The Saga of Apple Care: A love and HATE relationship.
This is my story, I saved up my money for about 6 months, so that I could buy a first generation iPhone, which at the time was $400. I bought the phone a few days after christmas, and I dont think I came down off the Apple high for a good week. I have had a my fair share of problems with the phone, from the vibration mechanism breaking, to bright dots developing on the screen. In total the phone has been replaced 4 times, and I am on my 5th phone. The extended Apple Care goes up December 27th of this year, so I hope that an issue with something comes up, so that I can get a new one, problem free. The times that it has been replaced, I have drove to the nearest Apple Store which is about an hour away. It has never taken longer than 10 minutes for then to verify the problem, and get me a replacement. I am very pleased with the service that I have gotten from them.
Having had an iPhone for about 2 years, I learned about all the benefits of having a Mac, so I started to save my money from the new job I had for the summer. On July 11th, I had saved up $1300 to buy myself a 13-inch 2.26ghz Macbook Pro. I again was on the Apple high when I opened my new beauty, However this high was short lived.
I got home after the hour of driving, and opened it up, and started loading iWork, and all my photos, and music on it. After about 4 hours, I finally got around to installing all third-part applications. The first one being Skype. After it was installed I called one of my friends, and we started video chatting. After about 1 half hour, the call was abruptly ended, and my Macbook turned off. I didnt think much of it, after all the work I had been putting it through the past 6 hours. I pressed the power button, but it wouldnt move past the screen with the gray Apple logo, and the spinning gear. I then held the power button down to try and force it to shut down and it did. And after numerous other attempts to fix it it would only turn on after waiting anywhere from 15-30 minutes. The next morning I called apple, and they had me re-install the OS, which ended up taking about 5 hours, and it didnt solve the problem. The next person that I talked to said the he had just installed OSX on a Windows laptop, and it only took him about 45 minutes, which is a long time. He said that I should not have any problems with a brand new laptop like this, and that I should just have it replaced. I asked if I could drive up to the Apple store that day, and he said that I would have to wait for two days because there werent any available appointments. This made me mad because I had just bought an expensive laptop, and there it is sitting on my desk like a paperweight for three days. I made the drive up there two days later, and they had exchanged it within five minutes, which Im sure could have been done the first day I called.
I got home with my new Macbook, and I started to install everything again and the wifi connection dropped, and it started dropping randomly, about every 5-20 minutes, sometimes more than that, sometimes less. To get connected again, I would have to turn airport off, and then back on. It was an inconvenience, but I learned to deal with it, in hope that when snow leopard was released two months later it would be fixed. Snow Leopard was released, and the problem wasnt fixed, but I had learned to ignore it now. I ended up having to make an appointment for my iPhone with which I was having a problem with, and I decided since I was driving up there that I would just bring my Macbook with and see if there was anything that they could do about it. The genius looked at it for about 5 minutes, and did some things with it and said that I should just call Apple and tell them that there was a problem with the airport card, and that I should mail it in to be replaced.
October 5th I called Apple. Told them what the genius told them to tell me, and he said that a box was on the way, and that I should back up my hard drive just incase something happened along the way. The box came the next day, and I had to wait about a week to send it in because of a project for school that I needed my Macbook for. When the time came, I packaged the laptop, and dropped it off at a Fed-ex store near my house. The next day I got an e-mail saying that they had received my laptop, and had begun repairs. They ended up being able to get the laptop to Fed-ex that day as-well.
When I got home from school the next day I saw a note on the front door, saying that they had tried to drop a package off but no one was home to sign for it, but I could drive to a Fed-ex store 20 minutes away and pick it up. Wanting my laptop back as soon as possible, I drove to pick it up. The laptop was gone for a total of three days. I opened the box in my car, and the paperwork said that they had replaced the Airport card, and that they verified the problem was fixed. When I got home I opened the computer up, and got on the internet, and within the first 5 minutes I was disconnected. Are you kidding? I sent it in for three days, and they didnt fix it?!
I immediately called them again, and spoke to someone who had me change the location, under the network settings to home, and that seemed to solve it for a while, but once again it dropped. I called back after I ate dinner, and told them what was happening, and he transferred me to someone higher up the line that was supposedly going to be able to fix my problem. She had me delete a System Configuration folder in the Preferences part of the library folder, which also seemed to fix my problems. Again 15 minutes after I got off the phone with her it dropped, so I called her back at the number/extension that she had given me. But she didn't answer so I just left a message. The next day she called while I was in class, so obviously I couldn't answer. I listened to the voicemail she left and she said she was leaving the office at 3, and she wouldn't be back in the office for 2 days, at that time, it was already 4:30, so I called and left a message, and then called apple again, and asked for a new case manager.
The new guy that I got was a jerk, he was very short with me, and put me on hold for a good half hour without and forewarning. He said that the only thing that is left to do is reinstall the OS, because one of the files that I added to the computer was corrupt. Then I started to think about it, and I realized that this has been happening ever since I got the laptop, before I even started to load any of my files on it, so I told him this and he said well umm I it must have been a corrupted file that you added, that is causing the problem.
