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A great Apple experience.

stoid

stoid

macrumors 601
Original poster
Feb 17, 2002
4,312
29
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
I know that a lot of people only tend to post here when they get a bunch of crap service from Apple, so I would like to counter that with my good experience today. I drove down to the Apple Store here in St. Louis (45 minute drive) to register to win the G5 Tower + 23 inch monitor + Production Suite. Since I'd been having problems waking my computer from sleep, see thread Help with PB Comas, I decided to take my PowerBook along and talk to the 'Genius' about it. Of course, like a car, the PowerBook didn't act up for the guy, but he checked a bunch of stuff, and reset the PMU, and told me that it was probably software related. I also casually mentioned that my battery life had always been pretty crappy ever since getting the laptop nearly a year ago. By crappy I mean that with screen brightness on one bar, processor scaled back, and only running iTunes and word processing, I would only get about 2 hours. Anyway, he set me up to get a new battery for free. He said that he would have given me one right there in the store, but with the recall they didn't have any in stock. All I have to do then is call the AppleCare hotline, and give them my address and they'll ship it to me.

I was already going to purchase the AppleCare 3-year warranty today, but this just reminded me the high quality service and insurance.

I don't know how or if anyone will respond, but I just wanted to make sure that people know that Apple does provide good service, and the bad experiences that some report may be anomalous as opposed to the standard.
 
The good news is that positive experiences DO happen. All the time. The bad news is that its inconsistent.
Depending on whom you saw, how busy it was, and the current state of technical and consumer affairs at Apple, makes a difference.
For example, you probably got the battery because you fall into the recall. Nothing more, nothing less. Its possible, that an Apple genius has some leeway to authorize a new one under the plan of the recall, and you are fortunate to take advantage of it.
I have seen excellent Apple support. I love it when it works. As I 'sell' Macs to all my friends and coworkers and I nudge the purchase of many Macs through my employer. Sadly, I have heard too many horror stories as well. And there is no logic to it.
Example:
A coworker got a 14.1 iBook. 6 weeks after purchase, the backlight goes dead. He goes to the Santa Monica Apple store, sees a genius, and they say "No Applecare?' It will cost you a diagnostic fee, time away from the laptop, etc. He actually bought it there. 5 days later, he takes it to Pasadena, as I suggested he try again. They look at it, pack it up and 3 days later he gets a new one. But its often up to the individual and the random acts that dictate what they know and can do.

But as long as people have more positives than negatives, we are ok.
 
It can be kinda demeaning seeing all these posts, day after day, about how people have problems with their Macs.

My entire family has never had a single major problem with a Mac. (except for when we got cable, there were some compatibility problems, I blame that on the modem, not the AE base station ;) )
 
There is a logical explanation. Its very rare for someone to post "Apple did what I expected" This post is unusual for doing that. More often you hear when things go wrong.
So, you are correct in thinking that a disproportionate number of complaints find their way to message boards.

I wanted to point out that Apple Support is good, but needs consitency. Apple makes great stuff, and they often do the right thing, but when they don't it looks bad all around and can truly hurt future sales. As they say 1 bad experience and they can tell 10 people. With the brand recognition and 'reputation' of Apple, they have it worse. They must perform to the utmost of standards lest they be judged by others.
Fortunately, in a lest survey Apple is tied with Dell for best support and beats them in Quality. But then they go an eliminate free 90 days iPod phone support. They like to shoot themselves in the foot.

musicpyrite said:
It can be kinda demeaning seeing all these posts, day after day, about how people have problems with their Macs.

My entire family has never had a single major problem with a Mac. (except for when we got cable, there were some compatibility problems, I blame that on the modem, not the AE base station ;) )
Click to expand...
 
For reference though, my PowerBook was purchased just after it was announced last Paris Expo. It did not qualify for the battery recall.

Of other note, I had to call the AppleCare hotline to give them my apartment shipping address for the new battery. I tried when I got home (about 4:30) and the tech support thing said that there was a company wide 'event' and they would not be back until 5:00. I wonder what that's all about?
 
stoid said:
Of other note, I had to call the AppleCare hotline to give them my apartment shipping address for the new battery. I tried when I got home (about 4:30) and the tech support thing said that there was a company wide 'event' and they would not be back until 5:00. I wonder what that's all about?
Click to expand...

Ohh, I'm all tingly.
 
This sounds promising as I'm taking my PB for analyze this Saturday to the St.L store. My PB's fan has been acting up and I want to get a Genius's opinion on the matter and whether he can fix it. Bad news is that the last service I needed I got my PB back with a dirty screen (keyboard imprints), keyboard not seated, and the hinges have "paint" scratched off. Looks like some sort of tool they used. Anyhoo, I'm hoping for a replaced fan and hinges this next visit.
 
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