though. So I talk to her and she says, you waited too long, you're out of luck. I can write a letter to you for apple or maybe take a picture of your computer, but I dunno what to tell you.

I have a case number with apple and talking to a guy named stewart. He seems cool, but he needs to have a reciept with the correct serial number on it, I'm waiting the 24 hours or whatever to call back, but I was just wondering if anyone has any advice for me? I know I pretty much screwed up buying from compusa and not checking my reciept, but a guy can only afford so much and I pretty much learned my lesson. So any advice on the situation and not my ignorance would be GREAT!!!


thanks a ton!
dustin in washington

 

[treblah]

I think I understand you story and there should be a easy solution.

On your first receipt, the serial number is correct, no?

Take both reciepts to CompUSA and speak with the "General Sales Manager", no one else. Show him the one number difference between the serial numbers and the one day date difference and have him change it.

Calling CompUSA to try to get something resolved is a big no no. Go to the store and speak with them in person, they won't just blow you off.

 

[WildCowboy]

I agree with treblah's advice.

I know it's irrelevant at this point, but I don't understand why they had you "return" the Power Mac and "resell" it to you with the AppleCare. They don't have to be on the same receipt...you can buy AppleCare anytime up until a year after your purchase date.

 

[amemoryoncelost]

I didnt really realize this until after it all happened and they took the original receipt the second time I went in, so I only have the first one. I think I will stop in today though and see if I can do anything. Also, the manager there was getting an attitude and he kept saying, this store is closing so I cant do much for you.

I think I might just sell the damn computer on ebay, sell my quicksilver and put everything towards a mac pro. Such a headache...

 

[Schroedinger]

They seem to have misinformation about applecare at the CompUSA. Long story short, I bought a mac pro and got a display and then had to go back and exchange the display for a new one. I told the girl i was working with that I needed the tower and the display on the same receipt to get the applecare to cover both. To which she responded "I need to put the applecare on the same receipt" to which i said, "um, no you don't, I only need proof of simultaneous purchase of the tower and the screen, not of the applecare."

Obviously, she didn't believe me, but the apple rep guy came over and confirmed that the applecare didn't need to be on the same receipt. The people at your store were probably working under the same mistaken idea.

 

[amemoryoncelost]

I just cant figure out how there would be no papertrail on a purchase of over $2000 after applecare and the modem. I've been trying to find out if the serial number was somehow part of the credit ox part of it, but viewing a pdf file with OSX and firefox seem to be a pain for me today. Last time I EVER buy from compusa again. The financing plan was kind of cool, but maybe not worth it in the longrun....

Anyone got any other ideas? I'm going to stop by there today after work and talk to them face to face to see if I can get anything solved....

 

[xfiftyfour]

gosh, that's crazy. i understand apple needing to cover their backs and same with compusa (sorta).. but honestly? you have the receipt, you have the computer, you could show them a CC statement for proof that YOU bought it (well, proof that you at least bought the exact same computer and applecare).. so what is the problem here? this is hardly the first time a human has made a mistake.. i'd really like to know what OTHER logical explanation Apple or Compusa could come up with with why you have this computer and this applecare for this computer minus one digit of the serial.

and i don't really think you were ignorant. okay, i guess you could have checked the serials earlier.. but honestly? i don't think i would have until i had reason to. and i mean, you probably DID glance at the two serials, and with only one digit off, i'm not surprised your eyes didn't immediately see the error.

i don't have much faith in compusa, but if apple doesn't agree to sort this for you, then i'd be pretty disappointed in them.

 

[yg17]

Maybe I'm not understanding everything, but why not just register AppleCare with your computers serial number? They don't have to be on the same receipt. Just register it then tell CompUSSR to shove it.

 

[amemoryoncelost]

The reason is apple is showing my computer as being purchased in march of 05. If I'm trying to register applecare to that computer, my one year is more than over. So that's where the big issue is coming up. Apple wants proof of purchase that the computer was indeed purchased in june of 06. The reason I mentioned the applecare being on both receipts, is because the way they rang it up and thats where I thought the numbers got messed up.

So I ended up going into the store today. Yesterday the girl told me she couldnt get any information, it was all too old, I took too long. Funny it took her 30 seconds today to find my info and she actually got some help for me. Since that certain store is closing, she called the closest store and the guy there said he would "return" my computer, then resell it to me with the correct serial number. My only issue is I've now paid something like $600 on the computer in the past three months, so I'm wondering how that will all work out. We'll see I guess.

thanks a ton!
dustin