I just got off the phone with Apple Customer Relations regarding a warranty claim. After several visits to the Apple Store and several conversations with Tech Support we have come to the conclusion that there is definitely something wrong with my MacBook yet they're not willing to replace it. Instead I should send it out for repair and be without a computer for a week. This is not why I paid $1600 for a 13" notebook computer. Not to have to spend countless hours on the phone and visits to the store for them to inevitably tell me to send it out for repair. This is what I was trying to avoid by purchasing an Apple product.
Everything you hear about Apple having good customer service is a lie. Sure, they're nice to you on the phone but when the issues don't get resolved the service is not good. The bottom line is resolution. It doesn't matter how nice they are and willing to transfer you to someone that can help. If the problem is not resolved in an acceptable fashion then all they did was waste time.
On a side note, my iPod is almost at the 2 year mark and all of a sudden has begun freezing on a regular basis. I wiped it clean, reformatted it and updated the software and it is still not working properly. Why do these have a shelf life of 2 years? There's not a scratch on the thing. I take good care of all my belongings and especially expensive electronics. I know many people who saw the sad face on their iPod when it died. They all died right around the same time too.
To hell with Apple and their computers, phones and media players. I'll go get a Windows 7 PC notebook for half the price of this piece of garbage and a Zune HD.
Buyer Beware. Don't believe the hype. Apple's products are overpriced, restrictive and built to fai
I've read a lot about these "support nightmares" with Apple, and dreaded taking my MacBook in to the store to ask about replacing it. I walked in to the store, and before I was 3 feet through the door, was greeted and asked what I could be helped with. I explained my problem, the girl took out her portable device and scanned my laptop box, within 5 minutes someone appeared from the back with a new MacBook box and she gave it to me and said "have a nice day". She didn't even open my old box. I asked if I could check it out before I left the store and she told me no problem. I opened it and booted it and it had a dead pixel, so she told me she would get another one. A few keypresses on her Symbol scanner and again 5 minutes later a new one appeared from the back and I checked it out and all was good. I'm typing on it now. This all happened at the very front table in the store, 10 feet from the door. That's as far in as I got that day.
When we left I mentioned to my girlfriend that the experience didn't seem so bad, I was expecting the worse after reading horror stories on the net. She said it must have something to do with the attitude which you approach the employees. I can see how that can be true in many cases (obviously not all).
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. But everything bad you hear about Apple customer service MUST be a lie, since you had a bad experience.
So we're supposed to believe that your anecdotal evidence is better than Consumer Reports and other independent research that says Apple customer support is top notch? Of course there are people who have problems with tech support with EVERY company, ratings are a matter of how few people have major problems.
Ride their asses till they fix the problem. I had to send in an iBook 3 or 4 years ago and they had it back to me in 2 days, from Houston to California. I don't think that's half bad.
@dyt1983: Let me guess, she scanned it with a Windows Mobile device.
@Unix: So we are supposed to believe the anecdotal evidence of how horrible Vista is, but not the evidence about how horrible Apple support is? And as for it being top notch, my 1st iPhone was bricked by their FW update, and they refused to fix it, saying it was my fault.
I was expecting it to actually be a very pleasant experience and it was, though frustrating and time consuming up until the end. I've heard mixed reviews but pretty good reviews from friends. I was also very pleasant to everyone I spoke to. I was hoping for a better result in the end. I like the software but I have lost faith in the hardware and the customer service. It really could be as simple as swapping the hard drive out into another machine and I would have been totally pleased. There's not a scratch on this unit and it has never been mistreated. My battery doesn't last, the machine runs extremely hot and my screen flickers/pulsates. Tech support agreed that there is something wrong. I just don't see myself supporting this company anymore.
I'm not a fanboy and won't continue to support anything blindly because it's thought to be cool. This company gladly took my money and won't fulfill their end of the transaction.
I'm glad you had a good experience. I wish I had the same because I would be looking forward to the new products instead of flaming the message boards.
