I did contact Apple and a person identifying himself as a "Project Manager III, Senior Investigator, Corporate Security" responded earlier today. I will be happy to call him tomorrow.
I work for a super, big, giant corporation who just bought the rights to use the old "Ma Bell" motto: "We don't care...we don't have to". I know the thoughtlessness of big companies.
Whatever "wrath" Apple might have in store for me will be informative. Bad press is bad press. Even wrath-makers don't like bad press.
I would expect that the "Project Manager" has already visited this forum. If not, he should look at all the comments.
As I have not opened the box or used the computer, I am still obeying all the laws I know of, including California Penal Code Section 485 because I am making reasonable and just efforts to return the property to its rightfull owner.
I also gave the delivery company reasonable time to come and pick up the box they mis-delivered.
I want to ask the "Project Manager" several questions that I hope to be able to post the answers to on Tuesday evening:
Hasn't Apple Corporation been looking for the G5? If not, why not?
Why would Apple Corporation use a delivery service that provides such little security for the products they sell?
How routine are mid-deliveries and non-returned items to Apple Corporation?
How much of "lost" revenues due to mis-deliveries, theft, and non-returns, are applied to the purchase price of the other products Apple sells? How much of a true concern is this for Apple, and do they consider issues like this "spillage"?
I thank everyone who have given suggestions all through this process. It is fun to read the comments and know that everything published in this forum is recorded.
I am also keeping many comments and replies in separate files for future use, if needed.
Stay tuned, more fun tomorrow.
`
You are perfectly clean, and I think that your honesty should be rewarded by Apple
I also think that the computer is Apple property, because in most case, the computer is the property of the retailer until someone paid for it.
You already contacted Apple, so prepare for the wrath.
Had you not contacted Apple, my advice would be this:
Keep it and keep your mouth shut, without a doubt. You do not want to incur the wrath of a corporate behemoth, it will crush you like an insect.
He kept it for 6 months un-opened...he called all parties involved, he is doin the right thing, Apple, at worst will say "send it back" and at best will say "it is now an old model and too much of a pain on inventory, keep it" there is no wrath for him, the wrath will be aimed at the delivery company.
I say call your local police department, or state police and report it. tell them the truth, oyur mother has alshimers, she took delivery of a packege for a neighbor (which isnt all that uncommon) and has tried (or you on her behalf) to return it for months, both to the buyer and seller, but you get no answer..seems like a foggy situation. but you have done due dilligentse, that doesnt nessesarily make it yours, but what can you do? and post the answer you get, 'twould be interesting
I would hesitate before getting the police involved. This is more between him, Apple, the shipping company, and the intended recipient. The fewer involved, the better.
I would advise against getting the police involved. If they actually did do anything, all it would do is set Apple legal into motion... in attack mode.
The police has nothing to do here. Involving it, could lead to more problems. And I bet that the police have much more important to do, than dealing with this problem.
The police has nothing to do here. Involving it, could lead to more problems. And I bet that the police have much more important to do, than dealing with this problem.
Thank you for your comments and thanks to all of you who posted in this discussion. I have been both entertained and informed by the postings.
For those of you who think Apple is just a giant, unfeeling, uncaring behemoth, I wish you could have communicated with Christian from their fraud department.
Christian seemed to care about the whole matter and was very open with my questions and comments. I felt a little bad when he thanked me for doing the right thing in returning the G5 to the rightfull owner. Shouldn't doing the right thing be the common thing to do.
As I write this, the shipping labels have been taped to the boxes and I am waiting for the delivery company to pick up the G5. I was never mine or my mother's.
As it also turned out, "Mia" contacted her credit card company (probably before the attempted delivery) to cancel payment to Apple. She had originally received the educator's discount for the G5.
I never thought of contacting any police agency about the G5. There has been no crime because I made "just and reasonable efforts" to return the G5.
To the writer of the post dealing with karma, I feel my karma is good but I wouldn't pass up a Karman Gia.
I like being happy. I have played with my ancient G3 and can borrow any number of different models of Macs if I need to, including a G4. When I edited my videos, I just stick an external hard drive on the G3 and do the best that OS 9 can provide. I told my wife that a fairly good iMac with OS X-Tiger is much more than I could ever use.
A G5 is for a younger geek or someone running a business that deals in multimedia. I am not into creating artificial intelligence so I don't need that kind of processing or storage. For the price of even this outdated G5 I could equip two iMacs very well.
For the few readers to this forum that think a great P.C. based video editing software suite can beat iMovie with Quicktime, iLife, and garage band, think again. My super-duper P.C. based suite still can't hold a candle to the Apple software.
So to end this post, here are some simple questions to ponder:
For intelligent design, who designed the designer?
