Hey guys, just thought I'd share my story. Despite the grim beginning, this is not a rant, I'm very impressed with Apple customer service.
I bought a Unibody MBP in October shortly after it was released. According to serial number lookup websites, it was built during the week of the announcement. It seemed like a perfect machine, except one little dead pixel. After a few months, the hinge has developed a loud high pitched squeak that turns heads in lecture halls. So I brought it into a Apple store for repairs last Thursday.
The next day they gave me a call, and told me they replaced the display with a new one and it was ready for pickup. This morning (Monday) I come in to pick it up. Immediately I noticed that the whole top of the machine was replaced, because the aluminum on the lid was slightly darker from the rest of the machine. (weird, I know...) More importantly, it was extremely mis-aligned the screen was sticking out the side by a few millimeters. To add insult to injury, one of the screws on the bottom of the machine was screwed in halfway. I got the impression the repair genius that was working on my machine was drunk.
After about 10 people apologizing to me, they said they would have have it fixed within an hour. So I went to one of my lectures and came back after 2 hours. I was told that it was a very troublesome repair job so they swapped out the hard drives and just gave me a brand new machine instead. (sweet, new battery...)
I've been using it for the past 2 hours on my annoyingly long lunch break. And I must say, the difference between the two computers is like night and day. It is much better in so many ways:
-The keyboard is much much softer, and much easier to type on, and the keys stick out about 1mm less so they don't touch the screen when it's closed.
-The black plastic beneath the monitor is a lot more solid and doesn't bend easily like on my previous machine.
-The LED battery indicator is a lot brighter.
-The touch pad clicking noise is a bit quieter ( I think).
- and the DVD drive also makes a lot less noise compared to my previous machine.
-There is no rattle from the right speaker at full volume.
- The lid is more stiff in the center at the Apple logo, so it doesn't bend into the keyboard as easily.
... and this is what I noticed just in the past 2 hours of use. Pretty much all the weak points of the machine have been improved. Only thing is that the battery door is still just as loose.
My previous machine was one of the first few thousand unibodies built, and I'm guessing that they have made massive improvements since production started. So the moral of the story is not to buy a brand new design at launch. And I wouldn't recommend an early refurbished model unless you can get a stupid good deal.
Oh, and my repair "genius" wasn't a genius at all, but the overall customer service experience was excellent.
edit: the hinge is also a lot tighter, it takes a lot more force to close the screen now.. but it still falls when you hold the laptop vertically.
I bought a Unibody MBP in October shortly after it was released. According to serial number lookup websites, it was built during the week of the announcement. It seemed like a perfect machine, except one little dead pixel. After a few months, the hinge has developed a loud high pitched squeak that turns heads in lecture halls. So I brought it into a Apple store for repairs last Thursday.
The next day they gave me a call, and told me they replaced the display with a new one and it was ready for pickup. This morning (Monday) I come in to pick it up. Immediately I noticed that the whole top of the machine was replaced, because the aluminum on the lid was slightly darker from the rest of the machine. (weird, I know...) More importantly, it was extremely mis-aligned the screen was sticking out the side by a few millimeters. To add insult to injury, one of the screws on the bottom of the machine was screwed in halfway. I got the impression the repair genius that was working on my machine was drunk.
After about 10 people apologizing to me, they said they would have have it fixed within an hour. So I went to one of my lectures and came back after 2 hours. I was told that it was a very troublesome repair job so they swapped out the hard drives and just gave me a brand new machine instead. (sweet, new battery...)
I've been using it for the past 2 hours on my annoyingly long lunch break. And I must say, the difference between the two computers is like night and day. It is much better in so many ways:
-The keyboard is much much softer, and much easier to type on, and the keys stick out about 1mm less so they don't touch the screen when it's closed.
-The black plastic beneath the monitor is a lot more solid and doesn't bend easily like on my previous machine.
-The LED battery indicator is a lot brighter.
-The touch pad clicking noise is a bit quieter ( I think).
- and the DVD drive also makes a lot less noise compared to my previous machine.
-There is no rattle from the right speaker at full volume.
- The lid is more stiff in the center at the Apple logo, so it doesn't bend into the keyboard as easily.
... and this is what I noticed just in the past 2 hours of use. Pretty much all the weak points of the machine have been improved. Only thing is that the battery door is still just as loose.
My previous machine was one of the first few thousand unibodies built, and I'm guessing that they have made massive improvements since production started. So the moral of the story is not to buy a brand new design at launch. And I wouldn't recommend an early refurbished model unless you can get a stupid good deal.
Oh, and my repair "genius" wasn't a genius at all, but the overall customer service experience was excellent.
edit: the hinge is also a lot tighter, it takes a lot more force to close the screen now.. but it still falls when you hold the laptop vertically.
