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Apple Halts 10 Percent Restocking Fee For iPhone 4
Geek Sugar ^

Posted on 07/03/2010 10:37:29 PM PDT by Chet 99

In a press release issued on Friday, Apple announced that the iPhone 4's antenna issues weren't hardware-related, but that the formula to calculate signal strength was flawed. Also in the press release, Apple stated that customers could return their iPhone 4s for a "full refund" within 30 days if they weren't satisfied. Sounds great! But even better — it's been confirmed that Apple will not be charging its usual 10 percent restocking fee if customers do change their minds about the new iPhone.

Previously, it would cost you up to $30 to return an opened iPhone, but now, if you aren't sold on the new gadget after playing with it for a month, return it, get all your dough back, and consider your alternatives — the Droid X and HTC EVO 4G look like mighty fine candidates to me!


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: ilovebillgates; iwanthim; iwanthimbad; microsoftfanboys
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1 posted on 07/03/2010 10:37:31 PM PDT by Chet 99
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To: Chet 99

Apple has not changed in over 30 years -—


2 posted on 07/03/2010 10:41:47 PM PDT by EagleUSA
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To: EagleUSA
Apple has not changed in over 30 years -—

Okaaaaaaaaaay......

3 posted on 07/03/2010 10:44:31 PM PDT by Chet 99
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To: Chet 99

I can respect Apple for this. I assume AT&T is going to let people walk away from the contracts?


4 posted on 07/03/2010 10:47:31 PM PDT by Psycho_Bunny (Hail To The Fail-In-Chief)
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To: Psycho_Bunny

Never! Apple has it’s issues, but AT&T is truly evil.


5 posted on 07/03/2010 10:49:49 PM PDT by perfect_rovian_storm (The worst is behind us. Unfortunately it is really well endowed.)
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To: Chet 99

How many disk swaps to do a Pascal compile?


6 posted on 07/03/2010 10:50:18 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: Chet 99

Your right...They are still trash, just like the II/IIe days.


7 posted on 07/03/2010 10:57:41 PM PDT by CSI007
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To: Chet 99

Kudos to Apple, and any other company, for squaring it up with the customer.


8 posted on 07/03/2010 10:59:13 PM PDT by TomServo
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To: Chet 99

Whats 30 bucks when you are paying $150 a month for service?


9 posted on 07/03/2010 11:10:46 PM PDT by mylife (Opinions $1 Halfbaked 50c)
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To: cynwoody

>How many disk swaps to do a Pascal compile?

None, if you have two floppies. Could you get a hard derive for that puppy?


10 posted on 07/03/2010 11:21:53 PM PDT by ROTB (Without a Christian revival, we are government slaves, or nuked by China/Russia during armed revolt.)
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To: Psycho_Bunny

I asked several times if there was any penalty if I cancelled in the first 30 days. I was assured each time there was none.

Hasn’t been a problem, 6 months in now. Looking forward to the iPhone upgrade. The rest of the family is excited about moving over when their deal with Verizon is up next year.


11 posted on 07/03/2010 11:27:55 PM PDT by moehoward
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To: Psycho_Bunny

AT&T doesn’t have a choice; Federal law requires that a wireless carrier let a customer out of the contract within the first 30 days.

Apple, on the other hand, was pretty slimy for charging 10% restocking fees on a phone they knew was defective... They’re in full damage-control mode now, as problem after problem manifests itself with the iPhone.

I suspect the next version of the iPhone will be out by the end of the year, so that Apple can put this Vista-like fiasco behind them as quickly as possible.


12 posted on 07/04/2010 1:10:22 AM PDT by PugetSoundSoldier (Indignation over the Sting of Truth is the defense of the indefensible)
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To: Chet 99

My iphone 3G died last week, and when I went to the Apple store to get a new one, I had the choice between a 3GS for $99 and a 4 for $199.

Didn’t have to ponder that one very long.


