Had the 11" and 13" and Settled on 13"

[webster69]

Well I'm sure the apple store hates me but had the 13" and although very thin was missing that ultra portable feel for surfing in bed, carrying around etc. so returned for the ultimate 11.

No go with the 11" for me - I just found that the smaller screen real estate and battery drain was a deal killer for me so returning the 11" and going back to the 13" as a keeper. I was a bit surprised at how much faster the battery drained on the 11 than the 13. I also found the speakers to be marginally louder on the 13".

If all your doing is surfing the net 11" may be ok but iWork apps, photo work, and most everything was a bit tougher to do and see on the 11".

Unfortunately I just couldn't tell comparing at the store. It wasn't until I got it home and loaded my apps like photoshop but I am 100% confident in my decision now. I know that others have different opinions and feel the 11" is perfectly fine for everything but I can live with the minor size differences to get the added screen size and battery now that I have tried both extensively.

Hope this helps for anyone who is struggling as much as I was with the decision.

 

[Obscurelight]

You can do multiple exchanges? What are the rules for it. I have a 13 on the way but would still like to try the 11. If you don't mind, please tell about the second exchange when it's done.

 

[webster69]

As far as I am concerned it is my right to return a second time - this is a huge purchase (over $1600) and I better be 100% confident in this purchase (which I am now and won't be doing this again).

As far as I can tell the only stipulation is 14 days with all packaging. The second receipt even has a second date to return the item by so I will point this out if any issues but I don't expect a problem.

 

[johnnymg]

As far as I am concerned it is my right to return a second time - this is a huge purchase (over $1600) and I better be 100% confident in this purchase (which I am now and won't be doing this again).

As far as I can tell the only stipulation is 14 days with all packaging. The second receipt even has a second date to return the item by so I will point this out if any issues but I don't expect a problem.

I wish they had charged you a restocking fee for the SECOND exchange.

bad form~

 

[bigp9998]

I wish they had charged you a restocking fee for the SECOND exchange.

bad form~

It's not like he's abusing the policy or anything. How was he supposed to know whether he would like the 13" or 11" better until he actually tried both of them?

The reason Apple puts in the policy is so that people are completely satisfied with their purchase. It goes alongside their position in the market as a premium brand.

 

[jp700p]

I wish they had charged you a restocking fee for the SECOND exchange.

bad form~

Apple has 60+ billion dollars in cash (and no debt!) I'm sure they can afford the ops exchanges.

 

[webster69]

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As far as I am concerned it is my right to return a second time - this is a huge purchase (over $1600) and I better be 100% confident in this purchase (which I am now and won't be doing this again).

As far as I can tell the only stipulation is 14 days with all packaging. The second receipt even has a second date to return the item by so I will point this out if any issues but I don't expect a problem.

I wish they had charged you a restocking fee for the SECOND exchange.

bad form~

I wish you had kept your opinion to yourself!

I have spent thousands of dollars on Apple products and I am posting to share my experience so perhaps a few people on this forum don't have to make unnecessary returns.

Always has to be a ignorant person pipe in

 

[Geetarpicker]

I also bought a 11" and returned it for a 13". My eyesight just isn't quite able to deal with the slightly smaller text on the 11", plus some things like Photoshop and pro music recording apps gets a bit too tight without some vertical room. I'm happy with the exchange and the 13" seems to run a bit cooler, both being Ultimates. The tiny size of the 11" is very cool for travel, but I'll make the 13" work and it not like its way bigger or heavier. Either are easy to deal with.

 

[CapnJackGig]

I wish they had charged you a restocking fee for the SECOND exchange.

bad form~

And I wish Apple didnt overcharge for all their hardware. Good for this guy for getting what he wants.

 

[PaulWog]

I've got to say: If you're making a $1600 purchase, it is you who should be 100% confident in it.

You shouldn't go and buy multiple products with the intention of returning all but one of them; all with the intention of simply getting to play with everything and picking out your favourite toy from the bunch.