If we should "stay the course", what is the course?
If all immigration laws should be enforced, then why are the laws against employers hiring illegal alians not being enforced?
Ah! Not even a Mac mini for your troubles! Oh well. You have $2000 worth of good karma in the bank. (Plus 6 months of interest!) You'll probably die in your hundreds.
As for this:
Quote:
Originally posted by WhoownstheG5
Who put the ram in the ram-a-lam-a-dingdong?
When the discussion turns to ramming dingdongs you know it is seriously derailed...
I would advise against getting the police involved. If they actually did do anything, all it would do is set Apple legal into motion... in attack mode.
rofl ... to get true justice, let's leave all the so-called justice officers (laywers, police, etc.) out of this how bloody true...
You did the right thing, dude. Well done. You da man!
If I may ask a question, did Apple explain why it appears that neither they nor the delivery company came back looking for the package? It seems odd to me that they did not. That is what I would have expected. I also wonder (though they probably didn't tell you) whether "Mia" has a bad credit rating now, since as far as they know she signed for the G5, but filed a chargeback for it/had the credit card stop payment but did not return it.
You did the right thing, dude. Well done. You da man!
If I may ask a question, did Apple explain why it appears that neither they nor the delivery company came back looking for the package? It seems odd to me that they did not. That is what I would have expected. I also wonder (though they probably didn't tell you) whether "Mia" has a bad credit rating now, since as far as they know she signed for the G5, but filed a chargeback for it/had the credit card stop payment but did not return it.
Thank you Robin, for you comments and questions.
When I talked to Christian I knew I didn't need to ask the obvious questions because I think we all know the answers.
Big corporations like Apple have accountants estimate how much "spillage" is acceptable. They know there will be mis-delivered products that will never be returned to the proper owners. It is the cost of doing business. I get the impression that Apple doesn't look very hard for the return of mis-delivered items that end users don't complain about. I am sure that if "Mia" had looked for the computer, Apple would have contacted the delivery company to find out where they delivered it to. Since "Mia" placed the note on the front door to tell the delivery company she didn't want the computer, and she called her card company, she didn't need to look for the computer.
"Project Manager" spoke with the authority of a senior manager type and he gave me the impression that the delivery company was removed from the loop once my mother accepted delivery of the G5.
As for a chargeback or other financial dealings "Mia" had to go through, Christian told me only a little about that part. "Mia" did use a credit card to charge the G5 but, according to Christian, she contacted her credit card company very soon after she placed the order.
I may have even created a little tiny problem for returning an item Apple no longer seems to sell. CompUSA was completely out of that model of G5 when I looked at their Web site.
So in the end, the computer always belonged to Apple, the delivery company was through with the transaction, and "Mia" probably thought the delivery person read her note and returned the G5 to Apple. If Apple had never again about this particular G5, I don't thing they would have looked for it. They probably would have counted it as "spillage" and that would be that.
I couldn't keep something so valuable that I didn't buy. It wasn't my place to give it away, either. I have to live with me the rest of my life, so I like to spend every day at peace knowing I always try to do the right thing.
I am left to ponder whether I get my iMac before Christmas or after Christmas.
You did the right thing, dude. Well done. You da man!
If I may ask a question, did Apple explain why it appears that neither they nor the delivery company came back looking for the package? It seems odd to me that they did not. That is what I would have expected. I also wonder (though they probably didn't tell you) whether "Mia" has a bad credit rating now, since as far as they know she signed for the G5, but filed a chargeback for it/had the credit card stop payment but did not return it.
Apple wouldn't go looking for the package. They would just refer it to the delivery company. The delivery company probably just checked the tracking records and when they noted it wasn't properly signed for they internally accepted they screwed up. When the delivery company doesn't cough the package up then they and the shipper hash out who pays for what depending on the contract.
Also, a full time staff of tracker-downers is much more expensive than eating the $$ on the small percentage of boxes they may loose. In the long run quietly eating the cost is cheaper for both and the delivery company doesn't need to publicly confirm they made the mistake which could actually have a bigger $$ impact than the single loss itself.
Here's a hypothetical situation. If he had kept it and registered OSX online when he started up, would his computer's serial number be transmitted to Apple, and would that send up a red flag?
I think if Apple admitted that functionality was possible, privacy advocates would be all over them. If that feature is included, it is probably limited to Government/top Apple employees for very serious problems.
This whole story is similar to what happened to my roommate last year. He ordered a dell laptop and ended up with two boxes on the doorstep the next week. Both were addressed to him and both had a laptop inside. He only ordered one and was only charged for one. He tried to contact dell by phone and email and they made little effort to get it back. He would have sent it back had dell simply paid for the shipping, but they never sent him information when he requested it multiple times. So the computer sat in its box, unused for months. And dell was never heard from.
