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Attempting the possibly impossible???

E

ebook

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Well, here is a little background. About a month ago I received a 20" BT AirPort Extreme iMac!! That's the good news. From day one there was a loud fan problem, so on day two I called and spent an hour on the phone with Apple and the conclusion was yes it was unreasonably loud and they would send a new midplane to fix the problem. New midplane was sent and I replaced it. (This took one week) Powered up the computer and the noise was gone!!! 🙂 Then tried to connect to my Airport and no luck. Spent the next two hours talking with Apple Support and they decided to send me another midplane assembly! Now, I wait about two weeks for this one because they are backordered. Install (a little easier the second time around) and turn on to the same results as before. NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH!!! Not AirPort signal. So, I call Apple again!!! This time I only spend about twenty minutes and they tell me to take it to a authorized fixer (by the way, this guy does not understand why I needed another midplane). Well, I live in the sticks of Iowa, and until the new Apple Store opens in Des Monies I'm hours from an authorized fixer. So, Apple Man decides to just send me a new AirPort Express card! Okay, so now I have to wait again. Now after one month of having my brand new $2000 computer I have not been able to use it for 3/4 of the time because it must connect to the internet via wireless because of my situation. So, I'm not very happy!!!

My question is this, what do you think the chances are of me getting Apple to ship me a brand new computer. I feel like I've been royally screwed and that I've handled it too well. In fact as I type this my computer is noticably louder than the last midplane and my G3 iMac 500!!! Does anyone have any precident for getting a whole new computer?
 
I'd say call 'em and they can look up your trouble history. I would think they'd send you a new iMac if you asked enough. Or wait till November when the Apple Store opens in Des Moines... I don't want that one to open because then I might go there and *gulp* buy me a new computer... eeek!
 
ebook said:
Now after one month of having my brand new $2000 computer I have not been able to use it for 3/4 of the time because it must connect to the internet via wireless because of my situation.
Click to expand...

All other things aside, what is your "Situation" that won't allow you to plug into an ethernet port?

Is it possible you got two bad mid-plains? *Shrug*
 
cr2sh said:
All other things aside, what is your "Situation" that won't allow you to plug into an ethernet port?

Is it possible you got two bad mid-plains? *Shrug*
Click to expand...

I have a home office of sorts that is connected to my house. There are two seperate phone lines for the home and office and the DSL only comes to the office line. Thus, no internet at home for my wife. When everything was working I had wireless through out the house.

The guy that I talked to today didn't said the midplane was not the problem and he wasn't sure why the sent me another one for the AirPort problems...
 
I never liked Apple's dealing with service issues. Believe it or not, I have had great experiences with my Dell desktop. I had a motherboard problem on it the first week. They shipped me a new one before I shipped the old one back, so I wouldnt be without a computer. I then had a DVD drive and hard drive both go bad on the replacement one. They then sent me a new one, with a processor upgrade and with double the RAM and practically double the hard drive space for free as compensation for my troubles. Yea, I did have two computers go badwithin two weeks, but I felt they handled the situation very well. Now Apple on the other hand, forced me to drag in my Powerbook when i was haveing troubles with it. why cant they have a mail in service with the laptops at least?
 
i'm not sure how the new imac is but... since you ripped it all apart is it possible you didn't plug the airport antennas back in or something along those lines? hate to ask a stupid question but sometimes the obvious isn't mentioned first.. it's like my friends ask me why their computer doesn't start up.. is it plugged in? 😉
 
first, if the third midplane (second they sent you) is too loud i would use the first one they sent you if it works, then i would make sure that the airport card is seated very firmly, i know it has too be pushed almost harder than you think, and totally connected, then i would see if you can get any signal with it, after all it could be a software issue with the airport card, if you know the card is seated and all i would try creating a new user and see if that user can connect, repair permissions, try disableing airport and re enabling it, ect
 
Get all of the facts together where you can read them quickly...
call applecare....
ask/demand to speak to customer relations.....
before they can really speak with you go over all that you have had to do in order to try and get this computer to work.....
explain that you have spent a lot of money and you are not happy with it....
tell them you would like a new iMac that works out of the box......
I'd even demand an upgrade in RAM for your troubles
 
Jovian9 said:
Get all of the facts together where you can read them quickly...
call applecare....
ask/demand to speak to customer relations.....
before they can really speak with you go over all that you have had to do in order to try and get this computer to work.....
explain that you have spent a lot of money and you are not happy with it....
tell them you would like a new iMac that works out of the box......
I'd even demand an upgrade in RAM for your troubles
Click to expand...


I strongly agree with this. Theres no reason this should be your problem any more. Let us know how it turns out.
 
