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Purchased AppleCare on eBay before warranty expired, but didn't receive it yet.

J

jshbckr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 20, 2007
421
1
Minneapolis, MN
The seller hasn't gotten back to me and it's been nearly 20 days since I ordered it. Now my computer is out of warranty.

Will I be able to call Apple and prove that I bought it before my warranty expired?

or would I be better off just canceling the auction and getting my money back?
 
Cancel the auction and get money back. You have no record of you purchasing AppleCare (you're going to say you purchased it off eBay?). Now that you're MacBook Pro is out of warranty, you're going to need to provide proof and that's something you don't have. How many days are out of warranty? If it's less than a week, you might want to try calling AppleCare and see if an exception can be made. You pay full price but it's better than not getting AppleCare at all.
 
iLog.Genius said:
Cancel the auction and get money back. You have no record of you purchasing AppleCare (you're going to say you purchased it off eBay?). Now that you're MacBook Pro is out of warranty, you're going to need to provide proof and that's something you don't have. How many days are out of warranty? If it's less than a week, you might want to try calling AppleCare and see if an exception can be made. You pay full price but it's better than not getting AppleCare at all.
Click to expand...

Well, you can legitimately buy AppleCare on eBay and activate it, so why would my purchase from eBay not count?

eBay has record of when items were purchased, so I don't see why it would be a problem with Apple.
 
jshbckr said:
would I be better off just canceling the auction and getting my money back?
Click to expand...

It's not, I was under the impression the sale was not finalized? If you've already purchased it before the date the limited warranty expired then you would need to call into AppleCare and get the e-mail or fax number to fax your proof of purchase. If your purchase is not finalized and your computer is out of the warranty period, then you're out of luck.
 
iLog.Genius said:
It's not, I was under the impression the sale was not finalized? If you've already purchased it before the date the limited warranty expired then you would need to call into AppleCare and get the e-mail or fax number to fax your proof of purchase. If your purchase is not finalized and your computer is out of the warranty period, then you're out of luck.
Click to expand...

What is considered "final"? I mean, I have PayPal receipts from sending payment, eBay shows the transaction as ending March 5th (about two weeks before the warranty expired).

I think the warranty expired like... 3 days ago? If I called Apple (without having the AppleCare registration number) can I explain to them that I bought it online, and the sale was finalized but the product hasn't reached me yet? And maybe have them put a memo on my account or something? I mean, I've purchased at least $10,000+ of Apple stuff in the last 5 years. PowerBook, Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, iPhones, iPods, etc. and I've purchased AppleCare before and I've had great support from them. I really hope this gets all worked out.

Should I not mention eBay if I were to call them?
 
You don't need to call them saying your product is in "transit". You can still call them when you get the registration number. The important thing is that you have proof that you purchased AppleCare BEFORE the limited warranty expired. Like you said, it shouldn't matter that you purchased AppleCare off eBay. I don't work in the Agreement department so I can't say for sure how the see purchases of eBay unless it's an authorized online store.

You're going to have call them once you actually receive the product and deal with Agreement Admin. I mean, AppleCare is AppleCare but can't say for sure how it's going to play out.
 
That's a bummer. Call Apple and see if you can find someone to let you add Applecare, but yeah, go with a different seller. My Applecare/ebay experiences have all resulted with a working code emailed within an hour or so.
 
rKunda said:
Call Apple and see if you can find someone to let you add Applecare
Click to expand...
Might be your best option.

Have your eBay receipt handy so you can fax/e-mail it to them for verification.

Personally, I used eBay to get Apple Care for the first time a short while ago. The process went very smooth. Received the certificate via e-mail within about an hour after payment. Lucky I guess.
 
There you go. So all you need to do now is call AppleCare and get the e-mail/fax number to send them your proof of purchase before your AppleCare can be enrolled.
 
Ebay is not considered an authorized seller, unless the seller you bought is from is an authorized retailer. If they are not, then Apple has no sympathy.
 
How can people sell the AppleCare plans for so cheap through eBay?? I don't understand how that works.
Does Apple sell these plans to other retailers, then some of them just sell them for dirt cheap, small profit on eBay?
 
NickM said:
How can people sell the AppleCare plans for so cheap through eBay?? I don't understand how that works.
Does Apple sell these plans to other retailers, then some of them just sell them for dirt cheap, small profit on eBay?
Click to expand...

