Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with refurbished

Xbox 360 Preowned, Fail?

tybeet — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:34:48 -0800

Pre-owned (refurb.) Xbox 360 - good idea or bad idea? I'm looking at buying an Xbox 360 but I'm wary ever since the rate of failure, but maybe that's in the past since I haven't heard any recent rashes of console-deaths.

I've noticed lately that there have been a lot of refurbished Xbox 360 consoles floating around, and I assume there's a connection here between the failure rate of yesteryear and these refurbs. If I can save $100 on an xbox 360 premium (i.e. $200 rather than $300) would it be worth it? I want this thing to last at least 2 years.

Has anyone bought a refurbished Xbox 360 specifically? I'm worried about buying it and having it die, but maybe in the repair process, since it's not going out the door with poor quality-checks and is being repaired where it's already failed, it'd be even less likely to fail again. Any thoughts?

Donde esta Ed Naylor: Pedal Steel Guitar Refurbisher?

billtron — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 08:54:44 -0800

I want to buy a pedal steel guitar, and preferably I would like to buy one from Ed Naylor. I visited his shop in Portsmouth, Ohio, a few years ago and almost got one for US$500. His shop isn't there any more. Anyone know where I can find him? If not, anyone know where I can get a basic beginner's pedal steel guitar for under $1000?

RMA or not?

lpctstr; — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 23:34:51 -0800

Should I RMA a refurbished drive sent to me where the website didn't mention is was refurbished? I order a drive a few months ago with 1 year warranty, and it has just failed on me. I looked closer at the drive and it was a refurbish. Details inside. The online retailer is a medium sized one (you've probably never heard of it, but it's not small either). They have refused to give me my money without me sending the drive back to them. Their policy is not to refund shipping back charges.

I tried to chargeback on my credit card, but the CC company rejected my chargeback, sending me a letter from the retailer saying the policy was to RMA it.

The reasons I don't want to RMA it back is
1) money out of my own pocket
2) I have to wait a while
3) they may even ship me another used drive back since it's an RMA
4) I have personal data on it

I feel it's their fault, since I didn't get what I paid for (a refurbished drive instead of a new one).

Apple Filter: New or Refurbished?

mjger — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:44:03 -0800

Apple filter: New or refurbished? Here's the deal. I am looking at a new Macbook Pro. I am a grad student so I can get a new one for $1799 or I can get a refurbished one for $1699. I read Apple's explanation of a refurbished machine, but that was of little help. I need real world experience.

An obvious pro to buying refurbished is the $100 savings. But for $100 more I can get a brand spankin' new MBP.

So, what do I do? Are the refurbished machines a good option? Has anyone had experience with a refurbished Apple? And if so, would you do it again? Regardless of what I buy I get a 1 year Apple warranty. (AppleCare is on the list, as well).

Thanks in advance, Mefites.

Wet iPod. Am I screwed?

Venadium — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 00:00:36 -0800

What can I do or say to increase my chances of getting a replacement for my 5G iPod that's still covered under the Limited Warranty? Long story short, my iPod went for a swim about a week ago. A long swim, all night long, at the bottom of a puddle. I dried it the best I could, let it sit for a day or two, but it was unresponsive up until this morning. I plugged it into my MacBook and it came back to life, sort of. It gave me a "Very Low Battery" error, and eventually tried restarting itself. I got the black screen with the Apple logo, and then the hard drive stared making some pretty nasty sounds, and after a couple seconds of that I got the sad mac face with a link to the Apple support site. The problem is I couldn't figure out how to turn the thing off. It was stuck in this loop of battery error, restart, fail, battery error, etc. It seems to have gotten itself out of that, but now just sits at the Apple logo and I still can't turn it off.

Anyway, ny actual question is, do I have any chance of getting it replaced with a refurbished iPod? Should I tell them everything, about the water, about how I took it apart and dried it? Or should I just play dumb? I have an appointment at the Genius Bar in the morning so I probably should have posted this a few hours ago, plus my warranty expires on May 1st so I need to act fast...

Refurbished Mac - stupid or smart?

contessa — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 22:09:58 -0800

Refurbished Mac: Good idea? Bad idea? I'm thinking about buying a refurbished mac from the Apple store (online) in the next 3 or so months. Is this a wise choice? I really, really, really want a Mac (either Mini or iMac - leaning toward iMac even though I don't need it for the monitor, I just like the over all specs), but given my budget for a 2nd computer, new Mac prices are much more than I'd like to pay. Refurbed machines seem right in my price range, however. (I would definitely get applecare if & when I make this purchase.)

Is a refurbished Mac a crappy computer, or is it a good computer with a previously disgruntled owner? Is a refurbished Mac from Apple no better than a refurbished Mac from a reseller? Any and all wisdom on this topic is appreciated.

When were refurbished 4-gen iPods sold?

Bizurke — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 22:40:46 -0800

I'd like to know when Apple began selling 4-gen iPod with color. If it's any help, the model number for this iPod is FA079LL/A . Unfortunately, I don't even know how to start looking for this answer. Any help is appreciated.