Purchased iPad, Received Empty Box

John L.

John L.

Well-known member
I actually haven't purchased anything from Apple before, but when I found out that my girlfriend really wanted an iPad I felt the need to grab one for our anniversary. I ordered the iPad directly from Apple on September 29th and received the package yesterday. Fast shipping! The outside packaging looked well put together (no tampering that I could see). I've never ordered an iPad before so I don't know if the iPad boxes are usually wrapped in plastic or sealed with tape underneath...mine had neither. I opened the box to discover that nothing but the manual was inside.

My immediate reaction was that someone had stolen the iPad during the shipment process and I called Apple to report the incident. I spoke to a wonderful woman at 12AM EST about the issue who informed me that it is rare, but sometimes shipments can be sent out erroneously like that. (For a company like Apple, I'm surprised). So as of right now I'm sitting here waiting for their shipment investigation team to contact me (it takes 24-48 hours after reporting the incident to hear back). The woman I spoke with did apologize and offered to send me a free case which I took her up on (ordered the most expensive one I could see haha).

All in all, I'm pretty annoyed and disturbed. I've never had anything like this happen before and I've purchased MANY electronics. Perhaps it's the apple name that gets people to taking things (if that is the case), but if it truly is a shipping factory issue...shame on Apple. I need this iPad by October 7th (my anniversary date) and if it's not here in time everything will be ruined that I had planned.

Have any of you had a similar issue with Apple when purchasing their products? How did it turn out for you?
 
I've heard of this happening before, but on eBay and with people who intend to rip you off. Not from a big company like Apple. I'd expect them to make good on it, and I would assume they want to investigate to make sure they don't have a thief at their distribution center. Hope you get it resolved in time to give it to your wife for your anniversary!
 
petertdavis said:
I've heard of this happening before, but on eBay and with people who intend to rip you off. Not from a big company like Apple. I'd expect them to make good on it, and I would assume they want to investigate to make sure they don't have a thief at their distribution center. Hope you get it resolved in time to give it to your wife for your anniversary!
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Yea, I was pretty surprised and can understand this from iPad or craigslist or even second hand distributors. Not from directly at iPad.

And thanks! She isn't my wife...but at least not yet ;).
 
Carlos said:
Call Apple up and get in touch with customer service. They'll get it for you.
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I don't believe Apple accepts PayPal (at least directly). I didn't see an option using checkout so I used my credit card. I can always issue a chargeback, but I would like to give them the opportunity to get this right.
 
LP-John said:
I don't believe Apple accepts PayPal (at least directly). I didn't see an option using checkout so I used my credit card. I can always issue a chargeback, but I would like to give them the opportunity to get this right.
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Oh, so this WAS done with PayPal, I originally posted as saying "Put in a dispute if done with PayPal." Something like that, but yeah, there's a dispute center. But the better way to do this is to call Apple and have them replace your "product" with a real iPad. Give them a reciept of your purchase to confirm you did in fact purchase it from them.

It's possible that this was a distribution problem.
 
Carlos said:
Oh, so this WAS done with PayPal, I originally posted as saying "Put in a dispute if done with PayPal." Something like that, but yeah, there's a dispute center. But the better way to do this is to call Apple and have them replace your "product" with a real iPad. Give them a reciept of your purchase to confirm you did in fact purchase it from them.

It's possible that this was a distribution problem.
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I've pretty much done all of that but before they send me the iPad their investigation team has to contact me first. That's the part that is holding me up and quite annoying. I get it, but since I need this by next Tuesday I really hope they ship a replacement immediately. Also hoping it's not a refurbished one and a new one.
 
LP-John said:
I've pretty much done all of that but before they send me the iPad their investigation team has to contact me first. That's the part that is holding me up and quite annoying. I get it, but since I need this by next Tuesday I really hope they ship a replacement immediately. Also hoping it's not a refurbished one and a new one.
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Hoping for the best for you! :) Good luck to you.

And yeah, I would be annoyed with everything stated in this thread.
 
LOL, when you said anniversary I assumed you meant wedding anniversary. That's quite a gift for someone who's not your wife (yet)! I'm sure Apple will make good and you won't need to charge back. It's actually easier to charge back with a direct credit card payment anyway, as compared to Paypal.
 
petertdavis said:
LOL, when you said anniversary I assumed you meant wedding anniversary. That's quite a gift for someone who's not your wife (yet)! I'm sure Apple will make good and you won't need to charge back. It's actually easier to charge back with a direct credit card payment anyway, as compared to Paypal.
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Haha, I know it's a big gift but she started it :). She got me Yankee Stadium Legends seats for my birthday. Also helps that we both have successful careers and can afford it.

Keeping my fingers crossed that it gets here by next Tuesday!
 
LP-John said:
Haha, I know it's a big gift but she started it :). She got me Yankee Stadium Legends seats for my birthday. Also helps that we both have successful careers and can afford it.

Keeping my fingers crossed that it gets here by next Tuesday!
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Make a big enough deal about the inconvenience and you'll probably get rushed shipping.
 
Don't worry, they will ship your replacement overnight. They just want to make sure that you haven't done any tricks on them by tracking down the iPad by their mysterious ways.
 
Have never had that issue with anything that's been sent to me. Hope you sent them an email back to let them know that you received an empty box.
 
A new iPad was shipped out for me this past Friday, but it took 4 apples representatives and a senior manager to get it all sorted out. A bit frustrating that things like these happen and I was shocked at how slow Apple moved to resolve this. I was told within 24-48 hours someone from the shipment investigation team would contact me, no one ever did. I had to contact them in order to get my replacement sent out.
 
LP-John said:
A new iPad was shipped out for me this past Friday, but it took 4 apples representatives and a senior manager to get it all sorted out. A bit frustrating that things like these happen and I was shocked at how slow Apple moved to resolve this. I was told within 24-48 hours someone from the shipment investigation team would contact me, no one ever did. I had to contact them in order to get my replacement sent out.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Apple also needs to investigate what happened as well. If everyone called them and told them their iPad was missing from the shipment, and realistically only two people out of the entire group legitimately had their iPad stolen during transit, they would be hemorrhaging money.
 
ManagerJosh said:
Keep in mind that Apple also needs to investigate what happened as well. If everyone called them and told them their iPad was missing from the shipment, and realistically only two people out of the entire group legitimately had their iPad stolen during transit, they would be hemorrhaging money.
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I understand that, however it doesn't change the fact that my iPad was stolen and that I was told I would be contacted within 48 hours and I never was. Don't make promises to customers that you can't keep.
 

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