At this point I was extremely frustrated, so I told him I have already been without my laptop for 3 days, and on the phone for 3+ hours trying to get this taken care of, and now I have to go through the process of backing up my computer, and reinstalling the OS, is there anything you can do to compensate me for my troubles, which at this point I think was more than fair. He responded with, well we don't have anything we can hand out, and this isn't really an Apple issue, we already corrected the hardware problem, so its from the files you added. But I can give you my direct number so that you can contact me in the future. (I dont want your F**KING phone number, I want my computer fixed, and I want some compensation for all of this time its taken to get no farther than when we started) So I once again reminded him that this has been happening since I got the computer, so it cant be from my files, and he said, there is nothing that we can hand out.
I really should have just asked to talk to his supervisor, and tell them that I wanted something, but whatever. So I said thank you for your time, good bye. And got to reinstalling the OS.
In total it took about an hour to get it reinstalled, and then I started using it again, and the connection dropped once again. I just laughed, I couldn't believe it.
I called Apple up again the next day, but didn't call the number that the guy gave me because I didn't want to talk to him again, turns out through all the transfers I was stuck talking to him again. I told him my problem still was not fixed, and he put me on hold while he talked to a wireless person. He came back on, and asked if I was using my laptop near anything that might cause a signal interference. The only things hooked up to an outlet within 10 feet of my room, are numerous chargers, an ipod stereo, an air purifier, an alarm clock, and a Bose stereo. I told him this and he put me on hold again, and came back and said that they want me to take my laptop somewhere else and use it so that they can see if it is interference coming from any of those things. Now I told him that I have used my moms macbook right next to mine, in the same place in my room, and mine drops while hers doesnt. AND that I already do use my laptop out of my house, in school, and in numerous coffee shops. So its not the router, and its not the interference from my ipod stereo. So unless the interference is coming from my iphone, he is wrong. He put me on hold again, and then told me that I would have to send my laptop in again, and have them replace the airport antennae, which they were supposed to have replaced THE FIRST TIME. So I told him that I cant send it in for awhile because I have a school project that I need my macbook for, and he said well just call back when you do. So we ended the call.
So after 3 days in repair, and 5 hours trying to fix the problem on the phone and off, my problem is still not fixed, and I have to send it in again.
Do you think that I am entitled to some form of compensation, whether is be an apple gift card, or an upgraded model? What, if anything do you think would be fair if you were in my shoes?
Thanks for reading through this, and I hope that none of you ever have a bad experience with the wonderful people at Apple Care.
This is my story, I saved up my money for about 6 months, so that I could buy a first generation iPhone, which at the time was $400. I bought the phone a few days after christmas, and I dont think I came down off the Apple high for a good week. I have had a my fair share of problems with the phone, from the vibration mechanism breaking, to bright dots developing on the screen. In total the phone has been replaced 4 times, and I am on my 5th phone. The extended Apple Care goes up December 27th of this year, so I hope that an issue with something comes up, so that I can get a new one, problem free. The times that it has been replaced, I have drove to the nearest Apple Store which is about an hour away. It has never taken longer than 10 minutes for then to verify the problem, and get me a replacement. I am very pleased with the service that I have gotten from them.
Having had an iPhone for about 2 years, I learned about all the benefits of having a Mac, so I started to save my money from the new job I had for the summer. On July 11th, I had saved up $1300 to buy myself a 13-inch 2.26ghz Macbook Pro. I again was on the Apple high when I opened my new beauty, However this high was short lived.
I got home after the hour of driving, and opened it up, and started loading iWork, and all my photos, and music on it. After about 4 hours, I finally got around to installing all third-part applications. The first one being Skype. After it was installed I called one of my friends, and we started video chatting. After about 1 half hour, the call was abruptly ended, and my Macbook turned off. I didnt think much of it, after all the work I had been putting it through the past 6 hours. I pressed the power button, but it wouldnt move past the screen with the gray Apple logo, and the spinning gear. I then held the power button down to try and force it to shut down and it did. And after numerous other attempts to fix it it would only turn on after waiting anywhere from 15-30 minutes. The next morning I called apple, and they had me re-install the OS, which ended up taking about 5 hours, and it didnt solve the problem. The next person that I talked to said the he had just installed OSX on a Windows laptop, and it only took him about 45 minutes, which is a long time. He said that I should not have any problems with a brand new laptop like this, and that I should just have it replaced. I asked if I could drive up to the Apple store that day, and he said that I would have to wait for two days because there werent any available appointments. This made me mad because I had just bought an expensive laptop, and there it is sitting on my desk like a paperweight for three days. I made the drive up there two days later, and they had exchanged it within five minutes, which Im sure could have been done the first day I called.
