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Products purchased at Apple Store in India cannot be refunded or exchanged

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Re: Products purchased at Apple Store in India cannot be refunded or exchanged

#81

Post by egwor »

1cvmask wrote: post #12

A friend who was on holiday in Turkey was refused a new iphone battery (she was willing to pay for it) at the official Apple store as it was not locally bought (she bought it in SF). So no global warranty, but also no global repair or replacement of parts with official parts even when you are willing to pay for it.

I have a totally different experience. I accidentally submerged my iPhone X in the sea as I got off a boat[1]. The phone although supposedly considered waterproof went mental and basically stopped working. I was flying back via Singapore (a week later) and went into the apple store at the airport. They replaced the phone and got me back up and running before my flight back to London. I live and had bought the phone in the UK. They even had special versions of the UK phone for this scenario.

[1] I was in the Philippines and I was getting off a boat in shallow sea water. My phone was in the bottom pocket of my beach shorts, and I walked through the sea water for maybe two to three metres distance up to waist height depth. This should have been ok for the depth I went.

Their suspicion was that the outer seal had failed (even though it had always been in a case).

Re: Products purchased at Apple Store in India cannot be refunded or exchanged

#82

Post by sillysaurusx »

cblackthornekc wrote: post #78
sillysaurusx wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with categorizing this as abuse. The company was offering a refund policy. The customers were using it. My friend Kevin used to test out different GPUs when he was writing a game engine. He'd buy one, install it on his computer, run the engine, then return it a few days later. They often had a 10% restocking fee. Was he abusing policy? It's the same sort of logic banks use to justify "identity theft." Ah y…

Yes? That is abusing the policy. Sounds like he was trying to start a business and wanted to do QA. Then you need to pay for that. This is clearly unethical, but maybe not illegal.

He often did pay for that. That's the point of the 10% restocking fee.

Re: Products purchased at Apple Store in India cannot be refunded or exchanged

#83

Post by sss111 »

sdajk3n423 wrote: post #53

Why does India seem to be so full of scammers? I can't go a day without an Indian robocalling me and trying to phish my credit card or SS#. Is this something engrained in the culture?

Largely the same reasons that genuine call centers, IT support and other technical functions are often outsourced to India: a large pool of reasonably well educated, relatively cheap resources who mainly speak English sufficiently well to talk to "customers". Plus for scam purposes, it's obviously easier to evade US and other target country law enforcement by being thousands of miles away and with a local police force that may be unable or unwilling to take action against them.

Re: Products purchased at Apple Store in India cannot be refunded or exchanged

#84

Post by sillysaurusx »

segmondy wrote: post #80
sillysaurusx wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with categorizing this as abuse. The company was offering a refund policy. The customers were using it. My friend Kevin used to test out different GPUs when he was writing a game engine. He'd buy one, install it on his computer, run the engine, then return it a few days later. They often had a 10% restocking fee. Was he abusing policy? It's the same sort of logic banks use to justify "identity theft." Ah y…

Yes, he was abusing it. The refund policy is for if you're really unsatisfied with the product. If you buy a product with the intent to return it for refund, that's abuse.

Again, why? It's tautology to say "That's abuse because it's abuse." The business offers a policy. You're simply using it.

We can agree to disagree, but it's not X just because someone says it is.

Re: Products purchased at Apple Store in India cannot be refunded or exchanged

#85

Post by smarttoi »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #61
sss111 wrote: post #31

Apple had a lot of trouble with the Indian market back the early 2010s. They had to pull AppleCare+ out of the country because people were abusing it a lot. [†] Same goes for the country's biggest online retailers, both Amazon and Flipkart also switched to a replacement-only policy in India. "Most analysts agree that many many buyers were abusing the company's refund policy. With many buying latest smartphones, and r…

I disagree with categorizing this as abuse. The company was offering a refund policy. The customers were using it. My friend Kevin used to test out different GPUs when he was writing a game engine. He'd buy one, install it on his computer, run the engine, then return it a few days later. They often had a 10% restocking fee. Was he abusing policy? It's the same sort of logic banks use to justify "identity theft." Ah y…

That is fucking abuse. Wtf

Re: Products purchased at Apple Store in India cannot be refunded or exchanged

#86

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

truth_ wrote: post #74
jetrink wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would people want to have an iPhone for only a week? That sounds like more of a hassle than it is worth. Just to see what they are like?

I knew of a guy who "bought" Apple Laptops from Amazon and used it as his DJ laptop and worked some gigs where the Apple laptop was a status symbol of how big a deal he is. He used to perform in small town and rural India and organizers paid him ₹3k-30k per night. He returned his laptop after doing 3-4 such gigs in the "marriage season" in India. He did this 7-8 times from different addresses and different accounts.

30k/night is about $400 - that’s decent enough money to afford to buy a fully-loaded MacBook Pro after only a handful of gigs.

Re: Products purchased at Apple Store in India cannot be refunded or exchanged

#87

Post by SeanLuke »

I was at the Pike Place Market Starbucks in Seattle and picked up a mug special to that shop for my (native Italian) wife. I took it home in DC and found it had a hairline fracture. No problem, I told her, and promptly called the Pike Place Market Starbucks and explained the situation. They immediately mailed me a new one at no cost and apologized.

She remarked that this would NEVER have happened in Italy: no shop would ship something like that, as it would be ripe for abuse. And she's right, there is a big difference in the culture of trust which makes such a thing possible in the USA.

Re: Products purchased at Apple Store in India cannot be refunded or exchanged

#88

Post by hasitseth »

While we are discussing service, I have fond memories of IBM's service for Thinkpad. I moved from US to India. Before I left, I had sent a Thinkpad for repair. They told me a repair vendor (Selectron I think) needs a replacement motherboard from Japan (no idea why so!). They promised it will be sent to India to me. I doubted that. They not only shipped it to India but also paid customs duty as Indian customs won't accept it as repair but levied duty as a new laptop! Really miss the great IBM service.

Re: Products purchased at Apple Store in India cannot be refunded or exchanged

#89

Post by moftz »

duxup wrote: post #65
sans-serif wrote: post #19

In my experience Americans sort of take for granted the breadth and depth of consumer protection you enjoy. I'd wager that in an insignificant portion of countries Apple expanded to, they have had to significantly cut back on refunds/warrantees they offer to combat fraud and abuse.

I worked at a chain pizza place growing up that advertised its money back offer if you didn't like your pizza. When they advertised it I just assumed a lot of people would take advantage of it. Our store was one of the busiest in the US for a single store. One guy ... just one guy abused it regularly. Beyond him almost nobody ever took advantage of the offer at all... Easy enough for the store manager to tell that gu…

People are probably more embarrassed to ask for their money back on something they have partially or entirely eaten. I can barely muster up the courage to tell my waiter that my dinner order wasn't quite right but I have zero problem with buying a couple different versions of a product and returning the ones I don't like.

Re: Products purchased at Apple Store in India cannot be refunded or exchanged

#90

Post by selykg »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #82
cblackthornekc wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes? That is abusing the policy. Sounds like he was trying to start a business and wanted to do QA. Then you need to pay for that. This is clearly unethical, but maybe not illegal.

He often did pay for that. That's the point of the 10% restocking fee.

Your friend was treating a return policy as a rental policy. I don't think that's in the spirit of a return policy.
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