>> "I explained my problem, the girl took out her portable device and scanned my laptop box, within 5 minutes someone appeared from the back with a new MacBook box and she gave it to me and said "have a nice day"
And... they now have your hard drive with all your stuff on it?
That's what scares me the most about sending a laptop in for service. Even if my hard drive crashed... I'd pull the hard drive out and keep it.
Sorry that you had problems with Apple support, but I've dealt with them quite a bit, and they've been great to me. I got my white MacBook in July of 2006, and, a few months later, I had two problems with it: due to something I did (really odd story. . .), I broke both of the USB ports, and the superdrive also went out(not my fault). I called Apple, and, due to the sorta oddness of the USB problem, and the fact that I caused it, they had me buy the 3 year AppleCare. I sent it in, and they fixed it. All was well.
Later, my power cord became cut up, and it stopped working. Again, this was really my fault; I kept using my MacBook on the couch, and the reclining part frayed the cord. I called Apple and, even though this was obviously an "abuse"-type deal, and they sent me a new charger, for free.
Then, a while later, I started to have the semi-infamous palmrest chipping problem. Again, I called them, they told me to send in my MacBook, and it was fixed.
After that, my Superdrive broke, again. This wasn't my fault. They fixed it. This time, I wasn't too happy, because they wiped my hd, but I backed up, so it didn't matter, it was just inconvenient.
Overall, my experience with AppleCare support has been great. They speak real English, they're nice, and they get stuff fixed, but I paid an extra 250 for AppleCare, so they should have good support.
However, I really have had a lot of problems, most of which weren't my fault, with my MacBook, and Apple really needs to get better QC. A $1300 (1550 w/AppleCare) laptop shouldn't break that often. I'm pretty worried that, after this July, when my AppleCare runs out, my Superdrive is going to die, or maybe something worse. My mom's bottom-class Dell laptop from '07 hasn't had any big problems, and it was something like $650. It's a lot flimsier and it's crazy ugly, but at least it doesn't break.
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I just got off the phone with Apple Customer Relations regarding a warranty claim. After several visits to the Apple Store and several conversations with Tech Support we have come to the conclusion that there is definitely something wrong with my MacBook yet they're not willing to replace it. Instead I should send it out for repair and be without a computer for a week. This is not why I paid $1600 for a 13" notebook computer. Not to have to spend countless hours on the phone and visits to the store for them to inevitably tell me to send it out for repair. This is what I was trying to avoid by purchasing an Apple product.
Everything you hear about Apple having good customer service is a lie. Sure, they're nice to you on the phone but when the issues don't get resolved the service is not good. The bottom line is resolution. It doesn't matter how nice they are and willing to transfer you to someone that can help. If the problem is not resolved in an acceptable fashion then all they did was waste time.
On a side note, my iPod is almost at the 2 year mark and all of a sudden has begun freezing on a regular basis. I wiped it clean, reformatted it and updated the software and it is still not working properly. Why do these have a shelf life of 2 years? There's not a scratch on the thing. I take good care of all my belongings and especially expensive electronics. I know many people who saw the sad face on their iPod when it died. They all died right around the same time too.
To hell with Apple and their computers, phones and media players. I'll go get a Windows 7 PC notebook for half the price of this piece of garbage and a Zune HD.
Buyer Beware. Don't believe the hype. Apple's products are overpriced, restrictive and built to fai
I've read a lot about these "support nightmares" with Apple, and dreaded taking my MacBook in to the store to ask about replacing it. I walked in to the store, and before I was 3 feet through the door, was greeted and asked what I could be helped with. I explained my problem, the girl took out her portable device and scanned my laptop box, within 5 minutes someone appeared from the back with a new MacBook box and she gave it to me and said "have a nice day". She didn't even open my old box. I asked if I could check it out before I left the store and she told me no problem. I opened it and booted it and it had a dead pixel, so she told me she would get another one. A few keypresses on her Symbol scanner and again 5 minutes later a new one appeared from the back and I checked it out and all was good. I'm typing on it now. This all happened at the very front table in the store, 10 feet from the door. That's as far in as I got that day.
