My experience thus far with AppleCare. Need guidance.

[milky23]

Hey there,

My 20" iSight iMac arrived with a faulty CD-ROM that made an inordinate amount of noise. Over the phone, the AppleCare technician determined that it was a hardware problem, so they dispatched a part to be sent to a contracted repair service who would repair the machine on-site. Not my preferred method, but it was acceptable. However, the following is not:

This technician is at my house right now. He has apparently never seen a 20" iMac w/ iSight before. He is scraping, scratching, and smudging my LCD. Either the mat he has rested my Mac on is leaving some residue on it, or he's bleeding all over the thing. He can't figure out how to open the thing.

Is this grounds for refund/replacement?

[Seasought]

Hey there,
This technician is at my house right now. He has apparently never seen a 20" iMac w/ iSight before. He is scraping, scratching, and smudging my LCD. Either the mat he has rested my Mac on is leaving some residue on it, or he's bleeding all over the thing. He can't figure out how to open the thing.

Is this grounds for refund/replacement?

If he is actually physically damaging your machine I'd give a resounding hell yes. You might want to ask him if he can now replace the machine since he has scratched the thing to pieces trying to open it. Make sure you get his name and ID # before he leaves.

[cliffrouse11bas]

This sounds a little crazy. I would tell him to stop working on it now, and call Apple asap.

[milky23]

This is a little comical over here... I'm not quite the type who will step on a man's toes... I'm going to let him do what he's going to do to it, then I'll call Apple up. As far as I'm concerned, this machine is going back. I hope.

:)

I tell ya, the first few minutes he worked on it, I was having an out of body experience. He finally got the machine open.

[milky23]

Argh. Its over. There's blood on the screen, there's dirt, buff marks, and scratches on my monitor.

But hey, the CD works now.


:confused:

[azzurri000]

Argh. Its over. There's blood on the screen, there's dirt, buff marks, and scratches on my monitor.

But hey, the CD works now.


:confused:

sounds like it was worth all the trouble...;)

[nfs2]

Thats the craziest story ive ever heard. Id never even touch something some guy bled on

assuming you were serious of course ;)

[milky23]

I'm completely serious... I have pictures if you guys want to see...

[JohnEZ]

Well if you don't mind....

Oh, and if Apple actually sent this guy to your house.... as far as I'm concerned, you're more than welcome to complain about it.

[Avarus]

If you didn't want Onsite repair, why not say no and take it into an Apple Retail Store or AASP?

[nfs2]

More then complain about it.. I mean the guy was so unprofessional.. I mean HE BLED on your mac!

You could realisticaly complain this into a new, upgraded mac just for the trouble.

[Avarus]

More then complain about it.. I mean the guy was so unprofessional.. I mean HE BLED on your mac!

You could realisticaly complain this into a new, upgraded mac just for the trouble.

Not on your life.

[nfs2]

If you didn't want Onsite repair, why not say no and take it into an Apple Retail Store or AASP?

Wanting onsite repair, and wanting some incompetint boob damaging and bleeding on your equipment are two different things ;)

[nfs2]

Not on your life.

I wouldnt doubt it for a second

[milky23]

The screen was in great (not perfect...) condition before the technician arrived. Here's what it looks like now:

http://www.lowfatmilkman.com/applecare
(the blood is in the third and fourth pictures. There's actually much more blood on the machine, but I couldn't get the lighting right to show it.)

I didn't really *want* onsite. I live very far out from any Apple Store, so this was really the only option that AppleCare gave me. In fact, I seem to remember asking them, "is this my only option?"

So, I'm gonna write up a list of everything and call them. The guy who came was nice enough, just not very... professional.

[maverick808]

The screen was in great (not perfect...) condition before the technician arrived. Here's what it looks like now:

http://www.lowfatmilkman.com/applecare
(the blood is in the third and fourth pictures. There's actually much more blood on the machine, but I couldn't get the lighting right to show it.)

I didn't really *want* onsite. I live very far out from any Apple Store, so this was really the only option that AppleCare gave me. In fact, I seem to remember asking them, "is this my only option?"

So, I'm gonna write up a list of everything and call them. The guy who came was nice enough, just not very... professional.

Dude that's is rank! Call up Apple right now and demand a new machine.

[Avarus]

The screen was in great (not perfect...) condition before the technician arrived. Here's what it looks like now:

http://www.lowfatmilkman.com/applecare
(the blood is in the third and fourth pictures. There's actually much more blood on the machine, but I couldn't get the lighting right to show it.)

I didn't really *want* onsite. I live very far out from any Apple Store, so this was really the only option that AppleCare gave me. In fact, I seem to remember asking them, "is this my only option?"

So, I'm gonna write up a list of everything and call them. The guy who came was nice enough, just not very... professional.

That's funny, to get onsite repair you have to be within 50 miles of an service provider. Not only that but if there is a compusa or some other store near you that should be close enough

[milky23]

To be fair, I do live within about 50 miles of the nearest service center. But it is 50 miles, and with the winter conditions such as they are, it takes a bit of work to get there.

The Apple worker at the nearest CompUSA told me to work with Apple on this; he told me if they worked on it there, it'd take much longer.

[Avarus]

To be fair, I do live within about 50 miles of the nearest service center. But it is 50 miles, and with the winter conditions such as they are, it takes a bit of work to get there.

The Apple worker at the nearest CompUSA told me to work with Apple on this; he told me if they worked on it there, it'd take much longer.

