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Don't buy AppleCare on Ebay
- Thread starter Detektiv-Pinky
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The person at Apple that now looks into this issue just send me this link:
http://reviews.ebay.com/FAKE-APPLECARE-APPLE-CARE-A-warning-to-buyers_W0QQugidZ10000000011731235
Don't try to get the money from the seller, file for purchase protection with PayPal.
You should get back to Ebay and PayPal and cite the link and your case. They need to stop this illegitimate business...
I think I posted this story in another thread, but . . . I am pretty sure my eBay Applecare is okay.
I took in my Air for warranty work on the sound. While it was at Apple, I bought a code off of eBay and registered it. Apple ended up giving me a whole new Air and promised my AppleCare would transfer automatically after a few weeks. Fast Forward 2 months and it still hadn't shown up on the new machine. So I called AppleCare and after about a 30 minute phone call they transferred the warranty to the new machine.
Anybody think I would have a problem at this point?
I took in my Air for warranty work on the sound. While it was at Apple, I bought a code off of eBay and registered it. Apple ended up giving me a whole new Air and promised my AppleCare would transfer automatically after a few weeks. Fast Forward 2 months and it still hadn't shown up on the new machine. So I called AppleCare and after about a 30 minute phone call they transferred the warranty to the new machine.
Anybody think I would have a problem at this point?
I'd leave a negative. I sure as hell would not leave a positive. Other people need to be warned! If they do something bad with your home address, then you can try to get them charged with harassment.
I used the ebay method of getting contact info in the other direction. I was able to get my seller's (fromtheheartllc, and I'll keep posting that info to protect others from them) name, address and phone number info and used that to submit a case to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov). I'm also forwarding the information to the Georgia States Attorney office and BBB. If enough people file complaints, perhaps something will be done about it.
Me too. Then 3 months later I happened to log into my account on Apple.com to view my agreements and found my Macbook was no longer covered.
I called AppleCare to investigate and they told me that on April 10th someone presented the proof of purchase and was issued a refund. Even though my name, address, email and serial number were registered to the agreement, Apple made NO effort to contact me and simply cancelled my plan and gave the money back to the person with the PoP, who I have to assume was my ebay seller (fromtheheartllc) since they claimed in the listing that they held the rights to the agreement they were selling and they would ship the box for extra $$.
If you purchased applecare on ebay, check the agreement status online and do it often. It seems that since I purchased, there has been at least 1 other person who had issues and posted negative feedback for the seller.
I complained to Apple about the lack of any contact. I can't really fault them for much else since the seller obviously had the PoP info Apple needs to do a refund. What I CAN complain about is the fact that Apple kept me in the dark. They took my AppleCare out from under me with no notification whatsoever. They had plenty of contact info and never did a thing. Had I been past the 1 year warranty period when they did this I would be SOL. They did not really care and I felt like I was talking to a brick wall.
Wow, I'm really nervous now.
I am really nervous. I purchased the Applecare Warranty from memorymate in March. The warranty is fine and my system was just recently fixed by Apple under the warranty. I am passed my year and I'm nervous that it's going to be pulled from underneath me and I won't be able to extend it.
I am really nervous. I purchased the Applecare Warranty from memorymate in March. The warranty is fine and my system was just recently fixed by Apple under the warranty. I am passed my year and I'm nervous that it's going to be pulled from underneath me and I won't be able to extend it.
as far as i can see there are only two chances to lose your apple care protection:
somebody else buys the same registration number. what is the chance for that? can be very low or can be 100%. does anybody know? i can't imagine that the sellers sell the numbers multiple times because that would become obvious immediately.
second chance is that the seller starts to claim the apple care himself and tries to get a cash refund from apple (unlikely since that involves some risk and the numbers are fake to begin with).
somebody else buys the same registration number. what is the chance for that? can be very low or can be 100%. does anybody know? i can't imagine that the sellers sell the numbers multiple times because that would become obvious immediately.
second chance is that the seller starts to claim the apple care himself and tries to get a cash refund from apple (unlikely since that involves some risk and the numbers are fake to begin with).
This MemoryMate thing seems to has ripped off quite a few people with similar purchases:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/922566.html
This is really bad, because his reliablity ratings are good enough that I would totally trust him.
Hope you find a way to get your money back!
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/922566.html
This is really bad, because his reliablity ratings are good enough that I would totally trust him.
Hope you find a way to get your money back!
I never, ever buy anything through eBay or Paypal without using my credit card. Paypal does everything to get you to use a direct transfer from your bank account because it saves them processing fees. However, if things go sour and for whatever reason Paypal doesn't step up, you have another layer of protection.
This happened to me once - bought some tickets online when at the time those were not covered under Paypal's protection. If I hadn't used my credit card I'd been out a good bit of money.
This happened to me once - bought some tickets online when at the time those were not covered under Paypal's protection. If I hadn't used my credit card I'd been out a good bit of money.
I've considered getting Applecare from ebay too.. since It's technically cheaper than what I could get them for (employee discount). But decided against it when we compared the selling price on ebay to our actual cost from Apple.. We're all wondering how it the world could someone sell applecare below cost. and with ebay and paypal fees... he'll be on the red on every applecare he sells.
Now i know why... what a scum..
Now i know why... what a scum..
they wouldn't care about it being "obvious"....at first they would simply ignore any complaints and then they would just change their seller name, open or hijack a new account and continue as before
I think this version of the scam is usually done with legitimate products, not fake numbers. Buy some real applecare with a stolen credit card, sell the applecare activation code, and then later claim a refund......apple is going to believe the person with a receipt and the serial number from the box, and that's going to be the seller, not the person who he sold the code to
After reading this thread, I just checked my Applecare that I bought on Ebay and lo and behold, it's stuck in "processing." I registered it 3 months ago after I bought it on Ebay for $133. I even got sent the confirmation. But from previous experience, when its stuck in "processing" a few months later even after receiving confirmation, its invalid.
