I'm in Hong Kong, too. PC sadly rules in HK, with only a handful of shops selling Macs...until the G3 came along five years ago, there were about 4 shops in the whole city of 7 million dealing with Mac..it was crazy.
Now more and more have cashed in on the Mac cash cow, but service has not improved much. As far as I know, there is only one, yes one Mac service centre in the whole city. And as you've read from previous posts, it leaves much to be desired. Singapore and Tokyo are the best places to buy Mac stuff in Asia...Tokyo's become much better, but it's much more expensive. But at least in Japan they honor their committments and sales and if you get a lemom, you can get it replaced no problem. I'd like to get a new notebook, but dare not buy it here. I'll get it in the US on my next trip back there. Prices for Macs aren't marked up much at all in HK. But all the extras, like LaCie storage devices..etc...are marked up big time.
I mention the above because the poor guy really doesn't have many options...the best will be a technical fix to salvage the demo tape material. Having felt stuck with apple service in HK before myself, I can promise you it's not an option. For those of you who live in Manhattan might understand..most HKongers don't drive..we bus and train...so when I needed my Apple monitor repaired, it cost me about 25 US in taxi costs just for transport. It's a cost I accept because I live here, but it's a drag nevertheless and adds up to the costs. Of course transporting an iBook is no problem, but just food for thought. Then it was about 40 US just to have the guy look at it!!! whether I agreed to have it fixed or not....RIP OFF.
IF Apple really wanted to improve in HK and get more market share, they'd monitor what reps are doing out here more closely. Making a buck here or there is fair enought, but poor follow-up service is hurting the ground they've clawed back to get in the last few years.
a bit OTT, but just my two cents...
p-chan
