INDUCED BY B&H PHOTO VIDEO TO BUY OLD VERSION OF MACBOOK 13" FOR THE PRICE OF NEW VERSION

I recently bought a MacBook 13" from B&H Photo Video (a large online electronic retailer). After I received the product, opened it and installed, I realized that I received the old version of MacBook 13" (2.16 GHZ, Intel GMA 850) and not the new version (2.2 GHZ, Intel GM X3100).

When I called to complain, the customer service had said that I had actually chosen this product spec and since I already opened the product, I could not return nor exchange.

I noticed that I actually bought this product spec but in my mind I was getting the new version of MacBook and B&H's site made everything possible to induce me to purchase the old version, so they could get rid of the old inventory. Here's how they mislead me:

1) when I went to the site and put the search for "MacBook 13", the first item that appeared in terms of "relevance" was the 2.16 GHZ MacBook. Apart from that, the entire description of the product was the same as the 2.2 GHZ version that is sold at B&H as well as Apple.com at the price US$ 1,299. (Leopard OSX, 120 GB, 8x SuperDrive DVD-RW, DL, etc..). And they even put in the specs list that the operating system is Leopard OSX- NOT TRUE !! The installed version is Tiger OSX, Leopard comes in a separate DVD for installation, because this was the OLD VERSION made originally for the Tiger system. It would be MORE HONEST to say that the installed operating system is Tiger OSX.

2) In addition, if the search was by relevance, the next product that should appear on the list is the 2.2GHZ MacBook 13". But this was NOT THE CASE, since this newer product only appears after 14 other MacBook laptop SKUs, and just before the accessories list !! (So they went through all the effort to put the new version at the END OF THE LAPTOP LIST !!)

In other words, anybody who was not paying 100% ATTENTION to the specs description would have bought the old version of MacBook 13" (2.16GHZ, Intel GMA 850) for the SAME PRICE (US$ 1298) of the new version MacBook 13" (2.2GHZ, Intel X3100) !! According to a site that measures speed, the 2.2GHZ is faster than the 2.16 GHZ version

In performance the MacBook 2.2GHz is ....

Processor Single ... 10% faster

Processor Saturation ... 14% faster

Graphics Card ... 20% faster

Hard Drive Multi-File ... 2% slower

Hard Drive Single -File ... 28% faster

QuickTime Encode Satuation... 8% faster

Photoshop Filter Suite ... 12% faster

According to the customer service of B&H the two specs had similar speed - AN ABSOLUTE LIE !! When I asked them if it was not obvious that if customers had a choice, they would have ALL BOUGHT THE NEW VERSION OF MACBOOK 13" FOR THE SAME PRICE AS THE OLD VERSION here was their response "You can not assume that. Some people prefer the old version". This is TOTALLY OUTRAGEOUS ! SO WHY WOULD APPLE launch the 2.2GHZ version in the 1st PLACE ???

This ACCOUNT is so that ALL ONLINE SHOPPERS ARE NOT FOOLED BY B&H PHOTO VIDEO AGAIN. I WAS TOTALLY MISLEAD INTO BUYING AN OLD VERSION FOR THE SAME PRICE AS THE NEW ONE AND I DON'T WANT IT TO HAPPEN TO OTHER HONEST SHOPPERS WHO BUY AT B&H.

Comment On This

While we regret Echang9's obvious dissatisfaction and ire, his report is incorrect. The item he selected, placed in his online shopping cart, and subsequently received has a different product code than the item he apparently wanted. The two are both listed on our site and it's understandable he might have selected the wrong one inadvertently, particularly since the two do had the same retail price. He received what he ordered.

He purchased the Apple # MB062LLA - B&H # APMB216S13W, but apparently wanted the Apple # MB062LLB - B&H # APMB22S13W.

His complaint is that the order in which we presented our replies to his search query was misleading. The search engine's returns vary depending on what exact search phrase was used. Many databases return search queries with products listed in the order they were posted to the site. Our web site permits the visitor to sort replies by several criteria including price (high-to-low or low-to-high), relevance, brand (a-to-z or z-to-a) or description (a-to-z or z-to-a).

We are sorry Echang9 feels he was mislead and in the interest of customer satisfaction are issuing a $100.00 refund to him. We regret his dissatisfaction but disagree with his unfounded allegation that this was a conspiracy of some sort.

Henry Posner

B&H Photo-Video