Apple offers their 14-day return policy for one main reason:
So that if someone is actually dissatisfied with the purchase for an unforeseen reason, they can return the product. This is profitable for Apple, since it encourages people to shop at their store: There isn't any worry for the consumer that they'll be stuck with something that they didn't want (ex. present for a birthday, or simply a bad purchase).

It's really not in place so that you can take a bunch of products home, unwrap them, play with them, and keep your favourite one.

Not classy.

It's expensive for a reason. It's a big purchase. So why would you unwrap $3200 worth of products, only to purchase $1600 worth, and dump a $1600 used one on Apple? I mean come on... that's no excuse... "large purchase"... come on.

 

[webster69]

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I've got to say: If you're making a $1600 purchase, it is you who should be 100% confident in it.

You shouldn't go and buy multiple products with the intention of returning all but one of them; all with the intention of simply getting to play with everything and picking out your favourite toy from the bunch.

Apple offers their 14-day return policy for one main reason:
So that if someone is actually dissatisfied with the purchase for an unforeseen reason, they can return the product. This is profitable for Apple, since it encourages people to shop at their store: There isn't any worry for the consumer that they'll be stuck with something that they didn't want (ex. present for a birthday, or simply a bad purchase).

It's really not in place so that you can take a bunch of products home, unwrap them, play with them, and keep your favourite one.

Not classy.

It's expensive for a reason. It's a big purchase. So why would you unwrap $3200 worth of products, only to purchase $1600 worth, and dump a $1600 used one on Apple? I mean come on... that's no excuse... "large purchase"... come on.

I'm glad there are so many righteous people on this forum. As a consumer we don't have the ability to use these systems in our own real world environment with our own custom apps. Have you ever purchased a car without driving it first? I can't drive the Mac sitting on the display table. It's like you test driving a new car around the parking lot. There is no way to test battery, heat, speed, personal apps etc.

Not sure why I am defending myself to you anyway. Before you post maybe you should consider all your past purchases - if this is the way you shop I wish I had something to sell you.

 

[ZBoater]

And I wish Apple didnt overcharge for all their hardware. Good for this guy for getting what he wants.

Of course they have to overcharge! How else can they afford to process all these returns?

 

[nebulos]

i personally don't see a problem with this. not ideal, but OP was genuinely giving both machines a chance. it's not easy to tell what you want to keep for 3 years from a few minutes browsing the web in-store.

people disagree on this. i can see their side too. in my eyes, this is the type of customer Apple has in mind when they allow two free returns and I think they're A-okay with it.

when they charged a restocking fee, buying a comp was scary. this takes a lot of the pressure off and undoubtedly encourages sales.

i could be wrong.

 

[AbeFroman77]

I've got to say: If you're making a $1600 purchase, it is you who should be 100% confident in it.

You shouldn't go and buy multiple products with the intention of returning all but one of them; all with the intention of simply getting to play with everything and picking out your favourite toy from the bunch.

Apple offers their 14-day return policy for one main reason:
So that if someone is actually dissatisfied with the purchase for an unforeseen reason, they can return the product. This is profitable for Apple, since it encourages people to shop at their store: There isn't any worry for the consumer that they'll be stuck with something that they didn't want (ex. present for a birthday, or simply a bad purchase).

It's really not in place so that you can take a bunch of products home, unwrap them, play with them, and keep your favourite one.

Not classy.

It's expensive for a reason. It's a big purchase. So why would you unwrap $3200 worth of products, only to purchase $1600 worth, and dump a $1600 used one on Apple? I mean come on... that's no excuse... "large purchase"... come on.

LOL, the Apple policy you quoted is exactly what the TS did.

"So that if someone is actually dissatisfied with the purchase for an unforeseen reason, they can return the product."

Keywords being "dissatisfied" and "for any unforeseen reason"

i personally don't see a problem with this. not ideal, but OP was genuinely giving both machines a chance. it's not easy to tell what you want to keep for 3 years from a few minutes browsing the web in-store.

people disagree on this. i can see their side too. in my eyes, this is the type of customer Apple has in mind when they allow two free returns and I think they're A-okay with it.

when they charged a restocking fee, buying a comp was scary. this takes a lot of the pressure off and undoubtedly encourages sales.

i could be wrong.

