Blatently LIED to at the Apple store tonight...

[zepharus]

So I check the repair status page of my Macbook pro that they have had at the repair center for 2 weeks. They were waiting on a logic board. The repair page says that it shipped back to the apple store 10-4, and gives a tracking number. when I check the tracking number it lists my macbook Pro as being deleiverd to the Apple store in Syracuse,NY at 9:31am today.

I decide to go to the mall with the wifey and get some Cold Stone Creamery goodies, and when Im there around 7:45pm I decide to meander down to the apple store and get my laptop I have been with out for a total time of 3 weeks now.... This is where the web of lies begins.

I walked in and it was surprisingly slow inside..very unusual actually. I asked a "genius" that came up to me (also very unusual as they have like 3 employees on ever) that I was here for my laptop that came back from repair. Said "genius" goes into the back and comes back about 5 minutes later and remarks that my laptop has not come in yet and is expected possibly tomorrow or monday. I politely let him know that I checked the tracking site and it shows it was delivered to the store at 9:30am this morning. He asked for my tracking number, which I did not ahve handy. "Genius" returns to the back and comes back about a minute later and says "it seems that your Macbook pro is in the final stages of diagnostic testing and should be done shortly" He takes down my cell and says maybe about an hour if I wanted to walk around the mall, they would call me when it was ready.

Now Im thinking to myself that my laptop has gone from not being there and arriving tomorrow or monday, to being miraculously found inside of a minute and undergoing diagnostics and there....hmmmmm. I decide to walk around a bit and play lets irritate the underage punks violating the mall curfew for minors :) No sooner do I walk out of the store when my cell phone rings. IT is David from the apple store telling me that there is no way my machine will be ready tonight as it will take a couple hours to run tests, and that the "genius" are overzealous and want to push things out. WTF? At this point i was like whatever Ill be here tomorrow to get it .

Now Im no Sherlock Holmes here, but Id bet my left nut that they never expected me to say I looked at the tracking info and noticed it was delivered this AM. They simply didnt want to or couldnt get to it and decided to try and snowball me. The thing that pisses me off is that they tried to play me for the fool. Im getting tired of the level of service apple delivers, and im a VERY patient person....


Thoughts?

[EricNau]

I fail to see any wrongdoing. :confused:

...and trust me, if there's anybody who would be willing to find a flaw with the geniuses right now, it would be me.

[AF443XM]

Earlier this year I had to take my MBP to the Apple Store to get an intermittent start up problem fixed. They said it was because of my 3rd party RAM, which indeed it was. Had to send it back to where I got it & get a new one. But while the Genius was testing other sticks of memory, it seems he somehow blew up my logic board in the process. He swiftly said I would be getting a new one under warranty and didn't explain much about what happened. I just went along with it and he said 3-5 business days to get the part & fix it.

Less than 24 hours later, I got a call that says my MBP was ready for me. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. So my Apple store logic board replacement experience was great - they under promised and over delivered. I had another pleasant and really quick experience getting my battery replaced at a different Apple store, as well. Unfortunately, you don't seem to be getting the same level of service as I have. Perhaps they're extremely backed up? It's also possible the particular person you talked to really just had no clue and made something up the first time.

[mrkramer]

So would you rather have had them giving it back without making sure that it works? I think that it is standard for them to get it and then test it to make sure that the problem is fixed.

[Mal]

I work for an third party Apple repair store, and I can say I've done similar things myself. Sometimes you can go to find a machine and the tech who worked on it (or another one) will say, "Oh yeah, that one's supposed to be back tomorrow," when they're actually remembering another computer that is a similar. As far as telling you when it'll be ready, he probably either misinterpreted what the tech said (and was swiftly corrected via that phone call, which was more than I would have expected), or indeed was overzealous, in which case the same thing applies. Yes, he made a bit of a mistake, but completely understandable, and I doubt he was actually trying to lie to you. It's in their best interest to get those machines out of the store and back to you once they're done so they don't take up space in the back room.

jW

[zepharus]

I understand, I guess I just like people to be very upfront with me. If it is going to take another day, so be it, I can wait. Just tell me straight up though. Either way its all good as long as it is actually repaired this time and in good condition. It went away in PRISTINE cosmetic condition and it really needs to return that way or my OCD will kick in :)

