PowerOn Recycling

I agree with outputlevel's assessment of this service. They reduced their quote by more than $100 and took a ridiculous amount of time to process it - almost a full month from my ship date to final quote. My Macbook was in excellent *used* condition, but they said the black keys were a bit faded. At that point, I had already scrubbed the hard drive and shipped it and waited for 3 weeks, so I just accepted it. Their email literally said to accept this reduced quote, do nothing and we will email your gift card in a couple days. Several more days went by and I still didn't get the gift card. So I finally called them to complain and the guy was like, we just say that but most people contact us to question/complaint about the revised quote; he seemed surprised that I actually followed their instructions and just waited patiently. Anyway, you live and learn, but I wanted to share my experience. I will never use Power ON again, nor will I trust any Apple reuse/recycling partner. Better to sell it yourself or just run it into the ground and do a secure electronics recycle. Cheers.

They may not be a shady company but I was not given what they quoted. It may be a mistake, but here is what happened to me.

I wanted to recycle an early iPad that was in very good shape. I thought it was a 16GB Wifi only iPad. I received the quote number and a price of $131.00. I then found out that my iPad was in fact a 16 GB WiFi + 3G. So I requested a new quote. I received a new quote number and a price of $223.00. I scanned the form that came with the new quote number and FEDEXed it off to PowerON recycling.

About a week later I received a gift card for the ORIGINAL quote device for $131.00 and not the $223.00 that was quoted for the iPad that I shipped. I have querried PowerON Customer Service twice but have not heard anything from them now that they have my 16GB iPad with WiFi + 3G. I will withhold judgement until I hear from PowerON.

jzach52

Don't waste your time dealing with these shysters.

After getting a quote of $52 for my pristine iPhone 4s I sent it to them and got an adjusted quote of $26 claiming no end to defects including scratched glass, cracked case (it's aluminum fergodsake!) and they even sent a photo of some beatup phone that I guarantee you wasn't even mine. My phone was put in a Griffin silicone case the day I bought it. It was never dropped, repaired or abused in any way. The only flaw was some minor scuffing on the case.

I responded that I wanted my phone returned and they made a counter offer of $39 which I declined and asked for my phone back. They sent it but "forgot" to include my zip code so it took two weeks for me to get it back. Just luckily they did return my phone and not the one in their bogus photo.

Long story short, I just sold it on Ebay for $80.

Notice that the reviews for these people are generally good if the reviewer bought something from them. That's easy to understand because people send them good stuff then they give them a low-ball offer which gets accepted and then they turn around and sell it at a premium. This is their business model - buy low and sell high and with their Apple endorsement it's assumed they are honest, which they are not.

TIP: When you buy something keep all the boxes, documents and packing material. Keep your stuff nice and sell it for top dollar.

It's a total scam. They ask you about 3 very basic questions and quote you a nice-sounding price. Then when they get it it's all "damaged" and "scratched" and you can either have $10 (or some other lowball amount) or deal with the hassle of having it sent back to you.

I sent them an older computer, but still working just fine. I never expected to get much money for it. They first quoted about $40 (hey, I'll take what I can get), but then they come back saying they're going to give me NO money for it because of damage. They send photos as "proof" of the damage (scratches), but in 2 of the 3 photos I can't see anything wrong, that's how minor it is. And if they care so much about it being cosmetically perfect, then why not ask those questions up front?

The second problem I have is why, in my case, they even care about cosmetic damage. I sent them a computer from 2006-it works, but the operating system is so out of date that you're blowing smoke up my *** to pretend like you're going to use it for anything other than salvaging parts. So why do you even care what it looks like?

As someone stated before, they're counting on enticing your computer away with a great "quoted" price, then pull the rug out from under you and just hope you'll let them keep it rather than deal with getting it back.

Just realized in my previous post I said iPhone 4s... Not sure what I was thinking but it was a 3g, not a 4s. Sorry for any confusion.

Like others, I am really not happy with PowerOn, mainly because I feel like the quote was deceptive. The intake is very brief and not detailed, but then the audit they produce of your product is extremely detailed and not favorable to the customer. I have a 4 year old unibody Macbook that is in excellent condition. I recently took it to the Genius Bar for them to clean out the fan and even the guys there said wow, it looks great. PowerOn decided that the computer is in fact in Fair condition rather than Good condition, although I cannot see how the signs of wear are anything other than normal light wear and tear for a 4 year old unit. Are they judging against a brand new machine? The original quote is for $268, and if I go back to the estimator and knock the condition down to Fair, the quote falls to $211.

I am being offered $148 for the computer.

The intake estimator asks if I will include a working power adaptor, which I did. PowerOn is saying that the adaptor is “defective” and is apparently knocking off the rest of the money for that? The power adaptor is definitely worn, but I wasn’t asked what the cosmetic condition of the power adaptor was in the intake estimator, and should have been if it was that important. In fact, $148 is still a smaller quote than the estimator gives you if you go back and list the condition as Fair and the adaptor as missing all together!! This just doesn’t feel right. Interestingly, I notice that the quote didn’t go up because it has twice the standard ram- all of the observations made about the computer are detrimental.

