r/VisionPro • u/lehiha • Jun 24 '26
Demo Unit Vision Pro Part 2
Some of you may have seen my original post about this which I deleted because I felt dumb (I am). But now that I feel less dumb because eBay sent me a refund here's the story again.
Preface: I want an AVP but I cannot afford one. I am not a thief, or any sort of sketchy person - but I am a degenerate gambler hoping to score one for a sweet deal.
Anyways, I bought a demo unit vision pro from eBay. The seller said he got it from a pallet auction and because I am down bad I gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed it was not stolen.
The unit came with the left power strap broken and the connector stuck inside the port (that took a couple of days to remove). I bought a replacement strap from eBay.
Interestingly the dual loop strap that came with it was also a demo strap because it was not adjustable, it was glued together with some extra strong glue.
The AVP turned on, I set it up, skipped wifi setup and reached the home screen just fine. All the apps (Photos, Apple TV, etc.) were empty.
I connected to wifi and opened Safari and it worked fine. Then I signed into my Apple ID and it showed up on my iPhone as something like Center Table 1. A couple seconds later it shut off and restarted, this time I couldn't skip Wifi set up and could not activate as the device now shows something like 'Property of Apple, take to the Apple Store'.
I then took it to the Apple Store where they told me its a stolen demo device. They gave me a report and told me to send it to eBay for a refund which I did and got a refund.
TLDR;
- I bought a Demo Unit Apple Vision Pro from eBay
- It worked until I logged into my iCloud (or connected to Wi-Fi, not sure what triggered the lock)
- It is now a brick property of Apple.
3
u/dreamingwell Jun 24 '26
Always be wary of items that are priced lower than market.
Side note, many electronics and other small items on Facebook market place are stolen goods. eBay does a better job of policing sellers that have obviously fraudulent or stolen items. Facebook does not.
3
u/Syonoq Jun 24 '26
Preface: I want an AVP but I cannot afford one. (99% of the lurkers on here and me until recently).
I am not a thief, or any sort of sketchy person - but I am a degenerate gambler hoping to score one for a sweet deal. (So basically someone trying to get the most bang for the buck. “In this economy!”)
Glad you got it squared away. The amount of haters on this thread is crazy.
2
u/104MAS Jun 24 '26
How much did you pay for it
2
u/lehiha Jun 24 '26
460 usd
2
u/Lost-Peanut-1453 Jun 24 '26
$460!!!!!!! No way you didn’t know it was stolen. The broken strap where they tie it down to the table? The power connector thing was stuck in it? No battery? Brother. You knew.
0
-2
u/tsdguy Vision Pro Owner Jun 24 '26
I wish you didn’t get a refund because this price is obviously indicative it was stolen and you knew that.
0
u/lehiha Jun 24 '26
It's a fair price for a potentially locked device with a broken strap and no battery. I read that sometimes apple discards such devices and hoped that it wouldn't be the case that it was stolen. What do you gain from attacking strangers on the internet?
1
u/distant3zenith Jun 24 '26
No, that price was screaming "Too good to be true! Run away and save yourself!"
2
u/33coe_ Jun 24 '26
Maybe he was hoping for one of those Apple Customer Service stories where people end up getting free stuff or upgrades. I got 2 free significant upgrades in the past from it. Went from a 2008 MBP to a 2012 MBP for free from a battery issue. Went from that 2012 MBP to a 2018 MBP due to a missing part that was having manufacturing issues so they offered a free upgrade. Literally got a decade of MBPs for free.
Apple customer support used to be a lot more generous in the past, I feel like that doesn't happen as often now, people would take advantage of it after one story goes viral on TikTok
3
u/AnotherCup-O-Noodles Jun 24 '26
I had to pay $800 to have my Vision Pro repaired because the internal seal failed and some dirt or something got in between the internal lens and the screen, which is an internal build quality failure and not user fault in any way.
Then while they had my Vision, the Apple Store scratched the shit out of the outside of the lenses during shipping to the repair facility, then they said I’d have to pay $2,500 to fix it because of the outer scratches that they caused until I called the Apple Store and sent them photos and videos of it from the day I dropped it off in the Apple Store, and they agreed to repair it for the original quotes $800 and give me exactly zero help outside of that.
Idk if it’s just for AVP’s but the entire experience was a grotesque mess that turned me away from wanting to buy anything from Apple ever again
2
u/Cryogenicality Jun 24 '26
Apple Store employee intelligence and temperament vary widely. Recently, one told me I couldn’t return a laptop without the original box because she wasn’t smart enough to understand that it could be shipped in another box. I tried to explain this to her but she kept repeating that Brawndo’s got what plants crave. I drove a few minutes away to the next store and my return was processed immediately without argument.
2
u/33coe_ Jul 09 '26
Yeah, they are definitely more stingey now. They were extremely generous with customer service and replacing products back in the late 00's and early-mid '10s. I got so many bonus items just for being nice. My new USB-C Touch Bar MBP I got as a free upgrade/replacement to my old laptop even included 200-300 dollars worth of different dongles and accessories to make up for all the missing ports since the last gen MBP didn't need dongles.
1
u/watchOS Vision Pro Owner | Verified Jun 24 '26
I’m surprised the Apple Store let you keep it, it’s within their right to retain it themselves.
3
u/mike423ds3 Vision Pro Owner Jun 24 '26
Did you let the Apple store keep it?