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paulrberg

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 17, 2020
8
2
I received my MacBook Pro 16 today and I was disappointed to see it scratched in the top-left corner:

MacBook Pro 16 Scratch.jpg


Admittedly, it travelled a long way: from Texas, US to Romania. The package was shipped with USPS and the MacBook was in the original Apple box.

The obvious explanation is that USPS messed up and the scratch was caused by the bumps that went into on and off-loading the package to and from airplanes. But shouldn't the crack be bigger?

It could also be a fabric defect. The expediter didn't open the Apple box, so it's hard to confirm this - but let's suppose that it is true, or that this specific MacBook had the bezels poorly assembled. Can this be part of Apple's standard 12 months warranty?
 
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It's not clear from whom you bought it, but I would return it and get another one.
 
My employer bought it for me. They got it directly from Apple.

Not sure Apple would accept a return for this situation ..
 
So you purchased a MacBook Pro in the US and brought it into Romania probably without paying import duties and taxes, which I assume is illegal and considered smuggling like everywhere else in the world. All of this to save some money, and probably not have a native language keyboard as a result. Then got a badly assembled product and now feel stuck and regret simply not purchasing it locally?

Apple has a 1 year international warranty. You should be able to take this to your local Apple Store or Apple directly in your country. You might need a receipt / proof of purchase, of course. And since your are outside the 14 days they will probably have to send it in for service and evaluation, and they will probably want to know why you didn't report it earlier, and thats fine. Not all boxes needs to be opened at the day of purchase. Some sealed products lay around for months before they are given to new employees or gifts to family.
 
So you purchased a MacBook Pro in the US and brought it into Romania probably without paying import duties and taxes, which I assume is illegal and considered smuggling like everywhere else in the world. All of this to save some money, and probably not have a native language keyboard as a result. Then got a badly assembled product and now feel stuck and regret simply not purchasing it locally?

Apple has a 1 year international warranty. You should be able to take this to your local Apple Store or Apple directly in your country. You might need a receipt / proof of purchase, of course. And since your are outside the 14 days they will probably have to send it in for service and evaluation, and they will probably want to know why you didn't report it earlier, and thats fine. Not all boxes needs to be opened at the day of purchase. Some sealed products lay around for months before they are given to new employees or gifts to family.
You're making some pretty big assumptions and accusations, I would say, about this Apple purchase. Nothing the OP has described makes it sound illegal.

Also, there's no such thing as "1 year international warranty" from Apple. The warranty is based on each country's laws. An Apple product, per Apple's policies, can only receive warranty service in the country from which it was purchased.

 
So you purchased a MacBook Pro in the US and brought it into Romania probably without paying import duties and taxes, which I assume is illegal and considered smuggling like everywhere else in the world.

I paid 19% VAT at the customs office today, but I don't blame you for assuming that I didn't pay my duty taxes - even the cashiers were surprised to see the full value of the MacBook declared on the package.

All of this to save some money.

My employer bought it for me. I work for them remotely, as a programmer.

The specs that I needed weren't available at any Romanian retailer, and ordering it from another country in Europe would've taken a long time as well. The employer decided on buying it from Apple US to make it easier for their accounting.

and probably not have a native language keyboard as a result.

I think, write and talk in English most of the time.

An Apple product, per Apple's policies, can only receive warranty service in the country from which it was purchased.

Not sure that is still the case. The MacBook I previously owned was bought in Romania but repaired in the UK - the official Apple store there didn't ask where it was purchased from.
 
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Not sure that is still the case. The MacBook I previously owned was bought in Romania but repaired in the UK - the official Apple store there didn't ask where it was purchased from.
Well, that would be nice. I agree with BasicGreatGuy to start an online return unless your employer is the actual owner of MBP. Either way, it would be good to get things started. I wish you the best in getting the issue resolved, and hope you will let us know what happens.
 
So you purchased a MacBook Pro in the US and brought it into Romania probably without paying import duties and taxes, which I assume is illegal and considered smuggling like everywhere else in the world. All of this to save some money, and probably not have a native language keyboard as a result. Then got a badly assembled product and now feel stuck and regret simply not purchasing it locally?

Apple has a 1 year international warranty. You should be able to take this to your local Apple Store or Apple directly in your country. You might need a receipt / proof of purchase, of course. And since your are outside the 14 days they will probably have to send it in for service and evaluation, and they will probably want to know why you didn't report it earlier, and thats fine. Not all boxes needs to be opened at the day of purchase. Some sealed products lay around for months before they are given to new employees or gifts to family.
What an explosive, sad, recriminating post, all of which made without access to the facts. And your accusations proving to be false! :rolleyes: Not the general spirit we expect here from a newbie!
 
