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Apple sent computer back with wrong hard drive!

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I doubt CompUSA sent your Macbook anywhere.They probably had one of their flunky's "repair" it in house.Large companies like Apple or IBM don't have some little repair room in the basement with a guy swaping out parts and keeping the used ones to save a dollar.Doesn't make sense.
 
johnmartin78 said:
I doubt CompUSA sent your Macbook anywhere.They probably had one of their flunky's "repair" it in house.Large companies like Apple or IBM don't have some little repair room in the basement with a guy swaping out parts and keeping the used ones to save a dollar.Doesn't make sense.
Click to expand...

Nope, Apple definitely serviced it. I talked to them about it. They even replaced the "stained" keyboard surface under warranty.
 
This keeps getting weirder...

I just was called by the person who's hard drive I have. It turns out that she has my hard drive. Stranger, the case she received belongs to my computer, and the case I have, based on some scratch patterns, is her case. The other person is VERY relieved to have found her hard drive!

So what has happened is the tech at apple scrambled not only the hard drives, but also the cases... Oy...

So, now I'm not so sure that they fixed the stained keyboard surface, could be that I just got the other person's

I am on the phone with apple now... going up the chain of techs...
 
APPLENEWBIE said:
This keeps getting weirder...

I just was called by the person who's hard drive I have. It turns out that she has my hard drive. Stranger, the case she received belongs to my computer, and the case I have, based on some scratch patterns, is her case. The other person is VERY relieved to have found her hard drive!
Click to expand...

Great! So you can recover all your info :)
 
IT GETS WORSE...

In my discussions with apple this AM, I was told that it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to arrange to get their mistake fixed. The only solution, I was told, was for me to send in my computer, they will put an 80gb hard drive in it and send it back. I was told that if I want my data, I should have the other person (who received my hard drive/case) copy it and send the data to me!!!

I was told that there is no way that they can arrange anything else. I offered to have both computers shipped to Steve Jobs. She stated that that was up to me and that I would have to pay my own shipping if I did that.

I will be sending an updated inquiry to Apple security. Any suggestions???
 
Flextronics does make mistakes, they handle a lot of computer repairs for Apple.

Stuff like this happens -- it shouldn't, but it is too bad you cannot work out a swap directly with Flextronics instead of Apple.

Especially since they were the ones that made the mistake, and should fix it.

The data integrity of this accident could be costly to them if it had happened to a sensitive data machine.
 
APPLENEWBIE said:
IT GETS WORSE...

In my discussions with apple this AM, I was told that it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to arrange to get their mistake fixed. The only solution, I was told, was for me to send in my computer, they will put an 80gb hard drive in it and send it back. I was told that if I want my data, I should have the other person (who received my hard drive/case) copy it and send the data to me!!!

I was told that there is no way that they can arrange anything else. I offered to have both computers shipped to Steve Jobs. She stated that that was up to me and that I would have to pay my own shipping if I did that.

I will be sending an updated inquiry to Apple security. Any suggestions???
Click to expand...

Yeah, how do you post this on DIGG? Get some DIGG traffic and Apple will be falling over themselves trying to help you. Oh, just tried to submit, someone already has. 28 Diggs so far. Head over:

http://digg.com/apple/Guy_sends_Macbook_to_CompUSA_for_repair_gets_SOMEONE_ELSES_HARD_DRIVE_back
 
dllavaneras said:
:confused: if you talked to the person with your hard drive, can't you just ship out your hard drives to each other?
Click to expand...

Actually CompUSA should be able to act as a 3rd party to make the switch, but I think they would likely screw it up worse than Apple did.

Since I have a low opinion of their capabilities in general -- though the store near you may be above their low average.
 
Sun Baked said:
Actually CompUSA should be able to act as a 3rd party to make the switch, but I think they would likely screw it up worse than Apple did.

Since I have a low opinion of their capabilities in general -- though the store near you may be above their low average.
Click to expand...

Apple doesn't sound any better (worse actually) than Apple in handling this.
 
Sun Baked said:
Actually CompUSA should be able to act as a 3rd party to make the switch, but I think they would likely screw it up worse than Apple did.

Since I have a low opinion of their capabilities in general -- though the store near you may be above their low average.
Click to expand...

CompUSA could, but they're not ALLOWED to, IIRC; AppleCare matters have to go through AppleCare.
 
Mac service ain't what it used to be

honestly, this was kind of surprising to me (especially that weird vietnamese movie in the drive). i guess Mac service deserves a big thumbs down, huh? sad to see
 
Another update...

I have again spoken with the other apple customer. We have agreed that this is an amazingly bad bit of business practice. But, if Apple is not responsive within the next couple of days, I guess we will just swap drives throught the mail and hope our warranties are not void since our cases will not match the chassis' that it was shipped with....

Can you believe this?
 
You Are On Digg Front Page!

Welcome to Digg, the newest Social Vigilance web service! We cry out for the voiceless and hold big corporations responsible for any malpractice or bad-faith!

