Star found a $4,000 camera on sale for only $2000. After a few shopping cart hijinx, Apple refused to sell the camera to him.

By law, if an item is advertised for a certain price, then that price has to be honored by anyone requesting the published price.

Was this an illegal bait and switch or technical snafu?

You decide, plus, an encounter with apparently the highest ranking customer service representative in the Apple empire, after the jump…

UPDATE: “There is a rumour going around the internets that Steve Jobs has an open e-mail address, sjobs@mac.com. If you have had a unique problem with Apple, and can explain it coherently and calmly, and its something that can be fixed, he’ll use his reality distortion field to save you,” writes Ben.

“So, I dunno if this is salacious enough for the consumerist, but I’m all for spreading malicious badwill if I can. I just posted this on my blog,

Today, I found that Apple was offering the Sony FX1 DV camcorder for $2000. This was incredible, considering I was trying in vain to finance one from Sony literally yesterday for $3600. Suddenly, the $4000 (after tax) pipe dream was going to be a $2000 reality in the hands of this still-poorish ex-film student.

Things looked bad off the start. I applied for Apple’s credit, because, well, I don’t have a lot of cash on hand. Apple decided they only liked me for $1000, but I figured I could take the pinch (right after payday and all) and drop the rest in cash. Sure, I might face a few overdraft fees from my bank in the meantime, but as long as they stayed under $1600 worth of fees, I’m still ahead of the game.

The credit line is immediately applied to my order, and I have an option of adding a second card to complete the purchase. So I do. And I notice a funny thing – I can’t change the amounts on each. So the credit I just qualified for, in the amount of $1000, was being charged by Apple to the tune of $1000. I enter in my debit information, hit continue, and . . .

Rejected. I call my bank, thinking the problem is there. Nope. I get ahold of Juniper, the bank that handles the Apple Credit, and find out that Apple is charging a $1 authorization to the account along with the $1000. So they’re charging $1001 against $1000, Juniper’s saying it’s over limit, and the process is being rejected. AND I CAN’T CLICK ANYWHERE TO CHANGE THE AMOUNT. APPLE’S SHOPPING CART IS COMPLETELY SCREWED (this was on Firefox 1.5 for the Mac, by the way.).

The info for the Apple credit line won’t be mailed for three weeks, so if I don’t complete the purchase now, I’ll undoubtedly miss out on the camera. And the only way to use the Apple financing now is by not signing out of the
Apple store, since it’s auto-populating the information, which, again, I won’t have otherwise for three weeks.

So, 6 customer service reps later, I’m connected with a super-helpful lady named Diane, who figures out a plan: I’ll order a single cable, give her the order number, and then she’ll remove the charge for the cable (but still
send it along, free of charge), she’ll add the camera, and then adjust the amounts there. It works, and she charges $950 to the Apple credit, and the rest to my debit card. It’s a lot of work to get around a poorly designed online shopping cart, but if it means getting my camera, I’m happy to do it.

I’m so happy with Diane, I ask to speak to her supervisor so that I can leave comments about how deftly she handled the situation, and just generally what a great rep she’s been. Yay!

Or not, as it turns out. I get an email later saying my order’s been shipped, but all I see is the DVI connector cable I ordered. No camera. I log in, and the camera’s due to be shipped on Monday, April 3rd – still within 24 hours, so I feel pretty good about things.

Until I check back in an hour later, and find the camera is listed as cancelled now.

I’ve received no communication from Apple about the cancellation. I’m confused, and a little angry considering the fact that I spent at least 90 minutes ordering the thing in the first place.

So I call up, and am subjected to no less than six reps, all of whom tell me different variations on “We don’t know” or “No one will tell you WHY this was cancelled.” (I swear to god, that’s a quote). I hear that the stock ran out. I hear that “It shouldn’t have been on the site.” And I can’t get a straight answer – was there ever any stock to begin with? I can, however, purchase a Canon GL2 for $2700. Sure, it’s not as good, and it’s more expensive, but . . .

I end up talking to Becky “We don’t give out last names”, supervisor with Apple Direct, extension 42692. I give her the same line of questioning I’ve given everyone else – after explaining my frustration.

Me: There’s no recompense? You’re not going to do anything to mitigate this and attempt to leave me as anything other than a very frustrated customer?
Becky: I’ve noted your frustration. There’s no equivalent we’re offering at this time.
Me: Can you help me undo the credit line I opened? I’d rather not have an Apple account, and I’d rather not have my credit report state that I opened an account and then immediately closed it.
Becky: There’s nothing I can do about that.
Me: Are you saying there’s not a system in place?
Becky: That’s correct.
Me: Then why don’t you send me to someplace where someone can help me?
Becky: I’m empowered to help you with this situation.
Me: But you’re not actually helping.

Becky, it seems is where everything ends at Apple, leading to (after much polite frustration), inane exchanges like this:

Becky: There’s no one else above me.
Me: No one else? It’s just you and Steve Jobs?
Becky: …
Me: You’re not even going to suggest I write a letter to corporate?
Becky: You can write a letter to corporate. I’ll give you their address.
Me: That was my suggestion. That doesn’t count.

Becky continues to suggest throughout the rest of the conversation that I write a letter to corporate, as though this were useful and not, in fact, an idea I made to prove a point.

Becky claims that Sony is discontinuing the camera (not true, and when I point this out, she backpedals and says that, “They aren’t supplying us with the camera.”) Becky offers me $50 off a $1000 purchase, and says it’s something she’s granting to me because of my frustration, and that they won’t be granting that to anyone else. Then I point out her supervisee offered me a blanket $50 off without the steep $1000 price tag.

So I’m left without a camera, and with a credit line that’s worthless to me at this point.

My general frustration is that the whole thing sounds like a bait-and-switch. I signed up for an Apple account, applied for and opened an Apple credit line, and placed an order for a camera. Then, I was told it isn’t in stock (and still never confirmed that it was, in fact, ever in stock), and have a Canon GL2 suggested to me (a lesser camera, offered at $700 more). I’m told repeatedly that an email was sent to me, but I never received anything (and yes, I checked my spam folder). And there’s no attempt – anything – to make me a happy customer, other than $50 off of a high ticket item. Which is negated by the fact that if I chose to use the Apple credit, I’ve lost the 90 days no interest offer for my first purchase.

Angrily,
Star R.”

Star wrote again:

“I just got an invoice emailed for the free DVI connector. It lists it as free, with 0.00 tax and 0.00 shipping, for a total of… $225.16.

I’m not sure what’s up with that math, but it’s a nice bit of frosting on the cake.

I’ve attached a screenshot of the relevant portion of the email.

Star”

BONUS LINK: An article on how great Apple’s Customer Service is. “Why Everyone Loves Apple” [CoolTechZone] (Thanks to Andrew!)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.