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I am not worried since I have received certification paperwork from Apple.

And that's what I'm wondering. If you've received the certification paperwork from Apple, can you still have it revoked?
 
I would think not.

Maybe someone will chime in where they had it happen to them.

What I just thought, though, was that you can cancel AppleCare and get a pro-rated refund. Maybe that's what is happening. I'm pretty sure you can cancel it halfway through and get half the money back.
 
To the OP,

Sorry to read about your Apple Care issues. I trust that you find a quick resolve for your problem.

I recently purchased an AppleCare package via ebay. I received my AppleCare Protection Plan proof of coverage certificate from Apple literally within minutes of the auction closing. I hope that your case and other alike does not tarnish the reputations of the other ebay sellers providing this great service.
 
I've spent almost $1000 on eBay Applecare in the last five years with 100% positive experiences.
 
And that's what I'm wondering. If you've received the certification paperwork from Apple, can you still have it revoked?

Yes it can still be revoked.

When I look at my current AppleCare status, it says I am protected till 2011, however there is also this other email telling me this will only last until the 15th of May.

Sorry, I have not been able to get back to Apple or PayPal. I had a very busy week and could not muster the energy to be stuck in telephone-waiting lines for this whole sad business. You even have to pay for the call here in Germany (and no, it is not the charge of a local call).

For what it is worth, now I am now also over the 1 year limit where I can legitimately register a AppleCare contract for the machine...
 
That is a really interesting thread.
And I am not surprised by all that.
People here always say, "if it looks to good to be true, then there is something wrong with it".

I already made up my mind even before reading this thread, that once the time has come to get AppleCare, to buy it from Apple directly - costs more but gives me peace of mind.
 
I'm a reseller and I used to purchase applecare packages in volume from Apple ($225 was my price for the MBP AppleCare) - I used to sell them for $280 online. After ebay, paypal fees, etc I would make about $30 per package - which was ok.

Soon enough, all these sellers proliferated with 'magic' prices - like the one you stated - $170. I was terribly confused because I couldn't fathom how these guys could get applecare for less than my cost ($170 was the sale price, so their cost was probably $120 or so) It all obviously makes sense now.

Frustrating for honest sellers - I had zero sales and stopped buying applecare from Apple after this crap came out :mad:

To the person who posted that they received a sealed box - believe me, it's VERY easy for anyone to custom print the apple graphic/text on a generic software packaging box, stick the serial # in there, and then seal the entire thing using a shrink wrap sealer. If you do this on a volume basis it could cost about $5 per package.

Thanks for your post. I think in hindsight this is very obvious.

However, I was also speaking to a respectable German Mac company that sold AppleCare contracts on eBay and they told me that they get their merchandise from a reseller :confused:
And they only have the registration codes!

I think my questions lead to a lot of head scratching. They told me that they checked back with Apple before and had received a thumbs up. They were very concerned about the way Apple had handled my case and promised to get back to Apple and to their own source to find an definitive answer.
Their last status update was a little worrying.

It seems that there exists a whole culture of 'not really wanting to know'. What I find really surprising is that Apple now seems to go after the end-customers (the people that bought their hardware), while the big fish continue to run their business.
 
However, I was also speaking to a respectable German Mac company that sold AppleCare contracts on eBay and they told me that they get their merchandise from a reseller :confused:
And they only have the registration codes!

I spoke to Apple directly prior to stopping my AppleCare business - they straight out told me that I could not buy just codes from them, I had to buy the retail packaged product. I doubt they would have two separate divisions for resale - codes only, and packages products. It doesn't make sense.

That respectable german mac company might just be buying from a fraudulent reseller - who knows. The thing is any product can pass down the chain a few times before it lands in the hands of the end user.

I know from the iTunes scam that ebay resellers used to buy $200 worth of iTunes codes for $25 - resell them on ebay for $125. But then the market was so saturated that the prices eventually started falling to $75 for a $200 code. Of course, at that time I had no idea that these were fraudulent - that was a pretty good scam and I can't believe it went on for years and Apple did nothing about it.
 
What I just thought, though, was that you can cancel AppleCare and get a pro-rated refund. Maybe that's what is happening. I'm pretty sure you can cancel it halfway through and get half the money back.
Please explain. Curious.
It's in the Applecare agreement book.
Thanks.

Understand about being able to cancel and get a pro-rated refund.

What I am curious to know, is what dimwhit is referring to. Is he saying individuals cancel their AppleCare then put it on eBay? If so, then why would Apple even register the serial number?

So how long does it take for Apple to get back to you regards registration?
My certificate was done in a few days. Took a couple weeks to get to me via the mail.
 
Ugh I'm a total idiot.
I bought applecare for my macbook pro off ebay from 'Memorymate' on friday - I was at work, in a hurry, my 1 year warranty runs out soon and I saw he was a 'powerseller' etc and bought it, without really looking into it.
I've had friends buy applecare off ebay and had no problem.

