iPhone 14 Pro Unsatisfactory In-Store Trade-In

[AlphaGuitarist]

Having heard countless horror stories of mail-in trade-ins, I always took my trade-in devices to my local Apple store. Since I work from home on Wednesdays, I made an appointment at my Apple store to process the trade-in. The sales rep initiated the process and began the diagnostics. After the diagnostics were completed, his handheld device wouldn't allow him to proceed with the trade-in. He instructed me to call Apple customer service and cancel my mail-in trade in, which would allow him to process the in-store trade-in. I called CS on the spot and successfully had them cancel the mail-in trade-in. The sales rep then initiated the trade-in process from scratch and was once again blocked from processing it. After speaking with his manager, the rep informed me that it takes about a day for the cancellation to propagate through their system. To make a long story short, I have to make another appointment and go back to the store.

Apparently, this is something new that Apple is doing. In prior years, I successfully did in-store trade-ins with the iPhone X and 11 Pro. Having wasted an hour of my time, I'm not a happy camper right now.

 

[newcastle3]

Same issue here. Haven’t canceled the mail in yet as I wasn’t sure what would happen with my AppleCare 0% payments, and if the in-store trade would discount order in same way as mail trade since I got instant credit.

Edit:
Just cancelled the mail in trade and was charged for the initial trade credit on my payment method used for original order.

Will be taking phone to store tomorrow to trade in.

 

[cub4bearin]

Same here. Just made my own post about the awful experience I hade at Apple Store in Nashua, NH.
Trying to cancel the trade in kit now and see if this will work by bringing to the store again.

 

[IGWT15]

If you select the mail in trade in option, why are you now going to the Apple store to process the trade-in at the store? What I did was select no trade in option, and the day I picked up my new iPhone i did the trade in deal, smooth and fast, no issues. The problem here is you first selected mail in trade in, and then changed your mind, so really is not their fault

 

[compwiz1202]

Weird other years they were sending me a kit, but they just did it in store with no issues

 

[fatTribble]

Are any of you who are trading in at the store doing so as part of the iPhone Upgrade Program? I was tempted to take mine to the store rather than sending through fedex after so many stories of bad experiences

 

[compwiz1202]

If you select the mail in trade in option, why are you now going to the Apple store to process the trade-in at the store? What I did was select no trade in option, and the day I picked up my new iPhone i did the trade in deal, smooth and fast, no issues. The problem here is you first selected mail in trade in, and then changed your mind, so really is not their fault

I never remember being given a choice, but I haven't ordered this time yet. Is it new for 14 orders?

 

[IGWT15]

I never remember being given a choice, but I haven't ordered this time yet. Is it new for 14 orders?

Yes, when placing the order for the new iPhone 14, you are prompted "are you doing a trade in", if you select no trade in, then all you have to do is take your old device the day you pick up the new one, and they'll do the trade in at the store, BUT you cannot select mail in trade in, and then go to the store to try to do it, it does not work that way

 

[Fatus_Asticus]

It should work that way, Apple should be customer focused and prioritize experience. They shouldn’t hide the in store trade in behind selecting no option at all.

It’s Apple, it shouldn’t matter where I go. I should be able to go to any store and get it done. The only reason this is messed up is because they farmed it out to a **** third party. What next? Outsourcing call centers?

 

[mollyc]

Yes, when placing the order for the new iPhone 14, you are prompted "are you doing a trade in", if you select no trade in, then all you have to do is take your old device the day you pick up the new one, and they'll do the trade in at the store, BUT you cannot select mail in trade in, and then go to the store to try to do it, it does not work that way

i think it depends on the store. i selected mail in (because it said i couldn’t do it at the store). but i accidentally entered the wrong model of the old phone (trading in my son’s phone and misremembered his model). when we picked up the new phone the store canceled the mail in trade in and bought back his old one on the spot. no issues.

 

[cthompson94]

Are any of you who are trading in at the store doing so as part of the iPhone Upgrade Program? I was tempted to take mine to the store rather than sending through fedex after so many stories of bad experiences

I traded in mine in store with the IUP. When I preordered my phone under "trade in" I didn't put anything and my order was defaulted that I am returning the 13PM. When I went into the store (I did in store pickup) even after the employees pulled up my account I was still asked if I a trade in or not (they were probably just swamped that day it was early evening release day). When they pulled up the trade in on the screen it pulled up automatically to basically use the trade in to zero out the 13PM loan and I just had to acknowledge that is what I wanted to do and got a receipt emailed to me just to make sure if something goes wrong I can prove my trade in.

 

[fatTribble]

I traded in mine in store with the IUP. When I preordered my phone under "trade in" I didn't put anything and my order was defaulted that I am returning the 13PM. When I went into the store (I did in store pickup) even after the employees pulled up my account I was still asked if I a trade in or not (they were probably just swamped that day it was early evening release day). When they pulled up the trade in on the screen it pulled up automatically to basically use the trade in to zero out the 13PM loan and I just had to acknowledge that is what I wanted to do and got a receipt emailed to me just to make sure if something goes wrong I can prove my trade in.

Very helpful! Thanks!

