The new iPad is due to launch here on Friday, but what if you bought an iPad 2 last week? What are your refund or return options?
If you had purchased an iPad 2 last week, you might be just a little bit annoyed that there’s a new model out there — and that the asking price for your as-new tablet dropped mere hours after you’d purchased it.
Quite what you can do for a refund depends on where you purchased it from, but by far the most generous return policies in this regard come from Apple. As per Apple Australia’s returns policy, Apple will usually refund the full purchase price of a product (excluding gift cards, memory and software) within 14 days of purchase if you’re not “fully satisfied”, although you’ll need to still have the original box and documentation as well.
That’s a refund, not replacement policy; while it’s not unheard of for Apple store staff to quietly offer Mac/iMac upgrades if there’s a processor shift within the 14 day period, I’ve never heard of them doing so for iPads; given that the pre-order status of iPads has now shifted out to 2-3 weeks, I’d say your odds of getting an “upgrade” are slim indeed, especially as that’s an ad-hoc rather than official policy.
The one area that I’d say you should expect both refund and (technically) replacement would be the 16GB iPad 2; if you had purchased one of those it’d be eminently sensible to take it back for a refund, given you should then be able to buy the exact same thing on the spot for $150 cheaper than last week’s price.
There is one important caveat here: If you opted to have a personal message engraved on the back of your iPad, you’re totally out of luck; Apple doesn’t offer a no-quibble return for engraved iPads. I guess there’s only a limited resale market for an iPad with “To Julie Love Davo” etched on the back.