On 10/4 I placed an order for a M1 MacBook Air with the authorized Apple vendor Adorama. They were offering $100 discount via a digital coupon from Apple Insider, plus a discount on the Apple Care coverage. The configuration is nothing out of the ordinary, but it was not a “base” model. I configured it with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD… it was the Gold colored one. On Adorama’s website it indicated the laptop was in stock, but they noted that they send all Mac orders to Apple for processing and shipment. I chose the standard free shipping. Which indicated to me (an assumption) based on how I perceived the wording on the website ordering pages that the order would ship on or before 10/6. Additionally, the website order page explicitly says “Your credit card will not be charged until the order has shipped.”
On 10/6 i got an email from Adorama as a drop ship notification stating they sent my order for fulfillment directly by the manufacturer/distributor. And they would be updating me with tracking information as soon as it becomes available. Ironically, in that same email they stated their return policy as follows: “We think you'll agree that Adorama has the best return policy in the industry.
- You have 30 days from the date of invoice to return the merchandise for full refund on your credit card.”
Within an hour of that email my card had been charged and my account debited, despite the order not having shipped, or me even getting a notification of a tracking number and estimated delivery date.
Nothing in any of their emails or other communications indicated this was a special order, and several other vendors listed that exact same configuration being in stock on their websites… they were just $100 more than Adorama.
Another complication in all of this is apparently they as a firm observe the Jewish Sukkot Holiday and have a very limited schedule of being open for business until 10/19…
When i had not received an update about the shipping from Apple or Adorama by 10/10 - i sent them an email asking for a status update and requested they provide me info about the expected delivery date for my order with them. It took until 10/12 for them to reply, but when they did they said they checked with Apple and was informed by them that the estimated ship date for my order was 12/15/22 - a full 2 months away. Needless to say, i was not pleased with this news; my credit card had already been charged, and i am expected to just wait for 2+ months on a estimated ship date for a product that is showing in stock on many other authorized Apple vendor websites, AND is not of some super special configuration. So i figured that I would just cancel the order… and move on to another source. So i decide to email Adorama and inform them i want to cancel the order… they wouldn’t allow it via the website, and instructed to me to call or mail them to discuss and claimed that Apple was the one who would decide if the cancellation would be accepted… Well, that didn’t sit too well, but i figured i would let them go through their process and policy, but informed them i would not hesitate to report to my bank this being an unauthorized transaction due to very relevant information being omitted prior to the purchase - like the laptop would take until 12/15 to ship… Adorama replied and acted as if they wanted to help, but due to the holiday it was limited to when they were open… i decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and allow them to try to work this out and they said they would email Apple and see about getting approval to cancel the order… in the meantime, just yesterday on 10/13 i received an email from Apple as a notification that my Apple Care+ had been activated and now the extended warranty was ticking off time for an item I didn’t have in my possession, and it had not even shipped. I then get an email today telling me they are declining the cancellation due to Apple saying no, its a special order…
Needless to say, i am now a little bit frustrated. Adorama has no answer why i have an extended warranty activated for a product that hasn’t even shipped and according to them, won’t for another 2+ months, and my card has been charged for an item that has not shipped as they say they won’t do… charge a card until an order has shipped… and to boot they won’t answer questions surrounding that.
Have any of you experienced a bad interaction with this Online Apple Vendor?
I really am just amazed at this - like they wouldn’t expect me to want to cancel once i learned of a 2+ month wait time, that went undisclosed to me until they had charged my card and got my money… it pisses me off to be honest… whats your alls experience in dealing with this kind of thing?
BTW - I am buying this laptop for my elderly mother… its a special gift for her, not even for me.
