Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[SCMD]

As a Christmas gift 2008, I received a 'new' IPOD touch purchased from Best Buy. For over two months, I have been using and trying to enjoy the IPOD and all the features it offers. I purchased several Apps and successfully downloaded them to my itunes on my laptop, but was completely unsuccessful in syncing the Apps to the IPOD touch.    Finally, I brought the IPOD to an Apple store to see why the sync wasn't occurring. I was completely shocked and appauled at what I learned....  My 'new' IPOD was actually the FIRST generation IPOD and was 2 versions behind what is actually new.  The IPOD has been sitting on the shelves at Best Buy for over 1 year and of course, the 6 month Apple warrantee was expired before I even received the IPOD. The price of this first generation IPOD was still $300 and was being advertised at the 'new' IPOD.

Same thing with the Shuffle that was purchased at the same time. It was over 1 year old and has just died and is no longer holding a charge.. same warantee issue !! ADVICE ... only buy Apple products at an Apple store.

[MobileExpert]

If it wasn't able to sync, that's not because it's a 1G. It may not have the latest firmware version which is 2.2.1. Try updating it through iTunes. That may fix the app functionality.

It's one generation behind, not two. The current iPod Touch is in its second generation.

Apple's warranty is actually one year, so it shouldn't be up yet. You should still have eight months left. However, it doesn't cover the battery unless it is defective.

Most likely what happened was someone returned it unopened, and it was put back with the rest, since the packaging looks similar. Whatever price the gift giver paid was correct, since the UPC that was scanned was for the correct product. The price of discontinued Apple products drops once, and it's not much of a drop. They're the same price whether they've just been discontinued or have been discontinued for a year.

[mcongiu]

During the Holiday 2008 they sold the all the generations of the touches. If you recieved it as a christmas gift the person who bought it from you bought that one. Can you check your recipt and show us the SKU or MODEL NUMBER that is shown. Then we can see if the person bought the ipod for you knowing the generation or if there was fraud

[mcongiu]

doing some more research I found out that there is only 2 different ipod touches ever made. The first generation one and the second generation one. The first generation one IS allowed to play and add any apps that you want.

So either the guy at the apple store is an idiot or you got a fake ipod as a gift..

[Sassums]

Best Buy would not tell you one thing, and then sell you another - working in mobile, I get pulled around to help with iPods...

Best Buy was selling two versions of the iTouch for Christmas, and no the old generations were not sitting on the shelves for a year, Apple simply sent the old ones to the stores to get rid of, which was done quite quickly.

The first generation iTouch (yours) was sold about $50 cheaper than the 2nd generation iTouchs.

[Elizabeth-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hi SCMD,

I've asked John, one of our Community Connectors, to review and respond to your concern.  You should be hearing from him in the next few business days.

Thanks for posting,

[John-BBY Community Connector]

Hello SCMD,

I was disheartened to read about your experience with your gift.  While I understand the frustration and disappointment you feel, there is a fairly easy solution that should have you enjoying your product just the way you want.
 
As MobileExpert pointed out, updating your iPod Touch to the iPhone OS version 2.2 will give you the ability to use the Apps you downloaded through iTunes.  There’s a nominal charge for this upgrade, but the result should more than justify the expense.

Sassums and mcongiu have pointed out that Best Buy® was selling first and second generation iPod Touches at the same time during the holiday season.  The second generation did offer some new features, but the essential functionality remains the same.

As to the age of the product, these items were unlikely to have been on our shelves for over a year as you suggest.  Items are “new” if they have never before been purchased or opened, even if they are a discontinued model.  So the product you received as a gift was brand new, even though it was a first generation iPod Touch.

Finally, as has been previously mentioned by others, Apple’s factory warranty is one year on parts and labor reckoned from the date of purchase.  I quote from Apple’s limited warranty documentation:  “Apple, as defined below, warrants this hardware product against defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for a period of ONE (1) YEAR from the date of retail purchase by the original end-user purchaser.”  The only mention I could find of a six month period was for shipping charges:  “If a defect arises and a valid claim is received by Apple after the first one hundred and eighty (180) days of the Warranty Period, a shipping and handling charge may apply to any repair or exchange of the product undertaken by Apple.”  You can find the warranty here. 

My recommendation would be to download the iPhone OS 2.2 update and install it on your iPod Touch.  This should solve the functionality concerns you’ve encountered.

Thank you for taking the time to write us about your experience!

Sincerely,

Message Edited by John-BBY on 04-01-2009 05:36 PM

[Entropy]

Also, "new" in retail means "unopened", which was true of this unit.

Also, warranties are from the time of end user purchase, not the time of manufacture.  For warranty purposes, it does not matter if the unit sat on the shelves for a while.  Just show Apple your receipt.

As others have said, it's not possible for an iPod Touch to be 2 generations out of date, as the current version is the 2G.  IT COULD be 2 firmware revisions out of data as there have been multiple firmware revs, and there is nothing preventing a 1G Touch from being upgraded to the latest firmware.

There is very little difference between the 1G Touch and the 2G Touch hardware-wise or feature-wise, other than for a while it was really hard to find accessories that fit the 2G unit due to slight case dimension changes.