Very Poor QC with AppleCare

I know that on forums most people only bother to post with issues. That being said I do love my macbook, iPhone, iPods, etc., so this isn't a total bash just an observation.

During the big weekend of 3G my macbook keyboard and trackpad died. Called support and after the usual hoo-ha try this, etc., it still didn't work. Before calling I also tried some steps I was told to try from this site, and I appreciated that advice.

No go, had to send it back as I have no store nearby and no time to schlep it around. Got the box, back to repair, back to me in about 5 days.

And...it doesn't work. Nobody at their repair center in TN apparently bothered to turn it back on after replacing the keyboard/top case assembly.

So another call and it goes back again after re-trying the same steps tried the first time.

Nice QC. I am OK with something "breaking" but fix it right and fix it right the first time. Shame on them as this is a laptop I use from home so I don't have to commute to work everyday.

Oh yeah, it was also covered in grease smudges, even on the "new" keyboard.

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I'm not sure what I should ask them in reference to the number. I gave them all the info from the repair. He had nothing other than that they replaced the keyboard and top assembly. Even with an external mouse keyboard is d.o.a.

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steps were login as another user. Not possible no keyboard. Had me clear caches folder and delete some com.apple files. Opt cmd p r boot um, not without a keyboard.

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That sounds logical that it's a connection. It'll get resolved just disappointed. At least I have iPhone for email, etc.

I admit when I'm wrong so here goes.

It didn't work one bit Thursday or Friday when I called Apple. I got it home last night and had asked my wife to bring her wireless keyboard home. I booted up and did option-command-P-R, holding until the second "bong" it still didn't work so I restarted. At the restart the keyboard and trackpad became responsive.

It still doesn't make sense and I'll keep an eye on it but at this point it appears it was fixed but something odd must've happened between the repair and my home.

Thanks.

Just wanted to continue this as a bit of a vent.

It did indeed go dead again after repair 1, sent back for repair 2, the tech stated that he'd specifically request a new logic board. Per the repair this wasn't done.

About 1 week after repair 2 it was dead again, no resets would get it going.

I'm now on repair 3, no offense but this apple is a total lemon, same issue 3 times. I'm still waiting for a return, status is "repair in progress."

I wasn't too pleased with the handling of the issue by apple and at this point I'm quite disappointed overall in the quality of the hardware. The apple experience in terms of OS X has been great but I never had these issues with any PC hardware I've ever had, whether work or home PCs.

Sorry to vent, but this saga is getting absurd.

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Thanks for the idea. Do you know where I can get the address fit executive services? Thanks again.

Well, what I hope is a final follow-up, because I will give credit where do.

I did email sjobs@apple.com. i have no idea if that had anything to do with it, I assume Mr. Jobs doesn't necessarily read them all but perhaps an assistant does. I explained the whole situation and provided the repair IDs.

I received an email from a product champ at apple offering a replacement in kind, so the latest version of the $1299 macbook. I accepted as I had used time machine to backup. He stated that they were confident the original could be fixed but that they would like to keep it to see what had really gone wrong. He was very nice to speak to and all went well, I got the new MacBook via next day air.

In the end I'm happy. I still think the original had gremlins/was a lemon but I was polite in both phone and email to Apple, I never demanded anything only that I wanted a laptop that worked as intended.

Sorry if this is an unnecessary post but again, if I am going to post about a negative I wanted to state that it had been resolved and I feel positively about Apple.

Thanks, take care.