When we left I mentioned to my girlfriend that the experience didn't seem so bad, I was expecting the worse after reading horror stories on the net. She said it must have something to do with the attitude which you approach the employees. I can see how that can be true in many cases (obviously not all).
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. But everything bad you hear about Apple customer service MUST be a lie, since you had a bad experience.
So we're supposed to believe that your anecdotal evidence is better than Consumer Reports and other independent research that says Apple customer support is top notch? Of course there are people who have problems with tech support with EVERY company, ratings are a matter of how few people have major problems.
Ride their asses till they fix the problem. I had to send in an iBook 3 or 4 years ago and they had it back to me in 2 days, from Houston to California. I don't think that's half bad.
@dyt1983: Let me guess, she scanned it with a Windows Mobile device.
@Unix: So we are supposed to believe the anecdotal evidence of how horrible Vista is, but not the evidence about how horrible Apple support is? And as for it being top notch, my 1st iPhone was bricked by their FW update, and they refused to fix it, saying it was my fault.
I was expecting it to actually be a very pleasant experience and it was, though frustrating and time consuming up until the end. I've heard mixed reviews but pretty good reviews from friends. I was also very pleasant to everyone I spoke to. I was hoping for a better result in the end. I like the software but I have lost faith in the hardware and the customer service. It really could be as simple as swapping the hard drive out into another machine and I would have been totally pleased. There's not a scratch on this unit and it has never been mistreated. My battery doesn't last, the machine runs extremely hot and my screen flickers/pulsates. Tech support agreed that there is something wrong. I just don't see myself supporting this company anymore.
I'm not a fanboy and won't continue to support anything blindly because it's thought to be cool. This company gladly took my money and won't fulfill their end of the transaction.
I'm glad you had a good experience. I wish I had the same because I would be looking forward to the new products instead of flaming the message boards.
>> "I explained my problem, the girl took out her portable device and scanned my laptop box, within 5 minutes someone appeared from the back with a new MacBook box and she gave it to me and said "have a nice day"
And... they now have your hard drive with all your stuff on it?
That's what scares me the most about sending a laptop in for service. Even if my hard drive crashed... I'd pull the hard drive out and keep it.
tl;dr
Sorry that you had problems with Apple support, but I've dealt with them quite a bit, and they've been great to me.
I got my white MacBook in July of 2006, and, a few months later, I had two problems with it: due to something I did (really odd story. . .), I broke both of the USB ports, and the superdrive also went out(not my fault). I called Apple, and, due to the sorta oddness of the USB problem, and the fact that I caused it, they had me buy the 3 year AppleCare. I sent it in, and they fixed it. All was well.
Later, my power cord became cut up, and it stopped working. Again, this was really my fault; I kept using my MacBook on the couch, and the reclining part frayed the cord. I called Apple and, even though this was obviously an "abuse"-type deal, and they sent me a new charger, for free.
Then, a while later, I started to have the semi-infamous palmrest chipping problem. Again, I called them, they told me to send in my MacBook, and it was fixed.
After that, my Superdrive broke, again. This wasn't my fault. They fixed it. This time, I wasn't too happy, because they wiped my hd, but I backed up, so it didn't matter, it was just inconvenient.
Overall, my experience with AppleCare support has been great. They speak real English, they're nice, and they get stuff fixed, but I paid an extra 250 for AppleCare, so they should have good support.
However, I really have had a lot of problems, most of which weren't my fault, with my MacBook, and Apple really needs to get better QC. A $1300 (1550 w/AppleCare) laptop shouldn't break that often. I'm pretty worried that, after this July, when my AppleCare runs out, my Superdrive is going to die, or maybe something worse. My mom's bottom-class Dell laptop from '07 hasn't had any big problems, and it was something like $650. It's a lot flimsier and it's crazy ugly, but at least it doesn't break.