Very weird excuse from a Reseller

[Stephen.R]

I went into a (Premium, I believe) Apple Authorised Reseller in Thailand yesterday, to order a BTO Mac mini. It's a company purchase, and because our company's bank is ass-backwards, it's easier to deal with a company that will accept a direct bank transfer, which Apple online, does not.

We asked about a new Mac mini, he confirmed we meant the new model, and then went to a locked cabinet. We immediately said, no, we want to customise it - he said that's fine, went to a demo mac, brought up the online store page for the Mini, and basically had me pick the options we wanted (easier than trying to translate verbally to Thai I guess), and then went away.

He came back and said, "If we place this order today, it won't be available until the middle of January, Apple has given all its assembly staff a holiday. If you came in yesterday it would have been OK." I was, to say the least, surprised. When we asked why the Apple store online says it's just as few days ETA for delivery or pickup (at the new Apple offical store), he then said that those orders somehow aren't subject to the same "holiday".

So - this is clearly an excuse, right? My best guess, is that as a reseller/service centre, they try to make a little "cream" on sales like this, by doing the memory upgrades themselves, but like the rest of us, they can't get their hands on 32GB SO-DIMMs at the moment (I want 64GB. I don't much care how, but I'm not willing to wait for it to become available for a DIY, and it's not cost effective to e.g get 32GB factory and then upgrade later, because then I'm stuck with two SO-DIMMs i have no use for.

Does anyone know the details of how Apple handles BTOs for resellers? Because they're not able to buy bulk lots, do they just end up paying close to retail for them (and thus its almost 0 profit by the time they factor in their staff's time to process the sale etc)?


I couldn't ask them any of this because my Thai is very basic (bordering on non-existent really) and at the time, while it was clear they were giving us an excuse, it didn't even occur to me that it may be because of memory availability. Asking someone to translate a question when you're still trying to come up with the question in a clear way yourself (besides just "wtf, do you think I'm stupid?") is not really practical.

 

[cruisin]

Do they show up on the Apple Authorized Retailer page? Or will the Apple store be more open to a transfer?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/imac-custom-order-shipping-times.1693629/#post-18613298

This seems to say that Resellers are pushed to the end of the line for BTOs, but why did they not just tell the truth and say it is not their fault?

When you take delivery for the Mini it will say what the original memory capacity was on the box, so if they do their own swap and then put it in new plastic you will be able to tell.

A holiday until January (about 2 months) is crazy, as this is a new product so they should have all possible parts at hand and a contract for more when they run out. This is not an iPhone where they need to make millions and it is common to wait a long time during the initial launch window. They were never as popular as the rest of the line and now with the higher price they might sell slower than before.

The factory likely makes more than just Minis as it is a 3rd party fulfilling a contract (probably shares factory space with the other Macs) and only the 2013 Trashcan seemed to have a purpose built factory. A holiday longer than a week seems unlikely for a factory, 3rd party or not. They did update the Air, Mini, iPad, and they likely have to build up some stock for the holiday rush so a holiday in January makes more sense than now.

 

[Stephen.R]

This seems to say that Resellers are pushed to the end of the line for BTOs

I went to another reseller today, similar result - 45 days ETA for a Mac mini with i7/64GB/500GB.

but why did they not just tell the truth and say it is not their fault?

I'm honestly not surprised - we went on a (domestic) holiday here and at the hotel I asked someone at the front counter for an extra pillow - but because he didn't understand what I was asking for, but couldn't just say so, and find someone else, he literally hid behind the counter, hoping we'd leave.

Apple Sales chat suggested I ring the sales number as they may be able to handle other kinds of payments.
[doublepost=1542878306][/doublepost]Ok, well after chatting to someone from phone sales, I discovered another payment option, and the order is placed, with an ETA of 26th to 29th of November. Versus 45 damn days. Unbelievable.

 

[cruisin]

It's good to know that resellers are not putting in unofficial parts. And it is interesting that in Thailand people prefer saying or doing anything at all over saying they can't help you, what a culture shock.

There is a school of thought that says it is better to wait 3-6 months after a product launch, so that product bugs and supply constraints settle down.

Glad it worked out for you in the end.