Logik said:
i'm not sure how the new imac is but... since you ripped it all apart is it possible you didn't plug the airport antennas back in or something along those lines? hate to ask a stupid question but sometimes the obvious isn't mentioned first.. it's like my friends ask me why their computer doesn't start up.. is it plugged in? 😉
Click to expand...

Yep, plugged in and good to go according to what Apple says. I wish it was something that easy!
 
PlaceofDis said:
first, if the third midplane (second they sent you) is too loud i would use the first one they sent you if it works, then i would make sure that the airport card is seated very firmly, i know it has too be pushed almost harder than you think, and totally connected, then i would see if you can get any signal with it, after all it could be a software issue with the airport card, if you know the card is seated and all i would try creating a new user and see if that user can connect, repair permissions, try disableing airport and re enabling it, ect
Click to expand...

Do you work for Apple??? Just kidding. Thanks for the advice, in fact those are the things I did with Apple tech support. I know it seems crazy all these problems I'm having, but they are true and not my fault...believe me.
 
LoL no i dont work for apple, but i wouldnt mind it, would be better than my current job

but anyways, if you have tried things even on the software end then definately call and as others have said, have everything on hand, and get a new one sent to you, and send yours back

its not your problem to fix anymore, apple need to fix this for you

hope things work out, let us know how things go
 
Oh man what are the chances of getting 2 new midplane assembly with faulty airport card... If the original midplane works with airport, is it possible to use something from there? I have not seen the internal of the iMac so I am not too sure if this is possible
 
joshua_msu said:
I never liked Apple's dealing with service issues. Believe it or not, I have had great experiences with my Dell desktop. I had a motherboard problem on it the first week. They shipped me a new one before I shipped the old one back, so I wouldnt be without a computer. I then had a DVD drive and hard drive both go bad on the replacement one. They then sent me a new one, with a processor upgrade and with double the RAM and practically double the hard drive space for free as compensation for my troubles. Yea, I did have two computers go badwithin two weeks, but I felt they handled the situation very well. Now Apple on the other hand, forced me to drag in my Powerbook when i was haveing troubles with it. why cant they have a mail in service with the laptops at least?
Click to expand...

Ummm, why you gonna come to an apple boards and brag about Dell's service? Let's brag about Dell's Stock shall we? Or Dell's business model, "Slap the cheapest crap you can ffind together and sell it for a super low profit margin to undercut the competition and drive them outta business" ala Wal-Mart... Talk about dell on their blog.
 
Umm, I cant criticize Apple? Like I mentioned, I do own and use an Apple. So I am not really trying to bash anything or anyone. They dont always handle everything right, and if I were to pick an area that they were lacking in, I would choose service and repair. I have had bad experiences firsthand, and have been dealt with better by other manufacturers. Just an observation and opinion, so take that for what it is worth.

I really cant stand it when people get all defensive about criticism. Its like they are abunch of sheep, not willing to accept that Apple does some things wrong. Chill out dude.
 
joshua_msu said:
why cant they have a mail in service with the laptops at least?
Click to expand...

Weird. They do have ship in in Germany and when I asked they said they'd ship it in and out of Spain too. Last time I had a problem with my PB they picked it up and brought it back to me 3 days later.
 
joshua_msu said:
I never liked Apple's dealing with service issues. Believe it or not, I have had great experiences with my Dell desktop. I had a motherboard problem on it the first week. They shipped me a new one before I shipped the old one back, so I wouldnt be without a computer. I then had a DVD drive and hard drive both go bad on the replacement one. They then sent me a new one, with a processor upgrade and with double the RAM and practically double the hard drive space for free as compensation for my troubles. Yea, I did have two computers go badwithin two weeks, but I felt they handled the situation very well. Now Apple on the other hand, forced me to drag in my Powerbook when i was haveing troubles with it. why cant they have a mail in service with the laptops at least?
Click to expand...

That's funny... Every time one of my laptops went bad, Apple shipped a box to my house, and I shipped the box to Apple, and it got fixed... I can only say that my service from Apple has been top-notch. Now I've seen some crappy dells... The nature of the game is that different people are going to have different experiences with tech support, so you shouldn't base your opinions off of one person's accounts...
 
angelneo said:
Oh man what are the chances of getting 2 new midplane assembly with faulty airport card... If the original midplane works with airport, is it possible to use something from there? I have not seen the internal of the iMac so I am not too sure if this is possible
Click to expand...

No, acutally the midplane is pretty much one whole unit that you can't replace parts on. I suppose an authorized dealer might be able to do something, but no the average joe.

On a side note, this afternoon I'm going to switch back to the second midplane so this will be my third time. Maybe I should open up a shop!!
 
