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MacMall for MBA... experiences?

M

millerb7

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
If apple store doesn't have my BTO in-stock of the 13" MBA... I'll probably order online from macmall due to no taxes for me.

Anybody have experience with them?

They are also offering a free "gift" alone with a free printer via mail in rebate.

Thanks!
 
Free gift only applies when you order over the phone. If you order online, they won't give it to you. When you order over the phone, they will try to sell stuffs like Warranty (It comes with) and other things you may not need.

I ordered it when they offered 1 day shipping for free and I got it in two days. I complained and they sent me that gift with the charge of shipping. (like 2.99 dollars)

My experience was so-so. But, they are not terrible.
 
I've had good luck with them (and with ClubMac, who they purchased a few years ago). Note that they usually have different promos for online vs. phone purchases.

Their prices are usually decent and they ship pretty quickly since they usually have more items in stock than other resellers. If you are getting a MacBook Air, go to Apple Insider and click on their link first, since they are currently taking an extra 2% off "referred" orders (that's one thing I don't like about MacMall - they should just offer a price rather than have so many hoops to jump through).

Some of the "free" stuff requires rebates, so be sure to follow the directions. I didn't need Parallels 6 or a printer so I skipped them, but when I purchased my Rev B 2 years ago I did get some of the free items and got all the rebates.

Keep in mind that they don't accept returns of Apple products. If it's defective (as mine was) you can exchange it at the Apple store.
 
I was wondering about the Return if you buy online other than the Apple stores...
Soooo, if you buy from an authorized Apple dealer online to get the slight discount, no tax & free shipping...
When you have a problem such as the famous "wobble" you then can take the MBA to an Apple store & they will give you a replacement if needed..?? 😕
 
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Like any store, shopping experiences can and do vary. Personally I've bought a lot from them over the past few years and have always received fine service and great deals. As mentioned many of the deals are rebated - read the fine print and you'll be fine. They do like to call you just be firm with them from the get go that you don't want to be bothered and don't need any "add ons" and you'll be fine there to.
 
If you buy from macmall, you would need to make sure this MBA is what you want. And I am dead serious. God/Jesus/Budda help you with your returning MBA to macmall just because you felt like you need more ram or storage. You would be better of emailing Steve Santa than talking to macmall. Returning apple product is almost near impossible.
 
Bmaintz said:
I was wondering about the Return if you buy online other than the Apple stores...
Soooo, if you buy from an authorized Apple dealer online to get the slight discount, no tax & free shipping...
When you have a problem such as the famous "wobble" you then can take the MBA to an Apple store & they will give you a replacement if needed..?? 😕
Click to expand...

I had the "wake from sleep" issue on my 13" MacBook Air that I purchased from MacMall. I had registered it online, and I was able to exchange it once the Apple Genius determined it was defective. He got the replacement out of the back and I was on my way. I didn't even need my receipt.
 
KPOM said:
I had the "wake from sleep" issue on my 13" MacBook Air that I purchased from MacMall. I had registered it online, and I was able to exchange it once the Apple Genius determined it was defective. He got the replacement out of the back and I was on my way. I didn't even need my receipt.
Click to expand...


Great, our tax in the Dever area runs almost 10% in some areas...
 
hcho3 said:
If you buy from macmall, you would need to make sure this MBA is what you want. And I am dead serious. God/Jesus/Budda help you with your returning MBA to macmall just because you felt like you need more ram or storage. You would be better of emailing Steve Santa than talking to macmall. Returning apple product is almost near impossible.
Click to expand...

yeah i had a heck of a time a few years back on an ibook. it was totally used and still had the persons user name etc on it. and they WOULD not ship me a new one and wouldn't refund my money. I had to go through my credit card company to get my money back.

not sure how this company is still around.
 
rmhop81 said:
yeah i had a heck of a time a few years back on an ibook. it was totally used and still had the persons user name etc on it. and they WOULD not ship me a new one and wouldn't refund my money. I had to go through my credit card company to get my money back.

not sure how this company is still around.
Click to expand...

Wow... that's not good to hear at all.

I might just do the EDU discount on apple.com.
 
