I received an email about a tradein opportunity for my phone. The company is Brightstar. Does anyone know if this is a legitmate company? Thanks!
Do NOT use Brightstar. I sent them my old phone, which was in great condition, just a few scratches on the backside. I was going to give it to a friend, but then they ended up getting a new phone instead, so I thought, "Why not recycle it?" Brightstar then sent me an email saying they would only give me $25 for the phone, and when I saw the pictures of my phone I was shocked. The screen was almost completely cracked off and the display shows black blotches everywhere. It's completely broken. They sent me back my now broken, worthless phone, which I can't do anything with, and have NO insurance policy for completely destroy the perfectly functional phone I sent them. Brightstar BROKE MY PHONE. Do not use them.
As a follow-up, I’m sitting with having two items sent in for recycling, one with a $155 quote and one with an $85 quote, and having received a grand total of $0. At least it was no money out of my pocket to send them anywhere.
Interesting - they told me my fully working iMac had no display. It had when DPD took it to them and I'd checked it all with Techtool protogo. I've heard of someone having a similar issue with an iPhone which was said and shown in a photo, to be craked so the value was reduced to zero. When it came back though the screen was fine. I t was a different phone that had been photographed and passed off as his.
Something about the Brightstar operation is starting to smell.
My iPad Air 2 was apparently received damaged by Brightstar. I used their packaging and sent them a non-scratched, perfect condition iPad. Now they don't want it. The packaging they sent was pretty flimsy, and IMO they should have refused to accept it because the box had to have been damaged (a bent frame of all things).
I would not use them. Go to Gazelle.com first.
The same thing happened to me. I sent them my perfect iPad and they said it was dented and the screen lifted. They said the packaging was not damaged. When returned it was obviously deliberately dented because the screen was not damaged and the dent was round not flat if it was dropped. If it was dropped the screen corner would have been scratched. The Apple Store is the best thing to do If i would have known. Brightstar is bad. The customer is always wrong here.
Well, the investigation said it came in this way. How can you have a round dent in the corner with no damage to the screen? Why would they do this to people? How do they benefit from this? It's too bad Apple doesn't care about it. It would be nice if apple would watch these folks. I'm sure they are on camera damaging our devices. Then they pay to ship them back. Makes no sense unless they want you to say "just keep it". Do not trust these people!
My encounter with Brightstar and their so-called "trade in" service has resulted in a major dissapointment and loss of trust in Apple. I am left with the feeling of being scammed, seeing as I sent an iPad in perfect shape, not a single dent or scratch was made to it throughout all the years I have used it, only to receive a message from Brightstar telling me my iPad was completely destroyed. Both the screen and casing was cracked to the point that the value offered was reduced to nothing. The packaging I received to ship the iPad in seemed somewhat flimsy, but I had trust in Brightstar that they had chosen a suitable, safe, package to ship it in. Big mistake! I do not recommend Brightstar to anyone when they have such a lacking respect for their customers products, and when their customer service is next to non-existant. Trade in your Apple products elsewhere untill Apple sort out this mess with one of their seemingly official partners in the recycling service, as Brightstar just might rip you off. Stay away!
Nearly identical situation happened to me!
I went to my local Apple store to have my well taken care of iPhone 5 evaluated for recycling or an Apple gift card. The store rep told me my phone, as is, would be valued at $45. I was annoyed that I wasn't able to process the transaction in store after being directed to Brightstar.
I sent my phone using Brightstar's packaging, and they told me upon receipt that my phone has been valued at $0 due to the battery expanding from overheating which caused the display to disconnect from the phone body, and it commonly happens with iPhone 5s. That's a bunch of horse feces, seeing as I'd had the phone for YEARS and never experienced any physical issues with it.
Should've sold my iPhone 5 on eBay instead. BEWARE OF BRIGHTSTAR!
I hope Apple can begin doing their own recycling in store to avoid scammers like Brightstar. I'll NEVER knowingly use their services again.
Nearly identical situation happened to me!
I went to my local Apple store to have my well taken care of iPhone 5 evaluated for recycling or an Apple gift card. The store rep told me my phone, as is, would be valued at $45. I was annoyed that I wasn't able to process the transaction in store after being directed to Brightstar.
I sent my phone using Brightstar's packaging, and they told me upon receipt that my phone has been valued at $0 due to the battery expanding from overheating which caused the display to disconnect from the phone body, and it commonly happens with iPhone 5s. That's a bunch of horse feces, seeing as I'd had the phone for YEARS and never experienced any physical issues with it.
Should've sold my iPhone 5 on eBay instead.
I hope Apple can begin doing their own recycling in store to avoid scammers like Brightstar. I'll NEVER knowingly use their services again.
Under NO circumstances use this company.
I sent an iPad to them, which had been checked in the Apple Store just 48 hours earlier, only to receive a £0 trade-in offer from Brightstar because it didn't work. It was in perfect cosmetic and working order when I sent it.
AVOID THESE FRAUDSTERS!!!
AVOID BRIGHTSTAR SCAM!
I had an old iPad2 which worked fine but was no longer needed. My local Apple Store directed me to Brightstar, who gave me a quote of $100. I figured that's what I would get in hand after the hassle of listing it on Kijiji. Requested their packaging, looked a bit flimsy but was better than what I had on hand, and the UPS shipping was prepaid. I just received an email from them saying the value is $0 because the screen was damaged. The picture they took to justify the revised quote showed like if someone took a hammer to the screen. Either UPS screwed up (unlikely) or they broke the iPad at Brightstar. I caved in and gave up because it's their word vs mine. They offer to send it back to me but then I would receive a broken, unusable iPad and no way to recycle it. BE CAREFUL WITH BRIGHTSTAR: ALWAYS TAKE HI-RES PICTURES BEFORE YOU SEND IT IN.
I've been a loyal Apple customer for over a decade and love their service. But Brightstar left me feeling scammed, and some of this is on Apple for recommending them.
Unfortunately no-one from Apple reads this forum so things won't change... 😟
Anyone see a pattern emerging? I'm wondering if we send the contents of this thread to Apple's head of retail, Angela Ahrendts and suggest Apple stores stop referring people to Brightstar. It's simply bad business to be referring people and then having this occur to any of them.
I sent my device last week. Have the confirmation they received it, but they keep sayin they haven't
:(
Not impressed!
Well, I actually wanted to get a gift card, but they told me they can't do that. And I have yet to receive the cash, so right now I have nothing.
Yes agreed anyone should be very wary of using Bstar
Don't go with Brightstar unless you are ready to be messed with and get no compensation.
what is brightstar?
