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All iPads How many times can you return?

L

Luis2004

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 30, 2012
615
1
I was just curious. The Apple Store says you can return any item within 30 days, no questions asked.

My question is, how many times can you do this? What's to stop someone from, say, buying an iPad mini today and returning it over and over until the mini Retina comes out?
 
I do not know specifically but one would get flagged eventually, that is what happens at Best Buy as I witnessed it happen to someone right after the holidays.
 
i know someone that has been doing this since the 4S first came out. He is currently returning his iphone 5 every 2 weeks through verizon I believe. Anyways, he hasnt been flagged or anything. I believe he has a serious OCD condition.
 
Yeah, I'm happy with the mini right now, but I know that I will want the Retina version if/when it comes out.

Rumors are pointing to an April release, while others are pointing to an October release, so I'm torn on what to do.

Unfortunately I sold my iPad 3 to my dad in order to get the mini without having to eat any of the cost, so if I simply return it and wait for the retina, I will be iPad-less.

I will probably just keep it and eat a hundred or so dollars when the retina version comes out. I love the mini, I just miss the retina screen on web browsing and PDF reading.
 
cardfan said:
Because he can't really afford one.
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And how would you know what my personal finances are?

How about the reason is because someone who just bought a mini at the beginning of March might be totally pissed if a retina mini comes out a month later? :rolleyes:
 
Luis2004 said:
How about the reason is because someone who just bought a mini at the beginning of March might be totally pissed if a retina mini comes out a month later? :rolleyes:
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Apple has a grace period for recent purchases usually equal to the return policy. However, what you're proposing is a buy-return, buy-return cycle which sounds pretty crazy. At some point you have to decide if you want the device and stick with the consequences of your decision. If a new one comes out 31 days later then just learn to deal with it, you aren't losing anything by not having the absolute latest version.
 
Luis2004 said:
Yeah, I'm happy with the mini right now, but I know that I will want the Retina version if/when it comes out.

Rumors are pointing to an April release, while others are pointing to an October release, so I'm torn on what to do.

Unfortunately I sold my iPad 3 to my dad in order to get the mini without having to eat any of the cost, so if I simply return it and wait for the retina, I will be iPad-less.

I will probably just keep it and eat a hundred or so dollars when the retina version comes out. I love the mini, I just miss the retina screen on web browsing and PDF reading.
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Don't buy please. Even though Apple''s policy may allow this, what you are doing ends up costing consumers in the long run. BY returning perfectly good models, over and over, you raise the costs of the items, and eventually that cost comes back to the consumers. So if this is your plan, go buy it from Samsung.
 
I already bought, which you would know if you read the thread completely.

And although I most likely will not do the return-buy return-buy cycle because of the implications involved, I can do as I please with my own money!
 
Moral ramifications of this aside, it's an interesting question -- does Apple have any procedures in place to protect against this kind of abusive customer behavior?
 
Night Spring said:
Moral ramifications of this aside, it's an interesting question -- does Apple have any procedures in place to protect against this kind of abusive customer behavior?
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I would imagine they do if you buy from them repeatedly. If you buy from a number of vendors then it would be hard for them to track unless you register each device.
 
I would say the value of the time spent buying and returning vastly outweights any loss you would take by selling the old one and buying the new model.
 
If you switch stores between best buy, apple, staples etc. and anywhere else that has the return policy, then I don't think you will get flagged. But this behavior is highly unethical.

I agree with the above post, the amount of time you spend wiping, driving, returning, repurchasing, restoring, and overall worrying would not be worth whatever hit you would take anyways, in my opinion at least.
 
dextr3k said:
If you switch stores between best buy, apple, staples etc. and anywhere else that has the return policy, then I don't think you will get flagged. But this behavior is highly unethical.

I agree with the above post, the amount of time you spend wiping, driving, returning, repurchasing, restoring, and overall worrying would not be worth whatever hit you would take anyways, in my opinion at least.
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I just love the attitude from people like you - "highly unethical behavior". Who are you to tell him what is or is not unethical behavior? How about you just answer the OP's question and keep the ethics lecture to yourself??
 
WiseGuyMac said:
Who are you to tell him what is or is not unethical behavior? How about you just answer the OP's question and keep the ethics lecture to yourself??
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I don't know who he is, but if I had to guess, he's someone with a moral compass. Which is nothing to be ashamed of or to be scoffed at.
 
I do happen to have a moral compass. And I've decided to not do the return-purchase-return thing primarily because of the moral ramifications.

I appreciate everyone's feedback.
 
WiseGuyMac said:
I just love the attitude from people like you - "highly unethical behavior". Who are you to tell him what is or is not unethical behavior? How about you just answer the OP's question and keep the ethics lecture to yourself??
Click to expand...

Pots and black kettles....
 
shortcrust said:
Pots and black kettles....
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That isn't even close to an accurate analogy. You are trying to insinuate that I'm no different from the person offering unsolicited advice. All I'm saying is keep the conversation on point. Answer the questions that are being asked, not the ones that aren't. If the question had been "how many times can I return items, and do you think that is an ethical thing to do?", then it would be perfectly appropriate to chime in with your opinion. If the OP wants to buy and return something 100 times and there is no policy to prevent it, that's for him/her to decide if it is ethical or not.
 
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