My big problem here is the lack of honesty. I spent a lot of time and energy wiping the computer and arranging for a substitute while I went through this process. And guess what? Best Buy offers more for the unit after all and I would never have gone through this if the quote had been honest in the first place. It is not a no- risk scenario, both because the of the time I’ve lost and because I cleared everything and will not actually get the computer back in a condition that I can utilize right away. I have followed up and requested an explanation, and here’s hoping there is some kind of mistake. I'll retract this if so. If not, I’ll be asking Apple to reconsider it’s partnership with this company. The better trade-in value was one of the reasons that tipped me towards buying another mac, but this has been a really bad experience and I feel like I would rather have the cash than an Apple gift card after all this. L

After reading these reviews, I was really worried about using PowerOn, but I thought I'd give it a go. I figured that it'd be no loss for me to have them just return my computer if I received an unwelcome audit value. I was quoted $140.58 for a fully functioning "MacBook Core 2 Duo 2.13 Ghz 13.3" (White) (2009) (MC240LL/A)" in fair cosmetic condition with working battery, power adapter, and os disk on 7/19/2013. On 7/26/2013, I received the shipping materials and took it to FedEx the same day. It reached PowerOn on 8/2/2013, and the audit was performed 8/7/2013. Later that night, I received a gift card through email of $140.58. Overall, I think my trade-in was a good experience. PowerOn is good about providing updates of your machine's status. (FedEx, however, showed that my package was still in my city until the morning it was delivered to PowerOn.) The only thing I would like to see different is an estimated audit date. As I am going off to college this Friday, the wait was nervewracking as I still needed to order a new computer before leaving. Thanks!

ah ha..thank god people can tell their story about this scandalous company!

Add me to the list of disgruntled PowerON customers. Enticed by a fair offer on my four-year-old Mid-2009 15" MacBook Pro. After received, an audit came back with a $150 reduction due to bogus "LCD Light Spots" (with an accompanying picture which indicated no issues). If your device is not in LIKE NEW condition, you might as well reduce the enticing offer by (at least) 33%. They are betting you won't want to deal with the hassle of a return, and banking on their increased profit.

In my opinion, these guys are crooks. I've used Gazelle multiple times with no issues whatsoever. I should have heeded the warnings. The only thing "green" about this company is the money that they are taking out of your wallet.

Just got my audt back from Power on and the pictures they used to justify a lower value weren't even of my MacBook Pro. I took pictures of everything before I sent it, glad I did. One of the pictures they sent me documenting the reduction in value was of the latch area with an obvious screwdriver prying out the the front of the case. My laptop and the pictures to prove it show a perfect latch. Document everything if you're going to go risk dealing with these folks. I personally would advise that you avoid them. I'm hoping now that I get back the one I sent them. I wonder how they'll respond to proof that the serial number of the one they return is not the one I sent them if they do a switch. Frustrating that Apple supports such an outfit.

Recycle Reuse Program > PowerON

I have been hoodwinked. PowerOn has gained a perfectly fine power adapter and accessories, but refuses to fairly trade with compensation.

PowerOn stated the adapter was damage/defective, but oddly wanted to keep it and not mail it back. It sounds like they found a reason to decrease the offered price for my laptop, but keep the power adapter and accessories. Very Crooked; especially when I know I have been using those items over the past 6 years with no problems.

@Madison1089:

Hi,

I have a suspiciously similar situation. I sent my old MacBook Pro which, although old (2006) was in excellent condition. They revised the quote with photo of a dent in the front by the latch that looks nothing like what I sent. In my response I event noted that it looked like somebody deliberately bent it with a screwdriver. To top it off, the new quote given with 'fair' cosmetic condition (due to the supposed dent) is $30 lower than what the website gives when choosing 'fair'. I sent an email with a photo of the laptop and am waiting for a reply. Were you able to get this resolved with PowerON?

This is probably a long shot, but was this by chance the same photo you got?

http://media.poweron.com/attachments/render_attachment/85ecc373a1d87-1135503

A cosmetic dent was not my issue. PowerOn stated that my power adapter was defective after testing. I know this is FALSE because I used the adapter since I purchased my MacBook, my boyfriend used the adapter with his newer MacAir whenever he was over, and I charged my MacBook with the adapter before mailing. PowerOn reduced my quoted price by $50 AND still kept my power adapter plus accessories.

I did recieve a phone call from a PowerOn representative regarding my grievance, which I appreciate; however, the representative stated he would consider mailing me back my adapter if he wasn't so busy. (It takes about 15 minutes to print a shipping label, place the adapter in an envelop, and send an email with tracking info.) PowerOn gave a poor excuse and unaccepable service.

Hope you have better luck.

I've just submitted an ipad 3 (32gb, wifi+AT&T) quoted at $242... I'm hoping to put the money toward a new ipad air or mini 2. I hope that I'm one of the lucky ones and get the full amount. my ipad is in a like-new condition as I have kept it in a case and with a screen protector since the day I bought it. I will say that if they offer anything less I will be rejecting their offer. There are a lot of other places to sell to including amazon, AT&T, etc. however like everyone else here I would expect that apple would put their trust in a reputable company. I will post an update and let everyone know what happens.