Is my new MacBook Pro not new?

[pgiguere1]

It could also be AT&T's website being buggy and having loaded someone's profile by accident, if you have no other proof of the computer being used.

I mean, it's weird that someone would have taken the time to erase Safari's history but leave saved passwords there. When you click on "Reset Safari" by default everything is checked, so that would mean Best Buy would have unchecked the "Remove saved names and passwords" manually.

That seems unlikely to me.

 

[Retina MacBook]

Don't do this. The ethical thing would be to log out of her email account and take it back to Best Buy and get a refund/replacement.

If he did that, he would have no evidence that the computer was used. Besides, how could this happen if the computer was reformatted?

 

[jcpb]

If he did that, he would have no evidence that the computer was used. Besides, how could this happen if the computer was reformatted?

You're implying that Best Buy employees would go through the additional expense of wiping the private data of the previous owner before reselling the returned product.

They won't.

 

[Retina MacBook]

You're implying that Best Buy employees would go through the additional expense of wiping the private data of the previous owner before reselling the returned product.

They won't.

So it isn't new. Not wiping it will be a good thing because the next time somebody gets tricked and they thought it's new, they'll have a clue.

 

[jcpb]

So it isn't new. Not wiping it will be a good thing because the next time somebody gets tricked and they thought it's new, they'll have a clue.

Unwanted privacy intrusion is a good thing?

 

[Retina MacBook]

Unwanted privacy intrusion is a good thing?

Tricking customers is a good thing?

 

[iVeBeenDrinkin']

Interestingly enough, I bought a new MBP Thursday, from BB. I called 5 stores in my are to see if they had any in stock. All of the stores were out of stock of all rMBPs, except one. They had 3 of the 512GB models in stock and 1 of the 256GB in stock. The girl told me over the phone, that the 256GB model had been returned to the store and that they had wiped the drive. My experience is that most retailers will tell you when they're selling an "opened box" product.

Also, I posted a pic above that shows that Apple has taken measures to insure that you know you're get an unopened product.

 

[jcpb]

Tricking customers is a good thing?

Why are you arguing for the sake of arguing?

Not factory-resetting the returned computer before reselling it isn't just a very bad idea in terms of security - hell, just ask the US military - it also sheds light into the relative incompetence of the shop's employees. Especially jarring is that Best Buy runs a tech support side business called GeekSquad.

An used computer sells for less than a new computer, that's enough of an indication that it's previously owned. Reselling a returned computer without exercising due diligence regarding private data by the store is a terrible idea.

 

[Mojo1]

so weird. check the email and send an email to the same one asking if she returned the laptop

Terrible idea and rather creepy too... There is absolutely no reason to contact her since it is obvious that she returned the laptop. (I don't consider it likely that someone would set-up an e-mail account on a floor model.)

At any rate I would return to the store and negotiate a good deal for the open-box MBP or obtain a brand new Mac.

 

[TickleMeElmo]

If he did that, he would have no evidence that the computer was used. Besides, how could this happen if the computer was reformatted?

Because Best Buy does no question asked returns?

 

[mac.fanatic]

I used to work at Best Buy, so this doesn't surprise me. I would never buy anything there. I'd definitely take it back and I'd probably go buy it somewhere else, unless you are using their financing.

What do you mean? Do they package floor models often and try to pass them off as "new" ?

 

[dontpannic]

Surely if the machine was sealed and showed the first run wizard, AT&T's website was perhaps using IP addresses to cache user logins and not cookies?

 

[midtownhd]

c'mon, you can definitely tell whether the macbook is new or not, by unboxing it.
You got the plastic wrap, the plastic sticker that has to be broken to take the other plastic off of the laptop.

 

[minifridge1138]

It's a good question: was the MacBook Pro itself still sealed in the plastic wrap?

A week ago i purchased an open box MacBook Pro from BestBuy. Of course I got a nice discount because it was open box.

When I booted it I got Lion's new account wizard (I miss the OS X Welcome video).

My Thoughts --> Great, a fresh install.
Until I got to the Apple registration part: it had the previous user's email address populated.
At that point I stopped, rebooted to the recovery partition, wiped the hdd, and did my own fresh install (which is TERRIBLE now that I have to download the image from Apple for a fresh install).

After that, there is still 1 trace of the previous user: iLife suite in the App Store. Now that there is not a recovery disc, Apple wants you to download the iLife suite from the App Store.
It shows that it has already been installed (which it had been when the computer was new) but is associated with the original purchaser's apple id.

I don't know how BestBuy handles cleaning hard drives, but I'm not impressed.

You really should respect the first owner's privacy and not login as her. Yes, she should have formatted the hard drive herself, but she may have thought best buy would do that for her.

 

[Ricky Smith]

Here's a secret about retail, if they can get away with it without being caught they'll do it. In my past retail lifetime I've been requested to seal up many products that were returned and sell them as new. We have those dandy shrinkwrap machines.

 

[Puevlo]

Also check the warranty on the Apple website to see when it should expire. Might give you an idea of how old it is as well.

 

[mgartner0622]

If it was sealed, as in in the apple shrink-wrap, it should be new.
Sometimes, if I reset Safari and go to eBay, it tells me I've looked at some strange items like Air fresheners, cars on ebay motors, etc, that I'm certain I've never looked at before (I'm the only user of this computer.)
This could be the same type of thing...

 

[Braniff747SP]

Similar thing happened to me when I bought a refurbished/open box iPad from Best Buy: the machine still had music and some apps from the previous user. Simply did a factory reset and got it over with; if it had been a laptop, though, I would have gone back.

 

[ELMI0001]

Planning to talk to Best buy today.

I'll let everyone know of my experience.

 

[ixodes]

Sometimes, if I reset Safari and go to eBay, it tells me I've looked at some strange items like Air fresheners, cars on ebay motors, etc, that I'm certain I've never looked at before (I'm the only user of this computer.)
This could be the same type of thing...

You're not the only one that has experienced this, it's the main reason I don't trust Safari.

I run both the stable version of Chrome, as well as Canary. They have been very good. No problems, nothing but fast and accurate performance.

 

[RVspidey]

Check if she took any photos of herself.