Your story is heard by million of people (literally) and sure will be picked up my relevant constituents since majors outlets do monitors digg.com
 
No Applenewbiew, do not swap!

You are sitting on a golden opportunity here. People don't have this happens to them every day! The fact that this thing has dragged this long shall render a personal phone call from their PR director. No, I am not kidding you. They of course would like to contain the problem and make no big deal of it. But now your story is on Digg, millions of people are reading this, I assure you this has become a PR disaster that Apple does not want to have. Lots BlackBerries are busy at this minute, and I am sure that many high up people are not enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon.
You need to demand a compensation and a satisfactory handling. Most importantly, tell them that this has hit Digg front page. And secondly, email what I said to their PR department, or write to Steve Jobs himself.

steve@mac.com and sjobs@apple.com

These addresses are checked by their Office of the President.

PS:
1. I am writing them for you.
2. DO NOT ERASE THE DATA. ONCE YOU DID, YOU LOSE THE STATUS QUO!
 
You got the bum deal all right. Given that Apple doesn't guarantee that your data is going to come through all right after your machine is repaired you're going to have a tough time getting them to swap the hard drives for you.

You do know that they replaced the case of your laptop with a used one, though (and not even a refurbished used one). That you should raise holy hell about. Demand that they replace any portions of the machine that came from the other person. If they don't know what those are demand that they replace the entire machine. You sent the machine in for repair and they sent it back with components of unverified quality, seek restitution.

The security implications of them handing someone else all your data are also quite bad, as well. Personally I don't know if I would have told them that I had contacted the other person and let Apple sweat it out.

Good luck, just remember that a Bad Thing (tm) has happened and that Apple should be doing everything they can to make things right. Don't accept any BS regarding what they can and cannot do; they have a mailbox, someone with a pair of hands, and a screwdriver. They are more than capable of fixing this. If they're not willing to for whatever reason than they are not willing to fix what is definitely their mistake.
 
Hi :D

Okay this can some times happen but it should never ever happen. Like people previously said its one thing to have your data screwed up or deleted. Even reinstalled OS. However to get your hard disk sent to some one else is a compeletely different matter.

You are however lucky that you could get contact information of the other person from the hard disk. And even more luckily they had your hard disk.

Making a big fuss in my opinon will help others and possbily get you some free stuff (hard disk or whatever) from them to say sorry for your incovience.

If this happened to a bigish business computer, the business would be going crazy at this repair service.

It might be their policy to not give any free items or any kind of compensation, however if you make a big fuss and get alot of attention most of the time companies give it to get their PR level back up.

Good luck however I hope you resolve this fully.
 
OMG if this happened to me i would be on the phone with apple legal. I would consider suing them. They'll settle out of court for sure but this shouldn't happen i don't care if it doesn't have sensitive data.
What does this person seem like. I know its hard to tell but is he/she a creep. I would see if the both of you can work out something. If you swap hard drives, it will void your warranty as well as theirs. Apple isn't doing their job they should send back both computers and sort it out....
Hope all gets sorted out for you, good luck
 
xyian said:
While contacting Apple so that they can contact the person whom is the owner of the hard drive is the right thing to do, remember this:
one of the stipulations of, not only Apple, warranties is that they are not liable for data lost, etc... when you take it in for help. They always have it in the fine print that you should back up your info before sending a machine off for repair.

If you could get the data back to the rightful owner though, your karma points would surely rise.
Click to expand...
Not so fast...this isnt "lost data" this is mis-appropriated data! wiping the drive and installing a factory image is one thing, sending my data to someone else is quite another.
 
This thread sure is filling up with newbies...

I think your best solution at this point is to just arrange to swap the data with the other person on your own (so that you have your data intact), then continue to try to get Apple to fix the swapped case situation.
 
DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT ERASE THE DATA

I just wrote Apple for you.

steve@mac.com,
sjobs@apple.com
date Feb 18, 2007 2:10 PM
subject You got a PR disaster.
mailed-by gmail.com

Apparently a customer after sending his MacBook for repair, received someone else' hard drive in it. The other person also got his hard drive. In this incident your company instructed them to erase each other's files, presumably for the sake of containing the program while exercising your fine-print immunity from destroying customer data due to repair events. Well, those customers do not want to erase each other's data and would like to do the right thing--swapping back. Yes, they even contacted each other. Yet you refused to swap for them, asking them to pay for the shipping on their own. Now this situation has elevated to a level that you do not desire...on a Sunday afternoon.

Millions of people, literally, are reading this story on Digg front page.

http://www.digg.com/apple/Guy_sends_Macbook_to_CompUSA_for_repair_gets_SOMEONE_ELSES_HARD_DRIVE_back

The original story/thread by this guy which is updated on the minute. (He is as we speak, contacting Apple on the phone)

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/280045/

Cheers,
[name deleted]
MacBook Owner of 4 Days

So, let's expect you be treated nicely next time!
 
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