PowerOn Recycling

Thank you very much for taking the time to post about your positive experience - and thank you for recycling your computer! We have shared your comments with our entire team and gave special Kudos to Mark. It is because of the customer service team we have in place that makes this program so successful and it's great when they hear it directly from our happy customers! Thank you again and we look forward to being your service provider of choice!

I had participated in PowerOn's recycling program by enrolling my Mac Mini Core 2 Duo 2 GHz. The price quoted online was $292.37. The shipped product reached them on 1st Jun and I received an e-mail on 7th Jun stating that the video port is defective. I was offered $73.97. I know that my Mac is in excellent condition. I hook it to my HDTV and use it without any problems with the display. And so I rejected their offer and asked for the product to be returned immediately. I received it after about a week. I ran Apple Hardware Test to find out if there was a problem and it came out with none. I have continued using my Mac Mini and have been unable to witness any problem. So I infer that PowerOn is not trustworthy.

I have decided to sell my Mac Mini on eBay once Apple releases Lion and I can buy the Mac preloaded with Lion. I will never advice anyone to try using the Apple recycling program. Apple is better off partnering with some other vendor that is reliable and truthful. Perhaps Apple should initiate much frequent review and inspection of products where people have rejected PowerOn's quote. They might then decide to break their alliance.

Thank you Niemrus,

...and now PowerOn understands why those of us who haven't yet used the company, are choosing not to.

There are too many highly negative complaints on this board about the practices of this company. Each of them is responded to with the same tired old "spiel" from the manufacturer that reads more like an advertisement than it actually addresses the complaint.

I am going to personally contact Apple and ask why they are still dealing with a company that has a high record of complaints --- especially people that have sent them perfectly good machines only to be told they are not working perfectly or they somehow come back in worse condition then sent.

And, yes, this comes from somebody that has not used the service. As unfair as PowerOn might think that is, can you honestly blame me after reading all these complaints?

I am both disgusted and angry with these guys. I sent them a MacBook Pro that really is in excellent condition but received a "poor condition" offer of $75. Suddenly my perfectly good computer has a defective touch/track pad, a bad hinge, and a latch that doesn't shut. Give me a break, that's simply a lie. Not only is this computer in excellent condition, it has a ton of upgrades in it including a newer 'higher capacity' hard drive, expanded RAM, a year old battery, and new fan motors. Their assessment is a rip off...I wouldn't go near these guys. I would sooner play frisby with this Mac than give it away to these people. Shame on Apple for not keeping closer tabs on businesses they refer their long-term loyal customers to!

This post has pointed out some key points to this process that is beneficial for anyone looking to trade-in or buy used computers. One, I am delighted to see the swift work of the auditing team; completing an audit and sending an email notification within 7 calendar days of receipt. As I am sure everyone understands, this service is provided with a profit in mind.
It is at a significant expense to send the high quality, re-enforced packaging materials and offer free shipping. It is at an expense for each staff person auditing and testing these machines, and even more of an expense to provide more free shipping materials and free postage to return a computer if a customer is unhappy with their quote. With that in mind, if a machine does not pass the testing in place, we can’t, in good faith, sell this item to any customer even though it has cost us to receive and assess it.With this particular unit, the tech noted that the video port was loose, which resulted in changes in color and quality of the display. The customer is out zero dollars and according to this post, received their unit back within 7 days at absolutely no cost to them. This customer agreed to these terms and conditions prior to sending the item, and while it is always disappointing to read a negative post, it is nice to confirm the process works.

While responses may seem like a ‘tired spiel’ to some, a public forum is not the place to debate the specific details of a customer’s transaction or complaint. Customer service representatives are available every day by phone and email to do this. The customer service reps are always willing to get into every detail of any particular audit. Detailed paperwork is kept on each unit that arrives, photographs are taken of any defects, the Apple service diagnostics test results are available should they be needed, in short – we are obsessed with documentation and clear communication. If, after the customer receives all of the information, they still are not happy with the final value offered, as Niemrus pointed out, their computer is promptly returned at absolutely no cost to them.