Exactly. People don't seem to get this. A satisfied Apple customer is a long time Apple customer and will swear by their products.


And to the TS, thank you for your review. It helps me confirm that returning my 11" MBA was right because I had the same issues. I will be picking up the 13" MBA soon.

 

[webster69]

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Appreciate some positive feedback and this was the point of the thread to begin with

 

[FieldingMellish]

There's always someone to abuse a good policy.

 

[AbeFroman77]

There's always someone to abuse a good policy.

What kind of return wouldn't be abusing the policy?

 

[webster69]

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There's always someone to abuse a good policy.

There's always a person to abuse a thread that was meant to benefit others. Instead of the personal attacks why don't the negative posters spend some time contributing to these forums in a manner that will be beneficial to the other users. I don't recall asking for anyone's feedback on what I did that was best for me.

 

[PaulWog]

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I'm glad there are so many righteous people on this forum. As a consumer we don't have the ability to use these systems in our own real world environment with our own custom apps. Have you ever purchased a car without driving it first? I can't drive the Mac sitting on the display table. It's like you test driving a new car around the parking lot. There is no way to test battery, heat, speed, personal apps etc.

Not sure why I am defending myself to you anyway. Before you post maybe you should consider all your past purchases - if this is the way you shop I wish I had something to sell you.

So you're comparing purchasing and opening up two different Macs to test-driving a car?

When you test drive a car, you get to test drive a model on the lot. The car might be new, or it might have been test driven before; who knows. But they keep a test driving model out. You don't get to take the car home, etc, etc. The car also doesn't come wrapped in shrink-wrap that, when opened, deems the car as "used", and worth less on resale. One car can be used for many different test-drives from people... but with a Mac, only one person can unwrap a new one.

There's a reason Apple has their laptops out on display. There's a reason you can book free appointments with them. You can go and spend an hour+ easily with a model of your choice to try it out in the store. If we're comparing car lots to MacBooks, then that's basically it: You don't get to see how the car you're test driving parks in your driveway. Or how it works on a vacation drive. Or how it drives down that highway you like that's 100 miles away. You get to test drive it around the block, or few a few km's around, and see what it's like. Same with an Apple computer: You get to test drive it in the store for quite a while, and you can ask questions, etc, etc.

It's just not appropriate to take advantage of a return policy in that way. Such behaviour can ruin things for the rest of us. Those sorts of actions are what can cause a company to have to modify their policies. Who knows? Maybe if there weren't people who took advantage of the policy like you are, we might have had a 3-week return policy. Apple keeps track of everything in their business; returns, when things are returned, etc... those are things they keep numbers on. I'm not saying people like you are in the masses (because I don't know)... but what I do know is that it's odd that you're justifying it all, as if it should be common-practice for people who are uncertain of which model they want to simply pick up every model they're considering and take it home as a rental.

 

[darngooddesign]

So you're comparing purchasing and opening up two different Macs to test-driving a car?

When you test drive a car, you get to test drive a model on the lot. The car might be new, or it might have been test driven before; who knows. But they keep a test driving model out. You don't get to take the car home, etc, etc. The car also doesn't come wrapped in shrink-wrap that, when opened, deems the car as "used", and worth less on resale. One car can be used for many different test-drives from people... but with a Mac, only one person can unwrap a new one.

There's a reason Apple has their laptops out on display. There's a reason you can book free appointments with them. You can go and spend an hour+ easily with a model of your choice to try it out in the store. If we're comparing car lots to MacBooks, then that's basically it: You don't get to see how the car you're test driving parks in your driveway. Or how it works on a vacation drive. Or how it drives down that highway you like that's 100 miles away. You get to test drive it around the block, or few a few km's around, and see what it's like. Same with an Apple computer: You get to test drive it in the store for quite a while, and you can ask questions, etc, etc.

Actually, once they know you are serious about buying many car dealers will let you take a car home for an extended test drive.

