yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Acer Iconia A500] bytemehard:
Simple solution maybe

Its 4:45pm in a small acer factory.

Several acer a500 units go down the assembly line with several parts missing because they have the line cranked up to meet all the pre orders and the 8 year olds cant keep up. These unfinished units then get diverted to an offline repair area where several drones work frantically to place all the missing parts on the right units. Like I say its almost quiting time so they get a little careless and throw the wrong sdcard cover on the wrong unit and even worse toss that unit in a totally different box. Now it gets sent back on the main line for final shrink wrap. Brand new from the factory.....except when it arrives to the final owner he registers with the box snid# which should not have been a problem......Except.......somewhere in another state the unit that was supposed to go in that box ends up at a Refurb. where they register the snid off the sdcover which matches.....you guessed it yours.

That would account for the 3 different SNID#

By the way my #s match .....bought in april (best buy)
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
Not quite.

The SNID on the box, yes, is what I used and it was accepted. Since normally that's suppose to match the SD and OS, it's irrelevant which one someone uses.

The problem is, my sticker on the box, linked in the post and >here< you can plainly see the MFG Date: Apr. 2011 but that doesn't mean the tablet was built in Apr 2011 - that's just a sticker on the box. Normally it's suppose to match the tab and SD - since it doesn't it is no longer a reliable MFG source date.

When the SNID's are created/assigned - they can't be recreated and reassigned unless discontinued or deactivated. Meaning, the SNID in question MUST have been discontinued/Deactivated [whatever the proper term is] Redacted? prior to NA launch since it is on an NA tablet as part of a series of preorder batches. So technically, the SNID on the SD cover should never be there IF they believed they could issue the same SNID in April to Revonate - some 4 months later. Acer can't go forwards in time, issue an SNID for a refurb then back in time to print it on a sticker and affix it to my tab. What that tells me is, it's likely an EU/Tawain SNID, redacted and reissued to NA.

The only reason [that I'm aware of anyways] to redact a SNID would be when re-serialzing a tablet for refurbishment. And that's the real point. The SNID on my SD cover wouldn't be used twice because their Db wouldn't allow it unless it was first redacted and made available again. Which can only have happened prior to NA launch, in EU or Tawain so that Revonate could get it issued to them 4 months after NA launch.

Of course I know you're just joking around but you bring up a good point - that at the factory, it could have been mixed up [and I mention this in the blog post] but if you read the full post, [and maybe you did and are just messing around (; ] I think I make a pretty good case that that couldn't have happened. [although not quite an impossibility - I'm willing to admit that] A high improbability of having the wrong sticker put on the wrong tablet and packaged up in the wrong box - coupled with the then later, duplicate/reissued SNID without FIRST having it be a refurbished tablet.
[Acer Iconia A500] bytemehard:
Yes I read that whole post took 2 aspirin and read your conclusion again. Although my post was in fun; I have over 23 years experience in a factory environment with the General Electric Corp. TRUST ME IT IS HIGHLY PROBABLE THAT IT IS OPERATOR ERROR. Sometimes as you may know workers will purposely sabotage just for entertainment. Some just don't care and the units end up in repair. Its not uncommon to shut down production because of poor quality work for whatever reason. NEW hirees , loan ins from other areas of the plant due to absenteeism will cause quality ISSUES. Lack of parts on hand.....just send it to repair and they will put it on later. AS SOON AS THAT UNIT ENDS UP OFF THE MAIN LINE ITS A FREE FOR ALL.

For the most part high quality units get packed up and head to the warehouse for shipping,but on occasion a lemon or 2 will get past even final QC

I don't know how Acer runs their assemblies but that's my experience. Its usually quantity over quality when there is a order to be met.

Anyway that's the jist

As for your tablets half brother sitting in a warehouse. It was probably an unsatisfied apple fan return then sent to revonate for a refurb job where unfortunately for you, they registered the unit with your box # as a refurbished.

That brings us to the sister unit which is probably in a club somewhere in Vegas. Least that's what I'm thinkin
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
I don't discount the possibility of everything you said. While highly improbable, not necessarily impossible, it is unlikely that all these events transpired in the manner you suggest they may have.

Revonate has no control over the SNID. They don't create or issue them. They come directly from Acer, after Acer decides the tablet is certified for a refurbish.

Acer generates the new SNID then packages it up and sends it to the refurbishing company. It would be impossible for them to issue a currently released SNID without first having redacted it and the only way it could have been redacted is if it was originally on an EU or Taiwan tab since this tablet was physically released as part of the NA launch.

