Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

ehwang114 · Apr 20, 2004, 05:50 PM

to anyone interested in buying an apple from bestbuy. DONT!!! i went to my local bestbuy to purchase a pb on a friday. they told me they were sold out but a new shipment was coming in that night. so i went there on sat and they had new ones in stock and i was very very excited and happy to finally have it. two days into my new mac experience i realize that something about this pb was different. i had done my research and everything about what was supposed to come with the new pb. this was when i realized that this pb didnt have the panther installed on it and didnt have the garageband software on it. i called applecare and they informed me that my pb left the apple factory in september 2003. i purchased it on 4/3/2004. this pb was already 8 months old which is complete bs. how can a computer that is 8 months old be coming in on a new shipment? the salespeople completely misled me. i took it back to try and return it but they said that i would have to pay 15% restocking fee which is $300. i tried to argue that under the circumstances i shouldnt have to pay the penalty. they refused. this makes no sense i couldve gone to a apple store and paid the same price for a pb that isnt 8 months old. so the moral of the story is dont go to bestbuy for apple products unless you plan on paying the same price for something that is already outdated. i am in the process of trying to get a refund from them and after that i will go to an apple store to buy my new pb. I HATE BESTBUY.

Lateralus · Apr 20, 2004, 06:38 PM

PowerMacMan's Rules Of Buying - Rule #196: Never buy anything from Best Buy that costs more than $100.

mrmister · Apr 20, 2004, 06:47 PM

Or, at the least, read the box closely to ensure everything is new. But yes--that does suck mightily.

ehwang114 · Apr 20, 2004, 06:57 PM

yes i shouldve been more careful but to the best of my knowledge there is no tell tale sign on the box between the pb with panther and the pb without. but dont make the mistake that i did.

mdc · Apr 20, 2004, 07:13 PM

i had the same thing from compusa.

i bought a 12" combo drive in january. i got home and booted it and it booted to 10.2.7 and there was no panther nor ilife in the box. weird. i was not impressed. luckily for me the powerbook was defective, the speaker would not stop crackling. so i took it back and paid the extra and got the superdrive model which was brand new.

but yeah, i agree, don't buy anything other than a cd or a video game from bestbuy.

Timo · Apr 20, 2004, 07:25 PM

"Best"Buy

those guys suck

banditcosmo · Apr 20, 2004, 11:03 PM

Best Buy's web site lists that the Powerbook comes with iLife. The fact that it did not should give you reason to return it or at least provide iLife or exchange it.
Also if you paid by credit card see if your credit card company will do anything for you.

rag on a muffin · Apr 20, 2004, 11:16 PM

dont go to best buy, got to compusa. they have great warranties, like my friend had a computer, he over-clocked it until he burnt the processor to a crisp. he told best buy that he over-clocked it, and killed it (bad move), but the clerk said:"ill just pretend i didn't hear that, and go get you another from the back, OK?" when he said this i couldn't help but laugh my arse off. so in conclusion, it your buying a pc, buy from compusa.

(get the right clerk)

but look on the bright side, at least they are selling them, thats an improvement

pdot · Apr 21, 2004, 02:40 AM

Best Buy stinks. I had an order that was "shipping" for over a month before it arrived. What was incredibly lame was that I couldn't cancel the order b/c of the "shipping" status. I agree with the other poster: don't get anything too pricey from them. DVDs are the only thing I'll buy from them nowadays.

Drakino · Apr 21, 2004, 12:27 PM

Originally posted by rag on a muffin:
dont go to best buy, got to compusa. they have great warranties, like my friend had a computer, he over-clocked it until he burnt the processor to a crisp. he told best buy that he over-clocked it, and killed it (bad move), but the clerk said:"ill just pretend i didn't hear that, and go get you another from the back, OK?" when he said this i couldn't help but laugh my arse off. so in conclusion, it your buying a pc, buy from compusa. (get the right clerk)

Is is more about the store, and not the name on it. My local CompUSA is on my never shop list now for having 3 different situations have to go to a manager. They pretty much treat their extended warranties as only valid if you never actually used the product.

Best part too has been the misleading sales people. They sold me an extended warranty on my digital camera claiming it was a replacement warranty. I go in with it and got a "Umm, no sir, this is a repair only warranty". Also got similar BS on an LCD "You should get this becayse the LCD warranty is only a year, ours will extend it". I had an issue with it 1.5 years later, and their store calls me to say I'd be better off going through Sony, since it had a 3 year warranty.

Best Buy here on the other hand, any time I have had a problem, it has been "Here it is, heres the problem", and I've either had the device that day, or they get it repaired quickly with no BS excuses. Hell, they even repaired my receiver when I brought it in, since they found a different problem in it then what I reported.

Again, it all comes down to the store, and the region.

