I'm angry. Let's vent!

[joewillmott]

MBA 2012. 3 years AppleCare still in-tact. EVERYTHING is breaking and Apple are denying almost all of it. Listen to me rant.

Built-in microphone? Yeah that completely died a month ago. In the Apple store they plugged it into their little debugger-cable and said "nope it's fine". I showed them many apps where it wasn't working. I showed them all of the settings/preferences... they still insist it's fine.

Wi-Fi? That thing loves to drop out 5+ times a day. I considered it being my router but it happens at every single location ever. It must be okay though because Apple's in-store debugger-cable couldn't pick anything up.

USB sockets? I sometimes have one of those! The one on the left can somtimes work. The other died months ago. Apple plugged peripherals in and they didn't work, yet when they ran their in-store debugger it showed no problems so they've signed it off as "ok". Sweet!

Battery? That currently stands at around 60% health. I am a heavy user however, so I expected a drop. This is a bit much, though. But hey; they acknowledged this and offered to replace it for a few hundy!

Built-n-trackpad? That one decides a single-touch is a multi-touch and vice-versa pretty darn often. It's completely clean. Apple's in-store debugger-cable saw no issues, though.

Horrific lag? YOU GOT IT! I guess scrolling through eBay listings, Facebook feeds and Google search results is pretty darn taxing, though.

Freezing? Yeah my MBA does that wonderfully often. Twice today (hence the anger post), but usually twice per week. It's okay though because Apple told me there are no hardware problems. I do a complete HDD wipe and fresh install every now and again, but it continues freezing.

I want Apple to make me happy, I really do! For the first 2 years I was *almost* completely satisfied (my £75 gift card with the MBA purchase said it had already been used and Apple refused me a new one). It's getting a little ridiculous now, though. The only problem they acknowledge is the battery, everything else they say is fine because their little system-check says "OK" next to everything. I show them the issues in-store. They quite literally see them happen, but then deny them! I even sent it off to Apple a while back and again all I got was an "unhealthy battery, buy a replacement" advisory.

Boy did I rant! Tear me apart, write your own rant, do whatever. I needed to vent somewhere.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Email Tim Cook. I've never encountered an Apple Store that would refuse to replace a Logic Board if they see first-hand that it doesn't work with any peripherals.

If your Mac's freezing, check the SSD SMART Data. The SSD could be corrupted. I use SMART Utility: http://cloudfront.volitans-software.com/smartutility314.zip

 

[SSD-GUY]

I would call Applecare directly. They've been nothing but perfect with me.

Oh, and your battery is included within applecare, and should be replaced.

 

[darngooddesign]

It sounds like you didn't push back hard enough when they told you that obviously broken things were working. I have found that replying loud enough for all the other customers at the Genius bar to hear usually helps.

 

[Meister]

Your story sounds implausible.
If it is true then you will have to talk to your lawyer and he will have to do his job and make apple fix your macbook.

 

[Kaylor]

Call applecare and escalate, escalate, escalate. If your applecare is in fact still valid there's no reason why they shouldn't fix those problems. Had my display (hinge made super loud popping and creaking noises) and battery (it was sometimes displaying <40% capacity and "Service Battery" notification) in my 2012 MBA and they were both covered fine.

Maybe it was just an inexperienced genius who was overwhelmed with the amount of issues.

 

[racoop]

I am skeptical - what's the real story here? I have certainly never had such an experience with the Apple Store folks before. They have always been accommodating and willing to listen. If there was a problem, it was addressed. And no, I don't work for Apple.

 

[firedept]

You are either dealing with an Apple Store that need head office to come and see what they are doing or something happened between you and the Genius. I have only ever had one iMac with issues and Apple went out of its way to make things right for me. They spent hours and dollars trying to fix my machine before replacing it for a new one. And it was close to 2 years old. I am very surprised that they would be giving you a hard time when the issues you say you are having are happening right in front of them and they are not acknowledging them.

I would certainly be calling Applecare or emailing Tim Cook. But I would cool down before I did it. Anger will not get you anywhere quick.

 

[alphaod]

Doesn't sound like your typical Apple Store experience to me. My stores have always been very accomadating. My battery health recently dropped to 90% and the store said if if I goes any low to 85% or so, I should bring it in and they will replace it.

Are you sure, you're bringing it to an Apple Store and not an authorized repair facility?

 

[Moopy Sac]

I am skeptical - what's the real story here? I have certainly never had such an experience with the Apple Store folks before. They have always been accommodating and willing to listen. If there was a problem, it was addressed. And no, I don't work for Apple.

The single worst customer service experience I've ever had was at the Chicago Apple Store on Michigan Avenue. Disrespectful, lying over and over to cover their incompetence. The absolute worst. When escalated to the assistant manager of the store, he was even worse. It was amazing and appalling.

It's not all unicorns and honey, some of the employees are absolute shiat.

