Zune HD 16GB Refurbished - $115 @ Cowboom.com Daily Deal

[aimran]

Cowboom.com, a Best Buy company is having a daily deal (today only) for the refurbished 16GB Zune HD for $110 + $5 shipping. Not bad IMO.

[CrowdAds]

[Celticsman]

Originally Posted by aimran

Cowboom.com, a Best Buy company is having a daily deal (today only) for the refurbished 16GB Zune HD for $110 + $5 shipping. Not bad IMO.

Yeah, a refurb, no thanks.

[aimran]

Originally Posted by Celticsman

Yeah, a refurb, no thanks.

A refurb can be as good as new depending on the source. I don't know about Cowboom.com refurbish so it's the luck of the draw here.

[NSILMike]

Originally Posted by aimran

A refurb can be as good as new depending on the source. I don't know about Cowboom.com refurbish so it's the luck of the draw here.

the key word being 'can'...

[Celticsman]

Originally Posted by aimran

A refurb can be as good as new depending on the source. I don't know about Cowboom.com refurbish so it's the luck of the draw here.

Never had any good experiances with refurbs, they die, have cosmetic flaws and usually dont work as well as in the battery for example.

[StephenPT]

My brother-in-law ordered the refurb 32GB @ $150 from CowBoom when it was available a couple months ago...

The Zune was cosmetically flawless and has had no issues.

It didn't come with the original box, just a plain white box and the sync cable didn't have the Zune logo on it, just looked like a cheap aftermarket cable...

[roguemat]

What exactly does refurbished mean? Second hand?

[NSILMike]

Originally Posted by roguemat

What exactly does refurbished mean? Second hand?

Yes, or a demo model, etc. that has been checked over and is supposed to be in saleable condition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refurbishment_(electronics)

[DaveMac-MS]

Often times, if someone returns a product (even if unopened) to a big box retailer and they come back to us, we'll perform a full factory reconditioning and then send them out for refurb sale. It means we can recoup costs on a store return (unless catastrophic or unknown failure), but some price sensitive customers can still pick up a device.

Cheers, Dave.

[NSILMike]

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

Often times, if someone returns a product (even if unopened) to a big box retailer and they come back to us, we'll perform a full factory reconditioning and then send them out for refurb sale. It means we can recoup costs on a store return (unless catastrophic or unknown failure), but some price sensitive customers can still pick up a device.

Cheers, Dave.

The problem is that the consumer usually doesn't (can't) know what a 3rd party vendor may or may not have done to verify a 'refurb.' While the OEM knows how to test, that doesn't imply that 3rd parties do, even if their intent is good.

[skip252]

I've picked up refurb Zunes in the past and found it doesn't hurt to register them with Microsoft. The last one I got from Woot! had no mention of a warranty. Once I registered the S/N with through Zune.net they put 6 mo. warranty on it. No idea if that would hold here but it won't hurt to try.

[FallenArms3]

Refurb is hit-or-miss, even with Microsoft. One of the refurbished Zunes I received after sending my original back in had a ruined screen. The one I have right now (after turning that one in and waiting another 3 weeks) has a dead green sub-pixel in the screen. And that's Microsoft-- I wouldn't trust Best Buy for such a complex product. I've bought refurbished mice from them, though, and they're good as new.

[roguemat]

Ahh ok, thanks.

[The DarkSide]

There's nothing wrong w/a refurb - all my iPod 5.5G's & Mini w/Rockbox are second hand or refurb. Plus, the Fuze's and clip/clip+'s I own/ed are refurbs. Nothing wrong with buying them from reputable sellers.

[Xiamhighx]

I've bought 2 refurbished Zunes (not HDs) and neither of them had problems. Just goes to show that it's probably a smaller fraction of them that do have problems.