The facts, as far as I'm concerned, spell this out. And while my conclusion is still a theory, your's can't physically and technically be possible.
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
And btw, you can't compare your 23+ years of experience working for GE in America with the Acer factory in China. I don't need to go into why you can't compare them - just take it on faith there is no comparison.
[Acer Iconia A500] JdgM3NT4L:
I say be creative and register the extra two numbers one at a time. One now, and then the other one in a year when the warranty expires on the first one...

;):eek::D

And yeah, all three of my numbers match.
[Acer Iconia A500] bytemehard:
Re-read that mess again ...I see your point.

It would be a great conversation piece if you could find and purchase that unit that's in the warehouse.
[Acer Iconia A500] tkolev:
Please explain why can't you just register your tablet SNID (I mean the one that's in the tablet hardware) and be done with it! That one probably isn't in the refubrished list (I haven't read the whole story - I can't spare the time to do that, sorry), tear the sticker that's on the sd cover, burn the box and that way you'll have the only SNID that matters (contact the refubrishing company if you don't want acer to find out your SNID)! Even if you have to send it back for repairs it will qualify for warranty services (I doubt that a torn sticker will be that much of a trouble, still you can read the warranty terms, just to be safe). You lost so much time for something that's so meaningless just to find out that sometimes s#it happens...
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
Acer has already said [if you read the post] that the SNID on the sticker [which is the one in contention] is the only SNID that matters.

Without getting to the bottom of 'why' and 'who' knowingly sold a refurbished product as new - Best buy or Acer - there would be no precedence and therefor, no recourse for anyone else who finds that they are in the same situation.

I would still have a refurbished product which I paid full price for.
[Acer Iconia A500] tkolev:
Well, if it's not in their warranty terms Acer may say they want the s#itty green sticker on the right still on, but this doesn't mean anything. You are getting that information from a support guy and those generally speaking are random shmucks, that can't get any job other than being the s#it filter for the company. They are instructed to ask for the sticker number because you just can't get a user with IQ somewhere between those of a brick and a large orange to find the right number that's in the about settings, so they say "open the cover, write THE number". Have you ever wondered why there is only one number there? That's why.
[Acer Iconia A500] Neoprimal:
You really need to read the link on the first page to know what's going on here.

This set's a dangerous precedent for current Iconia owners if it is indeed Acer's fault.

Here's the thing though - you got the tablet in May. These things were first sold on the market in April, right? It is highly likely that the SNID in the About section is the one you should really be paying attention to and that the other 2 are unfortunate mix-ups.

The conspiracy at hand however, regardless of all the other information at hand still stands...since an SNID in your hands, to your first hand knowledge went to Revonate and was sold to Best Buy. Best Buy doesn't in any circumstances provide customers with refurbished products which means BB either knew they were refurbished and sold them as new OR were told they were new when they were not. THAT'S the real kicker here.

In terms of your tablet, if I were in your position I would go see a BB Manager and have him simply exchange the tablet for you. Under the circumstances it shouldn't be an issue. You have the receipt, you have the box and you have the tablet - the worst thing he could possibly do is call you a liar and I don't think that'll be happening.

I say get rid of it ASAP because you're absolutely right in this scenario, "there would be no precedence and therefor, no recourse for anyone else who finds that they are in the same situation".

Of course, there is ONE possible solution as someone mentioned if you do ever need to send the tablet in for repair/replacement - rip the sticker off, in which case they'd HAVE to rely on the SNID in the About tab.

I shall be watching this to see how it turns out.
[Acer Iconia A500] tkolev:
"What's going on here" is that a careless, drunk, half asleep, soon to be fired or whatever worker attached the wrong sticker and put it in the wrong box. Then the guy with the other tab (the one with HW SNID matching that sticker) returned his tablet in August, the HW SNID got in the refubrished list because anyone (the technician that approves it for refubrishing) with the knowledge how to open 'about' in settings should care only for that number, not some sticker on an easily breakable part. There are no aliens, no evil corporations trying to bend the warranty terms, no conspiracy. In fact it's more probable that someone broke into his house in the middle of the night, changed the sticker and the box and left, than the situation where Acer cares about any of us enough to go through that trouble. The only thing that's happening is a case of pure bad luck and a schmuck on the other end it the phone line that follows the list:

1. Ask for the sticker number

2. Take the s#it

3. Say "thank you"

4. Repeat
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

I'm confident it's either; Acer knowingly sent refurbished products to Best Buy to fill in their pre-order needs or Best Buy knowingly bought refurbished products to fill their pre-orders needs.