Perhaps its just too much effort for a company to deal with these "orphan" computers.
Comments
Originally posted by WhoownstheG5
I thank you for your comments.
I did contact Apple and a person identifying himself as a "Project Manager III, Senior Investigator, Corporate Security" responded earlier today. I will be happy to call him tomorrow.
I work for a super, big, giant corporation who just bought the rights to use the old "Ma Bell" motto: "We don't care...we don't have to". I know the thoughtlessness of big companies.
Whatever "wrath" Apple might have in store for me will be informative. Bad press is bad press. Even wrath-makers don't like bad press.
I would expect that the "Project Manager" has already visited this forum. If not, he should look at all the comments.
As I have not opened the box or used the computer, I am still obeying all the laws I know of, including California Penal Code Section 485 because I am making reasonable and just efforts to return the property to its rightfull owner.
I also gave the delivery company reasonable time to come and pick up the box they mis-delivered.
I want to ask the "Project Manager" several questions that I hope to be able to post the answers to on Tuesday evening:
Hasn't Apple Corporation been looking for the G5? If not, why not?
Why would Apple Corporation use a delivery service that provides such little security for the products they sell?
How routine are mid-deliveries and non-returned items to Apple Corporation?
How much of "lost" revenues due to mis-deliveries, theft, and non-returns, are applied to the purchase price of the other products Apple sells? How much of a true concern is this for Apple, and do they consider issues like this "spillage"?
I thank everyone who have given suggestions all through this process. It is fun to read the comments and know that everything published in this forum is recorded.
I am also keeping many comments and replies in separate files for future use, if needed.
Stay tuned, more fun tomorrow.
`
You are perfectly clean, and I think that your honesty should be rewarded by Apple
I also think that the computer is Apple property, because in most case, the computer is the property of the retailer until someone paid for it.
We stay tuned 8)
Originally posted by groverat
You already contacted Apple, so prepare for the wrath.
Had you not contacted Apple, my advice would be this:
Keep it and keep your mouth shut, without a doubt. You do not want to incur the wrath of a corporate behemoth, it will crush you like an insect.
He kept it for 6 months un-opened...he called all parties involved, he is doin the right thing, Apple, at worst will say "send it back" and at best will say "it is now an old model and too much of a pain on inventory, keep it" there is no wrath for him, the wrath will be aimed at the delivery company.
I say call your local police department, or state police and report it. tell them the truth, oyur mother has alshimers, she took delivery of a packege for a neighbor (which isnt all that uncommon) and has tried (or you on her behalf) to return it for months, both to the buyer and seller, but you get no answer..seems like a foggy situation. but you have done due dilligentse, that doesnt nessesarily make it yours, but what can you do? and post the answer you get, 'twould be interesting
Originally posted by Powerdoc
The police has nothing to do here. Involving it, could lead to more problems. And I bet that the police have much more important to do, than dealing with this problem.
Thank you for your comments and thanks to all of you who posted in this discussion. I have been both entertained and informed by the postings.
For those of you who think Apple is just a giant, unfeeling, uncaring behemoth, I wish you could have communicated with Christian from their fraud department.
Christian seemed to care about the whole matter and was very open with my questions and comments. I felt a little bad when he thanked me for doing the right thing in returning the G5 to the rightfull owner. Shouldn't doing the right thing be the common thing to do.
As I write this, the shipping labels have been taped to the boxes and I am waiting for the delivery company to pick up the G5. I was never mine or my mother's.
As it also turned out, "Mia" contacted her credit card company (probably before the attempted delivery) to cancel payment to Apple. She had originally received the educator's discount for the G5.
I never thought of contacting any police agency about the G5. There has been no crime because I made "just and reasonable efforts" to return the G5.
To the writer of the post dealing with karma, I feel my karma is good but I wouldn't pass up a Karman Gia.
I like being happy. I have played with my ancient G3 and can borrow any number of different models of Macs if I need to, including a G4. When I edited my videos, I just stick an external hard drive on the G3 and do the best that OS 9 can provide. I told my wife that a fairly good iMac with OS X-Tiger is much more than I could ever use.
A G5 is for a younger geek or someone running a business that deals in multimedia. I am not into creating artificial intelligence so I don't need that kind of processing or storage. For the price of even this outdated G5 I could equip two iMacs very well.
For the few readers to this forum that think a great P.C. based video editing software suite can beat iMovie with Quicktime, iLife, and garage band, think again. My super-duper P.C. based suite still can't hold a candle to the Apple software.
So to end this post, here are some simple questions to ponder:
For intelligent design, who designed the designer?
If we should "stay the course", what is the course?
