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BubbaJones

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 13, 2004
151
0
East Coast
Hi all,

First off, I'd like to say Hi to everyone. I've been following these forums for about 6 months now, and I've finally registered. I'm a would-be switcher, meaning that I would be switching to a Mac if I had the money. Right now I'm saving for a powerbook. Hopefully the G5s will be out by then. Anyway I got home from work today to find a number on my caller id from Apple Computer (1-916-399-7992). I did a quick google on the number, and found this (Link). I was wondering if anyone else had this experience? Is this a new sales tactic? I was hoping that I might have won a raffle or something, but I guess that's just a pipe dream .

Oh well.

BubbaJones
 
BubbaJones said:
Hi all,

Is this a new sales tactic? I was hoping that I might have won a raffle or something, but I guess that's just a pipe dream .

Oh well.

BubbaJones

Welcome and hopefully the G% will come out right when (not after) you have enough money for a powerbook.

I have heard comments that Apple has done some marketing this way such as knowing you have visited a web site and even placed something in the shopping cart, but I don't think they cold called anyone with this info, but instead followed up a sale or something with a comment like...I see you were also considering a _____ with your purchase at apple.com...I think there was also something about a discount if they went ahead and purchased _____ that week or something...sorry I can't remember more and don't have a clue what to search under in the forums to find the thread...maybe someone else will remember or know the story I am talking about. Was maybe 6 months ago or so.
Be careful who you buy the mac from...some nasty fake e-tailers out there saying they give great deals. You should pretty much pay the same for your mac no matter where you buy it (minus a few free offers of memory, etc. at some catalog/e-tailers that are reputable.)

Good luch with the savings!

Johnny
 
call from apple

i got a call from the same number this afternoon. i missed the first try, but answered the second as i was reading this post.

they were calling to see i wanted to get a few extra years of the apple protection plan. (i bought my eMac almost a year ago to the day). apple telemarketing? who knew?
 
I just got a phone call on my cell phone from this same number (I came across the thread by googling the #).

But when I answered, no one spoke. So, I hung up. The odd thing is, if it is from apple, how did they get my cell phone number? The last time I purchased something from apple I still lived in VA. Since then I have moved to HI and have not bought anything new from them nor have I updated my contact info.

Something about this smells fishy to me.
 
Hmmm. Strange. I got a phone call the other day and was just about to post a thread about it. My call wasn't directly Apple telemarketing, but it was close. It was a live person who was polite, even though they couldn't say "Caleb" (they said Kaylee/Cayla). They were calling to see "when I thought I would be ordering the 12" PowerBook from the order that I'd saved on the Apple Store."

I had only saved that to look back at/see if it stayed there when the PowerBook G5s came out.

Hmmm, maybe a PowerBook update soon?!?!?! :D
 
I had gone to the Apple Canada site and checked the education price for an iBook and I got a call from that same number a couple of days later - he was polite and said he was offering me a deal but seemed confused by the difference between Canadian and US dollars (I don't think he knew there was a difference) He told me he was now my account representative and he would be sending me an email so I could contact him when I was ready to buy.

It felt like a squeegee kid to be honest.

M
 
Always be very very wary when people call you asking you to buy something. This is a VERY common tactic to scam you out of your money. The best thing to tell people when they call is to have them send you written information.
 
abhishekit said:
strange ..this was the first post for Bubbajones, fowlersrule and DefenseEngineer :rolleyes: :D anything fishy? :p

Considering I stated that I found this thread by googling the phone number? Nothing fishy from me. I didn't know about this site before that. But I still can't think of the last time I may have placed something in a apple shopping cart and with that phone number.

Go ahead! Google the number. :p You'll come up with this thread and the link posted by BubbaJones :cool:
 
I got this same call last week. It was strange, I thought they were calling about my dead iBook but he kept asking me about a G4 (that I didn't even have) to update my service plan that I also didn't even have. Old inacurate information I guess. I got off the phone because it sounded like some scam until I saw my caller ID from Apple Computer
 
I had the number on my caller id. I called it back and a male recording told me that Apple called and wanted to tell me all about their new, exciting OS 10.2!

Solid Effort Apple.
 
AirUncleP said:
I had the number on my caller id. I called it back and a male recording told me that Apple called and wanted to tell me all about their new, exciting OS 10.2!

Solid Effort Apple.

I received a similar call as well (after purchasing my Mac mini). I called the number back, they (Apple) wanted to let me know about the iPod Shuffle. :)
 
SpliceDWDM0 said:
I received a similar call as well (after purchasing my Mac mini). I called the number back, they (Apple) wanted to let me know about the iPod Shuffle. :)

Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents and let you guys know that alot of these calls AREN'T bogus. I purchased a G4 iMac when they came out, and when the iPod was released I got a call asking if I would like to order one, and the lady explained a little bit about it (not knowing that I knew more about it than she did). I let her do her speech, told her ok, (I wanted one anyway, but how can you resist when apple calls you and you've got the cash to spare) and low and behold after checking my order number she gave me, a 5GB iPod showed up at my door shortly after.

It's mostly just letting normal people, (a.k.a. people who buy Apple comps but don't track Apple's every move like we do) know Apple has something new and interesting available. Think how many iPods were probably sold this way. It's also a good idea from an advertising standpoint. Cause most people will tell someone they know about the call, and since the sales person explained a little about the product, the call recipient has a little information to pass on to another potential customer, and so on.

Just my 2 cents.
 
My wife has received three phone call from an Apple representative. The first was when she was interested in a PowerBook. Then the most recent two was when she saved information on a iMac G5 refurb. The first one they offered her a deal, but not on the recent two.
 
Put Adobe Creative Suite in your Shopping cart but don't buy it and leave it in there. Adobe (or adobe guy working at apple) will call you.
 
I just got a call too.. only didn't get to the phone in time, oh well.

My brother got a bunch of calls about 10 months after his iPod purchase, to remind him to get Applecare.. I bought my iPod in March so I assume that's what my call was.
 
I've gotten calls from Apple on two occasions: One when I left a dream machine in my shopping cart asking if I wanted to order it, and the other was a few months after my .mac ended asking if I wanted to renew. Dunno if it was the 916 number, tho
 
Not a newbie ... I received a similar call after I had run a couple different iMac G5 configs through the online Apple store. When the call came, I had already pulled the trigger on the order a couple of days earlier. No drama. Apple sales is just trying to influence people sitting on the fence.
 
hmm when the G5s first came out i was just messing around seeing what kind of configuration i could do and I had VPC 6.1 i believe in the cart. about a week later an apple representative called me wanted to let me know that vpc wouldnt be able to run on the G5 because of the processor. that was the only time i ever got a call from apple....
 
A friend I talked into buying a powerbook got a call from apple after visting the webstore and creating an account. They offered him a few bucks off if he would order it right then over the phone, he did.

On a side note I have been browsing the webstore quite often in the last week, pricing out new systems, and just today apple sent a $30 off if you spend $300 at the site email coupon - spooky
 
When the iMac G5 came out I was pricing several models and had saved a couple of shopping carts so that when I had the dough I could go back and make the purchase. At the end of November I received a call from Apple saying that I had had the iMac G5 in my cart for a while and wondering if I'd like to go ahead and make that purchase...they offered me all kinds of financing and stuff...but, I didn't have the money--so I didn't act on it.
 
Hmmm...so maybe if I leave that PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5 with Radeon 9800XT 256MB in my cart long enough, they will call and offer me a deal on it? Rock on :D
 
i havent had one! i would love though for them to ring up and offer me some deal that is so good to resist that i will have to buy. please ring apple!
 
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