If that were the case, that would make them authorized resellers in a way. Strong chance that AppleCare on eBay are obtain through "other" ways which is why they're able to sell them for cheap yet still make a small profit.

alphaod said:
Ebay is not considered an authorized seller, unless the seller you bought is from is an authorized retailer. If they are not, then Apple has no sympathy.
Click to expand...

I was thinking that too, but one could make up so many excuses. Someone was selling their AppleCare but no longer have the computer and Apple didn't/couldn't refund the money. It could be a friend just selling his AppleCare because he/she doesn't want it or need it. Again, I don't know how the Agreement Admins handle these types of situations. Usually they'll ask where you get it from and it's always "Apple Store" or "Apple Reseller name whatever" and they would have that on file, here it's "I got it from eBay". AppleCare is AppleCare but buying off eBay and enrolling it after the limited warranty is something that AppleCare rarely deals with. Do keep us informed, would like to see what happens.
 
iLog.Genius said:
Strong chance that AppleCare on eBay are obtain through "other" ways.
Click to expand...


What kind of other ways? Fraudulent ways?
Wouldn't Apple have records of AppleCare plans? And therefore be able to tell which ones are legit? And which ones were stolen, if that is indeed what you were implying. (Although I can't understand how someone would steal AppleCare from Apple.)
 
NickM said:
What kind of other ways? Fraudulent ways?
Wouldn't Apple have records of AppleCare plans? And therefore be able to tell which ones are legit? And which ones were stolen, if that is indeed what you were implying. (Although I can't understand how someone would steal AppleCare from Apple.)
Click to expand...

Yes and No. I'm pretty sure Apple products are stolen everyday. Can they keep track of them? Sure but it's not Apple's business to accuse someone of stealing. Sure they might have proof but the customer can make up a story of how they obtained the product and then you go into a confrontation and that's time wasted. Every company, not just Apple, basically has an account with x amount of money for stolen merchandise.
 
iLog.Genius said:
Yes and No. I'm pretty sure Apple products are stolen everyday. Can they keep track of them? Sure but it's not Apple's business to accuse someone of stealing. Sure they might have proof but the customer can make up a story of how they obtained the product and then you go into a confrontation and that's time wasted. Every company, not just Apple, basically has an account with x amount of money for stolen merchandise.
Click to expand...

Not to derail the thread, but talking about a company and it's "stash of cash" to deal with stolen goods. I think I read in 2007 Wal Mart had something like 4 billion in stolen inventory? :eek: Holy crap that is allot of $1.97 items lol

To the OP, hope you can get something worked out :) was following the thread to see your results just got side tracked by this post. :D
 
I bought AppleCare on eBay cheap, and got my code on the same day.

I have no idea if it was stolen or not, and frankly, I don't want to know. The less I know the better. I have AppleCare coverage on my iMac now, and I paid someone $50 less than the educational pricing for it. That's all I know.
 
Back to the topic of this thread (lol), I've bought AppleCare for my friends and recently I've asked for the code via email and send the box at a later date. This has worked out flawlessly and rather conveniently for all parties concerned. Check with the seller and see if he/she can email you the codes....:cool:
 
SFStateStudent said:
Back to the topic of this thread (lol), I've bought AppleCare for my friends and recently I've asked for the code via email and send the box at a later date. This has worked out flawlessly and rather conveniently for all parties concerned. Check with the seller and see if he/she can email you the codes....:cool:
Click to expand...

Yeah, usually with eBay they just send you the code? The box really isn't necessary. Enrollment number and proof of purchase and you should be good to go.
 
Like others have suggested, I just ask for the registration code and tell them to chunk the box. Additionally, .Mac (errrr MobileMe) renewals can be done the same way.

Personally, I don't believe there is some mass scandal happening on eBay regarding stolen AppleCare purchases. I've been buying AppleCare off eBay for years, and never had a problem.

You would have to go back through the multitude of AppleCare threads, but at one point a Mac reseller mentioned that AppleCare and .Mac are calculated differently as far as cost to the reseller goes; and since they're add-ons, an Apple retailer stands to make a larger precentage off the sale compared to hardware. This is likely the reason AppleCare and .Mac are both discounted considerably on eBay and places like Amazon.

