Trade-In: Your Advice Sought

[Marrk]

I'll keep this short. I sent a laptop in as a trade-in on a recent purchase. I heard nothing for almost three weeks. Today, I called Apple. They said that they sent me an e-mail (never got it), and that I had declined their offer of $200 (original estimate was $620). They didn't follow up. They didn't have any plans to return the laptop.

I find of the above disconcerting.

The new plan that they will return my laptop and then allow me to send it in again for a trade-in. Does this make the least bit of sense?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

You traded it into Apple? I've traded Apple Watches to them and the tracking has been spot-on through email and texts. So assuming this was Apple, it's strange.

Confirm what e-mail address they are using for you and that it's the right one.

If they are indeed returning the laptop for you to send back, that's fine, but you might still only get $200 for it.

 

[Slydude]

My experience has been the same. I traded in an iPhone recently and got numerous text messages updating the process. The texts were sent through Messages and my Apple ID.

IIRC the box that I received to send it in had a tracking number on it and I could track the device the entire way – including when it was received.

 

[Marrk]

They sent me a box and a shipping label. After I handed it off to the shipper, I got nothing — no texts, no e-mails. They said they e-mailed me, but I never received any e-mail. Been doing business with Apple since 1990. First time I've had anything like this happen. Why they want to ship the unit back to me and start the process from scratch I do not know.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

They sent me a box and a shipping label. After I handed it off to the shipper, I got nothing — no texts, no e-mails. They said they e-mailed me, but I never received any e-mail. Been doing business with Apple since 1990. First time I've had anything like this happen. Why they want to ship the unit back to me and start the process from scratch I do not know.

Call Apple Customer Relations and get it worked out.

Call: 1-800-275-2273 and ask for "customer relations."

Before you call have every single bit of information ready to give them at your fingertips: the tracking ID for the box you shipped them, the serial number for your laptop, the receipt for your purchase and trade-in...everything.

Be extremely nice when you talk to them. I'm sure that they will fix everything.

Please let us know the results.

 

[Marrk]

Update: They never had any intention of extending the trade-in deadline and making the original trade-in estimated price of $620 available to me. They will only do a "Stand Alone" trade-in for a $250 Apple Gift Card. All of the phone calls since May have been a waste of time.

Lesson Learned: Don't miss the trade-in deadline on a purchase + trade-in.

 

[lclev]

Lesson Learned: Don't miss the trade-in deadline on a purchase + trade-in.

Definitely a lesson learned! I have done two trade-ins with Apple. Both were Macbook Pro's. Both trade-in estimates were honored. I did take tons of pictures of them before I sent them in, wrote down the serial numbers, and kept every bit of tracking info. I also tracked them online to confirm delivery. Apple outsources the trade-in service so I try to take every precaution possible.

Lisa

 

[Slydude]

There's some good advice there, Lisa. I did a trade-in with Apple when I replaced my iPhone X series for an iPhone 12 series. The trade value was honored with no issues. Good thing because I hadn't taken pictures though I did follow the tracking closely.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

All of the phone calls since May have been a waste of time.

There is a higher level in Apple that you can appeal to.

Call 1-800-275-2273 and ask for "Executive Relations."

If they feel that you have a good case, they will do what is right.

It couldn't hurt to tell them that you are on a discussion list with tens of thousands of Macintosh users and that everyone on the list is telling you that Apple will come through for you.

 

[Marrk]

I nearly sent the laptop in yesterday, not realizing that they were only going to give me a $250 gift card. Close call. Especially since I paid $3,000 for it. I'm okay with keeping it, even though it has a charging defect that Apple won't acknowledge.

Problem: I still have all but two of the computers that I have bought in my lifetime. My apartment is too small for this level of inventory.

 

[Marrk]

There is a higher level in Apple that you can appeal to.

Call 1-800-275-2273 and ask for "Executive Relations."

If they feel that you have a good case, they will do what is right.

It couldn't hurt to tell them that you are on a discussion list with tens of thousands of Macintosh users and that everyone on the list is telling you that Apple will come through for you.

Apple doesn't have a big interest in trade-ins. See this. I think they just like the positive PR.

 

[pm-r]

I did a trade-in with Apple when I replaced my iPhone X series for an iPhone 12 series. The trade value was honored with no issues.

For what it's worth... a recent Apple news item I read a few days ago mentions the fact that Apple's trade-in prices have been reduced quite dramatically in order to match some of their dramatic price reductions that are being offered with some of their models.


- Patrick
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[Slydude]

I read something about that earlier today from something linked to in another thread. I got my trade in done shortly after the 12 series came out so I got in before the prices dropped. The info that I saw gave me the impression that although there was a drop in what they were offering it wasn't an unreasonable drop.

SWMBO traded her phone in recently. We happened to go through the carrier rather than through Apple but that was pretty much a matter of convenience. The amount she got for the trade on was the same other way.