Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 328 posts

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

#191

Post by wolfretcrap »

kjrose wrote: post #181
kjrose wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I don't mean like "you get accolades", but more of a, everyone is doing it, so why not me?

I appreciate the honest response though. I always am curious about what the situation is on the ground for decisions like this.

Those who do bad things can always justify to themselves "everyone is doing it" even if the only evidence they've is a newspaper report of a person doing it in their country. I personally frequently manage accounts of my family members including my Dad's and girlfriends account, they aren't doing it infact my dad has kept a lot of crappy things he received because he didn't have time to return and he's a busy banker, his time value is more than all these products etc...very few people in the country actually get paid enough to make these tactics not worth it for them, but a lot of people are god fearing and honest even if they are poor.

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

#192

Post by akamhy »

jetrink wrote: post #44
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…

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?

YouTube product reviews! People try to copy MKBHD, but as they don't get free products from Apple unlike Marques they buy them for a week.

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

#193

Post by Veen »

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.

The consquence of everyone "simply using" returns policies in that way is businesses having much more restrictive returns policies, as we see in India. Most of us don't want that.

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

#194

Post by ragazzina »

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…

It's really strange to see that on HN when a company is paying only the taxes it legally has to, it's called "business acumen", but when a person is extracting all the value it can from a policy, it's "abusing the policy".

I wonder if the same people hold both the opinions.

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

#195

Post by akamhy »

wolfretcrap wrote: post #184
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?

>Why would people want to have an iPhone for only a week? Indian culture is about display of wealth. Wealthy individuals are respected and get access to inner clubs while the people who don't have much don't get invited anywhere. College students might want to leave a good impression at a party and might get an iPhone so people start taking them seriously. Similarly, a guy might get an iPhone so his date considers hi…

^ Indian culture

Every culture

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

#196

Post by gentleman11 »

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…

How is this scamming or abuse? There is a return window that people are taking advantage of whose purpose it to let unsure people decide whether they want the device or not. People are using this promise at face value and then being called abusers and scammers

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

#197

Post by vkou »

ragazzina wrote: post #194
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…

It's really strange to see that on HN when a company is paying only the taxes it legally has to, it's called "business acumen", but when a person is extracting all the value it can from a policy, it's "abusing the policy". I wonder if the same people hold both the opinions.

This is a very astute observation. There seems to be an assumption that only people, but not organizations can act in bad faith - and that deceiving the government is a virtue.

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

#198

Post by wolfretcrap »

akamhy wrote: post #195
wolfretcrap wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why would people want to have an iPhone for only a week? Indian culture is about display of wealth. Wealthy individuals are respected and get access to inner clubs while the people who don't have much don't get invited anywhere. College students might want to leave a good impression at a party and might get an iPhone so people start taking them seriously. Similarly, a guy might get an iPhone so his date considers hi…

^ Indian culture Every culture

Not really in some cultures talking about money and displaying wealth is not considered good and people look down on this behaviour.

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

#199

Post by pembrook »

gambiting wrote: post #172
pembrook wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the EU however, you generally are paying for that extra protection in the form of higher prices from retailers. There's no free lunch. The market isn't perfectly efficient, but it's pretty damn efficient. It's not like companies operating in countries where warranty is the law will suddenly say "welp, I guess we'll just have to accept less profit in the EU then, hopefully global consumers don't catch on!" Whether…

I'm honestly curious - how so? In all my adult life I have been comparing prices between EU and US and they are always about the same once you factor in taxes. Yes the VAT can make items slightly more expensive, but VAT has absolutely nothing to do with the retailers responsibility for the product, right? >>On a risk adjusted basis, the cost is the same. I'd love to see how you came to that conclusion. In EU the sell…

This has been the subject of numerous academic papers. Again, it's not like the EU government has somehow fooled companies into losing money in the EU.

I highly doubt you're doing true absolute calculations factoring in all the supply chain, macroeconomic, and tax considerations.

The reason you can't easily compare this at a glance is complicated by currency fluctuations, shipping costs, labor costs, embedded VAT in prices vs. taxes added at purchase, VAT rebates, differences in EU warranty law vs. purchased warranties in the US, "discount" marketing tactics of American retailers vs. European retailers, everyday low prices vs. seasonal discounting, etc.

Trust me when I say you're not enjoying some free lunch at the expense of corporate earnings by living in the EU. You're simply restricting consumer and entrepreneur choices, by preemptively deciding what the consumer needs.

Which can be good or bad depending on the item in question. Computer hardware? Not sure we need the nanny state involved, there's healthy competition and you run the risk of stifling new business models from arising (it's no secret that Europe isn't exactly a hotbed of tech innovation). Healthcare? Now that's a different story.

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

#200

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

vetinari wrote: post #138
gambiting wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And everywhere in EU sellers have to accept a return within 14 days for any online purchases, for any reason. And no, they can't charge a restocking fee. You can only be asked to pay for the postage back. And in general, the responsibility for the goods is always with the seller first, manufacturer second. If your laptop breaks and the seller says "oh the manufacturer declined warranty" then sorry, tough luck, it's t…

> within 14 days for any online purchases Almost. It does not apply to custom-made products. Apple resellers consider BTO models to be custom-made and thus not eligible for this protection. But at least they warn you upfront.

> Apple resellers consider BTO models to be custom-made and thus not eligible for this protection.

I thought the only get-out for Apple was personalized items, namely those with laser-engraving. BTO/JIT orders where you choose from a narrow set of options (e.g. RAM size, HDD size, etc) in Apple's case probably wouldn't be BTO because they tend to pre-assemble a modest stockpile of all of the different BTO configs.

Lower-volume products, like the $6000 Mac Pro might have a case, but it's not like a returned (but new, even unopened) MacPro isn't resalable...

Post reply on HN