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Buying a Macbook Air at a Surrey Pawn Shop

Mark Hing · Mar 7, 2016 ·

I finally bit the bullet and bought an Apple computer.

I was the only holdout in the family (okay, I had purchased one of the first Macbook Air laptops back in 2008, but gave it to my wife a long time ago).

However I found myself in need of a portable Unix box I could use for a software development project I’ve been putting off for far too long.

Not wanting to spend too much on the computer, I found a used mid-2012 one at a pawn shop in Newton, Surrey. Now I know what you might be thinking…

“Newton?” “Surrey?” “Pawn shop?” Not 3 phrases that usually have a happy ending. But wait…

After being buzzed through the iron-bar security gate at the 4 Seasons Pawn Shop and testing the Macbook Air they had on offer, I noticed it needed a new battery. So I told the the pawn shop guy I had to replace the battery and he agreed to reduce the price further (off what was already a pretty good price).

I figured I’d buy a battery on Amazon for about $75 and install it. However this is where it gets interesting…

While upgrading the OS to El Capitan and running through some further tests, I stumbled across a button that let me look at the laptop’s history (enter your serial number and Apple tells you about it). It turned out my Macbook Air had 1 more day of AppleCare eligibility.

One. Day.

I thought it was a mistake, because what are the chances you buy something from a pawn shop in Surrey and the extended warranty just happens to expire that same day?

So I called Apple and they confirmed my machine was eligible for AppleCare until the end of the day. Long story short (too late, I know), I ran down to the nearest Apple store and the good folks at the Genius Bar replaced my 3 year old, damaged battery at no charge in about 30 minutes.

What other computer company has this type of support? None that I know about. I see the appeal of Apple. Its customer service is first rate. And see, sometimes pawn shops, Newton and Surrey do have happy endings!

Writing

About Mark

Mark Hing, a Value Investing and Smallworld GIS specialist, created the Automatic Investor software and is the author of "The Pragmatic Investor" book.

(Buy the book now on Amazon.ca)
(Buy the book now on Amazon.com)

As President of Aptus Communications Inc., he builds cutting-edge FinTech applications for individual investors. He has also used his software expertise to architect, develop and implement solutions for IBM, GE, B.C. Hydro, Fortis BC, ComEd and many others.

When not taking photographs or dabbling in music and woodworking, he can be found on the ice playing hockey -- the ultimate sport of sports.

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All views expressed on this site are my own and not those of my employer.

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