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I received my MacBook Pro 16 today and I was disappointed to see it scratched in the top-left corner:

View attachment 944953

Admittedly, it travelled a long way: from Texas, US to Romania. The package was shipped with USPS and the MacBook was in the original Apple box.

The obvious explanation is that USPS messed up and the scratch was caused by the bumps that went into on and off-loading the package to and from airplanes. But shouldn't the crack be bigger?

It could also be a fabric defect. The expediter didn't open the Apple box, so it's hard to confirm this - but let's suppose that it is true, or that this specific MacBook had the bezels poorly assembled. Can this be part of Apple's standard 12 months warranty?


Hi! Really sorry to hear about your troubles. Apple will take care of this, since it is a brand new computer. You should pursue a replacement if at all possible, but that would mean shipping your computer back to the US to get the process going. If you are outside the 14 days from purchase, call Apple's customer service. I specifically say call because they do have the authority to grant some exceptions to the 14 day rule.

Now you will have to pay to ship your computer back to the US, and then you can use the shipping label apple give you to get the computer from the freight forwarder there and into the hands of Apple. Once you receive the replacement, I assume your employer will need to re-ship/forward the package from the US address back to Romania. Now, this will add additional cost, but you may be able to escape having to pay the import duties and VAT again if you can show that this was a replacement computer. This may entail your freight forward to mark the shipment as "DDP" in the customs paperwork (i.e. deliver duties paid) so that you don''t get re-charged.

If this seems painful - your next option is to call Apple care technical support in your country and ask them to set-up a mail in repair, if that is an option. I take it you don't have Apple retail stores in your country to set up an appointment there. Regardless of the exact option you pursue, you should be able to get the display replaced under warranty and at no extra charge to you. Apple's warranties for notebooks are global from my experience, having had multiple laptops repaired whilst traveling abroad.

Good luck!
 
You're making some pretty big assumptions and accusations, I would say, about this Apple purchase. Nothing the OP has described makes it sound illegal.

Also, there's no such thing as "1 year international warranty" from Apple. The warranty is based on each country's laws. An Apple product, per Apple's policies, can only receive warranty service in the country from which it was purchased.

What an explosive, sad, recriminating post, all of which made without access to the facts. And your accusations proving to be false! :rolleyes: Not the general spirit we expect here from a newbie!

Apologies to you and the OP. I know several Apple technicians that have told me that they saw this almost all the time.
Regardless, I have purchased Apple equipment from outside the country myself and had it serviced locally in my own country without question as long as I could provide the receipt. I was told that Apple honored 1 year warranty internationally. And the local Apple certified service center was the one's that told me that.
 
If English is what you mainly use then this whole episode of now having to send the cosmetic damaged macbook back to Apple in the US will be a lesson to your boss that it would have been cheaper to fly to the UK, buy one from one of the Apple stores and fly back because now you've got the hassle of talking to various Apple support people, having to pay shipping costs and waiting for a new machine to arrive which all adds up to extra time and cost on top of what was already purchased.
 
So you purchased a MacBook Pro in the US and brought it into Romania probably without paying import duties and taxes, which I assume is illegal and considered smuggling like everywhere else in the world. All of this to save some money, and probably not have a native language keyboard as a result. Then got a badly assembled product and now feel stuck and regret simply not purchasing it locally?

Apple has a 1 year international warranty. You should be able to take this to your local Apple Store or Apple directly in your country. You might need a receipt / proof of purchase, of course. And since your are outside the 14 days they will probably have to send it in for service and evaluation, and they will probably want to know why you didn't report it earlier, and thats fine. Not all boxes needs to be opened at the day of purchase. Some sealed products lay around for months before they are given to new employees or gifts to family.

You... can get any keyboard you want in a MacBook bought from apple's website. In all countries I cared to check.

Apple prices are so high in some cases than you can buy two computers in the US for the price of one in another country, so paying importation taxes is definitely not a problem. Even if it's almost 100% (WHICH IS RIDICULOUS).

Why would you think someone who imported something is smuggling it by default? Importation taxes exist because people usually... import things. It is quite common. Apple import macbooks from China, even the ones you buy in your city's store. it is not made locally (unless you do live in China. But if that's the case, you are the one doing illegal stuff by going into the open world wide web).

The computer bought locally would be the exact same one bought in the US. They are the same project, assembled likely in the same factory, just put into different ships.

OP, if the computer came faulty you should enter in contact with apple AND whoever sent it to you. They should have pictures and proof they did not open the repackage, which means it is apple's fault. This should get them to fix it for you or send you a new one. There are no guarantees, and it is possible it's an issue with Apple US and not Apple Romania.

Good luck with your replacement/fix/solution.
 
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