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Just What is a Custom Configured Server?
djhanson wonders: "I just got back from a small claims court proceeding against Apple Computer. They successfully won their argument in front of the court that selecting additional memory and disk drives for a computer/server at the time of purchase, off of their website, constitutes a 'custom configured computer built to the customer's specifications'. Said computer is therefore not eligible under the company policy to be returned. Has anyone else heard of such a thing? As near as I can tell, Apple is the only company that has such a restrictive policy. I called both IBM and HP, and neither of those companies has such a policy. Am I the only one that thinks there is something terribly wrong with a policy like this?
Any opinions? Suggestions? Comments? Whatever?"
Personally, I think Apple offers 'custom configurations' because some customers want it and it sort of looks stupid not to offer it. Apple goes out of it's way to insure that their prices on RAM and extra hard drives (about the only two items you can 'configure' your system with) are way out of line with what's available on the open market. The fact of the matter is that Apple's margins on these components are extremely low and the resources required to pull a machine off the shelf at the warehouse, have an employee put the components in, repackage the whole thing and ship it are not worth it for Apple.
I think Apple really wishes customers would simply go out (or online) and procure a bigger hard drive or more RAM themselves. They go out of their way to provide instructions for installing these components and it really isn't that hard to do. Besides, it's far less expensive for the customer in the end, and you don't need to wait an extra week for the computer to be shipped by Apple...
I must be missing something here. You bought a new computer, paid for the computer, took delivery of the computer, then later changed your mind and decided you don't want the computer. Why on earth would you expect them to give you your money back?
If the computer was damaged or malfunctioning, Apple have a warranty program that covers that, they'll repair or replace the computer at no charge to you. They even pay for the shipping.
Come on people, this isn't an abuse of consumer rights, it's an abuse of the court system because some guy couldn't make up his mind about what he wanted.
Got any other anecdotes we can use to bash "The Man" who still seems to just "keep us down?"
NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
That text is for "if you are not satisfied".
The poster doesn't mention whether the return is because of an unfit product, or just changed his mind.
I suspect the latter, and you can see Apple's point. He gets it and doesn't like it, sends it back, and they have to pull out the RAM, extra HDs - a giant pain in the arse. Why should they?
If it was broken on the other hand and they refuse to take it back, I'd have an issue, but I'm sure there are consumer laws in the US to protect the consumer from manufacturers selling unfit goods.
Remember, it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4 to pull the trigger of a sniper rifle.
LOL, you ordered from the web front, then decided to buy from the store front out of the blue, and you think THATS a legitimate reason for a return? Come on man.
Why is it that people seem to think Apple's written policies simply do not apply to them? And if people act this way with other companies, why does it only seem to be newsworthy when Apple is involved?
First we've got the iPod retards, who apparently think there are at least eighteen months in a year. I mean, why else would they act like Apple owes them something under the terms of a one-year warranty when their battery dies eighteen months after purchase? Are they traveling at the speed of light? Do they use the Martian calendar? Who knows? They also seem to think that Apple told them the battery would never die, but that's another rant.
Now we've got this other tool posting his whine about not being allowed to return a customized machine. The link to Apple's written policy on that is only on the bottom of every page generated by the Apple Store web site, so it's easy to see how he failed to see it. So now he's trying to raise a public stink in the hopes Apple will make an exception for him to quash the bad publicity he's trying to generate.
These people who flagrantly ignore written policies and then get indignant about it must be the same type of people who park their hulking SUVs in spaces marked "Compact Only." I think the next time I see one of those, I'll key it to demonstrate my contempt.
~Philly
If you had your order shipped to you, as you must have, you probably ordered it over the internet, correct? You will have then paid with a credit card. Both MasterCard and AmericanExpress (and others, I'm sure) guarentee items you purchase with your card. They state that if the merchant you bought something from won't take it back, they will. You might wanna give them a call to find out the details as they apply to your card.
Good luck!
IANAL, but I happen to have one on staff. Major corporations, like Apple, almost never appear in small claims. They will either try to have the case moved to a higher court (a slow and expensive process, because it almost always requires that the consumer hire a lawyer), or they will simply not show up and pay whatever fine (the max is usually $5,000) the judge throws at them. Corporate lawyers are expensive. At the rate Apple has to pay its lawyers, it just doesn't make sense for them to show up in court.
-Shylock
Statistically speaking, there's a 99.998% chance that my IQ is higher than yours. Get over it.
When I received my order of Logitech Z680 5.1 Speakers from Apple, they were DOA. Apple wouldn't refund or exchange my order (as stated in their return policy), so I had to go through the manufacturer. And we all know how fun that is!
Wouldn't Apple be legally obliged to exchange the item or offer a refund? You paid for a set speakers, you got a doorstop. End of story.
For consumers in the UK at least, the contract exists between the customer and the trader - the manufacturer doesn't figure into it at all (Sale Of Goods Act). It is up to the trader to sort out any problems with the goods - not the customer. That said, many high street electrical stores will insist that the customer contacts the manufacturer for repair as many consumers are unaware of the rights they have.
I'd find it hard to imagine that this isn't the case in the US too.
Allergy advice: Contains eggs.
Pshaw.
It's not really "certain chips", but you are on to something. The manufacturers in the cheap brackets will do all sorts of thing to move the product they need to move. I've seen chips relabelled, I've seen underclocked chips; my dual 1.25s wouldn't even recognize these even after multiple replacmeents). My main point is that the reputable manufacturers won't sell you a chip with enough of the same specs to be the part you ordered, but still not be a Mac-compatible part.
Starting with the first G4s I've had many bosses purchase bare units from Apple to save money - which is ok - then try to save more money by buying the cheapest RAM that would fit the specs. Most (65%-ish) of these machines became unstable - system freezes. I pointed out that several people working on things that made us money were missing deadlines. We went with the good stuff, Kingston in my opinion and experience, and the machines became stable.
I've been dealing with RAM issues in modern Powermacs (G4/G5) and they're all amazingly sensitive to RAM. Use either quality third-party memory, Apple RAM, or risk regular core dumps. I just had a 1GB DIMM fail the hardware tests out of the box, Apple did overnight me a new one after some prodding (new guy, the senior sales rep got back from a conference and overnighted me the RAM). Every manufacturer ships the occasional bad chip, but in a professional environment you have to maximize reliability.
You probably thought they were all OS problems you couldn't fix and blamed Apple for anyway.
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951