Yes, there is no doubt you are in the business of buying used computers and maintaining profitability. The expected cost of you being in business is that you pay the cost of shipping (in fragile containers) both ways if necessary, take on the cost of estimates, and deliver the product in a reasonable turnaround time. However, the cost of staying in business has everything to do with earning a good reputation with your customers--you get that by dealing honorably with customers and responding well to customer complaints. Now (not in the audit you sent me) I find there are even more negatives about my computer...now the video port is loose resulting in changes to color and quality of display. You are simply shameless--there "was" no such a problem and now I wonder what I am going to be receiving back from you. Certainly not the same excellent machine that I sent to you. You may manage to stay in business, but you aren't doing very well on the reputation front with this Apple discussion board.

ShineAgain - the response you are reacting to is in regards to the video port issue in Niemrus’s original post. You do not have any issues with your video port. I am the program manager for the PowerON trade-in program, and your particular trade-in was completed only yesterday and was immediately elevated to my office. From what I understand, our customer service representative handing your computer has not yet had a chance to speak with you directly in detail regarding your computer and is scheduled to do so tomorrow. As we have mentioned, we do not use public forums to discuss trades in detail. We need a platform that allows clear communication, file transfers etc. To be clear, there are 14 negative comments in this forum out of tens of thousands of transactions, and while this number reflects a very small percentage, we take each and every one very seriously. We are always looking to this feedback to constantly scrutinize and, where we can, improve the overall program. It is because of this extreme attention to every detail we have the outstanding reputation that we do, and the reason we continue to grow.

The process might work; but for who? I haven't seen a problem with the display after all these years of use. If there was indeed a problem with the loose port, I should've noticed at least once any changes to color or quality of the display and I haven't. Moreover there is no telling that a bird-brained tech kept my Mac Mini in close proximity to a display unit, thereby seeing and reporting a change to the color & quality and attributing it to a loose port. I probably woudn't want to justify the excellence of my product any more but I shall reiterate the flaw in the assessment processes and/or in the people employed to follow them which ultimately question the trustworthiness of this entire venture. I would continue to discourage people from utilizing this service.

PS: Yes, I was satisfied with the cycle time.

I don't generaly take to forums to complain about stuff, but in this case I'm going to add my voice to the disgruntled masses, to maybe educate future potential users.

A few weeks ago we sent back a Mac Pro to PowerON. The original quote was ~$340 (it's an older machine). The unit was working perfectly up to the second I disconnected it and powered up it's replacment system. The only thing I did to the machine before shipping it was wipe the hard drive.

Today, I got the assessment from PowerON, and supposedly my system board is suddenly defective. For "proof" they sent me a photo showing the two interior red LEDs glowing. Which of course, they've always done. They're red LEDs, they glow red. I suppose this might fool someone who isn't an IT expert, or whose never opened his case before.

This "defect" reduced the value to $65. I chose to accept the amount simply because I don't feel like dealing with selling it myself, but really, it feels like a rip-off. This machine was in DAILY use up until 30 minutes before it was shipped off, and yet suddenly it's DEFECTIVE.

I can only conclude that this is a deliberate action to increase their own profits, or technician incompetence. Either way, my advice to my friends, customers, and co-workers will be to AVOID this company.

Message was edited by: stephen.bradley

Everyone should contact Apple about this thread and let them know that these kind of problems with the company continue to be reported. Seems like good machines go bad once mailed in to this company.

PowerON Services wrote:

99.8% of our customers who have used this program have been satisfied with their trade, and we have serviced well over 30,000 customers in the past year.

Sure but we all know 97% of all statistics are made up. But, going by that logic 75% of all MacPro's sent to you end up bad, if i use this discussion as my data point.

I'm glad i did a bit of searching around on the net before i sent off my MacPro to you. I know it works perfectly - i'm using it to type this - but it would appear that many computers that get sent to your company in excellent condition have a nasty habit of picking up defects along the way.

Thanks, but no thanks. Apple dropped the ball hiring you guys.

I was a loyal and satisfied Gazelle user until I got the email from Apple regarding PowerOn, so I trusted Apple and tried them. Worst experience I ever had. Original quote for my outgoing MBP Mid 2009 was over $500 which was comparable to Gazelle but less than SellMyMac.

