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Possible to exchange 4S at Apple Store

rockyroad55

rockyroad55

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jul 14, 2010
4,152
59
Phila, PA
I preordered a 16GB 4S online, but am now considering a 32GB. Is it possible to exchange it at an Apple Store or will I have to ship it back to them?

Anyone here had this issue before with ordering online and exchanging at a store?
 
Yes, you can exchange it - provided they have one to exchange with. That may not happen for a few days unless you're willing to get there early Friday.
 
rockyroad55 said:
I preordered a 16GB 4S online, but am now considering a 32GB. Is it possible to exchange it at an Apple Store or will I have to ship it back to them?

Anyone here had this issue before with ordering online and exchanging at a store?
Click to expand...

No online orders will have to be shipped back to Apple.com they dont take it back in store which is weird. Most of companies allow exchange or returns in store for online orders but Apple is not doing that.
 
I would check at the Apple Store and see
Life is filled with exceptions, and nobody here can definitively say what an Apple Store will or will not do
 
Just FYI, (don't know if this is true everywhere just wanted to share my experience.)

Last year, my older brother got the 16GB iphone 4 and soon wanted to exchange it for the 32GB (like 2 weeks or so after launch.)
I called Apple and they told me that we could go in store to do so.
I put one on hold at the local store and they notified us when it came in a few days later.
Went to the store to pick it up and they asked for the full retail price.
They told him that the online orders had to be shipped back for an exchange, even after we told them that the Apple CSR over the phone said we could do an in store exchange.
Needless to say my brother was pissed and just stuck with the 16GB anyways and quickly filled the whole 16GB.
 
Having just done this with my online order (realised 16gb wasn't going to be sufficient), and knowing big companies reasonably well, what will actually happen is that they will "return" your 16GB, and sell you a 32GB. Therefore there will need to be a 32GB in stock at the store, and you may well need to wait for a refund (that bit depends on how good their process is, i.e. can the store authorize the refund without waiting for the goods to go back to warehouse and be processed - this bit I don't know).

I.e. you will have two separate orders, one returned and cancelled/refunded, and one new one for your 32GB
 
I ordered the iPhone 4S in white via AT&T and they are sending me the black one. Needless to say, after reading this thread, I think I'm just going to stick with what I have. I don't want to wait weeks for another phone.
 
rockyroad55 said:
I preordered a 16GB 4S online, but am now considering a 32GB. Is it possible to exchange it at an Apple Store or will I have to ship it back to them?

Anyone here had this issue before with ordering online and exchanging at a store?
Click to expand...

I'm having the same problem with 16 vs 32GB....
I called Apple and I can return it directly to the Apple Store even though I ordered online. Then I would have to re-order the 32 and wait possibly 3-4 weeks...:(
still undecided...
 
Dammit, I ordered the 32 and was seriously considering going in to exchange it for a 64 on Friday.

You'd think there would be no issue with moving boxes around on launch day.
 
Crap, I don't think i'm going to do it because even if I wanted to exchange it, they would have to return it and I would have to wait a few days before I could get another one even if they had extra 32GB phones.

Why? That upgrade date needs to be reset. Oh well. I have always bought the lowest capacity since the 3G. Maybe I'm just overreacting and want to spend more money for no reason haha. Thanks for the replies though.
 
262Runnr said:
I'm having the same problem with 16 vs 32GB....
I called Apple and I can return it directly to the Apple Store even though I ordered online. Then I would have to re-order the 32 and wait possibly 3-4 weeks...:(
still undecided...
Click to expand...

You are taking your chance here, Apple store will not accept anything purchased online. The Apple phone customer service is clueless, I've tried using them in past and half of time they dont know what they are talking.
 
rockyroad55 said:
Maybe I'm just overreacting and want to spend more money for no reason haha. Thanks for the replies though.
Click to expand...

If you want the 32 GB model it might be worth the wait to upgrade. Do you own the iPhone 4? Are you running out of space all the time? Having the 16 GB model has been annoying because I really have been running out of space regularly since I got it. I like to take a lot of pictures. I find it gets slow when it is close to being full as well. Was so happy they came out with a 64 GB model. I'd like this phone to last a while.
 
dave420 said:
If you want the 32 GB model it might be worth the wait to upgrade. Do you own the iPhone 4? Are you running out of space all the time? Having the 16 GB model has been annoying because I really have been running out of space regularly since I got it. I like to take a lot of pictures. I find it gets slow when it is close to being full as well. Was so happy they came out with a 64 GB model. I'd like this phone to last a while.
Click to expand...

Before I sold it (ugh using a flip phone with 3MB of memory!), my iPhone had 10GB free.
 
dave420 said:
If you want the 32 GB model it might be worth the wait to upgrade. Do you own the iPhone 4? Are you running out of space all the time? Having the 16 GB model has been annoying because I really have been running out of space regularly since I got it. I like to take a lot of pictures. I find it gets slow when it is close to being full as well. Was so happy they came out with a 64 GB model. I'd like this phone to last a while.
Click to expand...

I'm having this problem hence swapping my order over. Just hope Apple ship it soon so I can get a good price for my iphone4!
 
Apple doesn't allow the return or exchange of online orders in store. You would need to call their customer service to get an RMA number and arrange for a pickup by a designated courier. To get a different model more then likely you have to place another order which will obviously delay the delivery.
 
Mr.C said:
Apple doesn't allow the return or exchange of online orders in store. You would need to call their customer service to get an RMA number and arrange for a pickup by a designated courier. To get a different model more then likely you have to place another order which will obviously delay the delivery.
Click to expand...

And you have to wait for your upgrade date to reset unless we want to pay the no-commitment price.
 
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