Apple recently introduced in-store pickup at all of its retail stores. They call it “Personal Pickup.” order an item online, and you can go fetch it in person at your local Apple retail store, assuming that you have one. But you can’t perform this trick in reverse. At least, that’s what Randolph was told when he tried to return a sealed AirPort Extreme without taking it to a retail store.

I’m a veterinary student who lives in Auburn, AL. While visiting family in Pittsburgh over the Christmas holiday I purchased an AirPort Extreme from an Apple retail store. After arriving back in Auburn, I decided to upgrade to a TimeCapsule. I thought this wouldn’t be much of an issue because I had not opened my original purchase.

I logged on to Apple.com to chat with a customer service representative to explain that I wanted to return a product purchased in a retail store. I was informed I would need to call Apple. After speaking with several representatives, I was told that Apple.com and Apple Retail stores are in no way affiliated (other than their name I suppose).

The only way for me to return my purchase is for me to drive the 100+ miles to a different Apple store. As a professional student with an extremely busy schedule, this is basically impossible. Hopefully you can spread the word so that other people do not fall into the same trap as I did.

I would love any advice you can give me on resolving this problem; advice that hopefully doesn’t involve driving several hundred miles.

Thanks in advance.

Well, in future you could get around this would be to order online for in-store pickup, since Apple’s own site says that you can return by mail that way. Just order online from inside the store, then marvel at the absurdity of it all.

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