(Blu would know more about this 'practice')

I bought a Mac Mini in December 2006. It literally turned off last week, and would not power up. Genius said the serial shows it was purchased in May 2006. So, it is effectively out of the one-year Apple Care coverage term.

Anyone have any similar experiences?

It was a discounted/demo/open-box type sale. The Genius thought it would be relatively simple to get Apple to change the purchase date on this, though they don't open for another hour or two.

If they won't repair it...time for eBay, once I pull the HD and try to get the CD out.

Did you try contacting them yet? If you have a receipt shouldn't be a problem.

[www.apple.com]

I tried. It's out of their hours. I am waiting for an hour or so. But, in the meantime I thought I would post and see if anyone else has had this happen?

I don't care what happens either way with my particular predicament. I could throw it in the trash for all I care, since I don't use it. My kids have a different opinion, though, since they like the Mini and especially its dual-boot Windows mode. But, I have probably used it like 2 hours total.

When I took it in, the Genius asked my email(s)/name. He said "Boy, you have G5, .....etc.etc."...

I said, "Yeah, I have EIGHT Macs". And one that's been running continuously for 10+ years, too!

Did you buy this from a retailer?

If the retailer pulled it out of the box to use as demo, it may have officially gone into service at that point as far as Apple is concerned.

In which case you didn't get it new, you got it "open box"--just like you said.

I had this happen with a Compaq once. They said it was purchased nearly a year before I did. I faxed them a receipt and with in WEEKS, they had it corrected and sent me a box to ship my POS to them for repair. The Compaq was down only a MONTH while they replaced the motherboard and power supply.

Samr thing happened to me on a G3 iBook I bought asa demo

Warranty started at the time it went into service - apple didn't budge

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Well, I made the call/fax. We'll see. They said it could take up to five days.

It's common for Apple to enter the "sale" date as the day it shipped from the factory. I've had two Macs w/ this issue, bought new. I had to fax my sales rec't to Apple. It takes them about two weeks to update the system, but all was good after that.

The department is labelled "APP DOP" for Apple - Date Of Purchase, on the fax. So, if it's enough to get a name/TLA, there must be a lot of those.

>>It's common for Apple to enter the "sale" date as the day it shipped from the factory.

I believe they do that by default until you properly prove date of purchase otherwise, such as registering the machine.

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Check the fine print on the Fry's receipt. I don't remember the policy on that. If it says something to the effect of "balance of remaining manufacturer's warranty..." you may be out of luck.

I'm always out of luck....it's just a constant state of my life. So...no biggie.

No - it is true that Apple always uses some manufacture date or weird date like when they ship it to a retailer.

They make you prove by a sales receipt or some such.

I guess they can get out of an awful lot of warranty work using this method.

Unless you paid cash -you ought to be able to duplicate bank or charge records.

I've already faxed them the receipt. I have all my receipts...ever.

Just to settle this issue once and for all:

I'm someone who used to work for Apple, and currently work as an Apple Tech. Here is the TRUE and ACCURATE ANSWER.

*IF* a machine is not registered, then the date of manufacture is used as the date of sale. Apple "resets" that clock when you register it. You can't be arsed to register? That bit of laziness may bite you in the butt BIG TIME, as Jp has now discovered.

But wait, not all hope is lost! Simply produce your receipt before an Apple Authorised Agent (such as a Tech or Genius) and they will have Apple reset the date to your true purchase date. IME this takes about three to five business days, though I have seen it take up to two weeks on occasion.

That's it. Really it's quite simple. Next time, save yourself a lot of future hassle by registering your equipment as soon as possible after purchase.

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chas_m




[crawlingfromtheusa.blogspot.com] <-- Moving to Canada blog

Isn't registering done in the set-up of a new machine when you put your information in and it calls home? If so, I would think that JP did that when setting up a new user.

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blusubaru
Isn't registering done in the set-up of a new machine when you put your information in and it calls home? If so, I would think that JP did that when setting up a new user.

Most users who have ever had to do a more than a couple installs know that you just hit CMD-Q at that point and skip the registration crap. If you have your receipt you should be good.