Apple Says Your Money's No Good Here -- But We'll Take a Gift Card, Maybe
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As we reported Friday, Apple is trying to head off black market iPhone resellers by refusing to accept cash or check payments for iPhone sales. Stores will accept Apple gift cards as partial payment, we found, although policies seem to vary from store to store.
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Some gadget lovers might be disappointed this Christmas as experts predict a shortage of iPod minis.
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Gift cards have popular with gift givers, but many arenât aware that they come packed with hidden fees that can nibble away at the initial value of the cards.
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When I got back from Europe my black MacBook wouldn't boot, it just sat there with a disk icon and a flashing question mark. So I made an appointment at the Apple store in Emeryville to have it looked at. When I got there, there was no wait, they were calling my name. The repair guy opened the Mac, took out the disk, went into the back room, and came back saying the disk was bad, I'd need a new one. How much? $160. How large? 80GB. I've been buying disks lately, I bought a 500GB disk for $150 a few weeks ago, and just bought a 1TB disk for $280. So I knew that $160 for 80GB, even in a portable form factor, was probably a ripoff, but I figured here I am now, I can get the computer working, so I said OK and shrugged it off. The new disk went in, I signed a form, and was about to leave and asked for the old disk and the clerk said it was his not mine. They were going to send it back to the manufacturer. I figured it would be refurbished and sold cheap to someone in a third world country. Little did I suspect.  He got his supervisor. She insisted that the drive belonged to Apple, even though I had paid an inflated price to buy a new one. She showed me the language on the reverse side of the form I signed. It was even worse than she had said. There was no guarantee that the drive they had just put in my Mac was new! It might have been someone else's defective drive. I said it was outrageous. I grabbed a copy of the agreement and left.  I scanned the agreement, highlighting section 4, the part the store manager cited. Now there are a lot of speeches I could give. Here are a few. 1. I buy Macs knowing they're more expensive, but I expect to be treated better. I drive a BMW for the same reason. Luckily there's Mercedes, Audi, Lexus, et al to keep BMW customer service in top form (which it has been so far, I'm on my fourth BMW). I always say this -- Apple service is outstanding when you buy something, but it falls down, often, when you need it fixed. Not always, but often. 2. There are consumer protection laws that require auto repair shops to offer you the old parts. Why doesn't that apply to computer repairs? Or maybe it does. 3. Apple prices are ripoffs, but this is an unusually heinous ripoff. To charge such inflated prices for used parts, they should have some shame. 4. They don't seem to have any fallback when there's a dissatisfied customer. As an Apple shareholder, I think it would work better if store personnel felt they were guardians of the company's reputation. Consider for a moment that you are ripping off the customer. What tools can you offer the sales person to make good with the customer? Could you let the customers who object take their drives home? Could you offer a discount coupon on the next purchase, or free premium support for a year? That they let me walk out of the store, a person who spends thousands of dollars with Apple, feeling like I had been abused, says they haven't got all the glitches out of their retail process.  5. Falling back on the fine print is really lame. I think they should tell you up front, before they do the work, that you're not getting the old drive back. What if the data on the drive can be recovered? What if there are credit card numbers and other personal information on the drive? Source code? Trade secrets? Does Apple really want to treat their customers privacy so shabbily? For what? Don't they already make enough money off the $160 price for the new disk? It's amazing that a company can make it this far, having such special customers, and rarely if ever acknowledging it.
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Gift cards were hot; department stores were not. The pricier the goods, the better they sold. American Eagle Outfitters was the store to shop; Aeropostale was so 2003. And for stores with all the wrong stuff, not even huge discounts saved Christmas.
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If a shopkeeper tried to charge $1,000 for a broken computer, you'd probably be outraged. You might even complain to the government.
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Apple decided this week to require a credit card or debit card to buy an iPhone, and there's now a two-iPhone limit at its retail stores.
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(InfoWorld) - Apple on Friday offered iPhone owners instructions on how to file for the $100 in-store credit that CEO Steve Jobs promised last week. The credit, whichÂ Jobs announcedÂ after customers rose in revolt on hearing that the company hadÂ cut the price of the iPhoneÂ by one-third, is good for purchases at Apple's retail stores and its online shop, or by dialing Apple's toll-free sales number. IPhone owners, who have until Nov. 30 to apply for the credit, enter their iPhone's serial number and phone number in an online form, either using the iPhone or a PC or Mac. Apple then sends a text message to the iPhone with an access code, which in turn is used to retrieve the electronic credit. The credit consists of a credit number and a PIN, which can be used immediately in the online store or printed out for use later. A Computerworld editor who owns an iPhone confirmed the process, and received his electronic credit almost immediately. The $100 credit is also not good on some items, specifically iTunes purchases or gift cards, and it's valid only in the U.S., the sole market in which Apple has sold the iPhone to date. Because customers must have the iPhone in their possession to receive the credit, those people who sold theirs -- on eBay, for instance, sometimes for a loss when the late June debut didn't end with shortages at stores -- do not receive the credit. Instead, the current owner does. Although Jobs offered the $100 credit last week, saying, "We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers," he also defended the decision to cut the price of the 8GB model from $599 to $399. "Now is the right time to do it," he said then. "IPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to 'go for it' this holiday season." The day before that announcement, those who had bought the iPhone in its first two months overwhelminglyÂ gave Apple a raspberry,Â seeing the cut as a cheap shot at early adopters and a slap in the face to long-loyal customers. The 4GB iPhone, which initially sold for $499, has been discontinued. Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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TROY, Mich., Dec. 12  /PRNewswire/ -- Is a new computer on your holiday gift list?  While prices for new laptops and PCs are at record lows, the cost of data and identity theft from stolen, lost or replaced computers is as high as ever.
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What's the best way to beat the  commitment involved in iPhone ownership? Bad credit.
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For the Wall Street Journal, Tim Hanrahan and Jason Fry write, &#147;In Monday&#146;s column, we predicted that the combination of the iPod&#146;s popularity and the increasing worry over viruses, security holes and spyware in Windows PCs will lead to the second coming of Apple Computer as a home-computing power. To say that struck a chord would be putting it mildly. Boy, did we ever get mail &#151; including a significant number of people who said that the iPod, Windows security concerns or a combination of the two had made them switch to a Mac or plan to do so.&#148; [Paid WSJ subscription required.] [Dec 23]
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As Apple puts the finishing touches to its new London store for Saturday&#39;s grand opening, it appears that punters eager to lay their hands on the firm&#39;s iconic iPod music player when the doors open could be disappointed.
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Gift cards have become popular with gift givers, but many arenât aware that they come packed with hidden fees that can nibble away at the initial value of the cards.
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Rumors of an Apple-TiVo deal may be overdone.
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Should you plunk down your credit card for the next version of Mac OS X? Here's what you need to know before you do.
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Many people who lined up to be  the first buyers of Apple Inc.&#39;s iPhone made good on promises  to try to flip the gadgets online at inflated prices, but a  quick buck appeared out of reach for many.
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Think twice before assuming you're using the right card.