End of product cycle iMac

April 25, 2008 6:08 AM

May have bought an iMac a week too early, can I upgrade or at least get a refund of the price difference?

So I just ordered a new iMac on Sunday and it shipped a couple of days ago, but is still in route. Rumor has it, that new iMacs will be unveiled on Tuesday. Now according to Apple's sales and refund policy, my iMac is not eligble for return because it has be personalized (I got the terabyte hard drive).

I'd really like to have the latest and greatest. If I contact customer service right now, do you think I have a chance being able to return it if I don't open it or at the very least, get a refund of the price difference? Yes, it was stupid to buy one at the end of the product cycle, but that's the pickle I'm in.

posted by corpse to computers & internet (6 comments total)

They mention on that same page that if the prices drops with 14 days they'll refund the difference. The new iMacs are probably just going to be speed bumps of the old ones. Also, people say all sorts of junk on the Internet. There is always going to be a new iMac just around the corner.
posted by chunking express at 6:35 AM on April 25 [1 favorite]

I'd advise calling them and asking. They'd know better than anyone else.
posted by goatdog at 6:50 AM on April 25 [2 favorites]

This happened to me (different Mac, not Imac, but same problem -- customized, etc). I called, they "upgraded" the order, canceling the first order in favor of the new version. No problem, no fuss, except that I spent a million years on hold because everyone else was probably doing the same thing. I would suggest calling ASAP; if you wait a few days your order may ship and then you can't make any changes. In my case, though, the product announcement had already happened -- I think you are concerned about an imminent announcement, so there may be nothing that can be done other than canceling the order and waiting to see what happens.
posted by Forktine at 8:07 AM on April 25

If you refuse shipment, they'll get it back and it's the same as having cancelled your order.

Then just reorder when the new ones come out.
posted by voidcontext at 10:19 AM on April 25

This happened with my MacBook Pro recently. I had purchased within 14 days, so I just brought it into the nearest Apple store and they swapped it out for one of the newer ones.
posted by jdl at 1:51 PM on April 25

This happened with me and the new MacBook recently. They shipped the old version the day before the new ones were announced, I accepted it and shipped it back unopened at their expense for a full refund, then went to the Apple store and bought a new one. The only stumble along the way was that at the time of the online order, I had also purchased the "free" printer with a full rebate, and of course the rebate was now tied to a Mac I did not own. A call to Apple resulted in them promising to issue the rebate automatically, something I am still waiting to see after a couple of weeks.
posted by Scram at 5:31 PM on April 25