[squeeks]

yeah you weren't lied to, they checked to see if it was ready, it wasn't, when you gave him the tracking number they found it was on site but still being worked on, so i also see no wrong doing...sorry you didn't get your laptop back yet, i know it must suck to be with out it

[antibact1]

So I check the repair status page of my Macbook pro that they have had at the repair center for 2 weeks. They were waiting on a logic board. The repair page says that it shipped back to the apple store 10-4, and gives a tracking number. when I check the tracking number it lists my macbook Pro as being deleiverd to the Apple store in Syracuse,NY at 9:31am today.

I decide to go to the mall with the wifey and get some Cold Stone Creamery goodies, and when Im there around 7:45pm I decide to meander down to the apple store and get my laptop I have been with out for a total time of 3 weeks now.... This is where the web of lies begins.

I walked in and it was surprisingly slow inside..very unusual actually. I asked a "genius" that came up to me (also very unusual as they have like 3 employees on ever) that I was here for my laptop that came back from repair. Said "genius" goes into the back and comes back about 5 minutes later and remarks that my laptop has not come in yet and is expected possibly tomorrow or monday. I politely let him know that I checked the tracking site and it shows it was delivered to the store at 9:30am this morning. He asked for my tracking number, which I did not ahve handy. "Genius" returns to the back and comes back about a minute later and says "it seems that your Macbook pro is in the final stages of diagnostic testing and should be done shortly" He takes down my cell and says maybe about an hour if I wanted to walk around the mall, they would call me when it was ready.

Now Im thinking to myself that my laptop has gone from not being there and arriving tomorrow or monday, to being miraculously found inside of a minute and undergoing diagnostics and there....hmmmmm. I decide to walk around a bit and play lets irritate the underage punks violating the mall curfew for minors :) No sooner do I walk out of the store when my cell phone rings. IT is David from the apple store telling me that there is no way my machine will be ready tonight as it will take a couple hours to run tests, and that the "genius" are overzealous and want to push things out. WTF? At this point i was like whatever Ill be here tomorrow to get it .

Now Im no Sherlock Holmes here, but Id bet my left nut that they never expected me to say I looked at the tracking info and noticed it was delivered this AM. They simply didnt want to or couldnt get to it and decided to try and snowball me. The thing that pisses me off is that they tried to play me for the fool. Im getting tired of the level of service apple delivers, and im a VERY patient person....


Thoughts?

Thoughts? Quit being such a cry baby. He made a mistake and you will have it tomorrow. You aren't the only person that has a machine in for service.

[Dybbuk]

It seems like you went to get it without even asking them if it was ready, just because it had arrived there?

[Sun Baked]

If it was blatant, they would have been taking bets on you as you were coming down the concourse on how mad they can make you.

Normally it is only about $5 making the vein in the forehead throb, and $20 making you sweat, spit, and turn red. :p

---

Or simply, one department doesn't know what the other is doing.

And since you ain't the only customer, no telling where you fall in the quality control queue.

[zepharus]

I paid $2500 for Full use of a laptop not part time. When my bank holds my money I at least get interest. The bank also doesnt lie about where my money is. That is the goverments job

[LethalWolfe]

I paid $2500 for Full use of a laptop not part time. When my bank holds my money I at least get interest.
And when Apple holds your laptop it comes back working better than when you first gave it to them. That's got to count for something. ;)

It doesn't sound like there is any reason to assume the employee blatantly lied to you. Mistakes do happen. I'm sure you've even made a few in your life time. :p


Lethal

[CanadaRAM]

I paid $2500 for Full use of a laptop not part time. When my bank holds my money I at least get interest. The bank also doesnt lie about where my money is. That is the goverments job

Read the warranty: You may think you paid $2500 for full and uninterrupted use of your laptop -- but you didn't. Apple specifically disclaims responsibility for interruptions of use due to any reason including length of warranty repair.

You do realize that half of the time, the Fedex (or whomever) delivery time listed on the tracking site can be the time it was loaded into the truck, not the time it arrived at the destination, right?

