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Apple's customer service and applecare is a complete RIPOFF!!

S

simmonstwin

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 15, 2004
72
0
South
So i purchased a mini back in late feburary (mac mini G4) , it supposly came with a year warranty. Little did i know that it was only a 90 day warrenty and that i would either have to pay $45 dollars to speak to apple tech service or pay $140 for apple care (almost half of what i payed for the mini in the first place). I live over 150 miles away from the nearest store or service center, so the option of taking it to a store is not an option(work). :rolleyes:

Just in case someone can help:
The problem with the mini is that it is not powering up, i have reset the prm and pmu. I checked the monitior and the cables, they all work . :confused:
 
I dont have anything else plugged in just the monitor, and even with that i tried to reset everything without the monitor connected. still didnt work
 
CanadaRam may be right, I would check the power cable connection. Ours is a little sloppy where it plugs into the back of mini and was a little surprised that this wasnt a tight connection. Also verify power at the outlet.
 
simmonstwin said:
So i purchased a mini back in late feburary (mac mini G4) , it supposly came with a year warranty.
Click to expand...
It is a one-year warranty, but with 90 days of free telephone support. A product warranty doesn't guarantee your ability to do telephone troubleshooting, but merely that your product is guaranteed to be in good working order for at least one year and if it fails during that time (from causes due to Apple's mistakes and not Acts of God or customer error), they will repair or replace it.

I'm sure they'd happily help troubleshoot it in a store or at a local service center.
 
simmonstwin said:
So i purchased a mini back in late feburary (mac mini G4) , it supposly came with a year warranty. Little did i know that it was only a 90 day warrenty and that i would either have to pay $45 dollars to speak to apple tech service or pay $140 for apple care (almost half of what i payed for the mini in the first place). I live over 150 miles away from the nearest store or service center, so the option of taking it to a store is not an option(work). :rolleyes:

Just in case someone can help:
The problem with the mini is that it is not powering up, i have reset the prm and pmu. I checked the monitior and the cables, they all work . :confused:
Click to expand...
Seems strange you can't bring this to the store you work at:confused:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/197438/
 
matticus008 said:
It is a one-year warranty, but with 90 days of free telephone support. A product warranty doesn't guarantee your ability to do telephone troubleshooting, but merely that your product is guaranteed to be in good working order for at least one year and if it fails during that time (from causes due to Apple's mistakes and not Acts of God or customer error), they will repair or replace it.

I'm sure they'd happily help troubleshoot it in a store or at a local service center.
Click to expand...

I have no local nor regional store. I dont wont them to trouble shoot , I just want them to fix it or replace it (free of charge). How can i get it repaired if i cant get it to them ?:confused:
 
simmonstwin said:
I have no local nor regional store. I dont wont them to trouble shoot , I just want them to fix it or replace it (free of charge). How can i get it repaired if i cant get it to them ?:confused:
Click to expand...


when you call they will want your credit info in case it turns out to be a matter of "troubleshooting" but you wont be charged if it's really a matter of getting warranty service scheduled
 
I really don't like Apple's 90-day phone support policy. I called once on a warranty claim and they basically hung up on me because my phone-support was expired. What good is a warranty if you can't call to make a claim on it? Even the idea that they'll take your credit card number, then possibly not charge you really annoys me.
 
mduser63 said:
I really don't like Apple's 90-day phone support policy. I called once on a warranty claim and they basically hung up on me because my phone-support was expired. What good is a warranty if you can't call to make a claim on it? Even the idea that they'll take your credit card number, then possibly not charge you really annoys me.
Click to expand...

Agreed, that's kind of a trap.

I've had Applecare now for two years and never even used it once, or the phone support, (who needs it when you got this site?)

I wish I never bought it now....but I still have a year to use it...
 
quigleybc said:
Agreed, that's kind of a trap.
Click to expand...
It shouldn't be, but thanks to the miracle of 18-level automated phone systems (aka "customer shields") it can be difficult to get what you need. Their customer support number should accept your calls; it's the technical support, etc. that is no longer valid. If they try to route your warranty claim through tech support, just ask them to speak directly with a customer service agent. They're trained to have tech support attempt to troubleshoot it (because 90% of "my computer is defective" phone calls are user error), but if you tell them "troubleshooting failed and I am making an RMA claim" they will transfer your call as appropriate.
 
welcome to the world of one of the worse if not the worse warrenty claiming and techsupport of the major computer manufactors.

Apple entire set-up is pathic and apple care it self is really crappy as well when you compare it with dell or the others when you buy the warrenty for the same cost. Plus most of the others give you the first year phone and hardware support.

I will say I am glad to see apple taking more and more heat over this issue because hopefully it will finally cause them to change there act. Right now they are have a nice shield of tons of good media covering them but at some point they will get nailed for this.
 
Timepass said:
welcome to the world of one of the worse if not the worse warrenty claiming and techsupport of the major computer manufactors.

Apple entire set-up is pathic and apple care it self is really crappy as well when you compare it with dell or the others when you buy the warrenty for the same cost. Plus most of the others give you the first year phone and hardware support.

I will say I am glad to see apple taking more and more heat over this issue because hopefully it will finally cause them to change there act. Right now they are have a nice shield of tons of good media covering them but at some point they will get nailed for this.
Click to expand...

Thank you for feeling my pain!!!
I have had both a Dell and a Emachine Computer and they both came with 3 year warranties, the customer serice for the most part was excellent. How are we paying for what is equivilent to a mercedes in the computer world and not recieveing the type of warranty and customer service that warrants the cost.

I have called apple twice for this computer , hoping that i recieved more sympathy for the situation that I am in. But still i recieve no help!!! i have only had this computer for two months and they act as if i am calling about a computer i have owned for 7-10 years. They SUCK!!!
 
Customer service sucks - period (unless you're in Japan, which is a whole other ball game). I've had a 33% success rate with Apple, which is higher than most other companies. And I do kind of sympathize with the poor schmo on the other end of the line, but then it is A job.

It shouldn't be causing you that much stress though. Like matticus008 said, call up apple customer (non)service, tell them your computer won't power up and that you want it serviced. They'll tell you where to take/send it. Around here, I don't need to take it to an apple store, just a licensed apple repair person. There may be something nearer to you that you don't know about. Anyway, if you send it in, they'll fix it up or replace it.

As for the problem you're having, make sure and check all connections. I've found that if the monitor cable isn't tight enough (if you use the adapter, those white fasteners on the side), all kinds of trouble breaks loose.

If you want us to help you with it, you'd need to tell us how the computer was behaving before it stopped powering up. Any events that led up to it etc.
 
Here is what I've always done. When they say they will need to charge you, say "no thanks". Hang up and dial again. In every case I've done this the next person doesn't ask to charge you and thus never does charge you. But you may have to try a few times.

EDIT: Oh and you won't have to pay for sending it in, they will overnight you a box with shipping on it.
 
Apple customer service does suck

HI there, I sympathise. Having order my iMac a month ago it still hasn't arrived. We'll one of them did but it didn't work so it had to go back.:mad:
They tell me they'll express a new one to me (fair enough) but when I check with TNT it's on their economy service! I've had to wait a whole week extra and the guy on the phone just told me to deal with it.

I've paid extra for the apple care and it had better start the day that the working computer arrives, not last week, that was their fault not mine so I shouldn't have to waste some of that precious time (from reading these threads it seems like I'm going to need it.)

Wish I'd been able to believe the Mac hype when mine arrived. So far, it's same old same old really. Macs give you problems too, and their customer service people don't really give a hoot. JUST LIKE MY PC! :confused: :mad:
(but they charge you for it!!)
 
My 12' PB HD dies, they sent a box, I put it in and called for pickup, it was sent back, worked great.

My mom's emac took a lightening stike via cable modem, drove it to the local CompUSA, being repaired, under warranty (applecare).

Had problems with last update, phone support was awful with first advisors and great with second.

Have called Dell support once for company laptop, waited 45minutes, was then told I had platinum support, so I got to wait another 15minutes!

In General I have had above average support with Applecare.
 
I have had decent Applecare support - though I had to talk to the Des Peres Manager once to get my repair sorted. If you request a supervisor then you generally get better service as they've probably GRADUATED highschool ;-)
 
Just out of curiosity, in what manner did you request help from the phone support?

I've found that if you call them already pissed off and blowing steam, they will be less likely to help you. Remember, there is a person on the other end of that phone, and they are not responsible for your unfortunate situation. Apple is, and these customer service folks are your link to Apple. Be nice, because they aren't going to help you if you disrespect them.

Calmly explain your problem, tell them you've done everything imagineable to fix the problem and don't want their phone line tech support, and that you just want them to fix your computer. Explain to them how ridiculous the situation is (as calmly and politely as possible), and ask them if there's anything they can do to help you.

Fact is, they can do a lot to help you, but they've been ordered to avoid it if at all possible. Since you don't have AppleCare, you are officially a second class citizen when you call Apple. It's unfair, but that's the reality. If you bring this point up (again, calmly and rationally), you might just get somewhere.

Also, something else you can do is try to think if you have any friends who have found themselves in a similar situation with their Macs. Did Apple resolve their problem satisfactorily? If so, tell them that. Tell them that your friend had a very similar problem, and Apple went above and beyond to fix the problem for him/her. This usually catches their attention, since they don't want to appear discriminatory.

I know it can be tough to be put on hold for an hour, threatened credit card charges, and told that you have to pay shipping, but don't let it get to you. Just soldier on and keep telling them how ridiculous it is to expect that of their loyal customers. You just might get somewhere ;)

Good luck!

(oh, and for the record, I've spent far more than my fair share of time on the phone with Apple...but every single issue I've ever had has been resolves satisfactorily in the end)
 
elfin buddy said:
Calmly explain your problem, tell them you've done everything imagineable to fix the problem and don't want their phone line tech support, and that you just want them to fix your computer. Explain to them how ridiculous the situation is (as calmly and politely as possible), and ask them if there's anything they can do to help you.
[/i]
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I try my best to be nice but assertive, this doesnt seem to help. I've even typed emails to a number of upper level management. They have respond to one of the emails , but in the end they just send me to the same tech service people that you get when you call the 1-800 number.
 
simmonstwin said:
i have only had this computer for two months and they act as if i am calling about a computer i have owned for 7-10 years.
Click to expand...
two months != 90 days.

and if you worked at an apple store i would imagine you knew the specifics of applecare.
i'm not a big fan of applecare and rarely purchase it for my macs, but Apple only charges for phone support and not for ship-your-Mac-out-for-repairs calls...
 
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