I would have waited longer, just to be clear, I am fairly certain that when you do onsite repair, it's not always going to be someone from an apple store. Just the nearest onsite repair guy that can do apple computers.

[milky23]

Duly noted...

To clarify, not that it really matters, but the man wasn't such a bumbling oaf as you might imagine. Well spoken, well groomed, and well mannered. He just wasn't very... knowledgable. He had literally never seen the iMac with the iSight; he attempted to repair it using the steps from the Rev B. iMac, which are quite different, as it turned out.

[Avarus]

Duly noted...

To clarify, not that it really matters, but the man wasn't such a bumbling oaf as you might imagine. Well spoken, well groomed, and well mannered. He just wasn't very... knowledgable. He had literally never seen the iMac with the iSight; he attempted to repair it using the steps from the Rev B. iMac, which are quite different, as it turned out.

If he didn't know, he shouldn't have attempted to repair it, or he could have gotten the manual off the website.

[milky23]

True, but I am not him. I'm going to call AppleCare tomorrow and see where things stand.

[milky23]

I called AppleCare today; I got a case number, but the customer relations dept. is closed over the weekend so I have to wait 'till Monday.

[MacRumorUser]

Good luck. That's shocking treatment. Ask to speak to someone high up and give out like hell; you deserve a replacement. What on earth were they thinking sending out a repair man who had never ever seen the model he was meant to repair :eek:

[bodeh6]

Dude that is disgusting. I would not want to have a computer that has blood on it, especially somebody elses blood. You need to get the replaced.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. :eek:

[Macmaniac]

That was foolish of him not to have the manuals. I had the manual for the Intel iMac 5 days ago:) Bleeding happens, I have bled on a couple iMac G3s, dam sharp edges! As for the screen that sucks, I am trying to figure out how he mangled it, its recessed for gods sake!

[EricNau]

When you call Apple for a replacement, don't settle for less than you want (which is a brand new machine). If the person you are talking to doesn't comply, demand to talk to their supervisor. (and repeat if necessary)

They'll probably try and offer to replace just the screen. Don't settle for that, you have no idea what kind of damage that guy did on the inside.

[unixfool]

When I saw the picutes, at first I was like "well hell, just wipe it down and be done with it". I didn't see any scratches and dirt will wipe off just fine, along with the blood (using gloves, of course)...

BUT...

...the part about him not knowing what the hell he was looking at and not using the proper documentation to educate himself could've resulted (and still MIGHT!) in something much worse than a busted CD drive. Although Apple didn't send him directly, he DOES do work for Apple per contract, so he's essentially an Apple representative. The new iMacs are new enough to where most technicians sent out this month may have issues getting familiar with the machines physically, but at the very least, he should've been referring to the proper documentation.

[milky23]

Keep in mind, this was the iMac G5 released about 3 months ago; *not* the new Intel.

[yankeefan24]

Keep in mind, this was the iMac G5 released about 3 months ago; *not* the new Intel.

its just inexcusable. talk to all the suoervisors necessary, and if all else fails, i remember coming upon steve's idisk once, just pm me. i doubt he checks that tho. but its always worth a shot.

[Mal]

That's horrible. I know when I was an Apple Tech I knew every machine's basic layout and where to get the support docs within hours of its release (at least of the release of the docs on Apple's support site). It's inexcusable, and they should replace it and bill it to whoever the guy works for (and revoke their Service contract).

jW

[milky23]

I remain a happy Apple customer!
They agreed to replace my iMac G5 20" with a new, factory-fresh model.
Thanks for the moral/emotional support, guys!

[bodeh6]

I remain a happy Apple customer!
They agreed to replace my iMac G5 20" with a new, factory-fresh model.
Thanks for the moral/emotional support, guys!

..with a 2.1GHz G5 or a Dual Core Intel 2.0GHz?

[myshoeshurt]

I remain a happy Apple customer!
They agreed to replace my iMac G5 20" with a new, factory-fresh model.
Thanks for the moral/emotional support, guys!

Great news! I just can't believe the tech didn't at the VERY least wipe the machine down after working on it. It was obviously very visibly dirty/damaged. I'm glad Apple complied with replacing the machine... Applecare should cost so much for a reason!

[milky23]

They agreed to replace it with another 20" G5, which was all that I felt Apple should be obligated to do; though, I do not quite understand why they wouldn't agree to simply replace it with a different model, as I offered to pay the difference. *shrug*

At this point, I can sell the new machine on eBay or keep it for Photoshop performance reasons.

[maverick808]

They agreed to replace it with another 20" G5, which was all that I felt Apple should be obligated to do; though, I do not quite understand why they wouldn't agree to simply replace it with a different model, as I offered to pay the difference. *shrug*

At this point, I can sell the new machine on eBay or keep it for Photoshop performance reasons.

There have been reports of Intel iMac shortages so perhaps they just want to clear out their stock of G5 iMacs whilst keeping the Intel iMacs for people that are specifically buying one.

[disconap]

At this point, I can sell the new machine on eBay or keep it for Photoshop performance reasons.

Wait, they're replacing it AND letting you keep the damaged one?

[milky23]

No, no. At least, not that I know of.

What I am saying is, when the new machine comes in, I am considering selling it on eBay and getting myself a MacBook Pro or something.

[disconap]

Ah, gotcha. ;)

[chaos86]

Should should have told Apple that the computer is unusable because it may have aquired Blood-bourne Pathogens on it's outer casing. That buzz word will set off another buzz word in the Apple- lawsuit. And told them you want them to pick it up and you suggest a medically certified BBP Containment Kit to take it back in.