Question about a potential Craigslist purchase

[jlblodgett]

I was browsing my local Craigslist advertisements last night when I came upon an advertisement for a Rev. C MacBook Air listed for $1300.

I contacted the seller, and inquired about the unit. The seller advised me that the reason it was priced so low is due to the fact that the unit has no warranty. He claims that he purchased it from Best Buy as a "returned unit" and so it came with no warranty.

He has provided me with the serial number for the machine - I plugged it into apple's warranty website, and it does come back as having an "expired" warranty. I am a little confused how a unit released in June 2009 could already have an "expired" warranty - but I guess if it was a returned unit, maybe that is how Apple does it?

The price is intriguing but I have great reservations about purchasing a used laptop with no warranty, when it could still have a warranty.

Any thoughts?

 

[Hellhammer]

That's not very good price... You can get low-end MBA for 1249$ from refurb store. Comes with full 1-year warranty. Check out other MBA deals from refurb store as well!

 

[jlblodgett]

Right - but this is for the high end, 2.16 Ghz with the 128 SSD.

So it's about $250 less than the refurb store - although, honestly, the one-year warranty is probably worth more than the $250.

 

[Hellhammer]

Right - but this is for the high end, 2.16 Ghz with the 128 SSD.

So it's about $250 less than the refurb store - although, honestly, the one-year warranty is probably worth more than the $250.

Yea it is. Plus you can get previous gen 1.86GHz MBA with 128GB SSD for 1349$, 50$ more than the Craigslist deal. Difference between 1.86GHz and 2.16GHz isn't noticeable so... Comes with full warranty as well

 

[jlblodgett]

Does Apple drop the warranties on returned models, tho?

That whole thing seemed strange, and it was odd to log it into the Apple webpage and see that the warranty had "expired"...

 

[Hellhammer]

Does Apple drop the warranties on returned models, tho?

That whole thing seemed strange, and it was odd to log it into the Apple webpage and see that the warranty had "expired"...

As far as I know, no. Refurbs are returns and come with full warranty so it sounds fishy.

Call Apple and ask why has the warranty expired. It's still not worth buying though... You can get basically the same MBA for 50$ more and it has warranty

 

[js81]

^^ Seconded.

Does Apple drop the warranties on returned models, tho?

That whole thing seemed strange, and it was odd to log it into the Apple webpage and see that the warranty had "expired"...

I bought my wife's Macbook from Best Buy - it was an open-box return, as well. Full warranty - minus the two weeks it had been since original purchase. I even bought AppleCare for it, no problem.

Something is DEFINITELY fishy. AVOID.

 

[jlblodgett]

Update----



So I called Apple, gave them the serial number, etc. They said that at the time the computer was purchased, the original purchaser put in the wrong purchase date when they registered the computer. They said it was most likely a situation where whoever purchased the computer did not put the numbers in the right spots. i.e. if the computer was purchased on July 1, 2009 - they might have entered the date 1/7/2009 by mistake.

In any event, they indicated that the computer WOULD STILL have a hardware warranty through at the very least, July 1, 2010...

As the world turns..

 

[DewGuy1999]

Normally refurbished units have a new serial number assigned to them. It sounds like this was a returned defective unit that had the original serial number canceled but was either never refurbished or never had a refurbished serial number assigned to it. I think if it was a normal return to Best Buy it would have been sold as an open box unit and consequently should have the balance of the original warranty.

 

[Hellhammer]

Update----



So I called Apple, gave them the serial number, etc. They said that at the time the computer was purchased, the original purchaser put in the wrong purchase date when they registered the computer. They said it was most likely a situation where whoever purchased the computer did not put the numbers in the right spots. i.e. if the computer was purchased on July 1, 2009 - they might have entered the date 1/7/2009 by mistake.

In any event, they indicated that the computer WOULD STILL have a hardware warranty through at the very least, July 1, 2010...

As the world turns..

IF you are going to buy that MBA, you want to have a written proof from Apple that it has warranty left, otherwise if something shows up they may say it's out of warranty and you can't prove that they already said that it still has it.

I would still get one from refurb store, no hassle and full warranty

 

[jlblodgett]

The more I think about it, the more I think I will pass.

As others have stated, too many questions for a price that is relatively close to the refurb. with warranty to justify taking it.

Thank you all for helping.