Products purchased at Apple Store in India cannot be refunded or exchanged • Hacker News Board

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

#91

Post by manquer » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 4:17 PM UTC

fumar wrote: post #24

krtkush wrote: post #18

Apple India has one of the worst after sales services. If something goes wrong with your device, they'll charge 2.5k (INR) to just look at it and tell you what is wrong with your device.

That is ~$33 USD for an inspection. What if you have AppleCare+?

You have to understand that Apple service in India is outsourced. The sub contractor has no interest in helping you. They only care how they can keep their numbers low.

They charged me $500 to replace the defective keyboard in the Mac Pro 2-3years back within 3 months of purchase and said I put glue on the key which came off.

I have a friend for whose new iphone 10 pro they refused to replace despite servicing the screen thrice and it clearly was manufacturing problem ( they agree) but will not replace the phone only the screen. He spent hours on the phone and no escalation he could do to get them to do it.

Every time i see in Europe or US, the service levels are starkly different, I have got replacement devices in minutes ,it is so bad in India that I and many people I know get their idevices serviced when we vist stateside.

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

#92

Post by ahepp » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 4:17 PM UTC

sillysaurusx wrote: post #84

segmondy wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How is what they said in any way circular or a tautology?

>If you buy a product with the intent to return it for refund, that's abuse.

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

#93

Post by tumblewit » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 4:17 PM UTC

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…

Remember Apple sells its refurbished products. Yes it costs them (and as sales increase they also get more returns) to refurbish and sell them back but not accepting returns or refunds is a completely anti-consumer and not a customer friendly policy for a company that claims is all about the customer.

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

#94

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 4:17 PM UTC

sss111 wrote: post #56

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?

In India returns are almost always picked up from your home. No need to print labels or package it. On the other hand, In the US, more often than not, you have to pack up your item and drop it off to a store to return it.

[deleted]

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

#95

Post by cblackthornekc » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 4:18 PM UTC

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.

No, that isn't the point of that at all. 10% isn't so you can use a card and then give it back. 10% is so the staff can package it up, send it back to the manufacturer so they can resell it. Or so they can mark it as "refurbished" and recoup some of the lost value of a new card.

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

#96

Post by AppleIsWeaknes » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 4:18 PM UTC

oblio wrote: post #55

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?

Random guess? Low/very low income folks, wanting a status symbol they can't afford.

They are regarded as a veblen good everywhere. Getting a lower quality product at a high price is by definition veblen good.

You pay for Apple products because it's impractical and hard to use. It shows the world you are part of the group.

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

#97

Post by mavelikara » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 4:18 PM UTC

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…

This is equivalent of a thief arguing that they entered the victim's property because the doors were unlocked.

Yes, it is abuse.

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

#98

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 4:19 PM UTC

sillysaurusx wrote: post #84

segmondy wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

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

#99

Post by AppleIsWeaknes » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 4:19 PM UTC

tumblewit wrote: post #4

So I bought a Macbook Air with M1 that I used for 3 months and noticed the right speaker cracking issue (apparently this is widespread on forums) and instead of going through the headache of repair service I ended up just tossing it online and buy a new one for <7500Rs in losses which I thought was a good deal. The new one has the same problem (yes I tried everything from restore to different audio but its not subtle…

Expect them to deny for 5 years and only then after many lawsuits you can get a fix.

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

#100

Post by gambiting » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 4:19 PM UTC

juancb wrote: post #75

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…

So what's the story behind the return abuse in India?

I suspect it's the same story I heard in Poland - it's basically impossible to buy insurance against loss of mobile phone, because apparently people abused it too much. You can still get insurance against theft or damage, but not for loss. It was just too easy for people to say "yeah, I lost the phone, please send a new one thanks".

But I mean, those policies exist elsewhere, so I don't know what specifically makes Polish customers more prone to abusing those policies. I suspect it's the relative cost of a phone vs income.