I got home with my new Macbook, and I started to install everything again and the wifi connection dropped, and it started dropping randomly, about every 5-20 minutes, sometimes more than that, sometimes less. To get connected again, I would have to turn airport off, and then back on. It was an inconvenience, but I learned to deal with it, in hope that when snow leopard was released two months later it would be fixed. Snow Leopard was released, and the problem wasnt fixed, but I had learned to ignore it now. I ended up having to make an appointment for my iPhone with which I was having a problem with, and I decided since I was driving up there that I would just bring my Macbook with and see if there was anything that they could do about it. The genius looked at it for about 5 minutes, and did some things with it and said that I should just call Apple and tell them that there was a problem with the airport card, and that I should mail it in to be replaced.
October 5th I called Apple. Told them what the genius told them to tell me, and he said that a box was on the way, and that I should back up my hard drive just incase something happened along the way. The box came the next day, and I had to wait about a week to send it in because of a project for school that I needed my Macbook for. When the time came, I packaged the laptop, and dropped it off at a Fed-ex store near my house. The next day I got an e-mail saying that they had received my laptop, and had begun repairs. They ended up being able to get the laptop to Fed-ex that day as-well.
When I got home from school the next day I saw a note on the front door, saying that they had tried to drop a package off but no one was home to sign for it, but I could drive to a Fed-ex store 20 minutes away and pick it up. Wanting my laptop back as soon as possible, I drove to pick it up. The laptop was gone for a total of three days. I opened the box in my car, and the paperwork said that they had replaced the Airport card, and that they verified the problem was fixed. When I got home I opened the computer up, and got on the internet, and within the first 5 minutes I was disconnected. Are you kidding? I sent it in for three days, and they didnt fix it?!
I immediately called them again, and spoke to someone who had me change the location, under the network settings to home, and that seemed to solve it for a while, but once again it dropped. I called back after I ate dinner, and told them what was happening, and he transferred me to someone higher up the line that was supposedly going to be able to fix my problem. She had me delete a System Configuration folder in the Preferences part of the library folder, which also seemed to fix my problems. Again 15 minutes after I got off the phone with her it dropped, so I called her back at the number/extension that she had given me. But she didn't answer so I just left a message. The next day she called while I was in class, so obviously I couldn't answer. I listened to the voicemail she left and she said she was leaving the office at 3, and she wouldn't be back in the office for 2 days, at that time, it was already 4:30, so I called and left a message, and then called apple again, and asked for a new case manager.
The new guy that I got was a jerk, he was very short with me, and put me on hold for a good half hour without and forewarning. He said that the only thing that is left to do is reinstall the OS, because one of the files that I added to the computer was corrupt. Then I started to think about it, and I realized that this has been happening ever since I got the laptop, before I even started to load any of my files on it, so I told him this and he said well umm I it must have been a corrupted file that you added, that is causing the problem.
At this point I was extremely frustrated, so I told him I have already been without my laptop for 3 days, and on the phone for 3+ hours trying to get this taken care of, and now I have to go through the process of backing up my computer, and reinstalling the OS, is there anything you can do to compensate me for my troubles, which at this point I think was more than fair. He responded with, well we don't have anything we can hand out, and this isn't really an Apple issue, we already corrected the hardware problem, so its from the files you added. But I can give you my direct number so that you can contact me in the future. (I dont want your F**KING phone number, I want my computer fixed, and I want some compensation for all of this time its taken to get no farther than when we started) So I once again reminded him that this has been happening since I got the computer, so it cant be from my files, and he said, there is nothing that we can hand out.
I really should have just asked to talk to his supervisor, and tell them that I wanted something, but whatever. So I said thank you for your time, good bye. And got to reinstalling the OS.
In total it took about an hour to get it reinstalled, and then I started using it again, and the connection dropped once again. I just laughed, I couldn't believe it.
I called Apple up again the next day, but didn't call the number that the guy gave me because I didn't want to talk to him again, turns out through all the transfers I was stuck talking to him again. I told him my problem still was not fixed, and he put me on hold while he talked to a wireless person. He came back on, and asked if I was using my laptop near anything that might cause a signal interference. The only things hooked up to an outlet within 10 feet of my room, are numerous chargers, an ipod stereo, an air purifier, an alarm clock, and a Bose stereo. I told him this and he put me on hold again, and came back and said that they want me to take my laptop somewhere else and use it so that they can see if it is interference coming from any of those things. Now I told him that I have used my moms macbook right next to mine, in the same place in my room, and mine drops while hers doesnt. AND that I already do use my laptop out of my house, in school, and in numerous coffee shops. So its not the router, and its not the interference from my ipod stereo. So unless the interference is coming from my iphone, he is wrong. He put me on hold again, and then told me that I would have to send my laptop in again, and have them replace the airport antennae, which they were supposed to have replaced THE FIRST TIME. So I told him that I cant send it in for awhile because I have a school project that I need my macbook for, and he said well just call back when you do. So we ended the call.
So after 3 days in repair, and 5 hours trying to fix the problem on the phone and off, my problem is still not fixed, and I have to send it in again.
Do you think that I am entitled to some form of compensation, whether is be an apple gift card, or an upgraded model? What, if anything do you think would be fair if you were in my shoes?
Thanks for reading through this, and I hope that none of you ever have a bad experience with the wonderful people at Apple Care.