If all immigration laws should be enforced, then why are the laws against employers hiring illegal alians not being enforced?
Who put the bop in the bop-shu-bop-shu-bop?
Who put the ram in the ram-a-lam-a-dingdong?
Thanks again everyone and be well.
As for this:
Originally posted by WhoownstheG5
Who put the ram in the ram-a-lam-a-dingdong?
When the discussion turns to ramming dingdongs you know it is seriously derailed...
Originally posted by dfiler
I would advise against getting the police involved. If they actually did do anything, all it would do is set Apple legal into motion... in attack mode.
rofl ... to get true justice, let's leave all the so-called justice officers (laywers, police, etc.) out of this
If I may ask a question, did Apple explain why it appears that neither they nor the delivery company came back looking for the package? It seems odd to me that they did not. That is what I would have expected. I also wonder (though they probably didn't tell you) whether "Mia" has a bad credit rating now, since as far as they know she signed for the G5, but filed a chargeback for it/had the credit card stop payment but did not return it.
Originally posted by Robin Hood
You did the right thing, dude. Well done. You da man!
If I may ask a question, did Apple explain why it appears that neither they nor the delivery company came back looking for the package? It seems odd to me that they did not. That is what I would have expected. I also wonder (though they probably didn't tell you) whether "Mia" has a bad credit rating now, since as far as they know she signed for the G5, but filed a chargeback for it/had the credit card stop payment but did not return it.
Thank you Robin, for you comments and questions.
When I talked to Christian I knew I didn't need to ask the obvious questions because I think we all know the answers.
Big corporations like Apple have accountants estimate how much "spillage" is acceptable. They know there will be mis-delivered products that will never be returned to the proper owners. It is the cost of doing business. I get the impression that Apple doesn't look very hard for the return of mis-delivered items that end users don't complain about. I am sure that if "Mia" had looked for the computer, Apple would have contacted the delivery company to find out where they delivered it to. Since "Mia" placed the note on the front door to tell the delivery company she didn't want the computer, and she called her card company, she didn't need to look for the computer.
"Project Manager" spoke with the authority of a senior manager type and he gave me the impression that the delivery company was removed from the loop once my mother accepted delivery of the G5.
As for a chargeback or other financial dealings "Mia" had to go through, Christian told me only a little about that part. "Mia" did use a credit card to charge the G5 but, according to Christian, she contacted her credit card company very soon after she placed the order.
I may have even created a little tiny problem for returning an item Apple no longer seems to sell. CompUSA was completely out of that model of G5 when I looked at their Web site.
So in the end, the computer always belonged to Apple, the delivery company was through with the transaction, and "Mia" probably thought the delivery person read her note and returned the G5 to Apple. If Apple had never again about this particular G5, I don't thing they would have looked for it. They probably would have counted it as "spillage" and that would be that.
I couldn't keep something so valuable that I didn't buy. It wasn't my place to give it away, either. I have to live with me the rest of my life, so I like to spend every day at peace knowing I always try to do the right thing.
I am left to ponder whether I get my iMac before Christmas or after Christmas.
Originally posted by Robin Hood
You did the right thing, dude. Well done. You da man!
If I may ask a question, did Apple explain why it appears that neither they nor the delivery company came back looking for the package? It seems odd to me that they did not. That is what I would have expected. I also wonder (though they probably didn't tell you) whether "Mia" has a bad credit rating now, since as far as they know she signed for the G5, but filed a chargeback for it/had the credit card stop payment but did not return it.
Apple wouldn't go looking for the package. They would just refer it to the delivery company. The delivery company probably just checked the tracking records and when they noted it wasn't properly signed for they internally accepted they screwed up. When the delivery company doesn't cough the package up then they and the shipper hash out who pays for what depending on the contract.
Also, a full time staff of tracker-downers is much more expensive than eating the $$ on the small percentage of boxes they may loose. In the long run quietly eating the cost is cheaper for both and the delivery company doesn't need to publicly confirm they made the mistake which could actually have a bigger $$ impact than the single loss itself.
Also, i bought my eMac second hand. I know it's USB 2 1.25Ghz one, but how do i find out WHEN it was bought/manufactured originally?
Originally posted by spiers69
how do i know if my computer is registered? And if it isn't, does it matter (it's out of warranty)?
Also, i bought my eMac second hand. I know it's USB 2 1.25Ghz one, but how do i find out WHEN it was bought/manufactured originally?
go to this page, it will give you the rough idea... see bottom-ish right hand side
http://www.apple.com/support/
"Enter your computer or iPod?s serial number to find your product?s...
* Model name
* Web support resources
* Days remaining for warranty coverage
* AppleCare Protection Plan status"
Perhaps its just too much effort for a company to deal with these "orphan" computers.