Of course I find this thread two days later and I'm absolutely ******** myself...

I am yet to recieve the code via email from him (I'm guessing because it's the weekend, he said it will be sent within 48hrs working days)..
but not holding up much hope of it working anyway.

Do you think ringing Visa or anything will help? Can I stop the transfer? Doesn't it take a couple of days for the money to actually go out of your account? (I paid via paypal, using my Visa debit card)
I'm totally new to ebay/paypal etc. have no idea how it works :\

Gutted. Total idiot.
 
Ugh I'm a total idiot.
I bought applecare for my macbook pro off ebay from 'Memorymate' on friday - I was at work, in a hurry, my 1 year warranty runs out soon and I saw he was a 'powerseller' etc and bought it, without really looking into it.
I've had friends buy applecare off ebay and had no problem.

Of course I find this thread two days later and I'm absolutely ******** myself...

I am yet to recieve the code via email from him (I'm guessing because it's the weekend, he said it will be sent within 48hrs working days)..
but not holding up much hope of it working anyway.

Do you think ringing Visa or anything will help? Can I stop the transfer? Doesn't it take a couple of days for the money to actually go out of your account? (I paid via paypal, using my Visa debit card)
I'm totally new to ebay/paypal etc. have no idea how it works :\

Gutted. Total idiot.

Contact the seller and demand that he also sends you the box in order to prove that this is the real product.

If he refuses or otherwise pushes you to leave only 'positive feedback' (which is illegal by eBay's standards) - file a complaint via PayPal in order to get your money back.

They have a complaint category where you can report sellers peddling counterfeit products. You must do this within 45 days of the purchase.
 
I'm a reseller and I used to purchase applecare packages in volume from Apple ($225 was my price for the MBP AppleCare) - I used to sell them for $280 online. After ebay, paypal fees, etc I would make about $30 per package - which was ok.

Soon enough, all these sellers proliferated with 'magic' prices - like the one you stated - $170. I was terribly confused because I couldn't fathom how these guys could get applecare for less than my cost ($170 was the sale price, so their cost was probably $120 or so) It all obviously makes sense now.

Frustrating for honest sellers - I had zero sales and stopped buying applecare from Apple after this crap came out :mad:

To the person who posted that they received a sealed box - believe me, it's VERY easy for anyone to custom print the apple graphic/text on a generic software packaging box, stick the serial # in there, and then seal the entire thing using a shrink wrap sealer. If you do this on a volume basis it could cost about $5 per package.

well, i thought that they buy applecare through china or so to get the lower price. since applecare for notebooks is worldwide i took my chances. i didn't realize that this puts me in a situation where i don't know if i have applecare or not. having lost 170 dollar is bad but i can take it. not having apple care on a mbp with nvidea card is of course risky.

macman812 is still active and has great feedback on ebay. i have no idea how to find out if this is a scam or not. i guess not even apple know until the apple care number is used again. well, that is what you get for jumping on "to good to be true" deals.:eek:
 
I already made up my mind even before reading this thread, that once the time has come to get AppleCare, to buy it from Apple directly - costs more but gives me peace of mind.

With regards to having peace of mind, Amazon.com is an authorized Apple reseller also. Free shipping on orders over $25 and no sales tax. That's where I'm buying my AppleCare for my macbook pro...and where I'm buying my MobileMe subscription...and an Airport Extreme. I haven't had any problems with my Mac Pro AppleCare from memorymate, but I can't shake the uneasy feeling I now have after reading this thread.
 
Contact the seller and demand that he also sends you the box in order to prove that this is the real product.

If he refuses or otherwise pushes you to leave only 'positive feedback' (which is illegal by eBay's standards) - file a complaint via PayPal in order to get your money back.

They have a complaint category where you can report sellers peddling counterfeit products. You must do this within 45 days of the purchase.

Only problem is, he stated on the auction that he won't send the box, it was for the code only. So I guess it's really my fault because there is no way I can demand proof from him that it's legit?

Meanwhile, my applecare expires this week and I can't afford the $670 to buy from apple here in New Zealand! Silly
 
Ugh I'm a total idiot.
I bought applecare for my macbook pro off ebay from 'Memorymate' on friday - I was at work, in a hurry, my 1 year warranty runs out soon and I saw he was a 'powerseller' etc and bought it, without really looking into it.
I've had friends buy applecare off ebay and had no problem.

Of course I find this thread two days later and I'm absolutely ******** myself...

I am yet to recieve the code via email from him (I'm guessing because it's the weekend, he said it will be sent within 48hrs working days)..
but not holding up much hope of it working anyway.