But for my Apple products, only my local reseller, Voelker gets my sales and service buisness.

dwishbone · Apr 21, 2004, 12:57 PM

one word to all you people with compusa and best buy bad experiences...
macmall.com

i just got to places like comp to test out products first hand...and to make the sales people feel pathetic by showing them how little they know. allthough the guys in the mac store inside comp (if they are in black shirts) are very knowledable since they are actually employed by apple to be there...not some little pimply kid compusa puts in a red shirt.

i prefer to buy from either macsales.com, macmall.com, or smalldog.com. i have never had a single problem with any of those places. did i mention macmall has great bonus deals...and best yet...no tax :-D

dwishbone · Apr 21, 2004, 12:59 PM

oh...and doesnt bestbuy have that "pricematch plus" thing or whatever the hell they advertise.
where they will pay the difference or some crap if something better comes out within so many days of you buying the product?
well since you got the Powerbook without Panther or iLife...and that was technically out and shipping with Powerbooks like yours when you bought it...sounds like they owe you $129 for Panther and $49 for iLife :-D

-Q- · Apr 21, 2004, 01:09 PM

Sorry to hear about your luck but it definitely sounds like you're owed some sort of compensation. Don't give up. Keep annoying them as much as legally possible. You'll get what you're entitled.

rag on a muffin · Apr 21, 2004, 02:37 PM

get it straight from apple's repair depot. i got my ibook replaced with a powerbook a while ago. they put it through a VERY thorough search to find ANY problems because they know that i have had very many problems, and might demand another replacement.

gdiddy · Apr 21, 2004, 03:39 PM

I am not a great fan of Best Buy, but I have to say I LOVE their completely uninformed and apathetic staff. I have returned 3 ipods for the most minor repairs and they have taken them no questions asked... Hell, they barely made eye contact! My first 20 gig was DOA. Upgraded to a 40 gig and then the headphones went out in one ear - walked out with a brand new ipod. Yesterday i noticed the left edge seam seemed (!) to be bulging out.... walked out with another ipod, No Questions Asked. I love it!

porieux · Apr 21, 2004, 04:30 PM

Just return it and then dispute the 'restocking fee' with your credit card company.

Also why did you buy a powerbook on Saturday when everyone was saying that new models would be released the following monday?

ehwang114 · Apr 21, 2004, 05:22 PM

no i didnt buy it this past saturday 4/17 i bought the pb over 2 weeks ago 4/3 and i would try go dispute it with my credit card except i paid with my best buy credit card. haha it was bad timing and an expensive lesson. bad timing in that i was not aware of the new pb coming out. seriously if i had just waited 2 weeks, for the same price i couldve had a 64mb graphics card 2x faster dvd burner and .33 ghz faster processor. not to mention i wouldve saved $99 on my airport extreme card. i guess this is technology right? soon as you get one something better comes along. oh well no worries.

porieux · Apr 21, 2004, 05:45 PM

OK, the timing makes more sense

I think you can still dispute the charge with the Credit Card company, Best Buy isn't the credit card company, we're talking Mastercard or Visa here most likely.

nick_coday · Apr 22, 2004, 11:49 PM

Originally posted by porieux:
OK, the timing makes more sense

I think you can still dispute the charge with the Credit Card company, Best Buy isn't the credit card company, we're talking Mastercard or Visa here most likely.

Actauuly, Visa or Mastercard are not likely the issuing authority of the card, they just licensee the name.

The issuing authority often I have found is MBNA; It will be a large bank that issued the card. BB just paid an extra license fee to have their logo stamped on the card.

hldan · Apr 23, 2004, 12:31 AM

Originally posted by ehwang114:
to anyone interested in buying an apple from bestbuy. DONT!!! i went to i couldve gone to a apple store and paid the same price for a pb that isnt 8 months old. so the moral of the story is dont go to bestbuy for apple products unless you plan on paying the same price for something that is already outdated. i am in the process of trying to get a refund from them and after that i will go to an apple store to buy my new pb. I HATE BESTBUY.

My only question is, if you could have gone to the Apple Store and paid the same price and got the right one then why choose Best Buy?

ehwang114 · Apr 23, 2004, 12:16 PM

good question. simple answer. bestbuy has a 12 month interest free financing and i love those programs. anytime i can get something without anything out the pocket i take it. its easier on the wallet. but you can rest assured i will never do that with bestbuy anymore. that is why i went with bestbuy instead of apple since they didnt have a interest free program.

discotronic · Apr 23, 2004, 01:23 PM

I didn't notice that anybody mentioned this to you. You could be eligable for the upgrade program. You would have to pay $20 to Apple for a set of Panther upgrade disks. You could probably get iLife the same way. I know it doesn't make up for what you have went through but I think it would be better than being without Panther and iLife.

Also, call Apple and see if they can give you any advice. As strict as Apple is concerning their resellers you might be able to do something.