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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

#161

Post by mavelikara »

ohazi wrote: post #126
sillysaurusx wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

This disconnect is precisely why you can get a refund in the US but not in India. There's the "letter of the policy" interpretation, where anything the text of the policy doesn't explicitly forbid is A-Okay. And then there's the "socially acceptable norms" interpretation, where you're only supposed to ask for refunds when a product is actually defective, and if you go any further than that, society and HN comments wi…

> In the US, we have a thriving culture of shaming people for anything and everything, so companies can have generous policies and lean on the social norms interpretation to keep people in check.

Consumers in US can buy a product without the anxiety of not having read the fine print, knowing that the seller will honor the return policy. Sellers also end up selling more because most buyers like the product they buy. Society wins overall.

I have lived both in India and US, about two decades each at both places.

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

#162

Post by yarcob »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #86
truth_ wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Only if someone else pays for your living expenses.

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

#163

Post by wolfretcrap »

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…

>Same goes for the country's biggest online retailers, both Amazon and Flipkart also switched to a replacement-only policy in India.

On Amazon India you can still get refund based on your history with them.

Basically trusted customers still get the "refund" option in their account. Just new customers and the suspecious one aren't given that often by default

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

#164

Post by rlkf »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #123
bootlooped wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your position seems to be that if it's legal and within the technical guidelines, then it's not abuse. If so then what is abuse? I think the issue is people operating in bad faith. I recall a story about people buying big TVs before the super bowl then returning them the next week. My opinion is that's abusing a company's generous return policy. The people doing that never intended to buy. The company had the policy…

Finally, a logical comment. Thank you. I counter with the following observation: You note that a return policy exists so that customers can use it. Under what conditions are you allowed to use it and it not be abuse? Being able to return the product is often why customers buy something. How many times have you considered the return policy before buying? You can decide to return it for any reason you like: whether you…

> Under what conditions are you allowed to use it and it not be abuse?

I'll give you an example, which is also a true story: I bought a 4K TV that could also run Android apps. But, while regular TV broadcasts displayed in 4K, the Android apps were limited to HD. This, of course were never mentioned in any of their marketing material. Did return, and did get a refund, but if it had worked as I thought it did, I would have kept it.

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

#165

Post by dharmab »

easton wrote: post #102
truth_ wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

After 21 gigs (3 gigs * 7 laptops) he would've made around 21k USD (presuming he was making at least 10k rupees per night, which between 3k-30k would've made sense). Seems like at that point you just buy the darn laptop, it's not like you need something more than an Air for DJing, and 1/21th of your revenue to be legal seems like not a bad idea.

I think part of the point was he always had the current model.

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

#166

Post by petee »

darkwizard42 wrote: post #40
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.

Agreed, but I don't think Americans take it for granted; I think they just don't abuse it. By not abusing a good faith return policy you allow the company to provide one that is consumer friendly.

Eh, look what happened to LL Bean, they had one of the last real good faith return policies, and it was abused to hard they had to reverse lifetime warranty on existing products to two(?) years. And create a list to track individuals making the returns

I hear they'll still honor it in some obvious cases...

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

#167

Post by Grustaf »

Majestic121 wrote: post #28
Grustaf wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s reasonable to expect a replacement product, but why should you be able to return it for cash? You already made the decision to buy one, I don’t think it’s Apple’s responsibility if you change your mind.

He made the decision to buy one that works, if there's a flaw it's perfectly reasonable to be reimbursed. Most countries also have laws to give consumers a time period where they can return whatever they bought, no questions asked (as long as the product is in good condition)

I’m saying he should get a new one that works. The question is why should he be able to return it for cash?

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

#168

Post by rocknor »

sdajk3n423 wrote: post #147
darrenoc wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is harmful racial stereotyping. Most of the hardest workers I know are Indian.

How is this stereotyping? I can say with 100% confidence that 100% of the malicious scam calls that I get are from India.

Because of your stupid statement about it being ingrained in the culture. It's more like a combination of unemployment, English know-how, ineffective/overworked police because of underfunding, the existence of this attack vector and a little tech knowledge to exploit it.

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

#169

Post by Grustaf »

domano wrote: post #23
Grustaf wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s reasonable to expect a replacement product, but why should you be able to return it for cash? You already made the decision to buy one, I don’t think it’s Apple’s responsibility if you change your mind.

For example here in germany it is mandated by law that you have 2 weeks grace period to get your cash back, no questions asked.

Yes, but in this case 3 months had passed.

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

#170

Post by CobrastanJorji »

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…

Those are different things. Taking advantage of a return "for any reason" policy is fine. Stealing money by lying about your identity is not okay.
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