Apple Trade-In (GiveBack) is a scam (via Brightstar)

Apple run a Trade-In scheme (previously called Apple GiveBack) which lets you trade in your old device for a credit against a new device. There are lots of trade-in companies in the UK and some offer cash, gift cards, etc but Apple’s own scheme offers you a credit/discount against a new Apple device and they seemed to offer good trade-in prices too.

However, the scheme seems to be underwritten and handled by Brightstar and I had two separate trade-ins dramtically reduced in value when they received the devices.

My iPhone 6 was reduced from £140 to £60. No reason given.

My iPhone 7 was reduced from £225 to £160 saying it was locked to a network when it was bought SIM Free direct from Apple.

In both instances they just assumed I’d accept the lower value and issued gift cards for the lower prices. I anticipated something like this might happen so I made sure I documented, photographed and took videos of each device before shipping them. When challenged they instantly rolled over and blamed a “system error” for the reduced valuation and generated a separate gift card for the difference but I wonder how many people don’t have this evidence and just accept the lower value unecessarily.

If you receive an email from Brightstar stating “While inspecting your <device> we noted the following….This changes your trade-in value from £XXX to £YY” do not simply accept it and assume they are correct. You should ALWAYS CHALLENGE the inspection, especially when no reason is given. You should also ensure you take lots of photographs and a video that show the device operating perfectly before you ship it off to Apple GiveBack. I reached out to Apple for comments on this and sent them the emails to let them know Brightstar are trying to rip off their loyal customer base. I’ve yet to receive a response from Apple but thought it best to warn others who might be thinking of using Apple’s Trade-in program to think twice.

Email from Brightstar saying trade in reduced from £140 to £60 with just a blank section where the explanation should be.
iPhone 6 quoted value dropped from £140 to £60 with no reasons given.
iPhone 7 trade in value reduced from £225 to £160, apparently because the device is “locked” even though it’s a SIM free unit bought direct from Apple and logged out of iCloud and reset to factory.
Eventually Brighstar honor the two original quoted values.

Macbook Pro Kernel Panic – High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D47)

Macbook Pro Kernel Panic - High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D47)
Screenshot: Macbook Pro Kernel Panic

My 15″ Macbook Pro with TouchBar had it’s first ever Kernel Panic since I bought it in 2016. It was waking from sleep when it froze/locked up completely before showing the kernel panic grey screen of death.

I’ve included the full logs from the Panic Report at the end of this post. If anybody can spot the cause or is having similar kernel panic issues please leave a comment below. Continue reading “Macbook Pro Kernel Panic – High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D47)”

Brand New 15″ MacBook Pro with TouchBar GPU Graphics issue/glitch/fault.

2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. Highest possible spec, 2TB SSD, 16GB RAM, 4GB GPU, 2.9Ghz i7.

24 hours old, powered on, installed Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop from Adobe CC app.

No apps open at the time. I had just launched the Migration Assistant as I was about to start pulling over all my content from my old 2012 retina MacBook Pro. Migration Assistant had just logged me out automatically and then I opted to quit migration assistant and do some more housekeeping on my old rMBP before migrating data. I quit the Migration Assistant and was presented with the login screen. I tried touchID which failed as it required password, typed in password, screen went blank for 5 to 10 seconds and then had terrible graphic glitches, mainly a yellow wave hue all over the screen that moved when windows were moved around. Issue was still present after changing the resolution in the settings. Issue persisted for around 5 minutes before returning to normal. Continue reading “Brand New 15″ MacBook Pro with TouchBar GPU Graphics issue/glitch/fault.”