KPOM said:
It's in their policies:

http://www.macmall.com/n/General-Terms-And-Disclaimers/macNavLinks-315

For what it's worth, neither Apple nor Powermax allow returns on BTO items.
Click to expand...

i understand it's in their policy. i didn't just have buyer's remorse and no longer wanted the machine. the box had already been opened and the machine was used. the palm rests even had some wear on them.

They refused to give me a new machine and they refused to give me my money back.

All they kept saying was sorry, what we sent was brand new and we don't do returns under any circumstances. Call apple to see if they will give you a replacement.

So I immediately called my credit card company and they got me my money back.

My point is, say you buy a new machine and you have issues and apple won't give you a replacement. Then what are you going to do since you can't return the machine back to where you bought it from?
 
rmhop81 said:
i understand it's in their policy. i didn't just have buyer's remorse and no longer wanted the machine. the box had already been opened and the machine was used. the palm rests even had some wear on them.

They refused to give me a new machine and they refused to give me my money back.
Click to expand...

I agree that's an issue. I haven't experienced that, but that is worrying. They should take that back since the product they delivered wasn't the product they sold you.
 
KPOM said:
I agree that's an issue. I haven't experienced that, but that is worrying. They should take that back since the product they delivered wasn't the product they sold you.
Click to expand...

yeah just imagine if apple didn't agree that your MBA was defective...you'd be stuck with a defective computer.
 
rmhop81 said:
yeah just imagine if apple didn't agree that your MBA was defective...you'd be stuck with a defective computer.
Click to expand...

This is why credit cards have buyer's protection for these sorts of things.

For what its worth though, I bought my new MBA from MacMall and i got it earlier than promised and in perfect working order. If you are willing to know that you can't return the item to them and you are OK with that, it's a great way to save money.

I got my 13.3" MBA with 4GB of RAM for $1308 delivered. It would have cost me ~$1550 to get it from apply. Well worth the savings to me, but then again I knew I wanted the machine and wouldn't need to return it.
 
I just bought a Macbook Air 128GB-4GB-1.86GHz from macmall and got parallels and a printer. I sent in all the rebates and got a letter a couple of weeks later saying that one of my rebates had been denied. I called them up and after a 15 minute phone call (me on hold a lot of the time), the staff in broken english said that my rebate would in fact be issued. My other three rebates were explained to be "processing" whatever that means. I thought this was incredibly fishy since there were two rebates for parallels and two for the printer, but only one was rejected. It makes me think that MacMall is attempting to bank on the consumer that is just too lazy, or unwilling to fight for a rebate. This in my opinion is shady, and I will never buy from them again, because I wouldn't want to get screwed like some of the other people in this thread.

I am very happy with the computer (brand new and sealed) and the printer and parallels (all brand new and sealed), I just can't stand companies that are not forthright with their customers. I have also purchased directly from the AppleStore and from MacConnection. By far my most positive experience was the apple store. Rebates were automatic, and I never felt like I was possibly going to get screwed. MacConnection was fine except, they dropped the price on a computer I bought 2 weeks after I had purchased it (dropped by $100) and would not refund the difference. Most reputable sellers are willing to work with a customer in this situation.

Bottom line, if the difference is around $100 (tax included) I will not even think twice about buying from a reseller, and never again from MacMall.
 
khongaeng said:
I just bought a Macbook Air 128GB-4GB-1.86GHz from macmall and got parallels and a printer. I sent in all the rebates and got a letter a couple of weeks later saying that one of my rebates had been denied. I called them up and after a 15 minute phone call (me on hold a lot of the time), the staff in broken english said that my rebate would in fact be issued. My other three rebates were explained to be "processing" whatever that means. I thought this was incredibly fishy since there were two rebates for parallels and two for the printer, but only one was rejected. It makes me think that MacMall is attempting to bank on the consumer that is just too lazy, or unwilling to fight for a rebate. This in my opinion is shady, and I will never buy from them again, because I wouldn't want to get screwed like some of the other people in this thread.
Click to expand...

Rebates in general are fishy. Rebate companies get extra commission based on the level of claims they can successfully reject. Whenever I get a rebate I make sure to fill out all the paperwork and keep copies of everything. The purpose of a rebate is to advertise a product at a lower price but not incur as much cost since a certain percentage won't bother to send in all the required paperwork.
 
