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Maybe those white shiny little boxes aren’t so great after all. That’s the message I got after Apple Computer pulled its free 30 day trial offer of its Mac Mini personal computer. On Tuesday, the computer maker posted an offer that allowed its customers to try out a Mac Mini free of charge for a month. If they didn’t want it, they could send it back and get all their money back.

Less than a day later, the offer was gone. Instead, a cheesy banner for financing was added, allowing customers to pay no interest for 120 days on any purchase.

Bah.

Apple has not said anything about why it nabbed the promo. But form the sounds of it, whoever started this will probably be fired.

Mac Mini’s start at $499 and exclude a monitor. They are designed as simple, small, family computers, and feature OSX.

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This thread (Sept 4–5, 2005) records a brief, pulled Mac mini promotion mentioned by and the helpful note from about regional differences. The original posts leave two useful gaps: there’s no confirmation from Apple, and there’s no practical guidance for anyone who saw the promo or was charged. The list below fills those gaps with cautious, actionable context.

Typical reasons a retailer withdraws a public promo (no claim these apply here): accidental publish or a campaign pushed live too early; a limited pilot or geo-targeted rollout that wasn’t meant to be global; inventory or fulfillment constraints; third‑party financing terms that changed; or simple banner/caching glitches. These are common causes rather than statements of fact about this specific incident.

Practical steps for someone affected:

  • Verify order history and any confirmation emails or charge notices.
  • Preserve evidence: timestamps, screenshots, and any transactional emails.
  • Contact Apple Store customer service with order numbers and the preserved evidence; ask for clarification and refund or price protection where appropriate.
  • If a charge remains unresolved, consider disputing the charge through the card issuer after giving the merchant a chance to fix it.
  • Keep polite, dated notes of any support interactions for escalation.

For future monitoring: remember Apple’s online store is region-specific, financing often involves third-party partners, and short-lived offers are usually reported quickly by Mac-focused news sites. Using the Internet Archive (Wayback Machine) or a quick local screenshot can provide immediate proof if a promotion disappears.

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Member Avatar for jwenting

Never saw any offer like that here (and I was in the Amsterdam Apple store yesterday to get some advise on the things for possible future purchase), must have been local to your country :)

Member Avatar for Danny

It was on Apple's online store,

Member Avatar for jwenting

ah, those too are regional. They don't seem to offer any loans here, or at least don't mention them before you click a purchase button (which I'm not doing yet).

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