Do you think ringing Visa or anything will help? Can I stop the transfer? Doesn't it take a couple of days for the money to actually go out of your account? (I paid via paypal, using my Visa debit card)
I'm totally new to ebay/paypal etc. have no idea how it works :\

Gutted. Total idiot.

You're in a great position to help put an end to this guy. Leave a Tiny URL link to this thread when you negative feedback him, so potential buyers can it
 
I just got a mobileme subscription last month off of eBay for $40. Still shrinkwrapped and everything. sometime's you'll have good luck, sometimes you wont. Just before that I bought a logitech harmony one and never got it shipped to me, got all of my money back through paypal at least. It's a hit or miss situation with ebay, the only advice i can give is to be as prompt as possible when you have issues, and paypal can save your ass sometimes. I've been scammed a few times before, but luckily I've always been able to get my money back through paypal.
 
Only problem is, he stated on the auction that he won't send the box, it was for the code only. So I guess it's really my fault because there is no way I can demand proof from him that it's legit?

Meanwhile, my applecare expires this week and I can't afford the $670 to buy from apple here in New Zealand! Silly

You're in a great position to help put an end to this guy. Leave a Tiny URL link to this thread when you negative feedback him, so potential buyers can it

Ok, this guy only sells the registration code. He will deliver this to you and can claim that he delivered on your purchase.
It is, however, strongly against the rules of eBay to sell counterfeit products.

Don't just leave negative feedback.
Go and file for customer protection with PayPal. Voice your doubts over the received merchandise and demand proof that this product is legitimate.

It is now the turn of the seller to prove that this is more than just a silly number-scheme - where somebody figured out how to generate registration numbers by the dozen.

The seller uses the original Apple-Advertisements to sell AppleCare - let him prove it, but not to you - to the people from eBay and PayPal. They should kick him from eBay if he can not prove his claims.

As for discounts on AppleCare, a lot of people have mentioned Amazon as a respectable source.
 
What's even more annoying is that if you try to email Apple they will NOT respond. I called and the staff said as far as he is concerned my machine is covered until 2011 but i know this is temporary because the support site still says 'in processing'

Has anyone threatened legal action against Apple because i really think they're being unreasonable here. They didn't demand the serial number on the reg site. What if a legitimate buyer enters the code and trashes the packaging and receipt what happens then?...they just screw you over?
 
i purchased apple care for my ipod shuffle from a ebay seller in the us.
It's like 1/4 of the price in germany.
No problems til now, bought 2 Months ago

@OP
wenn apple den code akzeptiert, dann kann ich mir nicht vorstellen, das es rechtens ist, viel später zu sagen ne is doch nicht. Außer es steht bei der registrierung was dabei von wegen wird noch geprüft bla bla. Wenn du mal zeit und geld hast würde ich wirklich bei denen anrufen und bisschen hartnäckig mit höherrangigen mitarbeitern reden.
 
I have bought 10 applecare on Ebay some with and some without the box, I check long term feedback, and never had a problem wit buying it.
 
The beauty of this scam is that the buyer doesn't find out it's a fraud until months or possibly years later. But I'm surprised that a seller who's sold hundreds of AppleCare registrations numbers hasn't been tripped up a few times. For instance, the buyer gets the notice from apple within the first month and the buyer didn't left feedback yet.

Have you reported all the seller's current applecare listings via the "report this item" link? Would it be considered stolen property (or fraudulent listings)? If everyone who got scammed did this, it might bring ebay's attention to the seller.

*******
UPDATE: I checked the feedback of one of the sellers mentioned in this thread and they have been caught a few times. They have negative feedbacks claiming the registration numbers are fraudulent. Some of their replies back to the buyer are really nasty.

Plus I found out that if you check their feedback from the UK ebay, you can click on the negative numbers at the top and see a list of all their negative feedbacks. If you check their feedback from the US ebay you can't view the negative feedbacks all together in a list (unless I'm missing something).
 
Rethink your analogy

Update.

If you installed Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 and had issues, would you take that computer to the Apple store? !
They bought what they thought was a legitimate product on a legitimate site. They didn't try to do anything against the EULA of Apple.
Apple told them it was okay. They didn't tell them until it was to late that the item was 'illegal'.

The buyer 'relied' on Apple's assurances. Apple should inform the buyer about the possible revocation and that they buyer would need additional proof. The person here 'relied on' Apple's confirmation of the legitimacy of the product, if Apple had alerted him soon, he could have disputed the product. Apple should bite the bullet in this case and forewarn buyers for the future. There should be an alert now when you register your AC about this.

reliance on-
" acting upon another's statement of alleged fact, claim, or promise. In contracts, if someone takes some steps ("changes his position" is the usual legal language) in reliance on the other's statement, claim or promise then the person upon whom the actor relied is entitled to contend there is a contract he/she can enforce. However, the reliance must be reasonable"
 
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