 

[dsmedic10]

I have never had a problem with my local Apple Store. If its not totally out of the way I would take your machine to another store and see if you can get service there. Then I would file a complaint about the employee(s) at the original store you have a problem with.

 

[Studflower]

You should definitely get the names and escalate by sending letters/emails. Let the upstairs people know what happened and express your dissatisfaction. I've never heard of Apple missing the mark so hard, especially under Applecare.

 

[cerberusss]

To be honest, I've had a lemon before.

Now I know not everybody has enough money for this, but I sold it for a bargain price to a student, and was honest about the shortcomings. Then I bought a new one.

Make sure you don't put in too much energy. Think about your heart, man

 

[Meister]

To be honest, I've had a lemon before.

Now I know not everybody has enough money for this, but I sold it for a bargain price to a student, and was honest about the shortcomings. Then I bought a new one.

Make sure you don't put in too much energy. Think about your heart, man

That is plain stupid!

The OP's mac is under applecare and he is entitled to all the repairs he needs.
No energy needs to be put into this.

 

[Godzirra]

Get back in touch with Apple, explain it all again (even though they should have cases for when you went into them), and get it escalated. The tests just prove that the hardware is there and being recognised by the testing software. The person you dealt with should have got it in for repair as it's under AppleCare. If he has seen a fault or two, especially with the list you mentioned, I'd have said the logic board needs replacing. Did he open the machine up at all, and check inside? Go back and try again, as others have said, probably someone who is new at his job or inexperienced.

 

[imanidiot]

I'm curious why anyone else should vent just because the OP is angry. Is the OP not capable of venting on his own? Does he need help/applause/companionship/approval in the lonely existential act of venting?

 

[darngooddesign]

If you don't vent in public you're just talking to yourself.

 

[imanidiot]

If you don't vent in public you're just talking to yourself.

I get that. But that is not what the OP is requesting. He's asking for others to join in because he's lonely or insecure or something.

 

[jamescharley22]

I've had a similar experience before and it was painful, but Apple made up for it. My MacBook Pro (Mid-2012) stopped looking for Wi-Fi, then it stopped connecting, then Wi-Fi stopped working. About a week later from my Wi-Fi issues, it came to a crawl. I called Apple the first time, but they refused to open my laptop because a huge dent I had in the bottom case. I insisted they overlook the dent and replace any component that might have failed that wasn't a result of the dent. After a few minutes of transfers, I finally got them to send another box for mail-in repair. They sent it back in the same condition and said that absolutely nothing was wrong with it and it worked fine for a few hours of use. Then the issues came back and Bluetooth stopped working. I went into an Apple Store and they said they'd have a look. They later called and said they'd be doing a few repairs covered by AppleCare. I got it back that same evening, and it worked again for a few hours. Once it stopped, I called AppleCare and I was miffed. They offered to have me send it in again, so I dropped it back off at the same Apple Store. I got a voicemail saying my laptop was going to be held because repairs would cost upwards of $1,000. I called back and explained the situation, and the lady on the phone said the Apple Store I dropped it off with wasn't supposed to repairs because they didn't diagnose it, then she said they didn't do the repairs they said they did, so she overrode the cost and reran it for complete repair. I received their comprehensive report and they had fixed the dent (which I knew about), replaced the logic board, the AirPort card, both RAM DIMMs, the GPU, the GPU interconnect cables, the display (they upgraded the display to their HiRes 1050 x 1860 because of stock issue), and the hard drive (they also upgraded that to a 750 GB @ 7200 rpm). All of these fixes and I've not encountered one issue since then. Apple will fix their mistakes, just keep calling them.

 

[Kaylor]

I get that. But that is not what the OP is requesting. He's asking for others to join in because he's lonely or insecure or something.

Perhaps by inviting others to vent along with him he's hoping someone will have experienced something similar, but eventually reached some sort of resolution, so he could find a way to get his machine fixed. I would be pretty annoyed if that was my user experience with a piece of tech from a company whose mantra is, "it just works," though my first instinct wouldn't have necessarily been to jump onto macrumors and write up a post about it.

 

[darngooddesign]

I get that. But that is not what the OP is requesting. He's asking for others to join in because he's lonely or insecure or something.

At no point did he ask anyone else to join him in ranting.

 

[Kaylor]

At no point did he ask anyone else to join him in ranting.

"Let's vent!" in the title could be seen as an invitation for others to rant with him.

 

[Meister]

Thread is now several days old, didn't make much sense in the first place and the OP never returned.
Time to rap it up.

 

[thasan]

re you sure its a proper apple store? not a third party service centre? your storey sounds implausible to me

 

[xsquid]

Time to rap it up.

Uh, OK but just a little.

o, VIP, let's kick it!

Ice Ice Baby, Ice Ice Baby

All right stop, Collaborate and listen
Ice is back with my brand new invention
Something grabs a hold of me tightly
Flow like a harpoon daily and nightly
Will it ever stop? Yo, I don't know
Turn off the lights and I'll glow
To the extreme I rock a mic like a vandal
Light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle.