I have long admired Apple's line of portables and I recently decide to bite the bullet and get one. Yesterday I recived my refurbished 12 inch 1 Ghz model powerbook in the mail.
I opened it up,plugged it in and hit the power... nothing happened. I waited until the battery was fully charged and still no response. I gave AppleCare a call and after spending about a half hour on the phone we were able to force the powerbook to start (by clearing the PMU or something like that he said) but it would crash to a blank screen after maybe 30 seconds.
Finally the AppleCare Rep. decided that we were over our heads as to what could be done over the phone and he recommended that I visit my local Apple store.
After I arrived the first person I spoke to wasn't very helpfull and insisted that I just hadn't charged the battery enough. I started to get annoyed and I think she recognized that found someone else to help me. The next individual was much more responsive and listened to what I had to say. He gave my powerbook a look over and was unable to gey it to start at all. He gave me a case number and told me I should call back AppleCare and I could arrange to have my powerbook either repaired or replaced.
So back at on the phone with AppleCare I stated my prefrence to have the computer replaced. I was then transfered to some one who took down my info and set up what he called an "escalation" to have my DOA powerbook replaced. Unfortunatly the department that handles cases like mine is not open on the weekends and I am going to have to wait till Monday for a call back.
I asked the rep what is the usual course of action in situations like this and he said that he hadn't delt with a case like this in quite some time but from what he understood I would recive a call on Monday to arrange pick up of the computer from my home and once it was verified to be in Apple's warehouse they would ship me a new refurbished model or if they are out of stock a brand new 12 inch powerbook at no extra cost.
Intrestingly one of the reps I was on the phone with was very suprised I had purchased the powerbook as a refurb. because it according to the serial number it was Built on Feb. 7th. To put that in perspective It shipped on the 16th and I recived it on the 21st.
I have to admit I am pretty disappionted about reciving a dud refurb and being forced to wait for a replacement. This incident really makes me call into question the quality of Apple's refurbised products. Which isn't very comforting since I also bought a refurb. AE card. On the positive side I was impressed with the quality of Apple's Phone support. They were knowledgeable and took the time to answer all of my questions.
Has anyone been down this road before or have any advice? Do you think I can get Apple to spring for free expedited shiping to compenate for my lost time?
I opened it up,plugged it in and hit the power... nothing happened. I waited until the battery was fully charged and still no response. I gave AppleCare a call and after spending about a half hour on the phone we were able to force the powerbook to start (by clearing the PMU or something like that he said) but it would crash to a blank screen after maybe 30 seconds.
Finally the AppleCare Rep. decided that we were over our heads as to what could be done over the phone and he recommended that I visit my local Apple store.
After I arrived the first person I spoke to wasn't very helpfull and insisted that I just hadn't charged the battery enough. I started to get annoyed and I think she recognized that found someone else to help me. The next individual was much more responsive and listened to what I had to say. He gave my powerbook a look over and was unable to gey it to start at all. He gave me a case number and told me I should call back AppleCare and I could arrange to have my powerbook either repaired or replaced.
So back at on the phone with AppleCare I stated my prefrence to have the computer replaced. I was then transfered to some one who took down my info and set up what he called an "escalation" to have my DOA powerbook replaced. Unfortunatly the department that handles cases like mine is not open on the weekends and I am going to have to wait till Monday for a call back.
I asked the rep what is the usual course of action in situations like this and he said that he hadn't delt with a case like this in quite some time but from what he understood I would recive a call on Monday to arrange pick up of the computer from my home and once it was verified to be in Apple's warehouse they would ship me a new refurbished model or if they are out of stock a brand new 12 inch powerbook at no extra cost.
Intrestingly one of the reps I was on the phone with was very suprised I had purchased the powerbook as a refurb. because it according to the serial number it was Built on Feb. 7th. To put that in perspective It shipped on the 16th and I recived it on the 21st.
I have to admit I am pretty disappionted about reciving a dud refurb and being forced to wait for a replacement. This incident really makes me call into question the quality of Apple's refurbised products. Which isn't very comforting since I also bought a refurb. AE card. On the positive side I was impressed with the quality of Apple's Phone support. They were knowledgeable and took the time to answer all of my questions.
Has anyone been down this road before or have any advice? Do you think I can get Apple to spring for free expedited shiping to compenate for my lost time?