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AppleCare waay too slow?

M

Mass Hysteria

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 31, 2005
162
1
A friend is going back to PC after a year and a bit of macs.

The hard drive in his macbook pro packed up and the authorised Apple reseller shop told him it will take 3 weeks to process under AppleCare as it has to go back to Apple.

This is too long for him to wait. The machine is for business - he can get his lenovo laptop turned around by the next day with the same fault.

I wondered if there is a faster way to get things fixed, or if anyone else has been put off using Apple's machines for work due to this?
 
"authorized apple reseller..." yeah it takes 3 weeks because there the middle man, bring it in directly to apple. it should take half the time.
 
Mass Hysteria said:
A friend is going back to PC after a year and a bit of macs.

The hard drive in his macbook pro packed up and the authorised Apple reseller shop told him it will take 3 weeks to process under AppleCare as it has to go back to Apple.

This is too long for him to wait. The machine is for business - he can get his lenovo laptop turned around by the next day with the same fault.

I wondered if there is a faster way to get things fixed, or if anyone else has been put off using Apple's machines for work due to this?
Click to expand...

Most manufacturers will let the authorized shop place a warranty claim on the drive and they will overnight a drive to the shop for replacement. I wonder why Apple does not, or at least did not do that in this case. Seems it would save everybody a lot of time.
 
Thanks for the replies

I'll make those suggestions to him, and see what he does - maybe try the direct to apple store approach first.

I get the feeling that even if it takes half the time to fix, 1.5 weeks will be far too long for him to consider Apple for serious business use.
 
Take it an Apple Store.

If the Drive is defective and they have a replacement in the store... they will replace it right then and give it back.
 
miles01110 said:
If he is using his machine for "serious business use" then he shouldn't have bought a Mac in the first place.
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I take offense to this statement anytime I hear this, especially when there's no reasoning followed by the statement. Give reasons why a Mac isn't a viable computer for serious business. I have a couple of friends who are architects, they use OS X, they do design graphics for large companies, they use OS X and the recording industry is Mac dominated and Final Cut is generally used more by major motion picture companies as opposed to the home user so I fail to see your argument, although you really haven't put up an argument. ;)

To the OP, if it's just a hard drive issue, then have your friend replace his, it's not hard to do at all, I fail to see a reason of switching back to PC, how does that solve his issue? He may just end up with the same or worse issues with a PC.
 
Seriously, jumping ships for reasons like this makes me wonder about how people think. It's very immature. Suddenly windows (please stop calling it PC, linux runs on pc and is solid gold) becomes a better platform because a hard drive can be replaced faster?

Give me a break.
 
Mass Hysteria said:
I get the feeling that even if it takes half the time to fix, 1.5 weeks will be far too long for him to consider Apple for serious business use.
Click to expand...

If someone uses their computer for "serious business use" then they should have a backup. If someone's computer is that important to them, that their business couldn't progress without it--then he's dumb for not having a backup machine in case something happens. Plain and simple. BTW, for me Applecare has never taken 3 weeks. Why would you take it to an authorized reseller instead of direct to Apple? The turnaround time is always 7 days or less...
 
HLdan said:
I take offense to this statement anytime I hear this, especially when there's no reasoning followed by the statement. Give reasons why a Mac isn't a viable computer for serious business.
Click to expand...

Enterprise support, or lack thereof. There's a reason that Apple has made effectively zero progress in the enterprise market with both the iPhone/iPad and OS X.

He may just end up with the same or worse issues with a PC.
Click to expand...

Indeed, except Dell will come out to your residence or place of employment the same day and fix the issue. Or more likely your company will have a licensing agreement and will give you a replacement machine on the spot.
 
miles01110 said:
Indeed, except Dell will come out to your residence or place of employment the same day and fix the issue. Or more likely your company will have a licensing agreement and will give you a replacement machine on the spot.
Click to expand...

that is awesome customer service by dell, i might have to pick one up for my office...
 
miles01110 said:
Enterprise support, or lack thereof. There's a reason that Apple has made effectively zero progress in the enterprise market with both the iPhone/iPad and OS X.



Indeed, except Dell will come out to your residence or place of employment the same day and fix the issue. Or more likely your company will have a licensing agreement and will give you a replacement machine on the spot.
Click to expand...

You're assuming that anyone doing any "serious work" on their computer is working in an enterprise environment.
 
miles01110 said:
No, I assume that anyone doing "serious work" is "serious" about it in that they care enough to work on a platform/with a vendor that provides adequate support options for one's needs.
Click to expand...

Assumptions never got anyone anywhere

my .02
 
Gucci Mane said:
If someone uses their computer for "serious business use" then they should have a backup. If someone's computer is that important to them, that their business couldn't progress without it--then he's dumb for not having a backup machine in case something happens. Plain and simple. BTW, for me Applecare has never taken 3 weeks. Why would you take it to an authorized reseller instead of direct to Apple? The turnaround time is always 7 days or less...
Click to expand...