It's just not appropriate to take advantage of a return policy in that way. Such behaviour can ruin things for the rest of us. Those sorts of actions are what can cause a company to have to modify their policies. Who knows? Maybe if there weren't people who took advantage of the policy like you are, we might have had a 3-week return policy. Apple keeps track of everything in their business; returns, when things are returned, etc... those are things they keep numbers on. I'm not saying people like you are in the masses (because I don't know)... but what I do know is that it's odd that you're justifying it all, as if it should be common-practice for people who are uncertain of which model they want to simply pick up every model they're considering and take it home as a rental.

However, this really helps out those of us who purchase refurbs...so to the OP, I thank you.

Technically its up to Apple to decide what's appropriate, and they felt the final sale, of the higher priced item, was worth an additional return.

FYI. I don't ever recall a 30 day return window, and I've been buying from them since the early 90s, and they used to charge a restocking fee. So not only have they not penalized consumers for things like this, they have made it easier to return items.

 

[OneMike]

I don't see anything wrong with what you did.

 

[bigp9998]

So you're comparing purchasing and opening up two different Macs to test-driving a car?

When you test drive a car, you get to test drive a model on the lot. The car might be new, or it might have been test driven before; who knows. But they keep a test driving model out. You don't get to take the car home, etc, etc. The car also doesn't come wrapped in shrink-wrap that, when opened, deems the car as "used", and worth less on resale. One car can be used for many different test-drives from people... but with a Mac, only one person can unwrap a new one.

There's a reason Apple has their laptops out on display. There's a reason you can book free appointments with them. You can go and spend an hour+ easily with a model of your choice to try it out in the store. If we're comparing car lots to MacBooks, then that's basically it: You don't get to see how the car you're test driving parks in your driveway. Or how it works on a vacation drive. Or how it drives down that highway you like that's 100 miles away. You get to test drive it around the block, or few a few km's around, and see what it's like. Same with an Apple computer: You get to test drive it in the store for quite a while, and you can ask questions, etc, etc.

It's just not appropriate to take advantage of a return policy in that way. Such behaviour can ruin things for the rest of us. Those sorts of actions are what can cause a company to have to modify their policies. Who knows? Maybe if there weren't people who took advantage of the policy like you are, we might have had a 3-week return policy. Apple keeps track of everything in their business; returns, when things are returned, etc... those are things they keep numbers on. I'm not saying people like you are in the masses (because I don't know)... but what I do know is that it's odd that you're justifying it all, as if it should be common-practice for people who are uncertain of which model they want to simply pick up every model they're considering and take it home as a rental.

Can you install your own applications on the Macs in the Apple Store? Test them out on your home network? Hook them up to your HDTV and see how smoothly video runs? Test the battery life under the conditions you will most be using them?

 

[KPOM]

I don't see anything wrong with what you did.

Agreed. It isn't like he intended to make a second exchange at the outset. Apple made the decision to waive restocking charges, and if too many people start doing this they may rethink that (also their right), but at the end of the day Apple is getting a sale of a product to a satisfied customer. It just took a little longer to determine what made him satisfied.

 

[BBC Model B]

As far as I am concerned it is my right to return a second time - this is a huge purchase (over $1600) and I better be 100% confident in this purchase (which I am now and won't be doing this again).

Not your right at all.

Apple let you, which is a different matter, so there's no abuse and no reason for people to tell you off.

It's totally up to Apple to decide how many times you can return something.

And to everyone complaining that this is bad form or not classy or something, Apple are perfectly capable of standing up for themselves. You just look silly.

 

[mkelly]

I'm glad there are so many righteous people on this forum. As a consumer we don't have the ability to use these systems in our own real world environment with our own custom apps.

You absolutely have that right (dependant upon the state / province / country in which you reside and your local laws). Buy it, take it back, etc. Just be upfront and honest with the sales staff about what you're doing and it's all good.

My personal beef is with the people that complain about opening their computer and finding an improperly-coiled power adapter, or a hint of dust on the screen. Or commenting about how refurbs are somehow of lesser quality.

All those returned computers have got to go somewhere.