13 posted on 07/04/2010 1:15:44 AM PDT by denydenydeny ("Why should I feed pirates?"--Russian officer off Somalia)
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To: Chet 99

10 percent is charitable compared to sleazy places like Best Buy.

But, no thanks, I’m not an Apple fan, even when they try to recover from a screw up. I can build a faster system for much less and have the freedom to do what I want with PC.


14 posted on 07/04/2010 1:15:55 AM PDT by Sto Zvirat
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~; 1234; 50mm; Abundy; Action-America; acoulterfan; AFreeBird; Airwinger; Aliska; ...
iPhone4's are returnable up to 30 days from purchase... with no restocking fee. PING!

PLEASE NOTE, if you post a thread on APPLE, iPHONES, iPAD, or Macs, and wish to notify the Apple/Mac,iPhone,iPad list, please have the courtesy to Ping me, so that I may ping the list. Certain anti-Apple persons, notably, for-q-clinton, PugetSoundSoldier, and a few others are deliberately NOT pinging me to their negative, anti-Apple threads... for reasons of their own.

Please don't feed the Anti-Apple Trolls™


Apple iPhone4 Ping!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

15 posted on 07/04/2010 2:47:43 AM PDT by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
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To: ROTB
None, if you have two floppies. Could you get a hard derive for that puppy?

Yeah, they had a 5MB hard drive... I think it sold for $799.

16 posted on 07/04/2010 3:31:56 AM PDT by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
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To: Chet 99

Lesson #1. Never buy the first edition, series, etc. of any tech product unless it has been on the market successfully for at least six months.


17 posted on 07/04/2010 4:17:50 AM PDT by Mobties
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To: Mobties

Exactly. No one ever gets it perfect the first time out of the gate. Ever.

I’m thinking of finally upgrading to Snow Leopard.


18 posted on 07/04/2010 4:32:04 AM PDT by Locomotive Breath
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To: ROTB
None, if you have two floppies.

I was recalling a Pascal compiler, developed at UCSD in the seventies. As compilers usually are, this one was organized into phases, in which the output of one phase was the input to the next. Since the compiler was quite large, and the floppies only held 140K, they divided the phases across multiple floppies, which you needed to load in sequence to complete a compile. One minor mercy: if your program contained syntax errors, the first phase would find them, so you didn't have to go through the whole procedure.

Could you get a hard derive for that puppy?

They did introduce a hard drive before the product's end of life, but it only held five meg or so.

19 posted on 07/04/2010 8:47:07 AM PDT by cynwoody
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To: PugetSoundSoldier; Swordmaker
> Apple, on the other hand, was pretty slimy for charging 10% restocking fees on a phone they knew was defective

Hey Puget, Swordmaker, a favor: Please quote me the figures on how many iPhone4 units have been returned as defective, compared to how many have been sold. I don't know, but I figure you do.

Just two numbers: How many sold, how many returned. Here's how I look at it.

If the number returned is over 25% of units sold, then I'll agree with Puget that "Apple knew it was defective", and I'll agree on the "slimy" characterization, no doubt.

If it's between 10% and 25%, then I'd say it's probable that Apple knew -something- was up, but they hadn't figured it out yet, and continued to work on it while selling initial product. That is not uncommon, but I personally find it poor engineering and business practice.

If it's between 1% and 10%, it's entirely possible they had no idea -- depending on their product testing, they could have missed it, or maybe a marginal batch of components took a few percent of the production units over the edge. I doubt it's component related, though. I'm inclined to think it's a combination of antenna design and the improper software algorithm they say they discovered, both of which are not "statistical" in nature -- they're integral to the product design. I would expect them to show up uniformly across -all- sold product.

If it's less than 1%, it's not a design problem, that's down in the noise of AQL and such things.

You're bright guys with experience in the industry and you follow this stuff -- what are the two numbers?

I'm not looking to start anything -- I'm just asking about what percentage of units have been returned as defective, and hence ran into the restocking fee question. Assuming Apple or somebody reputable has the numbers.

Thanks, guys.

20 posted on 07/04/2010 8:56:40 AM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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