A triple SNID mixup, in the manner you suggest, would require the involvement of many people along the factory chain from build, to QC to packaging and while not impossible, is most certainly less likely to be the cause.
[Acer Iconia A500] tkolev:
Aha, so Acer sent the refubrished tablets as new but didn't take them out of the refubrished list so anyone may find out that they are refubrished? How stupid do you think they are? Or BestBuy is selling refubrished products as new and they know that anyone can find out, but they do it anyway? Again - how stupid do you think they are? Also as you already know the SNID on your SD cover was refubrished in August, so yours two possibilities automatically fall in the "impossible" category. If your tablet was indeed refubrished the other one (with that SNID bound to the hardware) would also be refubrished before May, not three months later. Noone knowingly sells refubrished products (at least not if it can be found out that easily) and anyone with experience in production will tell you that mistakes happen all the time (in fact you have already been told so). So it's either that or the SNID gnomes are playing jokes on you ;).
[Acer Iconia A500] fermunky:
About and stick in sdcard cover match, box, I'll have to get back to ya...
[Acer Iconia A500] fermunky:
Also, that story is far too long for me to even begin to think about reading it all over a warranty problem. Long story short, you should have:

A: First gone directly to Best Buy, in person, and shown them the problem. Don't bother with chat/email support, as the bottom line is, they will ensure they cover their ass in basically saying nothing in electronic communications is a guarantee, and that you need to visit in person, or write a letter.

if that don't work

B: You write to Best Buy corporate head quarters, threatening a BBB complaint if this doesn't get resolved. US retailers, especially giant ones like Best Buy, actually take BBB threats seriously.

and if that don't work

C: File a BBB complaint. Large retailers generally has a team of people who do nothing but respond to BBB complaints and usually have the authority to do whatever is necessary to make you happy.

I use to work for a major hardware manufacturer, and I can tell you that about 99.9% of complaints that made it to option B were resolved very quickly and in a very positive way for the consumer.
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
Yup - today was the last day Best Buy Corporate had to get back to me. They know all about it already and I have a ticket in. I'll be in touch with them on Monday.
[Acer Iconia A500] tkolev:
OK let me spell it out for you. Acer produses two tablets with two different SNIDs. Then one's SD cover ends up attached to the second and vice versa. The first one (yours) gets sold in May, the second one gets sold prior to August and gets returned for refubrishing. The technician tests it, finds it OK, opens the about tab (because he doesn't care about the one on the cover) and writes down the SNID in the refubrished list. So now the SNID that's on the first one's cover is listed as refubrished. Period. Actually there is a third tablet (the SNID on the box) that just proves that at that time there was someone who didn't give s#it about his work. And pardon me, but it's not exactly rocket science to contact the support and find out that the two SNIDs don't match, so yes - it's pretty easy to uncover the sinnister plot behind the Acer's/Best Buy conspiracy if there is one. If they wanted to sell refubrished products they would have covered it up much, MUCH better. They have the means to do it and it would save them future troubles, so they would. If you think that the time their employees wasted on your case costs them less than what they presumably saved selling you a refubrished stock, think again. If you need to feel like a victim or play detective and uncover the evil corporation's conspiracy, be my guest. If you actually need a solution to your problem, find out if the SNID associated with your hardware is in the refubrished list and make it so that it's the only one left on your tablet.
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
tkolev, if you don't understand, then no amount of repeating will make you understand.

You're making statements that aren't contextually correct and basing your argument on them. When you have an argument that follows the facts, come back.
[Acer Iconia A500] :
lol in his defense, I'm not sure English is his primary language which is apparent, given not only his misspellings in his post, but the fact that he can't even begin to grasp your lengthy post at WordPress.

;)
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
... nor the difference between speculation and theory.
[Acer Iconia A500] tkolev:
You said and I quote:

"I'm confident it's either; Acer knowingly sent refurbished products to Best Buy to fill in their pre-order needs or Best Buy knowingly bought refurbished products to fill their pre-orders needs."

1. If Acer sold refubrished products as new, the would at least take their SNIDs off the refubrished list, so it wouldn't come out by a simple chat with their support. Anyone with such product that calls their support would be asked about the SNID, he would give it and they will say "you have a refubrished product". In fact they will be the ones uncovering their own conspiracy and noone is that stupid.