SHipped it to Poweron and got a few photos that showed almost nothing but claimed were serious damage and that my "good" is actually poor and also claimed my screen was not working--the MBP was near mint condition and screen worked perfectly--and actually is very low hours as I use my cinema display 95% of the time.

POn said they'd give me $172. Had them ship it back and screen worked perfectly and damage highlighted as serious was nearly unoticable by the Mac Genius.

Shipped it to Gazelle and got over 500$. PowerON customer service is poor, and I can't fathom why Apple is using such a second rate outfit.

I had a relatively positive experience with PowerOn recycling. I had a 2007 Macbook Pro sitting around after I upgraded to a new machine. It was in relatively good condition, it's logic board had been replaced the year before, it was in decent cosmetic condition, the biggest issue was a compression mark on the display. I went online and was quoted $245 by Poweron. They sent me the box and the label, the box appeared to be in good condition and the provided packaging was appropriate to secure my computer. I dropped it off at the local FedEx Kinko's and tracked it's arrival. 5 business days after arriving the audit was completed, and the next day I was awarded the full value of my quote, a gift card for $245. I received the gift card 4 business days later in the mail. All in all, from quote to gift card receipt took about 30 days.

I will say that it would be nice if Poweron provided a little more information about the status of your audit and the time window that it takes to complete. When my computer arrived, I had to call and ask how many days the audit took (I was told 5-7 business days, it was done in 5). When the audit was complete I had to call and ask when I would be receiving the email about the results. I actually called twice on the same day, and the second time the manager took my call and quickly gave me the results over the phone. However, I was pretty impatient to receive my results, and I'm sure if I had waited a couple of hours I would have gotten the email sent to me without my calling in. Still, it would be nice to have more detailed information both about estimated time of completion and where your computer is in the process available to customers online.

I did not check other sites to compare value, I sent to PowerOn because I assumed that Apple would only traffic with a company that had good data wiping procedures (I wiped my hard drive and re-wrote the disks before I sent it, but I like to be certain that my personal data will be removed at the site as well). Throughout, Poweron was courteous and responsive to my phone calls. I didn't have any of the bad experiences of others. I would probably use PowerOn again if I had something to recycle, the only downside is that the whole process takes quite a bit of time because the item has to go all the way to California.

My recent ongoing experience with PowerOn has been a bad experience. I received a quote on my early 2008 macbook (black) Duo Core 13" for $315 and some change. In fact an apple technician did the initial request for a quote on my machine in front of me. The machine was in great condition on the outside since I had gel protective covers on it, hardly took it out of my home and there were no hard drive issues. The tech at apple confirmed the condition of the machine/ hard drive for me. When I got my final "revised quote" it was for $117 and some change. They stated that there were "scuffs on the housing, LCD /keyboard abrasion, hard drive missing or defective etc... The pictures they sent of my machine were blurry and there was no way to in fact tell that they were pics of my machine. I took pics of my machine before I sent it to confirm the condition and to make sure that any damage that they claimed with the machine was in fact there, was caused by them or was because they took pics of a different machine. I demanded a full explanation for this. I firmly believe that if I reject this quote, I will get my machine sent back with damage that was not there before I sent it. This is fraudulent and cause for legal action.

I have read the posts that PowerOn has written in response to complaints and they are pathetic. They spew how they have had hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers, yet all it takes is a few disgruntled customers to give them a bad rep. They obviously do not care. They can easily bait and switch and take pics of computers other than the ones sent by customers to try to reduce the quote give to a customer then turn around and sell the computer or parts sent for more money, hence increasing their profit. I am completely surprised and disheartened as a fan of Apple products that they would affiliate themselves with such a dishonest and fraudulent company. It is interesting now in hindsight the amount of complaints that you can actually see about this company online. If I reject this quote after speaking to a rep, and my machine gets sent back with damage that was not there when I sent it and can be easily proven by my pics, I will not hesitate to take further action against them for damaging my property.

Be forewarned....do not use or trust this company!!!