Still it doesn't change the fact that PC manufacturers usually offer better and faster service if you buy their own version of Applecare.
 
Gucci Mane said:
Assumptions never got anyone anywhere
Click to expand...

The stated case involves business use. Given, I am of the mindset that if I depend on something for my financial livelihood it's fairly important to keep it up and running and/or minimize its downtime with good support, but YMMV.

chameleon81 said:
Still it doesn't change the fact that PC manufacturers usually offer better and faster service if you buy their own version of Applecare.
Click to expand...

Consumer-level support is pretty much a wash between Apple and Dell/HP/Lenovo/whoever. What distinguishes the non-Apple companies are support options that go beyond the consumer level. For example, if downtime could cost someone a lot of money instead of not being able to check facebook for a few days.
 
chameleon81 said:
Still it doesn't change the fact that PC manufacturers usually offer better and faster service if you buy their own version of Applecare.
Click to expand...

Now there's a generalization if i've ever seen one. I have had nothing but great experiences with Applecare, i'm sorry if you have not been treated the same way I have. However, my point was that any person who needs a computer for their business should always have a backup, regardless of how long the repair takes. As a business owner myself, let me tell you this, if at any time our computer for autocad broke down--we would always have a backup computer for our designer. If one of our diamond setters ( i'm a jeweler) didn't show up for work, we always have 3-5 others who work for us so that all the jewelry gets manufactured by the end of the day. I am not going to close up shop because an unforeseen event occurred, i don't really see how a business could run without any sort of security measures.

miles01110 said:
The stated case involves business use. Given, I am of the mindset that if I depend on something for my financial livelihood it's fairly important to keep it up and running and/or minimize its downtime with good support, but YMMV.



Consumer-level support is pretty much a wash between Apple and Dell/HP/Lenovo/whoever. What distinguishes the non-Apple companies are support options that go beyond the consumer level. For example, if downtime could cost someone a lot of money instead of not being able to check facebook for a few days.
Click to expand...

I agree with you, however, i just prefer macs for the most part. If my mbp has to go in service for a month, i would be disappointed yes--but it wouldn't be enough to stray me away from the Apple OS. I have 2 15" mbp's at the moment, an i7 and a 2.8 c2d. Should the i7 fail, i won't be left empty handed. I know not all can afford to have 2 macs, but at the very least 2 computers so that you don't experience any downtime. This is a "must-have" for any business environment.
 
Imac for business - 2 week repair time to swap failed hard drive?

As a designer I have been long time mac user, I have previously only owned desktop hardware(G4, G5 and Mac Pro), but recently bought a couple of i7 iMac's for the studio - what a mistake.

The hard drive in one of them failed, and I was told by applecare that if they collected the imac it would take around 7 working days to return it, thats almost 2 weeks without one of my systems!

I then decided to take it into an Apple retail store, where I was told that even though they had the replacement hard drive in stock, it would take them 1 and a half weeks to replace! I was then pressured into buying ProCare for £79, that would push me to the front of the repair line and it would take 2 days! (I thought by buying apple care with my macs would be sufficient)

Bottom line - if you rely on having a computer for your work, don't buy an iMac.

edit: got the imac back, with the apology that they had scratched the glass on the inside of my screen, and that they had ordered new glass, that would be arrive next week. So do i loose more work time when it goes back to get the glass replaced?
 
Wow, AppleCare costs 20% of the purchase price (as for MBP), and they need 2 weeks to "repair" your machine? That's insane. :eek: It's not acceptable even for not-so-serious work.
 
miles01110 said:
If he is using his machine for "serious business use" then he shouldn't have bought a Mac in the first place.
Click to expand...

Totally disagree, I use mine for both my business and personal use.
However it is true that Apple is no where near as geared up for business users as a company like Lenevo for example.
The constant maintainance of windows is what drove me to switch my business to Mac in the first place, too much down time and hassle with windows.

That said, I think it`s best to have access to more than one Mac if it`s "mission critical" to allow for Apples somewhat slow turnaround.
 
If what I'm reading in this thread is true, then AppleCare has gone down hill over the years. Back in 2003, before the days of the Apple stores, I had an issue with the graphics card in my PowerBook. They sent a shipping box to me, and once they received it repaired the issue within 24 hours. All shipping was overnight, and I was without my system for two and half days. Two days for a hard drive replacement, with no shipping involved and the part is in stock, is inexcusable when it's a job that shouldn't take more than 20 minutes (and that's generous for someone who's done it hundreds of times). Their repair rooms must be understaffed, which is also inexcusable when you consider that Apple prides themselves on providing the best customer care and they're making money hand over fist.
 
"Authorized reseller" - this wouldn't be Fry's, would it?

As others have noted, go direct to an Apple Store, or contact Apple directly. Much faster.
 
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