Wondering if Apple trade in is a scam

This is in response to a person suggesting I file a claim with the shipping company or third-party repair facility for a crack that may have happened in transit. Thank you for this suggestion. I would love to be able to do so, but there have been layers placed in the way that disallow direct communication with the contract shipper and the contract facility who inspects the machines. Contact is only through Apple, the boxes come from Apple with an address and a FedEx label, there is essentially one-way communication except to respond to a <YES/ACCEPT> or <NO/RETURN> option. They don't even respond with a return tracking number, we just had to wait until the machine arrived at our door one day (it took about 10 days). And inside the box was a card that said "we are sorry this exchange did not work out for you. We treated your device with the utmost care and it's hard drive has been wiped clean and is prepared to be initiated with your login information." But no contact information. So, while I would love to fight up the chain and force them to have a rational discussion about why I think this is at least very "scam-like," the most I can do right now is to swallow their decision, pay them $590 more than I expected for the new laptop (feels very much like a bait and switch), I have taken the old machine back into our fleet and built out the protocols under my login credentials with my 7 year old's Apple ID as the user and will make this his computer. With distance learning for end of 2020/2021 and into 2021/2022 school years, we have accepted the use of a school-controlled Chromebook, which is fine, but I have learned how to utilize the Chrome browser on my Macs to mimic his machine and manage his content from my own laptop. I will do the same with his and eliminate the need for the school to provide us with their technology for next year, or at least have a family-managed device. I simply didn't expect to be forced to make this fiscal decision because of the scheme set up by Apple to limit transparency and communication. To be completely clear, I love the Apple Universe, and have made good use of all old technology by Apple in our collection. We needed a newer model for speed (CAD Program) for our business, and the trade-in program offer of $590 for the older machine was what put us over the edge. On one other occasion (for me), Apple has left us hanging. When they chose to stop supporting Aperture for us photographers who found the program ideal in so many ways. There was a period of time I could not even access my ~90k photos because of MacOS updates that kept me from them. Eventually I stumbled on a bridge where I can get into my 2010 17" MBP to access Aperture and my photos. I am finding workarounds to export my images, but it is daunting. Again, they sold a bill of goods, then nailed the lid closed on the coffin of that program for many of us. Anyhow, I digress. These two instances are simply a "buyer beware" and "user beware" warnings. I have learned much from these and simply wish to let others know what to expect. By the way, when we DID get our 2018 MacBook Air back, we looked all over for a crack that might have instigated the diminished trade-in value, and we finally found the tiniest of hairline cracks in the black strip where the screen glass becomes that black metal or plastic strip. If I had known the criteria by which they reduced the value, I would have not bothered in the first place, and likely would have waited to make the new computer purchase, which is exactly what Apple and this third party are banking on. It's very calculated and this only becomes apparent in the end. I am not bitter, I am angry and frustrated, but here at home we have a new MacBook Air with the M1 chip and no fan that is performing for our clients in a swift manner when rendering design options for the CAD program we use. I have the old one back and will simply use it for our son until it no longer helps him, at which time we will wipe it and make it ready for the next 5 year old who could benefit from a computer, which is what I've done with other old Apple devices. Considering we have a graveyard of Windows PCs from before I could convince my husband to come to Apple, we still appreciate the design and longevity of most Apple devices. Even when obsolete, our Apple products still power up and provide a usefulness, even if it's as a photo frame or dedicated music device. I hope this helps others.

Just got email today. My experience is almost exactly the same. What white spots??? Debating whether to have them send it back to me, but I don't trust them to take as good care of it as I did. I'll give it a day or two to decide.

i also experienced something that felt like a scam trying to purchase an iPhone through trade in. Apple Support was very adamant that they could do nothing to help me and provided absolutely zero transparency into the third-party processes that led to the revised trade-in value.

They said my iPhone had a cracked screen and was a different carrier, neither of which were true. Just made up reasons to get you to take less money. Complete scam. Apple is a different company now, too bad.

Previously I posted that I had an unreasonable claim by the repair company that my MacBookPro 13" had white spots. After calling them they sent me an email which didn't prove anything. After looking at my screen again I saw some faint stress marks on the lower left part of the screen that had nothing to do with the pixels or picture quality and hadn't even noticed until they said there was "something wrong."