It shouldn't take 20 days to receive anything off eBay unless it's a speciality item or from another country. I would file a complaint immediately on both your PayPal and eBay account (provided they haven't linked them together recently).
 
Ahh... I guess I didn't realize that this thing actually comes in a box. I thought it was a purely online process through Apple, which couldn't be obtained by physically taking something home from the Apple store.
That being the case, I'm sure they could and probably do get stolen (or whatever else) on a daily basis... or simply sold dirt cheap from some authorized resellers through eBay. (It makes me wonder if Apple didn't put some mandatory price for them or something... or at least how much the resellers buy them for.)
All the money spent on testing, repairing, replacing on the many computers serviced with AppleCare has got to be a nice expense for Apple.

I bought my MBP almost 4 weeks ago. I'm starting to wonder when I should get the AppleCare for it... maybe at the 6 month mark? 12 month mark?
 
A good friend of my wanted to purchase AppleCare for her MBP, so I directed her to Amazon and she could purchase it for $149, which she did but for some reason she was waiting for the box for like two weeks and she never mentioned that she hadn't activated her AppleCare, until I asked how the AppleCare thing was going and she mentioned that she hadn't received anything in the mail and it had been two weeks since she purchased the AppleCare. I told her to look for an email from the seller, which she did and she located her codes, then left extremely positive feedback and an apology to the seller. We laughed for days, but everything is perfectly fine.....:D:p:D:p:D:p
 
My warranty is up in the middle of next month, so I decided to spring for Applecare if I could get it cheap enough. I already had a commitment from the manager of an Apple Store that I could purchase it there for the 'educational' discount ($239) because I had asked about it, and mentioned that it was available online in many places for a lot less than the $349 that the Apple store was selling it for. At first they didn't believe me (or so they said) until I pulled up some third-party prices on Amazon, etc. So, the manager offered me a discount, which I asked him to write down on his card so I could use it later.

Short story long... as they say :D I decide to check out the ebay scene, and saw it selling for various prices, from $245 to $175 and $169 and $159 (all listed as "buy it now" prices) and various auction sales where winning bids were in the $160-180 range. I figured I'd pull the trigger on a $159.95 Buy it now! deal and use paypal for the protection usually offered. I checked the sellers rep/rating out (99.8%) and looked at some of the customer feedback. All of the feedback was positive and for Applecare purchases, indicating almost instant delivery and success registering the products with Apple. But, I noticed that for some buyers the prices varied, down to even $130 for the same product for Macbook Pros.

Not seeing a place to bid anything other than the "buy it now" price of $159.95, I checked the sellers other products, and noticed the same Applecare listed at $169.95... with one difference. While still having that as a "buy it now" price, there was an additional button on the higher priced product which said "Buy this product for less. Make an offer." So, the old lightbulb went off, and I realized how some folks were getting it for less than others.

I clicked the "make an offer" button, and typed $130. Within three seconds I was informed that my offer was accepted. I was a bit shocked, and then slapped myself for not typing in $100, or $105, or whatever until it was actually accepted to see how low I could go. Obviously they had already put in a minimum price which if you met or beat, you got the deal.... so I don't know how low you might actually be able to buy Applecare for.

End of story. Within an hour I had my registration code and instructions emailed to me. I enrolled the Applecare plan at Apple support, and by the next morning I had my Applecare Protection Plan Proof of Coverage issued by Apple.

Word to the wise... keep copies (web receipts) of your purchase and also your original receipt for your computer purchase - just in case they're ever asked for. It doesn't matter what you pay, just that you did buy them legally.
 
NickM said:
I bought my MBP almost 4 weeks ago. I'm starting to wonder when I should get the AppleCare for it... maybe at the 6 month mark? 12 month mark?
Click to expand...

Usually don't buy warranties, but something expensive like a MacBook Pro seems like a no brainer. If you do, please do it sooner rather than later. Probably a money thing but I don't understand why people wait until the last day to purchase AppleCare, it's not like you get more days out of it or something. I hate talking/dealing with Agreement Admin, they ask too many questions and do too many checks and usually the volume is high so you're waiting 10 minutes sometimes more. So much easier to talk to an AppleCare agent and just give them the enrollment number.
 
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