Regardless... It's one day, relax. In a perfect world your machine would have had top priority over all of the other things that had to be done in that location, it would have been grabbed off the top of the FedEx pile and immediately prepared for your pickup, since it was likely you would check the time of Fedex delivery, and all staff would have been briefed hourly on the status of zepharus' laptop so that you got accurate information from each staff member, regardless whether they were in that department or not.

The world isn't perfect.

Hopefully, tomorrow your Mac notebook will be.

Please, though, when you do pick it up, open it up in the store and check it, both functionally and cosmetically. If this is your reaction to a a 1 day delay, I am afraid what would happen to the MR servers if you discovered the machine was scratched.;)

[CalBoy]

Thoughts? Quit being such a cry baby. He made a mistake and you will have it tomorrow. You aren't the only person that has a machine in for service.
I'd be pissed as hell too if my laptop, which I paid $2500 for, had been in repairs for 3 weeks. That alone warrants a complaint. Excuses about Apple not having enough logic boards around are garbage; Apple was ready to take the OP's money at the time he bought his notebook, and Apple should thus be ready to honor their side of the agreement in a TIMELY fashion. Seeing as how the OP is not far from a major population center(the largest in the Americas in fact), I don't see how getting him a repaired or a replacement notebook should take more than 7-10 business days. 3 weeks is very much unacceptable.

I work for an third party Apple repair store, and I can say I've done similar things myself. Sometimes you can go to find a machine and the tech who worked on it (or another one) will say, "Oh yeah, that one's supposed to be back tomorrow," when they're actually remembering another computer that is a similar. As far as telling you when it'll be ready, he probably either misinterpreted what the tech said (and was swiftly corrected via that phone call, which was more than I would have expected), or indeed was overzealous, in which case the same thing applies. Yes, he made a bit of a mistake, but completely understandable, and I doubt he was actually trying to lie to you. It's in their best interest to get those machines out of the store and back to you once they're done so they don't take up space in the back room.

jW
Your explanation seems to be the most logical. I think that's most likely what happened.
I paid $2500 for Full use of a laptop not part time. When my bank holds my money I at least get interest. The bank also doesnt lie about where my money is. That is the goverments job

I agree with you. I'd write a letter about this. At the very least, you ought to call Apple and gently tell them about your disappointments. Although what the employee did today wasn't bad, the 3 weeks it took to get you your mbp is certainly not acceptable.

[nadinbrzezinski]

I fail to see any wrongdoing. :confused:

...and trust me, if there's anybody who would be willing to find a flaw with the geniuses right now, it would be me.

That is piss poor service.

It does not matter what company does it

[zepharus]

I'd be pissed as hell too if my laptop, which I paid $2500 for, had been in repairs for 3 weeks. That alone warrants a complaint. Excuses about Apple not having enough logic boards around are garbage; Apple was ready to take the OP's money at the time he bought his notebook, and Apple should thus be ready to honor their side of the agreement in a TIMELY fashion. Seeing as how the OP is not far from a major population center(the largest in the Americas in fact), I don't see how getting him a repaired or a replacement notebook should take more than 7-10 business days. 3 weeks is very much unacceptable.


FINALLY some people that actually GET IT. This is an exampl of POOR SERVICE. I work in the public service sector, and this is the type of behavior that I drill my people and underlings NOT to committ! Customer service is a lost art, people dont give a rat's ass anymore about customer service and I find it disgusting. I firmly believe this country is going to hell, if in fact it is not already there.....

[rdowns]

...I drill my people and underlings NOT to committ!

Underlings? You must be a joy to work for. :rolleyes:

I will agree with you about CS, been trying to fix it at my company for almost a year now.

[Queso]

Do what I did, buy another Mac. Then you always have one to play with whilst the other is being repaired :D

[xpovos]

Regardless... It's one day, relax. [...] If this is your reaction to a a 1 day delay, I am afraid what would happen to the MR servers if you discovered the machine was scratched.;)

I think the problem is that it's 3 weeks. It takes three weeks for a repair, you're probably already a little frustrated, right? So you find out the machine is at the store, you make the drive, they tell you it's not there but then they tell you it's there but you can't have it. Yeah, I would be a little pissed, too. I understand about mistakes and I doubt the guy intentionally lied, but it would still be very frustrating.

