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Apple Trade-In bait and switch scam?

 4 years ago
source link: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-trade-in-bait-and-switch-scam.2274848/
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Apple Trade-In bait and switch scam?

badlydrawnboy

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 20, 2003 1,237
I recently bought an M1 MacBook Air. I traded my 2018 Macbook Pro in as part of the transaction. Apple gave me a quote of $890. I just received an email from Phobio, who Apple apparently uses for the trade-in program. The offer was reduced to $310. The reason provided was:

"After inspection we have found minor cosmetic wear and tear to your device that is associated with normal daily usage. For documentation purposes we’ve included photos."

This is absurd. The computer was in mint condition with so significant scratches, chips, dents, etc. on the body and a pristine screen. The "photos" they provided turned out to be a single photo (attached) that seems to be of one corner of my computer (standing up vertically; the computer on the right that you can see the keyboard on is not mine—my MBP was space grey, not aluminum).

This feels like a total scam. Had I known that the quote would be reduced this much (for no reason), I may have made a different purchase decision. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm going to call Apple to see if they can do anything. I'm furious.

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BeatCrazy

macrumors 68030
Jul 20, 2011 2,625 1,317
Uh, another victim of Phobio.

Sorry man. I got burned by Phobio on an iPhone trade in, as have dozens of others reporting in here.

I even spent 30 minutes on the phone with Apple support earlier this week asking about bringing my trade-in into a retail store (they said no) in efforts to avoid Phobio. I ended up selling the computer elsewhere, but post like yours reenforce my goal to avoid using Apple Trade-In/Phobio in the future.

Reactions: na1577

ght56

macrumors 6502a
Aug 31, 2020
The company is notorious for doing this. For some reason Apple continues to use Phobio as their subcon even though there are a ton of horror stories. My guess is that they continue to use them simply because Phobio has the capacity to handle the volume Apple gets. (Whenever anyone uses Phobio, I strongly recommend taking a video of your device to show every inch of the device as you are packing it, and take pictures of the packaging material used, as you never know if they might do something like this and then send you back a damaged device.)

You could give Apple a call but I am not sure how much they can do. You might be better off telling them to return the Mac and selling it to Mac Me An Offer, which is a very credible company to do business with.
Phobio does have a bad reputation for this kind of thing. Any online site like Phobio puts the process in writing and informs the consumer of the possibility of a lower quote once the device is inspected. As such, you can’t rightfully say scam in that regard. If I was examining with a MR buyer’s eye as many here do, I would have deducted $75 - $100 from the quote.

Next time make sure to read what you are agreeing to, instead of blindly tapping on accept the terms etc.
In the future, don’t depend on this kind of trade-in when buying a new device. Wait until you have money in hand before you go buying new toys.

Sell privately as that will give you a little more control over the price that is acceptable to you.

badlydrawnboy

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 20, 2003 1,237
Apple said they are going to dispute it. We'll see what happens. But this is the last time I'll do it this way. Thanks.
Apple said they are going to dispute it. We'll see what happens. But this is the last time I'll do it this way. Thanks.
I have never heard of Apple getting involved. Nice of them to do that. Hopefully, you will see a much better quote.

Reactions: BeatCrazy

I was very uneasy about trading in my MacBook Pro (Late 2016), especially with "up to" in the estimated value. I take extremely good care of everything I own and it literally looked like it was just out of the box. Thankfully they gave me the $710 I was quoted! I do hope that those of you who were shafted are able to sell your devices for as much as possible.

Jim Benedetto

macrumors newbie
Dec 25, 2020
I recently bought an M1 MacBook Air. I traded my 2018 Macbook Pro in as part of the transaction. Apple gave me a quote of $890. I just received an email from Phobio, who Apple apparently uses for the trade-in program. The offer was reduced to $310. The reason provided was:

"After inspection we have found minor cosmetic wear and tear to your device that is associated with normal daily usage. For documentation purposes we’ve included photos."

This is absurd. The computer was in mint condition with so significant scratches, chips, dents, etc. on the body and a pristine screen. The "photos" they provided turned out to be a single photo (attached) that seems to be of one corner of my computer (standing up vertically; the computer on the right that you can see the keyboard on is not mine—my MBP was space grey, not aluminum).

This feels like a total scam. Had I known that the quote would be reduced this much (for no reason), I may have made a different purchase decision. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm going to call Apple to see if they can do anything. I'm furious.
I just received my revised trade-in quote from $370 down to $130. “Buttons or keys not working.” Ridiculous! Every key and button worked perfectly when I sent it in. PLEASE CONTACT ME WHEN A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT GETS FILED AGAINST THESE CONSUMER FRAUDSTERS!

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