Is buying refurbished a good idea?

chrome14 · October 14, 2003 7:58PM

I've been looking around at www.macresq.com and it seems like some of those systems are a good deal.

Of course, it's a toss up with a refurbished product, but some of those notebooks are appealing to a broke ass sucker like me...

Would you guys consider buying refurbished? I'm not looking for much, a simple notebook will do.

Any opinions? Should I go for it? Any of you have or know someone who have had experiences with a refurbished Apple computer?

Thanks.

majormatt · October 14, 2003 9:05PM

I got a G3/266, 160 MB RAM, internal zip, rest stock for $56.00

wrong robot · October 14, 2003 9:12PM

Most refurbished gear comes with a 1-year warranty, generally if there is going to be a problem that will hinder your computing experience, you will know about it within the first weeks of having the product. Where upon you use your warranty.

www.smalldog.com specializes in refurbished gear as well.

eman · October 14, 2003 9:55PM

I've never gotten a refurbished Mac myself, but I've only heard good things.

der kopf · October 15, 2003 5:11AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MajorMatt

I got a G3/266, 160 MB RAM, internal zip, rest stock for $56.00

That's a lot less than the 2500+ $ we payed for it way back.

pscates · October 15, 2003 9:52AM

In February of 2000, I got a refurbished iMac DV for $100 or so less than the original $1299 asking price. I was prepared for some scuffing or otherwise "used" marks/appearance, but when I opened the box, it was as shiny and perfect and new-looking as anything I've ever seen. And it worked perfectly for over 2 years in 3 locations and with 2 different ISPs and with both OS 9 and X.

I did have a hard drive issue in the form of a grinding, metallic sound that over the course of 3-4 months only got louder and more annoying. I had it replaced and all was fine.

Actually, it did it again 8 months later, except this time I didn't wait for so long...I took it in immediately and demanded that it be fixed again (a 3-year AppleCare plan was actually included in the price I bought the iMac for!) and when I got it back, apparently they could no longer get 10GB drives so they'd replaced it with a nice 20GB hard drive!

A friend in Indiana owns that iMac now and she says it's perfect: no noise, good performance. I put Jaguar on it for her a few months ago when she was in town and it runs like a little champ.

I'd go refurb again, as long as the warranty and certification and all was in place and I felt that I was covered somehow.

giant · October 15, 2003 10:30AM

As long as it is apple facotry refurbished with the typical one year warranty, you should bee fine. I had a Ti500 refurb that was just as reliable as any other one. I've even heard the argument that they are more reliable because they have been through inspection twice and anything that could have gone wrong already has and was fixed.

murbot · October 15, 2003 10:39AM

I bought my 700MHz G3 iMac as a refurb a couple of months ago. Had the hard drive replaced a day later, the bottom RAM access door replaced (hard rubber base feet were gone), and a week after that I had the AV board (or something) replaced.

It was a hassle, and it spent 2 1/2 weeks total in the shop, but it's perfect NOW.

Someone let this puppy slip out of the shop without too much of a going-over, apparently. Full one year warranty though, so everything was fixed with zero hassle.

chrome14 · October 15, 2003 6:43PM

Thanks for the responses.

Do the Apple stores have refurbished deals at their stores?

Any other places online that any of you may be able to point out to me that have good deals on refurbished Macs?

Thanks again for your responses.

ghost_user_name · October 15, 2003 6:52PM

When I was a technician I often "refurbished" computers. Back in my day, a customer would, for example, return an iMac because it was the wrong colour. The unit may never have even been turned on, but I still had to open the box, run a full diagnostic on the unit, wipe the hdd, etceteras. The machine was practically new though.

Refurbished really isn't so bad. Think of it as getting a Mac that's already been opened by at least one person, and has a shorter warranty. And for those two concerns, you pay less.

ariobarzanes · October 16, 2003 5:52AM

For what it's worth, here's how my experience with a refurbished unit is currently playing out.

I bought a refurbed 12" Powerbook from the online Apple store a couple of weeks ago. It arrived last week, and when I opened it up and attempted to install an Airport Extreme card that I had purchased separately I discovered that the antenna cable in the machine's installation bay was damaged -- basically the connector that you clip onto the airport extreme card had been torn off, along with part of the actual antenna cable. Needless to say this was most annoying. I figured it would be covered under warranty so I sent it in for repair.

Spent about an hour and a half on the phone last night with various Apple customer support representatives. Basically, the techs ruled that the damage is "accidental" and ins't covered under warranty. As far as I can tell, this is a euphism for "it's your fault". Their position seems to be that since refurbed machines go through an extensive recondition and inspection process before they're sold again, there's no way that the unit could have shipped in a damaged condition and therefore the damage must have been caused after I received it.

I'm going to call and argue with them some more today, but at the moment it looks like my only option might be to cough up $120 as a restocking fee and return the thing -- they won't accept it as a return under warranty for the same reason that they won't fix it under warranty, namely they think the damage is my fault.

Anyway, I just thought I'd throw this out there partly to warn you that obviously things might not work out if you get a refurbed unit... and partly cause I was hoping somebody else might have some advice for ME.

Thanks much.

madmax559 · October 16, 2003 11:58AM

1.if you payed with a credit card ..file a complaint with

the card company

2.insist on speaking to a manger at apple

3.if its clearly not your fault you could charge them with fraud

btw i like some of their products, i just think their

customer service is crappy

pscates · October 16, 2003 12:01PM

LoCash's post describes my scenario (at least the story I was told): a mom bought the iMac for her teen daughter who a) hated the color and b) didn't think she wanted a Mac because of the usual myths

The ticket taped to the box actually said "given as gift...customer didn't want" or something very close to that.

This chick didn't dig orange? Witch.

ariobarzanes · October 16, 2003 12:28PM

Thanks, Madmax.

I went with #2 - speak with manager. I finally got them to agree to exchange the defective one for one that (hopefully) works.

That's good news, but all in all this was still a frustrating experience.

Is buying refurbished a good idea?

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