I emailed the seller...he has tons of positive feedback and is a powerseller. But a reasonable explanation for it is that once you leave feedback, you cant change it. Also, the applecare did go through initially and I got an email confirmation. Only now, 3 months later is it showing up as stuck in processing.
I'm out of the 45 day paypal period so I called my credit card company and filed an investigation/chargeback as well. Never going to buy applecare again unless I buy it in-store.
Thanks to whoever put up this initial post. Dont buy applecare off of ebay!!
I emailed the seller...he has tons of positive feedback and is a powerseller. But a reasonable explanation for it is that once you leave feedback, you cant change it. Also, the applecare did go through initially and I got an email confirmation. Only now, 3 months later is it showing up as stuck in processing.
I'm out of the 45 day paypal period so I called my credit card company and filed an investigation/chargeback as well. Never going to buy applecare again unless I buy it in-store.
Thanks to whoever put up this initial post. Dont buy applecare off of ebay!!
I still haven't had any luck with disputing memorymate via ebay or paypal. Haven't heard anything. This is such a joke that this guy can keep selling! He sells so many of these plans a week - I wonder how many of these will still be valid in 3 months time 
Left neg feedback but it doesn't really do much when he has thousands of positive comments... and of course my negative feedback will be on like, page 9 by the end of the week!
In the end I just went out and bought a legit copy of Applecare - having a Macbook Pro without warranty is asking for trouble!
Left neg feedback but it doesn't really do much when he has thousands of positive comments... and of course my negative feedback will be on like, page 9 by the end of the week!
In the end I just went out and bought a legit copy of Applecare - having a Macbook Pro without warranty is asking for trouble!
I'm assuming based on your name that you're a NC resident. Didn't you have to call this AC in and register?
Hey Guys,
Here is some more evidence to the scam that memorymate is running. Back in January of this year, I had sent a message to memory mate asking about whether his version of Apple Care was indeed a boxed version or not. Here is the response I received:
"We open all boxes & only email the code. You can download everything else, including the diagnostic utilities, for free from Apple.com. However, if you want us to ship the full retail package including all contents then you need to pay an extra $100. Thank you.
- memorymate"
This would seem to indicate the exact scheme that others have proposed - purchase a number of boxed apple care contracts, open and sell the codes on ebay, then return the originals back to the Apple and recover the money. I would be happy to send screenshots of the official message (i.e. the email from eBay messaging system containing the message) to those who are pursuing reclaiming options at paypal or through law enforcement agencies. Feel free to PM me.
Please call ebay and report him. I had a similar problem with another apple care scammer on ebay, tyyy69. He/she sold auto enroll versions of apple care (i.e. the boxes that don't contain enrollment codes). After a number of negative feedbacks started popping up, I immediately contact the eBay fraud center and reported the seller. I pointed out the other negative feedback which corresponded to the same timeline of events I experienced. They are investigating the matter now, but rest assured that they claim that they will close the account if their investigation concludes that the seller was fraudulent.
Here is some more evidence to the scam that memorymate is running. Back in January of this year, I had sent a message to memory mate asking about whether his version of Apple Care was indeed a boxed version or not. Here is the response I received:
"We open all boxes & only email the code. You can download everything else, including the diagnostic utilities, for free from Apple.com. However, if you want us to ship the full retail package including all contents then you need to pay an extra $100. Thank you.
- memorymate"
This would seem to indicate the exact scheme that others have proposed - purchase a number of boxed apple care contracts, open and sell the codes on ebay, then return the originals back to the Apple and recover the money. I would be happy to send screenshots of the official message (i.e. the email from eBay messaging system containing the message) to those who are pursuing reclaiming options at paypal or through law enforcement agencies. Feel free to PM me.
I still haven't had any luck with disputing memorymate via ebay or paypal. Haven't heard anything. This is such a joke that this guy can keep selling! He sells so many of these plans a week - I wonder how many of these will still be valid in 3 months time
Please call ebay and report him. I had a similar problem with another apple care scammer on ebay, tyyy69. He/she sold auto enroll versions of apple care (i.e. the boxes that don't contain enrollment codes). After a number of negative feedbacks started popping up, I immediately contact the eBay fraud center and reported the seller. I pointed out the other negative feedback which corresponded to the same timeline of events I experienced. They are investigating the matter now, but rest assured that they claim that they will close the account if their investigation concludes that the seller was fraudulent.
ok, so i brought my applecare back in December from memorymate, I actullay only paid £60 as i had some ebay vouchers etc . . .
Have just checked and the applecare is still vaild for my macbook, I'm still in my 1 years warranty until October so i guess i'll look nearer the time to see if its still valid and decide if i need to buy some from instore!
bloody scammers!
Have just checked and the applecare is still vaild for my macbook, I'm still in my 1 years warranty until October so i guess i'll look nearer the time to see if its still valid and decide if i need to buy some from instore!
bloody scammers!
Apple really isn't helping in this issue by acting like this, especially since they're suppose to be #1 in customer experience. In the end it's their AppleCare that get's a bad rep as unreliable.
If Apple already accepted a code I gave them and had also given me a certificate then pulled it out from beneath me I would've been so mad! What the hell is a cerificate/contract worth then, huh? I'm annoyed already reading they would do something like this. They must have better control of their expensive AppleCare than for this to happen in the first place!
I believe if it is fake then you'll know before your 1 year is up. I know the warranties applied to my products will state that AC is good through some specific date. For me, each of the eBay policies I've purchased appear to be fine and the letters I get show that they've been applied with an expiration date. I'd be surprised if they turned out to be bad at this point.
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