The follow-up is that I had sent in the power adapter, power cube, and the long chord with my laptop. When I talked to the agent and said I didn't get the long chord back she said she would put in another order to return my chord. Never got it.

Bad experience all together.

I just received the exact same response from the trade in department that there are 3 white dots on the display of my daughters MacBook. I even took pictures of the screen before sending it in and there were no white dots. As a stock holder and customer this is extremely disturbing to read that this exact thing is happening with so many customers.

Yep, it certainly is not up to usual Apple standards! When the "problem" can't be noticed except with a digital scanning device it certainly doesn't seem like it should affect the resale value. Will make me think twice about next time I upgrade, at least the timing since my older laptop was perfectly fine and could have last a couple of more years easily.

I did talk to an Apple rep today and they advised that they can request pictures from the 3rd party trade in company for them to show the white dots in the display.

Unfortunately, I had already declined the revised offer so the process to send back my daughters MacBook started so Apple couldn’t request the photos.

I bought a new iPad Pro and planned on trading in my old iPad Pro for a trade in value. After I described its condition it was valued at $295. The iPad was in excellent condition. I got an email today saying the value dropped to $0 due to white spots on the display. I rejected the trade in and the iPad is being shipped back to me. After reading this thread I am appalled at how many customers have been scammed by apple’s trade in department. I will be inspecting my iPad once it arrives to ensure it wasn’t damaged in transition and will proceed to call apple and demand for it to be inspected in person. If the pixels cannot be seen from a standard viewing point then how can you tell me there’s something wrong with the display? If this was able to be done in person this wouldn’t have happened. And There is no reason why customers are not allowed in store. Put safety and covid protocols in place to ensure we get the best customer service possible. Instead we have to rely on a third party company who tells you there’s something wrong with your display but there’s no proof because it’s not visible from a standard view point.

i had an iphone 6+ that i was perfectly happy with, but succumbed to new phone fever. They start off with a lead in that says up to $200 trade, but l wonder what that would be for. My 6+ was valued at $50. Okay it was an old phone. I just got a message that the camera was not working. It was working fine when I shipped it. I had them send it back. I'm sure I can do something better with it than let them throw it away.

I am trying to find a way to post this or a similar review somewhere other than this user forum. Not all Apple users use these forum and i feel the phone(y) trade in program deserves a more wide spread audience.

I have had good experience with trade in in the past, they have been over the counter. But, now had to send it in. Got the trade in canceled with a very generic response and no explanation. But, when I got my laptop back it was bricked. So, a perfectly working MacBook Pro is now bricked, and Apple takes no liability of the device shipped. This is not the service you expect fromApple.

This is a discussion thread where lots of people are sharing their experience with the Apple trade-in program. The question posed by the thread is: is it a scam? In my experience, and plenty of others here, the answer is yes.

you pop up with your level 7 acting like Apple is somehow unaware

its not self-immolating to helpfully let you know that I’ve already submitted explicit feedback, and it’s not revealing my hand to guess others have as well.

apple is knowingly engaging in a trade-in process that incentivizes third-party companies to maximize their profit by adjusting the value of the trade-in as originally quoted by Apple. It is deceptive and Apple knows it is deceptive, they were more than happy to read the fine print back to me.

The Cure, as long as Apple does not want to help their customers, is to help prevent people from falling into the trap.

I just got my phone back (the one with the inoperative camera). The camera works fine and the problem I had with the lightning plug seems to have resolved itself. I wish I had the option to send the new phone back to Apple with instructions as to what they could do with it.

I will check locally and see what I can get for it.

I too just got mislead on a laptop trade in. My trade in credit was reduced from $260 to $90 as they reportedly found some "white spots" on the display. This display was excellent and not the reason I decided to upgrade. I declined the revised offer as it seemed to be a "bate and switch" for a fully functioning laptop. I will redeploy this laptop. Very disappointed with the process and will not forget this experience on my next equipment purchase. This is not the way to treat previously loyal Apple users.