2. BestBuy is for years in the business of selling electronics. Don't you think that they know how easy it is for a customer to find out if that product is refubrished or not? It takes two minutes to get a reply from Acer saying "your product is refubrished, please call the refubrishing company". They would not do that because the few customers they loose to the fact the iconia was not in stock (most would choose to wait or would buy a different product that's in stock with them) are just not worth the trouble. We are not talking about small businesses here.

Or it cold be a simple error that caused one SD cover attached to the wrong tablet. But conspiracies and evil corporations sound much more tempting these days...

You have been given multiple options to actually solve your problem. Why you choose to ignore them is really beyond me.
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
Again, you're not making any sense. I've told you the facts.

Again, you're making a conclusion that have no bearing on the facts.

And clearly, you didn't read the post.

And now you're just rambling.

Okay, tkolev, thanks for stopping by. *waves*
[Acer Iconia A500] :
When people continue to post comments that make absolutely no sense. I just add them to my ignore list, like I just did tkolev. It saves much time and energy not having to weed through posts when you no longer even have see what they're posting ;)
[Acer Iconia A500] fermunky:
OK, confirmed all three match, the About screen, sdcard cover, and the box. Good luck with your ventures man.
[Acer Iconia A500] qwertylesh:
I will check my 3 snids as soon as I get home /paranoid :S
[Acer Iconia A500] Neoprimal:
Any news gamma? Has BB gotten to you?
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
They have - they emailed me yesterday and danced the 14 day return policy mamba.

Acer support and I keep going back and forth - they push me to Revonate, I tell them to send me a new tablet.
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
Contacted BB directly today [anyone notice that I just don't roll over and play dead? nope.]

I escalated and got to corporate and updated them and gave them all three serial numbers - they said they would contact Acer and Revonate directly and get back to me.

Update OP and Updated Blog post.
[Acer Iconia A500] qwertylesh:
I went to check mine last night, but I wasnt able to hunt down the card cover (its around somewhere, ill find that eventually) and as for the one on the device, my custom rom doesnt show the snid, was there another way? I checked CWM, it doesnt show it, I didnt try APX mode, could that show it? cheers.
[Acer Iconia A500] da_maxx:
purchase mine online back in Aug. Box, cover, and tablet all matches.
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
My understanding is that flashing a ROM will clear that information under ABOUT. I've read that it will return if you go back to stock though - of course, you wouldn't [and shouldn't] do that just to check.

If you manage to find your SD cover with the sticker and still have the box, get back to me. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume it matches anyways.
[Acer Iconia A500] dottat:
all three of mine match.....
[Acer Iconia A500] qwertylesh:
I sure hope it does LOL

you never know, I purchased mine from harvey norman (a horrible aussie retail chain) during a special, specials make me skeptical.

after reading your blog i was curious, when you very first opened your iconia package, did the tablet have the acer plastic over the front and back of the tablet?

absolutely brand new iconias have plastic on them, with some BS about what the tablet can do. i wonder if yours maybe didn't have this plastic. Im sure anyone whos purchased a new one would be familiar with the plastic im talking about.

anyway, when I find my micro cover Ill let you know if it matches my box or not :)
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
I'm pretty sure it had that plastic on it.
[Acer Iconia A500] qwertylesh:
if it turned out to be missing it could have been a sign that it was really refurbed or tampered before sale.

regardless, my money is on Acer being the culpruit. and not BB, BB don't deal with that Revo company hey? only Acer afaik
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
Ya, I suppose if there was no plastic there, it might have raised an eyebrow but without knowing it was suppose to have that plastic, who's to know? That's not a sure fire method of determining a products origin, however.

Revonate sells to Best Buy - but only refurbs and only deals with North America.
[Acer Iconia A500] fermunky:
I didn't read everyone's responses here, but I assume everyone has had matching SNIDs other than you. Hate to say it, but it just sounds like an extremely rare issue, and is unfortunate that BB doesn't seem to be handling it properly. They should have done nothing more but given you a completely new unit based on those SNIDs not matching.
[Acer Iconia A500] gammaRascal:
Of course it's a rare issue but that doesn't mean I going to let them sweep it or me under the rug. Besides, a few dozen replies here doesn't even equal a zero point percentage.

I'm confident there are others out there - whether they are XDA members or not or whether they've even noticed or maybe they have and already dealt with it... doesn't matter.

If every a500 owner took a look to check if all three match [I bet nobody here did until they saw this thread] then we'd easily find more.