August L   Monaco

Fraudulent sale of faulty and incomplete Apple MacBook Pro.

I purchased a MacBook Pro 16″ M1 from FNAC Monaco on June 30, 2023. Despite the sticker claiming it was new and on sale, my experience turned out to be disappointing. The charging block was missing, there was no screen film, and the keyboard had a faulty issue with random capitalization. To make matters worse, the Apple warranty had already expired, the device had 26 charge cycles, and 95% battery capacity. The salesperson’s unprofessionalism and their attempt to shift blame only added to my frustration. Although promises were made to find a solution, the process would take around 15 days, which is not feasible for me as I urgently need the MacBook for work. This entire situation is unacceptable, especially considering our frequent patronage of FNAC.

Following is an in-detail outline of the events:

Yesterday (30/06/2023) I bought a MacBook Pro 16″ M1 in FNAC Monaco, there was a sticker on it stating that it is absolutely new etc. but is on sale; I bought it. Upon my return home and unboxing, I’ve discovered that the charging block is not there and that there is no screen film on it, After booting and inputting the password etc. I couldn’t open the Mac once again because of wrong password input, after reinstalling the OS I’ve discovered that the keyboard is faulty and randomly types all caps, it still does even after updates and trying to fix it. Additionally, I have discovered that the Apple warranty has expired (meaning that the mac is active for over a year) and that this Mac had 26 charge cycles (shutting down from 100 to 0 and charging from 0 to 100) and 95% battery capacity, Which is clear proof that I have been scammed and sold off a device that is not new, faulty and missing items. After going to FNAC once again and spending my day there, I was greeted at first with non-professionalism and hostility after explaining the situation to the concurrent salesperson at FNAC Apple device section, he stated that actually the product is refurbished (even though refurbished products have green tape stickers, and clear text that they are refurbished or used. Whereas once again in our case ours had a red tape sticker that stated “New” and on sale, great that I took an image to send before having purchased it, otherwise I would’ve been turned to idiot by that liar of salesmanship.) He pointed out that it wasn’t him helping us buy it yesterday hence the problem and solely our mishap, delegating the fault onto his coworkers, as if that fixes any issue. Following that, we went over to the technicians/retour corner (after asking multiple times to talk to the manager, and being ignored blatantly.) We have been promised a solution, hence an email would be sent to every FNAC store and “manager” to find a solution, as stated since they do have a formula on how they deal with situations as such, we left our number, been promised a callback the same day and left. After waiting most of the day for a clear constructive call, we went ourselves, midst of the drive (about 50min before closing of the store we received a call, which we didn’t manage to pickup, and neither did we manage to call back as it was automated.) Upon entering and talking again, we were told that this process will take about 15 days, or we can have monetary refund, refunding is not an option due to the fact that we had to exchange dollars to euro previously at a 20% loss; this was not of interest at all, second of all I need that MacBook as a work instrument, and very urgently. Personally, taking a look, there was absolutely no single brand new MacBook Pro 16 inch with an M1 processor available in any FNAC store (outside of Monaco.) However, I was shown the inside inventory system that there is in fact a scarce supply of 4-6 MacBook’s of the same model spread around the whole of France, with an additional obstacle of whether the stores will be willing to send their inventory or not. So with all that in mind and all the time spent—and that is yet to be spent next work week sending out requests and awaiting responses… I’ve asked one more question, “What if none are available after all the time wasted waiting with the small return window of 14 days, am I back to the only option of receiving a monetary refund?” the answer was a firm Yes. Absolute shame and carelessness for customers, especially frequent customers, which we are. This is absolutely unacceptable from FNAC especially in Monaco where they are registered as a local Monégasque entity. We work with Websites, Designs, SMM, AR/VR, Digital signage and more here locally, and have bought the device as an urgent work tool, I am now left waiting in bitter frustration, clutching a defective – fault-full device, that was sold to me just Yesterday “as” brand new, having the cashier count my money 3 times and 1 by hand, but not a glance at the integrity of the box and its products, leaving me a victim of fraud.

01-07-2023

Alan |   Verified   Austria

Rude sellers

It’s one of the most useful shop for many emergency things, domestic electronics, books and others, but the sellers are always rude, it seems they are always angry and never respond in English only in French, and if you have any doubts about a product they don’t have the patience to explain.

17-09-2022