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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

#121

Post by mattl »

SeanLuke wrote: post #87

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 wo…

Games Workshop, the miniature manufacturer is like this. The few times I've had an issue with something from them -- mostly missing pieces -- they've shipped me a replacement entire kit, usually overnight at no cost to me.

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

#122

Post by egeozcan »

Cerium wrote: post #73
sergiotapia wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally believe this. Here in the states Costco's refund policy is like magic. If you buy something that is horrible, you can return it hassle free. I buy almost exclusively from costco just because of this policy. Zero stress. But something like this would not work in Bolivia (where I'm from), people would abuse the shit out of it. within a week the policy would be gone, no doubt.

One of my friends works at Costco. He says that before the holidays they sell a lot of furniture and after the holidays they see a lot of furniture returns.

But wouldn't that be expected? More people buying (because they think they need it, as they're going to cook a lot), would mean, even if the return percentage is the same, more people returning.

Add to that the people who realize what a waste of an investment that was after the holiday spree is over, you can explain it a bit more.

But of course, it's impossible to tell surely without data.

Going back to gut feelings: Does he see suspicious behavior? Weird reasons for returning?

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

#123

Post by sillysaurusx »

bootlooped wrote: post #105
sillysaurusx wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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 dislike the product, whether you ran out of money and needed a refund, or for no reason at all.

If it's a problem, the business will change the policy, just as Apple did here.

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

#124

Post by gambiting »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #108
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.

> In my experience Americans sort of take for granted the breadth and depth of consumer protection you enjoy. As a european, it's amusing to hear you say that as the majority of European countries have far, far more stringent consumer-protection regs than the US, such as mandatory 2 year warranties, distance-selling laws, legal rights to a refund or replacement, and so on. Apple's 90 day warranty is a joke when you c…

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 the seller who has to repair/replace it now.

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

#125

Post by ramraj07 »

selykg wrote: post #90
sillysaurusx wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Are we going to blame people for not buying WinRaR licenses next? These are businesses, they offer the policy for a variety of reasons, I am free to use them within the terms; it sounds a bit out there to categorise returning a product in a “no questions asked return” policy as unethical unless I actively sabotaged the product or did anything other than use it and give it back.

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

#126

Post by ohazi »

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.

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 will shame you for it.

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. India is more of a free-for-all, so companies feel the need to spell everything out.

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

#127

Post by akamia »

Cerium wrote: post #73
sergiotapia wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally believe this. Here in the states Costco's refund policy is like magic. If you buy something that is horrible, you can return it hassle free. I buy almost exclusively from costco just because of this policy. Zero stress. But something like this would not work in Bolivia (where I'm from), people would abuse the shit out of it. within a week the policy would be gone, no doubt.

One of my friends works at Costco. He says that before the holidays they sell a lot of furniture and after the holidays they see a lot of furniture returns.

This was also really common with TVs during the Super Bowl. People would come in and buy the biggest TV they could get, have their Super Bowl party and then return the TV.

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

#128

Post by ballenf »

tumblewit wrote: post #93
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.

If they claimed to take returns but always found an excuse not to take them, I'd call that anti-consumer.

Maybe Apple could just give a discount if you give up your return option at the point of sale.

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

#129

Post by alpaca128 »

AppleIsWeaknes wrote: post #99
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.

...and only for models sold in a specific time period. The rest of the customers have to sue again.

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

#130

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

rolisz wrote: post #68
tonywastaken wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was able to repair a US-bought MacBook at an Apple store in Japan with no issues

MacBooks have global warranty, iPhones don't. I think this is partly to avoid price arbitrage such as going to buy an iPhone in a cheaper country. I'm not sure why this is not a concern for laptops. Maybe those are more targeted towards businesses, which are not so price sensitive.

> I think this is partly to avoid price arbitrage such as going to buy an iPhone in a cheaper country.

There isn't much arbitrage for new Apple products: if anything, iPhones are more expensive in other countries, especially LEDC countries due to import tariffs (e.g. Brazil and India) and VAT.

That said, I can understand phone companies, in general, not having worldwide warranties because localized phones will have different radio hardware (well, prior to LTE...).

-----

I just found Apple's current warranty doc for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod and it does mention international coverage ( https://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/products/ios-warranty-d... ). It would be bad PR for Apple if tourists and businesspeople in foreign countries couldn't get their phones repaired on holiday or during a critical business trip.

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