OP, why don't you consider buying from powermax ?

I personally have not had any experiences buying from that Reseller, but I am planning on getting one from there...
 
mehmetf said:
OP, why don't you consider buying from powermax ?

I personally have not had any experiences buying from that Reseller, but I am planning on getting one from there...
Click to expand...

I dunno... I'm also slightly impatient haha... I might get the 13" ultimate MBA this weekend, and just use the EDU discount in the apple store... that way I can play right away. I have used the free-printer rebate thru the apple store before MANY times, not a single issue... check was always promptly issued.

MacMall just seems REALLY shady... I had a REALLY bad experience with OWC (Other World Computing) last night on the phone returning a SSD... for some reason MacMalls website reminds me of OWC... put together like crap. Since I'm a SEO/Web Consultant, I look at that stuff. As STUPID as it is, if it's a crappy website, I normally don't purchase from it.

Some stupid rule I have haha... costs me some money in the end, but I sleep well at night.

I won't rule out MacMall fully yet... but I have to ponder over it. Even if all goes well I don't want to have to call on rebates, complain, etc etc... not worth the $100 or $200 it will save me.
 
KPOM said:
It's in their policies:

http://www.macmall.com/n/General-Terms-And-Disclaimers/macNavLinks-315

For what it's worth, neither Apple nor Powermax allow returns on BTO items.
Click to expand...

Have to disagree with Apple on no BTO returns. I returned several this year both to a brick and mortar store and online and all that were opened (except for the defective iMac) were charged the restocking fee.

And I never liked MacMall or MacConnection: I had problems with both in the late 90s... haven't used them since.
 
kazmac said:
Have to disagree with Apple on no BTO returns. I returned several this year both to a brick and mortar store and online and all that were opened (except for the defective iMac) were charged the restocking fee.

And I never liked MacMall or MacConnection: I had problems with both in the late 90s... haven't used them since.
Click to expand...

Yeah OWC lost me as a customer last night for good.
 
they also denied my parallels rebate, and then when i called they said it was a "mistake" and that the rebate would indeed be issued.

sketchy, but i did save some money with the MBA. i'd probably do it again.

khongaeng said:
I just bought a Macbook Air 128GB-4GB-1.86GHz from macmall and got parallels and a printer. I sent in all the rebates and got a letter a couple of weeks later saying that one of my rebates had been denied. I called them up and after a 15 minute phone call (me on hold a lot of the time), the staff in broken english said that my rebate would in fact be issued. My other three rebates were explained to be "processing" whatever that means. I thought this was incredibly fishy since there were two rebates for parallels and two for the printer, but only one was rejected. It makes me think that MacMall is attempting to bank on the consumer that is just too lazy, or unwilling to fight for a rebate. This in my opinion is shady, and I will never buy from them again, because I wouldn't want to get screwed like some of the other people in this thread.

I am very happy with the computer (brand new and sealed) and the printer and parallels (all brand new and sealed), I just can't stand companies that are not forthright with their customers. I have also purchased directly from the AppleStore and from MacConnection. By far my most positive experience was the apple store. Rebates were automatic, and I never felt like I was possibly going to get screwed. MacConnection was fine except, they dropped the price on a computer I bought 2 weeks after I had purchased it (dropped by $100) and would not refund the difference. Most reputable sellers are willing to work with a customer in this situation.

Bottom line, if the difference is around $100 (tax included) I will not even think twice about buying from a reseller, and never again from MacMall.
Click to expand...
 
KPOM said:
It's in their policies:

http://www.macmall.com/n/General-Terms-And-Disclaimers/macNavLinks-315

For what it's worth, neither Apple nor Powermax allow returns on BTO items.
Click to expand...

I am not going to defend MacMall, I have personal issues with that company, but i think it fair to explain their policy.

Any company that buys product from Apple has a certain return allowance (<1%). Any product MacMall sends back to Apple, stock returns, defective product, etc, counts against that cap. If MacMall (or any vendor) accepted returns for DOAs, the would surpass that cap quickly. Any reigned beyond that ca would have to be repaired and sold at a loss as Open Box or Refurbished product. Why should the vendor accept a loss that was due to Apple's policy?

To be fair, most large vendors (IBM, HP, Lenovo) have similar policies.
 
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