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.
Serial Number Traced?
- Thread starter exemos
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
is their reason behind this question or are you just curious?
my guess, no, just warranty info.
Reason: Just wondering how much information Apple, or in that case any other company can have about me.
Sure it is. All that info is on the purchase receipt. If Apple management what's to find that info, it's there. They use it all the time to restrict the number of sales on items that have a limit.
Umm, I bought my AT&T iPhone on launch day online with Apple. When I give them my serial number, they basically know everything about my phone that was provided when I placed the order. I imagine this would be different if the phone was bought through AT&T or Verizon.
Paranoid. Been reading all these stories with "bricks in the box". If they can get away with bricks, why couldn't they do it with my old devices? I've heard that Apple is a pretty controlling company, now I regret selling my old iDevices.
you really have some paranoia issues. Just as you 'should' check your purchases before you leave the store. open look kinda thing.. although you can choose not to.
They are supposed to check when they take something back, match boxes with serials etc.
Haven't tried to take something back to the Apple Store. But a lot of retailers are starting to make you show id, purchasing credit card and original receipts when returning items before they think about refunds. My local Best Buy does.
As far as seller anxiety, i haven't heard of Apple hunting original owners because of fraud committed others. Now the mounties or the constable maybe a different story.
As far as seller anxiety, i haven't heard of Apple hunting original owners because of fraud committed others. Now the mounties or the constable maybe a different story.
If they are going to track down the fraudster, they would be looking at the purchase/return of that item. Normally if they are going to use old devices, they use broken ones that are valued a lot less than the one they are trying to get away with for free.
Just like they have purchase info on your old device, they have purchase/return info of them item that was actually stolen. That is where their investigation starts, not with the poor sap whose old device was used for the return (it'd be a waste of time 9 times out of 10).
EDIT: And all this said, one of the sad realities is that a lot of companies don't pursue this form of fraud nearly enough. And part of it is a lack of training for the employees. Despite Best Buy's policies, I managed to get an A/V receiver from them that someone else had returned with a broken one inside. They never opened it to confirm, they simply put it back on the shelf and resold it to someone else (me). Had a heck of a fight trying to exchange it (I just wanted my receiver) because at the time the policy was to open everything on return to check according to the manager.
Last edited:
