Customer Refuses To Give Up, Convinces Apple To Give Him What He Paid For

James almost got cheated out of CS4, the suite of graphics software sold by Adobe, when he bought a new Macbook Pro recently. He kept pressing the issue though, and his persistence and level-headedness finally, after several near misses, convinced Apple to do the right thing and send him what he paid for. Congrats to James!

Here’s his story in his own words:

When I got my Macbook Pro, I also wanted to buy CS4. They didn’t have enough copies for people seeking student discounts, so they said that they’d send me CS3 so that I could go to class, and that they would automatically send me CS4 as soon as possible. That was the deal they made with me. I was told that it was an automatic program, and that I’d be sent the CS4 discs in the mail as soon as possible.

Apple never sent me CS4 like they explicitly said they would on the phone, and Adobe wouldn’t provide it either when I called them. Adobe even said that it had been a limited time deal that required me to call during a certain time, and that it would have been a download anyway. When I tried to explain what I had been told to the guy at Adobe and asked for a manager, he transferred me to a recorded voice message saying I could enter the number for the mailbox I wanted to connect to, and then it hung up on me. After looking into it, I found that Adobe was treating everybody else that way.

Apple made the deal though, and I had paid, so I wasn’t going to give up.

After talking to Apple again today and telling them what they said, and that they could listen to the recording and that there were notes on file and everything…

They flat out agreed that I had been provided misinformation and that I had been mislead. Their words, even.

Their solution? Offer me a discount if I buy CS4 now! Obviously not good enough.

I talked to a manager for like an hour, and it went something like this.

Her: Yes, I can see that our salesperson made a mistake about how the free upgrade deal worked. But we can’t just give you CS4 for free.

Me: I’m not asking for you to “just give it” to me for free. I already paid for it. I made a deal, I paid, and I want you to send it to me now, please.

Her: But we gave you CS3.

Me: Yes, but I did not pay for just CS3. I wanted CS4, and the deal was that you would get me CS4 as soon as possible, but I get CS3 for now so that I could go to my classes. Buying CS3 with a guarantee of being sent CS4 is not the same as just buying CS4.

Her: Yes, I realize that. You were given misinformation, and I’m sorry about that, but I can’t just give you CS4. But since you were mislead, I’m going to give you a big discount on buying CS4. How about you just pay $150? That’s $200 off on top of all the other discounts you would have gotten.

Me: I don’t see why I should have to pay anything more.

Her: We made a mistake. That deal shouldn’t have been made. So I’ll make the discount $250, but I can’t go further than that.

Me: But the deal was made, and I paid, so I expect you to honor it.

Her: Yes, and we sent you CS3. You bought CS3, and we sent it to you.

After going in circles with her acknolwedging that I had been given misinformation and mislead and then just trying to offer me a discount on a new purchase, eventually I asked to speak to her manager too, and she said that Apple Corporate would call me within an hour.

Well, Apple Corporate just called.

They said they had reviewed the situation, and that they were very sorry, and that they would promptly ship me CS4 with expedited shipping at no charge to me. All I had to say was my name when I picked up the phone. No more arguing or anything.

And I almost took the deal, too. Glad I didn’t give up!

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