Write them a letter and tell them how dedicated you are to their brand but how frustrating this experience has been. Tell them you are second guessing whether to recommend apples to others because of the lackluster support experience. They will probably send you a new computer then.
 
This remonds me of when an Apple service centre trashed an old iMac of mine (which was no longer mine - it had been a trade in but I hadn't got the new machine yet) Well sevice centre decided to install macosx on the iMac and killed it (analogue card), they blamed me. I said the iMac is no longer mine it was ok when I gave it to them, they broke it - I didn't have a receipt but I did keep a series of emails backing up the trade in story.

Well to cut a long story short I ended up writing to Steve Jobs.
I didn't expect to hear anything but my email got forwarded to some one important enough to sort out my problem real quick.

So yes I did receive c**p service from a recognised centre but Apple came through big time for me.

I wonder if windoze owners all emailed Billy to say they had c**p ....how would they get on?
 
On the phone...

I'm on the phone and I'm getting MAD!!! Sorry, Apple but I have to be MAD 😡 😡
 
ebook said:
I'm on the phone and I'm getting MAD!!! Sorry, Apple but I have to be MAD 😡 😡
Click to expand...

Okay, well it took 40 minutes and now it will take about TWO weeks, but I sort of got what I wanted. Apple is going to send me a new computer. But, I'm going to have to send my back first and then call a Product Specialist and give them the tracking number. Once I do that he will go through the process of sending me the new computer which may take two weeks. So, I'll be with out an iMac for awhile. I guess it's really no different because of all of the problems I've been having (and I get to go through the waiting for the iMac feelings twice now). The guy I spoke to was nice enough and I'm sure he was just doing his job, but he wanted to send my case to the engineers (again) and then get back to me sometime early next week. I told him the deal was that I wanted a new computer that worked and he said well if the engineers don't figure something out then we will do that. So, I said..."NO!! I want to start the process of sending me a new computer NOW, not sometime next week because I know it will take time to get my BTO computer." He finally said okay, and put me on hold before he came back and told me that he could go ahead and start the process to send me a new one.

Well, now that I've had lunch and the red has left my face I think I'm going to call him back and tell him that for all of my trouble 4+ hours on the phone with Apple Support and 3+ hours of replacing parts the least the could do for me is upgrade my ram since they have to BTO the machine anyways.

So, there is my saga...hopefully it is not a never ending saga!
 
ebook said:
Okay, well it took 40 minutes and now it will take about TWO weeks, but I sort of got what I wanted. Apple is going to send me a new computer. But, I'm going to have to send my back first and then call a Product Specialist and give them the tracking number. Once I do that he will go through the process of sending me the new computer which may take two weeks. So, I'll be with out an iMac for awhile. I guess it's really no different because of all of the problems I've been having (and I get to go through the waiting for the iMac feelings twice now). The guy I spoke to was nice enough and I'm sure he was just doing his job, but he wanted to send my case to the engineers (again) and then get back to me sometime early next week. I told him the deal was that I wanted a new computer that worked and he said well if the engineers don't figure something out then we will do that. So, I said..."NO!! I want to start the process of sending me a new computer NOW, not sometime next week because I know it will take time to get my BTO computer." He finally said okay, and put me on hold before he came back and told me that he could go ahead and start the process to send me a new one.

Well, now that I've had lunch and the red has left my face I think I'm going to call him back and tell him that for all of my trouble 4+ hours on the phone with Apple Support and 3+ hours of replacing parts the least the could do for me is upgrade my ram since they have to BTO the machine anyways.

So, there is my saga...hopefully it is not a never ending saga!
Click to expand...

if he was nice, make sure you give a big thank you to him. working with the public is hard and you may wish to make his day a bit better by at least telling him you appreciate him being willing to help and being patient about it.
 
SilentPanda said:
I'd say call 'em and they can look up your trouble history. I would think they'd send you a new iMac if you asked enough. Or wait till November when the Apple Store opens in Des Moines... I don't want that one to open because then I might go there and *gulp* buy me a new computer... eeek!
Click to expand...

Theres an Apple store comming to Des Moines?!? 😱 😱

I thought I saw Apple's name on the map of that new mall on the west side, but I couldn't believe they'd actually open one here.

How soon before we get one in Cedar Rapids?!?
 
sgarringer said:
Theres an Apple store comming to Des Moines?!? 😱 😱

I thought I saw Apple's name on the map of that new mall on the west side, but I couldn't believe they'd actually open one here.

How soon before we get one in Cedar Rapids?!?
Click to expand...

Yep, its in the new Jordan Creek Towncenter in West Des Moines. I don't have a firm opening date, but I have heard rumors of November... As far as Cedar Rapids goes...well, I doubt it would go there, but maybe in Iowa City. But, since I moved away it would be my luck that one opened!!!
 
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