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Post by novascotia on Nov 20, 2010 22:44:12 GMT
Hi all, So I purchased my first ever Mac from the uk apple refurb section. It was like Christmas day when opening the box. Switched her on - Got to pairing the keyboard and the screen went black. Turns out the display is broken - longest I have been able to see the screen is 2 minutes. Having bought a refurb I was glad to see that this machine had a 2tb hard drive and 8gb of ram. Guess I just got "lucky" with the previous owners spec. Phoned Apple to arrange for replacement and they are refusing to match the hard drive and ram. They say that they have no idea how the Imac had double the hard drive and ram. Are macs really as good as they say? I am wondering if I should have just bought £1529 worth of Haggis and Irn Bru for the winter instead. They are offering £40 goodwill gesture. Turns out not so lucky... The whole thing is dissapointing tbh - Spent £1529 on this. And here was me thinking it was going to be great experience and a new start. Ce la vie, Murray )
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Post by tumnurkoz on Nov 21, 2010 12:35:34 GMT
Wow, you must be gutted! will they replace to a lower hdd and ram spec though?
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Post by Forum Cat on Nov 21, 2010 13:35:31 GMT
The whole thing is dissapointing tbh - Spent £1529 on this. And here was me thinking it was going to be great experience and a new start. Ce la vie, Murray ) Hmm, It would have been rather special to have received more than you were expecting. I have known others for whom this has been the case. Still you are going to get a replacement machine by return of post so I guess that you can't be too upset. You are getting a little extra discout too. Are Macs as good as they say? Well it depends on who you mean by "they". There are Mac "fanbois" who totally oversell what is really just a computer system. You get others who will tell you that Apple kit is the spawn of Beelzebubble. The truth lies between the two. Most people who buy into Mac never go back to the Windows way of doing it. Also there is no Pussy Cat Club for PCs so that kind of speaks for itself does it not? Keep us up to speed on what happens next.
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Post by Alex on Nov 21, 2010 21:16:10 GMT
Sorry you've had such an issue! Did you buy the iMac off Apple to begin with? As for your concerns about what 'they' say, you never see anyone 'upgrading to Windows' from Mac, do you? And like the cat said: There is no Pussycat Club for PCs. One more thing, once you do sort things out, you'll realise that it really is a great experience and a new start. You'll never use or look at computer in the same way again - Even if you're a bit of a technophobe.
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Post by tumnurkoz on Nov 21, 2010 21:29:07 GMT
You could always return a (cough) 4gig ram equipped imac...;-)
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Post by novascotia on Nov 25, 2010 12:25:48 GMT
Hi all, Thanks for the replies Sorry for the delay! I phoned up Apple on Saturday and in summary despite being promised a goodwill gesture which was then increased I was told that I would not be getting one due to Apples company policy not to hand out goodwill gestures for faulty equipment. So I have just finished writing my letter of complaint to Apple UK in Ireland and I may forward an email copy to them also. Not that impressed being treated badly then lied to. So in the meantime my trusty if albeit not perfect Hackintosh will see my through until I decide what to do. I like OSX - Thought I would give a proper Mac a shot but after all this I can't say I am itchingg to buy another Mac. Will see what turns up - keep ya posted. Cheers, Murray
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Post by HeatherKay on Nov 25, 2010 13:54:52 GMT
Wait. I'm confused.
You bought a refurb Mac from Apple, via their refurb store? It's got a 1 year "as new" warranty. If it breaks, or is broken when you get it, it should be replaced or repaired under warranty no questions asked.
You were offered a replacement machine, but as you've found Apple can't guarantee to match a spec. If I was in your place, I'd just take what was offered and then think about replacing the HD and RAM down the line.
Buying refurbs is pot luck to some extent, but I still recommend it to anyone over buying brand new.
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Post by novascotia on Nov 25, 2010 15:42:32 GMT
Yes I bought it via the Apple online refurb store. I can't say I would be entirely comfortable getting any kind of electronic device repaired under warranty with less than 24 hours since the box was opened. Especially one that cost £1529. I was offered a replacement machine at the time yes - but then they sold out. I do not mind problems occuring - its life thats what happens but I do not like how this whole thing was handled. I can handle pot luck - but pot luck should not equate into 9 phone calls / £1529 out of my account for 5-7 days not to mention the hassle. Even if they said sorry chum - no upgrades for you I would have been tempted by £70 and try again. To be told £40 then £70 then £0 then £40 final offer its all just a tad to messy. In a nutshell I wish I had never bothered. Cheers, Murray
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Post by HeatherKay on Nov 25, 2010 15:47:28 GMT
Fair enough. Yours is the only horror story I've come across, mind.
My current MacBook Pro was a refurb purchase. It's now three years old and just coming up for a hard drive transplant and RAM upgrade. I ordered a matt screen, got a glossy one (and a larger hard drive than I anticipated).
My next Mac may well be a refurb, too. For me, there are more positives than negatives.
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Post by novascotia on Nov 25, 2010 16:13:10 GMT
Story of my life lol Thanks HeatherKay - Chin Chin!! Murray
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Post by tumnurkoz on Nov 27, 2010 20:05:33 GMT
I do hope you are not sending it back with ALL that ram in?!
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Post by novascotia on Nov 28, 2010 18:23:28 GMT
I sure did - just put a kipper down the back vent
*holds nose*
Now just waiting on response to my letter from Apple and the banks freeing up my money.
Half of me says buy a hackintosh pc - other half says "27" And Shiny"
*strokes Chin*
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Post by beerbum on Nov 28, 2010 20:15:13 GMT
I sure did - just put a kipper down the back vent *holds nose* Now just waiting on response to my letter from Apple and the banks freeing up my money. Half of me says buy a hackintosh pc - other half says "27" And Shiny" *strokes Chin* Don't let this refurb experience put you off. Come away from the dark side….. I normally don't get all evangelical but seeing how I enjoyed my Mac, my mate eventually came over from PC, then got annoyed for week whilst he got used to the difference... then loved it…only to get employed again and had to go back to PC - he now HATES it with a vengeance….
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Post by martins on Dec 13, 2010 14:36:01 GMT
Hi. On Monday last week I ordered a refurb 27 inch iMac i3. Stock spec, £200 off list price.
Within an hour of opening it and migrating my stuff the screen went white while trying out new X-Plane settings and I had to reboot. Then I had two kernel panics. I put this down to maybe being a new OS instal. Maybe it was updating itself or something...
Next day it had two more. Then it wouldn't wake from sleep, forcing me to hard re-boot. This happened twice. I closed the machine down and left it.
The next morning I booted the machine and it immediately had a kernel panic. Later when I booted the machine the screen flickered. I ran tech tool deluxe: it showed up a VRAM problem.
I phoned Apple and told them I wanted to replace it but they said that their policy is only to give refunds on refurb units.
I have since read lots of threads about kernel panics on newer Macs following use of migration assistant, and of 27-inchers refusing to wake.
I tried reinstalling OS X just to see if it was something I'd migrated. It seemed stable for a while and I thought I might just have to migrate my stuff manually. I ran Tech Tool Deluxe again out of curiosity and it showed up a directory failure. Then it had another kernel panic.
So back it's going. The guy from TNT is collecting it today.
They offered me a goodwill gesture, but I'm disappointed, and the things I've read about 27-inchers make me wary of buying another one. (X-Plane looked fantastic when it was running, though...!)
For the time being I think I'll leave it and buy again when some of the issues have been addressed. Probably a new one, from my local Apple store.
Martin
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