The ToyBox

Ricardo Bilton & Gloria Sin
Home / News & Blogs / The ToyBox

Apple nixing iPhone 4 restocking fees...for now

By | July 5, 2010, 3:46am PDT

Summary: Apple has stated that anyone unhappy with their copy of the iPhone 4 could return the smartphone “within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.” Usually, it’s not a full refund as there’s often a 10% restocking fee, but it looks like that has been lifted for the time being.

After Apple finally made an official statement regarding the iPhone 4‘s reception problems, the Cupertino company concluded the letter with the note that anyone unhappy with their copy of the iPhone 4 could return the smartphone “within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.”

Usually, it’s not a full refund as there’s often a 10% restocking fee, but it looks like that has been lifted for the time being.

According to Computer World, Apple has dropped the restocking fee for returns within 30 days of purchase. Given the antenna/reception/”software” issues surrounding the iPhone 4 and with Apple facing a fresh lawsuit, it’s a small but decent PR move for the company. It’s not evident yet how long that Apple will do away with the restocking charge, or if they will bring it back in the future.

Normally, this restocking fee would be as high as $30. Early termination charges with AT&T are another story, so you might not be able to get away entirely.

Related coverage on ZDNet:

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

More from “The ToyBox”

Topics

Apple iPhone, Apple Inc., Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

Talkback Most Recent of 22 Talkback(s)

  • Cool more for the rest of us!
    Send me mine in a recycled box too please,
    ZDNet Gravatar
    ShockMe
    5th Jul 2010
  • RE: Apple nixing iPhone 4 restocking fees...for now
    @ShockMe


    Apple, Apple, Apple. What has happened to you? Just two weeks ago you were riding high on the iPad and the iPhone 4's pending launch. Then you let AT&T kill the unlimited data plan and gave us a phone that has lots of problems. You gave us a lame response from a petulant CEO and now you cannot even get the mea culpa right in iteration #3 or 4.

    Guess you could have done worse and held the line on restocking fees, but you are still falling off the cliff on this one.

    Read this awesome article that lays into Apple for its quasi apology. Very funny.

    http://www.dailygoat.com/2010/07/apple-announces-stunned-iphone-suck/
    ZDNet Gravatar
    pchrun
    5th Jul 2010
  • Laughing so hard right now!!!
    @pchrun
    What? You are making the bars taller? So now there will be fewer of them, but they are taller. So, net-net, on a surface area basis, we are just going to call it a wash?

    Dead!!!! happy
    ZDNet Gravatar
    NonZealot
    5th Jul 2010
    • Flagged
  • A logical coure of action
    plain
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Mister Spock
    5th Jul 2010
  • Factory refurbished
    Well then there should be a lot of cheaper factory refurbished or open box phones now.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    MoeFugger
    5th Jul 2010
  • RE: Apple nixing iPhone 4 restocking fees...for now
    There is no ETF for cancellation within the 30 day 'buyer's remorse' period, so no, the ETF with AT&T is not 'a different story'

    If one is a new activation and returns the equipment and cancels service within 30 days there is no ETF, and if one is an existing customer then the upgrade can be reversed and you go back to your old contract (or go back to being month to month if you were out of contract) with no penalty.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Doctor Demento
    5th Jul 2010
  • What does the ETF have to do with anything?
    @Doctor Demento They're not talking about Terminating the contract, they're talking about Apple having say a 10% fee for returning the Phone... Apple has waived the fee for this phone but if you sign up for the service at the wrong store you might have an ETF too.

    As for AT&T, I'm not sure they do give you 30 days... I know Best Buy has worked it out to where they can cancel it free of charge within 30 Days but that isn't the standard as far as I know.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Peter Perry
    5th Jul 2010
  • RE: Apple nixing iPhone 4 restocking fees...for now
    @Peter Perry

    Any additional ETF would not be imposed by AT&T but by the third party, Let's Talk, Wirefly, what have you....but they can't sell iPhones
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Doctor Demento
    5th Jul 2010
  • Good for Apple's consumers!
    For the first time ever, Apple consumers have said ENOUGH!!! and look at what the result was! Apple was finally forced to provide some good customer service for a change.

    Seriously guys, apologizing for Apple gets you nowhere. If you complain, Apple isn't going to punish you (well, Apple will punish the paid astro-turfers that are here on ZDNet, we all know who you are). You only get results with multi-national, multi-billion $$$/year mega-corporations if you let them know that you are displeased. If all you do is apologize, you can be sure that nothing will ever get better.

    So congrats to Apple consumers for saying ENOUGH IS ENOUGH and good on Apple for doing the right thing. There is a first time for everything. happy
    ZDNet Gravatar
    NonZealot
    5th Jul 2010
  • RE: Apple nixing iPhone 4 restocking fees...for now
    @NonZealot
    The really sad part is the number of Apple Zombies who are dissatisfied with the iPhone4 but will never return it because they can't bring themselves to admit they are unhappy with an Apple product. Apple can afford to waive the re-stocking fee because they know very few people will actually attempt to return it.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Doctor Demento
    5th Jul 2010
  • I agree but still, let's credit Apple for doing the right thing anyway
    @Doctor Demento
    The really sad part is the number of Apple Zombies who are dissatisfied with the iPhone4 but will never return it because they can't bring themselves to admit they are unhappy with an Apple product.

    I totally agree with you that there are a significant number of people who will never admit that Apple is anything less than perfect. Still, Apple is finally beginning to sell outside of their zealot fanbase and for those of us who buy Apple products despite the fact that they are Apple products (zealots buy Apple products for the sole reason that they have an Apple logo on them), it is good to see Apple finally acknowledge that we need good customer service.

    So while this will obviously not hurt Apple's bottom line, the other way of looking at this is that Apple didn't really need to do this at all because, as you said, Apple zombies won't return their iPhones anyway. Since they didn't need to do it, it is reassuring to me that they did.

    Apple, you get a thumbs up from me for this one.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    NonZealot
    5th Jul 2010
    • Flagged
  • RE: Apple nixing iPhone 4 restocking fees...for now
    @Doctor Demento The really sad part is the number of google zealots who can't bring themselves to admit that they have an inferior platform. You see that I can talk the same kind of nonsense if I want to.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    atari_z
    5th Jul 2010
  • RE: Apple nixing iPhone 4 restocking fees...for now
    @NonZealot I'd like to see just how many iPhones are turned back in in this manner... And I'm wondering if AT&T will sell them as "new" or "refurbished"...
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Pete "athynz" Athens
    5th Jul 2010
  • RE: Apple nixing iPhone 4 restocking fees...for now
    Good! This will get all the jackasses to end their class-action lawsuits and simply return the iPhone back to Apple. There are plenty of consumers dying to get their mitts on an iPhone 4 since its in such short supply. The whiners will buy something else and some lucky consumer will be able to give that second-hand iPhone 4 a new home.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    ConstableOdo
    5th Jul 2010
  • RE: Apple nixing iPhone 4 restocking fees...for now
    Apple needs to do the right thing. The right thing would be a full recall of this defective product, a refund, an apology, and a properly tested re-re-designed antenna. They won't do that. This is a nice step, but honestly they need to do the next step.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Solid Jedi Knight
    5th Jul 2010
View More Comments

Talkback - Tell Us What You Think

Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity

Blog Roll

Blog Archive

White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources