Apple sent computer back with wrong hard drive!

APPLENEWBIE · Feb 15, 2007

I just picked up a macbook, taken to compusa for repair. They had sent it to apple, apple repaired it and sent it back to compusa.

It is the same computer I dropped off at compusa, BUT IT HAS A DIFFERENT HARD DRIVE. THE DATA BELONGS TO SOMEONE ELSE!!! MY DATA/APPLICATIONS ARE NO WHERE TO BE SEEN!

COMPUSA SUGGESTS THAT I JUST wipe THE HARD DRIVE AND RELOAD OSX AND EVERY THING ELSE.

in the interest of time... we have decided to do that...

How do I do that? I guess we need to wipe the drive and then reload... can anyone let me know how to do this?

Thanks

Gee · Feb 15, 2007

Whoa there. The person that actually owns the hard drive might have stuff on there they don't want to lose! Have you thought about calling Apple?

smueboy · Feb 15, 2007

Gee said:
Whoa there. The person that actually owns the hard drive might have stuff on there they don't want to lose! Have you thought about calling Apple?

Yeah. Hopefully they backed up before repair, but who knows.
That's pretty poor. I'd consider calling Apple too; though yes, it could mean more time without the computer......

If you want to blow the drive away, put in the install DVD and choose 'erase and install' under the options button when choosing install type.

APPLENEWBIE · Feb 15, 2007

smueboy said:
Yeah. Hopefully they backed up before repair, but who knows.
That's pretty poor. I'd consider calling Apple too; though yes, it could mean more time without the computer......

If you want to blow the drive away, put in the install DVD and choose 'erase and install' under the options button when choosing install type.

WHOA indeed... you are right. I am on the phone with apple now... they are going up the food chain to sort it out... thanks for the advice...

EricNau · Feb 15, 2007

Remember, if you got someone else's HD, there's a good chance they got yours.

CanadaRAM · Feb 15, 2007

And your browser autofills with your credit card, email passwords, and pr0n...

dllavaneras · Feb 15, 2007

CanadaRAM said:
And your browser autofills with your credit card, email passwords, and pr0n...

Ouch. Thats a lot of important info in the wrong hands

Cromulent · Feb 15, 2007

That is a pretty big mistake. I'd push for something more than a sorry from Apple as they could potentially have compromised your personal data. That sort of thing really should not happen.

RacerX · Feb 15, 2007

dllavaneras said:
Ouch. Thats a lot of important info in the wrong hands

More of an ouch when you consider that the odds are that it is in the hands of the person whose hard drive you have... If you wiped out all their important stuff, what might you expect them to do with your stuff.

The person at CompUSA that told you to erase and start over sounds like the person who (out of everyone involved) should most consider having removed from their position... or at least reprimanded. It is one thing to make a mistake (swapping two hard drives), it is quite another thing to willfully encourage people to damage/destroy other people's property.

xyian · Feb 15, 2007

While contacting Apple so that they can contact the person whom is the owner of the hard drive is the right thing to do, remember this:
one of the stipulations of, not only Apple, warranties is that they are not liable for data lost, etc... when you take it in for help. They always have it in the fine print that you should back up your info before sending a machine off for repair.

If you could get the data back to the rightful owner though, your karma points would surely rise.

AlBDamned · Feb 15, 2007

Cromulent said:
That sort of thing really should not happen.

It happens more than it should. I had my powerbook logic board repaired and they gave me the wrong laptop back.

The when they finally got my machine they'd replaced the 1.67Ghz Logic board with a 1.5Ghz one.

Shouldn't happen but does!

I'd question though - are you sure it's your machine? Have you checked the serial number? Could be the hard drive is different but it could also be a completely different machine.

RacerX said:
The person at CompUSA that told you to erase and start over sounds like the person who (out of everyone involved) should most consider having removed from their position... or at least reprimanded. It is one thing to make a mistake (swapping two hard drives), it is quite another thing to willfully encourage people to damage/destroy other people's property.

You're right, the CompUSA person sounds like a complete numbnuts.

Macky-Mac · Feb 15, 2007

.....besides which, you could lose some of your warranty coverage if this computer is older than yours

EricNau · Feb 15, 2007

RacerX said:
More of an ouch when you consider that the odds are that it is in the hands of the person whose hard drive you have... If you wiped out all their important stuff, what might you expect them to do with your stuff.

I can only hope that both parties erased each other's data. The consequences could be far worse if that data got into the wrong hands and was illegally used.

The person at CompUSA that told you to erase and start over sounds like the person who (out of everyone involved) should most consider having removed from their position... or at least reprimanded. It is one thing to make a mistake (swapping two hard drives), it is quite another thing to willfully encourage people to damage/destroy other people's property.

I don't think so.

All companies warn you to backup your personal data before sending your computer in for repair. Thus, deleting the other party's hard drive should not be a problem (as they should already have a copy elsewhere).

The employee who switched the Hard Drives is the one who deserves disciplinary action. The employee who suggested deleting the data, on the other hand, should be rewarded, as he or she has both parties' best interest in mind.

AlBDamned · Feb 15, 2007

EricNau said:
The employee who switched the Hard Drives is the one who deserves disciplinary action. The employee who suggested deleting the data, on the other hand, should be rewarded, as he or she has both parties' best interest in mind.

I see where you're coming from here but don't you don't think they should have investigatedwhat went wrong or at least reported the problem? Regardles whether it's a different laptop or just different hard drives, mistakes like that need to be flagged, not just dismissed.

theBB · Feb 16, 2007

xyian said:
one of the stipulations of, not only Apple, warranties is that they are not liable for data lost, etc... when you take it in for help. They always have it in the fine print that you should back up your info before sending a machine off for repair.

Well, it is one thing to get your data destroyed due to harddisk failure or if they need to reinstall OS, but it is something else for them to actually send your data to a random person. This is scary.

smueboy · Feb 16, 2007

I'm interested to hear what Apple's response/action was.

APPLENEWBIE · Feb 17, 2007

Well... Here is the current status...

APPLE was also going to just help me wipe the hard drive, stating that they could probably not find my hard drive, yada yada...

So, I decided to go along with that, but first I located the information from the original owner and tried to call/email her. No response.

So then, in the process with apple getting ready to reformat the (wrong) drive, I noticed that the drive I got was 60 gb, but my original one was 80gb. Apple let me decide what to do, and I chose to have them send me a shipping box so that they can install a new 80gb. If there was an apple store near where I live, they could do it, but the nearest one is 300+ miles away.

I don't think that there was much in the way of stuff like credit card numbers, etc on that machine.... I hope. It was used by one of the kids as as a school computer. But I am not sure.

THis really is a big deal from a security standpoint. I guess we should be very careful about wiping any sensative info before shipping a mac for repair.

The more I think about this, the more concerned I am about the data that was lost. Mostly music and photos I suppose, but there is a chance more sensative info has escaped. Any advice? Should I ask Apple for a gimme to make it right?

lamina · Feb 17, 2007

You really could have made a HUGE stink about this. I would have. Where the H is your hard drive? What if your hard drive had personal financial data or trade secrets on it?

This has gotta be the worst thing I've heard of from Apple. This and when they lost some guys MBP.

Mac-Addict · Feb 17, 2007

Owww sounds like compusa suck! What if the person with your hard drive can autofill your online banking or what not!

gnasher729 · Feb 17, 2007

APPLENEWBIE said:
I don't think that there was much in the way of stuff like credit card numbers, etc on that machine.... I hope.

There is a little known program named "Keychain Access" in the Utilities folder, which is responsible for handling lots of things that are protected by passwords. One feature of the program is "Secure Notes" which lets you add notes; the title is always readable, reading the contents of each note requires your administrator password. The encryption is unbreakable as long as nobody can guess your password.

Ideal for storing things like passwords that you need elsewhere, credit card and bank account numbers and so on.

yg17 · Feb 17, 2007

Mac-Addict said:
Owww sounds like compusa suck! What if the person with your hard drive can autofill your online banking or what not!

You have to be pretty dumb to use autofill for any online banking/credit card/personal information. And if you are that dumb, then maybe it's a good way to teach you a lesson

APPLENEWBIE · Feb 17, 2007

I have sent the Apple security department the following email and got a return acknowledgement of receipt:

Gentlemen: I recently sent a macbook in for service. It would not start. I took it to Compusa here in XXXXX, and they in turn forwarded it to Apple for repair. When I got it back the other day, IT HAD SOMEONE ELSE'S HARD DRIVE IN IT.

THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS SITUATION. The macbook hard drive that I sent in may or may not have sensitive data on it, I am not sure yet, since it has been used mostly by my son at college. I know that the hard drive that I received had data on it that I'm sure the owner would not want just anyone to see. I have figured out who the owner is (I think) and have left them a phone message to call me if they want me to do anything to get their hard drive back to them.

I have been in touch with Apple service department. At first they suggested that we just wipe the drive I received, and reload the operating system. While we were discussing that, I discovered that the drive I received was a 60gb drive, whereas the original drive in my macbook was an 80gb. So, Apple service is sending me a box to ship it back so that they can put an 80 gb drive in it. During my discussions with Apple service, I asked if there was any way they could find out where my drive is, and they did not seem interested in pursuing that option. I was surprised. I even offered to give them the info from the drive in the macbook to see if they wanted to contact that person. No interest, again.

It is one thing for a drive to be damaged or data lost in the process of service. It is quite another for a drive to be lost, and sent to someone else!

Please let me know what you propose to do about this situation.

cepler · Feb 17, 2007

I sent my G4 Powerbook in due to a fried Firewire port. Motherboard had to be replaced. When I got it back it had this in the drive:

And a couple small scratches on the top of the case. Annoying, oh well. Seems Apple needs to watch their repair folks/depots a bit more closely.

drake · Feb 17, 2007

APPLENEWBIE said:
So then, in the process with apple getting ready to reformat the (wrong) drive, I noticed that the drive I got was 60 gb, but my original one was 80gb. Apple let me decide what to do, and I chose to have them send me a shipping box so that they can install a new 80gb. If there was an apple store near where I live, they could do it, but the nearest one is 300+ miles away.

You could have them send you another hard drive, its pretty easy to install. They should definitely upgrade you to a 120gb for the hassle they put you through.

THis really is a big deal from a security standpoint. I guess we should be very careful about wiping any sensative info before shipping a mac for repair.

The most important lesson here.

APPLENEWBIE · Feb 17, 2007

AlBDamned said:
I'd question though - are you sure it's your machine? Have you checked the serial number? Could be the hard drive is different but it could also be a completely different machine.

I did check and the chassis serial number is correct. It is my machine.

Apple sent computer back with wrong hard drive!

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