Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Refurbs are apparently a lottery
- Thread starter Ries
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
This is not surprising and expected for refurbed units from any company.... but there are people who claim that there's no difference between Apple new and refurb. Some even say that refurbs are better because of the additional "rework and testing" that takes place.
Always have been... probably always will be. I've gotten a refurb that was broken right out of the white unmarked box. I've also gotten a refurb in a brand new Apple box with the cellophane wrapping on it as if it was off the shelf.
She contradicts herself. First she says the customer said they got the mini as an out of warranty replacement. Then she says Apple sold it as a refurbished model.
While Apple providing lesser quality products for out of warranty replacement is questionable, you cannot assume those are the same as what they sell as refurbished.
While Apple providing lesser quality products for out of warranty replacement is questionable, you cannot assume those are the same as what they sell as refurbished.
That's not a contradiction. They brought the device into the Apple store. It was out of warranty. So they bought a refurbed model which was subsequently dropped by the kid. It was the refurbed replacement that was sent to the woman for repair.
But it was a bit confusing in her retelling.
And you can't assume that they're different either.
I agree with her that third-party repair shops deserve more respect, and anyone that tries to extend the life of devices should be given credit where it's due. In terms of doing repairs to my devices, I would trust Apple or a third-party shop about equally.
That said, I am not convinced the origin of that iPad of accurate. The customer could have lied, for any number of reasons. If the customer did not lie, maybe the customer misunderstood what the Apple Store employee was telling them about the replacement iPad, or maybe the employee screwed up and took it from the wrong pile. Either way, I don't believe that issue is one that would exist on a product purchased from the refurb store.
The serial number of the iPad would confirm whether it has been refurbished or not.
That said, I am not convinced the origin of that iPad of accurate. The customer could have lied, for any number of reasons. If the customer did not lie, maybe the customer misunderstood what the Apple Store employee was telling them about the replacement iPad, or maybe the employee screwed up and took it from the wrong pile. Either way, I don't believe that issue is one that would exist on a product purchased from the refurb store.
The serial number of the iPad would confirm whether it has been refurbished or not.
The kid "dropped" it and she blames Apple for the water damage?
Out-of-warranty is never complimentary -- the warranty has expired!
I've experienced complimentary out of warranty replacements myself and have read about many here on MR.
I was working on a friend's 5s and needed to try the battery in another phone, so I popped open a replacement 5c I got from Apple and noticed several components seemed to look just ever so slightly corroded. I have always regarded Apples replacement phones as superb quality, but this is slightly concerning for me. There was no major corrosion, but some things like the back of the camera and other similar metal components looked like they had been in water previously.
Well, it is somewhat surprising for me, because re-using the logic boards for iOS devices seems like a bad idea. I've seen how a few electronics companies do refurbs for portable electronics, and generally it is the case to just swap logic boards if there's signs of damage rather than trying to repair the board itself. Apple has a lot more pricy bits on the logic board, which makes it more expensive, but I'm now curious exactly what their policy is on logic board repairs for iPads and iPhones.
But refurbs do actually go through testing (in order to sell them as refurbished), while new are randomly sampled for testing to catch batch failures, rather than trying to find individual units that are bad. That said, that sort of testing won't catch issues in the repair like this woman encountered, since the repair is "good" until a drop damages the repair. In general, I consider the risks you play with new or refurb to be about equal. Similar failure rates with different modes of failure. Unless there's something specifically bad about a particular company's repair process.
Agreed. I wouldn't expect them to have two different repair processes for refurbs and swaps, but the techs doing the work may be different. The question I have here is if this particular device's refurbishment represents:
1) A mistake on the part of the tech doing the work, and possibly a second tech that did the logic board repair. Not recognizing water damage, etc.
2) Apple policy on repairs for water damaged boards. Repairing water damaged boards if the damage is "limited", for some subjective definition of "limited".