 

[seezar]

Yes, when placing the order for the new iPhone 14, you are prompted "are you doing a trade in", if you select no trade in, then all you have to do is take your old device the day you pick up the new one, and they'll do the trade in at the store, BUT you cannot select mail in trade in, and then go to the store to try to do it, it does not work that way

I didn’t have any problem doing my trade-in in store when I picked up my phone. When I asked if I could trade in at the store instead of using the mail in kit I was being sent they just changed it on my order to in-store trade in and processed my trade-in.

 

[techishi]

It must vary store to store because I’ve had a pretty different experience than some of you.

When I preordered my iPhone (in-store pickup), I did select trade-in during the process. It just asked what phone and how much I would be getting. I didn’t have any option to trade in store vs having a kit sent to me, the only option was for it to be sent. Though I’d much rather prefer trading in the store.

So the day I go pickup my iPhone at the store the associate asked if I wanted to trade in, pleasantly I said sure and he ran the diagnostics etc. There was a slight hiccup when he was going through the process and he went to go talk to another associate. When he came back he asked if I did online trade-in and I said yes, he essentially told me just to ignore that box. Gave him my card I wanted a refund on and that was it.

I followed up with him and asked if I can come back after the fact and do it with my watch. He basically said as long as it’s a purchase within 14 days, you can trade in something towards that for a refund.

 

[zecanard]

This must be new. I did an in-store trade-in of my Apple Watch Series 2, years ago, and didn’t have to cancel my mail-in trade-in (it simply expired after 2 weeks). On the other hand, the associate gave me a gift card that did not include sales tax (like you’d get with the proper trade-in). For a Watch it wasn’t a huge deal, but an iPhone would have meant $70 or more.

 

[antiprotest]

I made an appointment at my Apple store to process the trade-in.

How did you make an appointment to do a trade-in? I don't even find that option on the web site or the app.

(I have done walk in trade in before, but then several times they said if I didn't have an appointment I had to wait 90 minutes so I just walked way.)

 

[AlphaGuitarist]

If you select the mail in trade in option, why are you now going to the Apple store to process the trade-in at the store? What I did was select no trade in option, and the day I picked up my new iPhone i did the trade in deal, smooth and fast, no issues. The problem here is you first selected mail in trade in, and then changed your mind, so really is not their fault

I wasn't given a choice of bringing my trade-in device to the store. In the past, I was able to select the mail-in option (this was the only option presented when completing the transaction), take the trade-in device to the store and complete the process. Until today, this has never been an issue.

 

[AlphaGuitarist]

How did you make an appointment to do a trade-in? I don't even find that option on the web site or the app.

(I have done walk in trade in before, but then several times they said if I didn't have an appointment I had to wait 90 minutes so I just walked way.)

I selected the "Refunds and Returns" option when making the appointment.

 

[AlphaGuitarist]

Funnily enough, it's stated on the Apple website that you can either use the mail-in kit, or bring the trade-in device to the store.

 

[Pierre535]

If push comes to shove, as someone else stated, if you don‘t send in the trade in, it gets cancelled then you can do a trade in at the store.

AlphaGuitarist, yes that’s what it says, you have to chose one or the other. Problem arises when you choose one then change.

 

[AlphaGuitarist]

If push comes to shove, as someone else stated, if you don‘t send in the trade in, it gets cancelled then you can do a trade in at the store.

AlphaGuitarist, yes that’s what it says, you have to chose one or the other. Problem arises when you choose one then change.

I never had the option to select in-store trade-in. If I did, I’d never have selected mail-in to begin with.

The good thing is, I was able to go back to the store after receiving confirmation that my trade-in was canceled and have them process the trade-in via a gift card. I then had to spend a few minutes on the phone with Apple to have them apply the gift card balance to my Apple Card balance. I was transferred to a specialist to complete the process and he was extremely apologetic that this happened. He said that the mail-in trade-in could have been canceled at the Apple Store and reprocessed as an in-store trade-in.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, this has never been an issue before. I was always able to have the trade-in processed in store, despite the fact that I was always forced to select mail-in.

 

[cub4bearin]

Apple needs to make it clear on their own website! Nowhere it says DONT check the trade in option during checkout because they won’t allow you then to trade in in store.

Also, the checkout doesn’t give you an option for in store trade in.

For such a perfect company this should have been done much better.

 

[kozz]

Two trade ins. My wife’s and mine….something happened in the system and my wife’s went thru fine in-store mine would not kept wanting to charge me full price. Funny thing is this happened last year but it was the opposite…box arrives tomorrow and im doing what I usually do take great pictures so if I have to disput I can!

 

[Jackbequickly]

I mailed my return box yesterday. Apple has always given me the promised max rate when I return my phone. I know I could maybe get more by selling myself but this is much less hassle. The $720 cut the cost of my 14 PM in half.

 

[AlphaGuitarist]

I mailed my return box yesterday. Apple has always given me the promised max rate when I return my phone. I know I could maybe get more by selling myself but this is much less hassle. The $720 cut the cost of my 14 PM in half.

Agreed 100%. I used to sell my devices on Swappa, but really don’t want to bother with the hassle nowadays.