I had something similar but different happen when I wanted to buy a hi-res 17" from my "local" Apple store (about an hour's drive away). They had just been released so they weren't in stock at the store yet. No problem, the day manager says they'll put one on hold for me when it arrives. Several days later she calls and says it's there and she's putting my name on it. I drive down later that evening and the night manager goes back and checks and comes back to tell me it's not actually there but it's arriving the next day. The extra day was no big deal, but I was pretty upset about having driven down there on a false premise and then gone home empty-handed.

So yeah, I can understand zepharus's frustration here.

[rdowns]

So yeah, I can understand zepharus's frustration here.


I think most can and do understand and even sympathize.

What I (and I'm sure many others) am tired of are all the complaint threads on MR since the iPhone release. They are out of control. Blatantly LIED to? Come on.

[zepharus]

I think most can and do understand and even sympathize.

What I (and I'm sure many others) am tired of are all the complaint threads on MR since the iPhone release. They are out of control. Blatantly LIED to? Come on.

yes it was a little harsh and reactive, but I've been waiting a long time for this repair and I have zero tolerance for poor customer service. Lied to was strong I will admit that....

[FluJunkie]

The store didn't tell you it was ready. You *decided* it was ready, because you *decided* that a tracking number and arrival time somehow means that the store is totally done with your machine and you can come pick it up.

You decided wrong.

[zepharus]

The store didn't tell you it was ready. You *decided* it was ready, because you *decided* that a tracking number and arrival time somehow means that the store is totally done with your machine and you can come pick it up.

You decided wrong.


Please read my original post again. I went for some death in a cup, and decided to go see if my long overdue repair was ready to pick up.... apparently reading skills as well as customer service are in decline in America....

[bartelby]

Please read my original post again. I went for some death in a cup, and decided to go see if my long overdue repair was ready to pick up.... apparently reading skills as well as customer service are in decline in America....



You decided to go and see, based on what information?

[jackc]

Please read my original post again. I went for some death in a cup, and decided to go see if my long overdue repair was ready to pick up.... apparently reading skills as well as customer service are in decline in America....

That's a little harsh on Cold Stone :D

[jessica.]

I paid $2500 for Full use of a laptop not part time. When my bank holds my money I at least get interest. The bank also doesnt lie about where my money is. That is the goverments job
Umm yeah, I'm guessing a person like you shouldn't be buying electronics.
Electronics fail and when they fail there tends to be some time needed to fix said electronic device. I'm going to venture to guess that your apples to oranges comparison above is a good indicator that you also have a huge sense of entitlement.

I get that you're pissed. Maybe the clerk was lazy and didn't want to really check for your computer or perhaps he just didn't get it. Who knows. Did he lie to you? Kind of in the beginning but lie seems like such a harsh word here when truly the clerk has nothing to gain by not giving your computer back. On the other hand, giving your computer back gets you out of the store to eat some "death in a cup" and play "lets irritate the underage punks violating the mall curfew for minors" for a while. I'd say it would be a win for the clerk to give you back the computer asap.

I'm not sure what is customary for repair times at Apple. I'm also not sure if your store is one that would be prone to heavy traffic because it is the only one for miles. I can't see them having a store in Syracuse and then another in Utica and surrounding towns so perhaps there are a lot of repairs. Calm down and be patient. Getting it fixed right the first time and not irritating the people who currently have your machine is probably for the best.

Please read my original post again. I went for some death in a cup, and decided to go see if my long overdue repair was ready to pick up.... apparently reading skills as well as customer service are in decline in America....
Comments like that will certainly earn you quite a few points around here. On behalf of a single member of the literate population in America I apologize that we, as Americans, were unable to meet your expectations. It is clear to me that we could stand to learn a thing or two from you. :rolleyes:

I'm really hoping for the best in your situation. It has been three weeks and that is a long time to be out of a computer, clearly while it was in repair you had to post on what I would presume you consider to be a sub-standard machine. I will give you this though. Being out of logic boards is absurd considering before I bought my first Mac the one thing I did know about was that many repairs are due to logic board failure. Seems to me whatever repair center your machine went to didn't keep enough inventory on hand.