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Brought my iMac to the Apple Store

T

tekksan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 27, 2009
283
142
Just wanted to vent a little. About 10 days ago my 2009 27" iMac started rebooting itself randomly. I lugged it into the Apple Store (the nearest one is about 15 miles one way). The Genius said it was a bad hard disk and it would cost $300 to fix. Apple parts are expensive I guess but I said do it. I come back a couple of days later, bring it home, and after a couple of hours, the same type of problems occur.

I bring it back and this time they tell me the video card is bad ($250 to fix). I grimace at the repair cost and also begin to wonder if the hard disk was even bad at all. Also, I wonder if the hard disk was bad, did they mess up the video card when they replaced the hard disk? Frustrating...

I come back a couple of days later to pick it up (4th trip) and when I'm there, I boot it up and notice it only recognizes 6GB of RAM even though 8GB is installed. The tech looks at the computer and says one of the memory modules has a broken chip on it. He said it probably happened when they were repairing the video card and they will have to order the part.

I'm extremely frustrated because I feel they charged me for parts that may not have even been faulty (hard disk), possibly damaged parts and charged me the repair cost (video card), and then damaged more components (the RAM). I've had to take time off from work, lug a 27" iMac to and from the Apple Store 4 times with at least one more trip to go. I called the support line to lodge some sort of complaint and all they said was go online to apple.com/feedback.

Anyway, just wanted to vent a little. I've lost so much time and money over this and I feel like I'm getting the run-around on all of these repairs. I really don't think they tested the machine well enough. The odds of two unrelated components going bad at the same time is very small. The odds of them breaking a part while fixing something else is much higher.
 
tekksan said:
Just wanted to vent a little. About 10 days ago my 2009 27" iMac started rebooting itself randomly. I lugged it into the Apple Store (the nearest one is about 15 miles one way). The Genius said it was a bad hard disk and it would cost $300 to fix. Apple parts are expensive I guess but I said do it. I come back a couple of days later, bring it home, and after a couple of hours, the same type of problems occur.

I bring it back and this time they tell me the video card is bad ($250 to fix). I grimace at the repair cost and also begin to wonder if the hard disk was even bad at all. Also, I wonder if the hard disk was bad, did they mess up the video card when they replaced the hard disk? Frustrating...

I come back a couple of days later to pick it up (4th trip) and when I'm there, I boot it up and notice it only recognizes 6GB of RAM even though 8GB is installed. The tech looks at the computer and says one of the memory modules has a broken chip on it. He said it probably happened when they were repairing the video card and they will have to order the part.

I'm extremely frustrated because I feel they charged me for parts that may not have even been faulty (hard disk), possibly damaged parts and charged me the repair cost (video card), and then damaged more components (the RAM). I've had to take time off from work, lug a 27" iMac to and from the Apple Store 4 times with at least one more trip to go. I called the support line to lodge some sort of complaint and all they said was go online to apple.com/feedback.

Anyway, just wanted to vent a little. I've lost so much time and money over this and I feel like I'm getting the run-around on all of these repairs. I really don't think they tested the machine well enough. The odds of two unrelated components going bad at the same time is very small. The odds of them breaking a part while fixing something else is much higher.
Click to expand...

Guess I'm lucky enough to live in a town that has multiple "Apple Certified" shops that ARE NOT the Apple Store. Most are very good at repairs and will even try to get Apple to cover some things in the "Customer Satisfaction Program" that's never advertised.

What happened to you is not unusual. Sorry for the loss. What I discovered after years of helping clients get their Macs fixed? The store is in the business of selling, not fixing. When they fix, insurance is the only thing that they understand. Example, a Panel replacement on a 3-4 year old iMac costs more that the entire computer in the used market. Long experience helps.
Best
 
If you are paying them to replace the hard drive you should get the old one back. There are enclosures you can buy to make that drive an external and once connected there are hard drive diagnostics you could run. That would tell you if it is actually bad or a mis-diagnosis by the Apple tech. I'm not sure what recourse you could have if it turns out that the drive is good but at least you would know.
 
I'm pretty sure that after 3 or 4 visits, they'll just give you a brand new Mac.

At least I've heard stories of this multiple times.
 
I just got off the phone with them regarding the memory (they broke one of the DIMMS). They said they think the whole slot is broken and they'll now have to replace the entire Logic Board. It will take another 4-5 days. They said I won't have to pay for it but this is very depressing. I've already been without my computer for 10 days, now we're talking another 4-5 days. I've already wasted so much time dealing with them. So many wasted trips. I just can't believe an organization as large as Apple who pride themselves on customer service is providing such poor customer service.

I still think they broke multiple things in the iMac-at least the RAM and the slot itself, and possibly the video card. Very frustrating. She made it sound like she was doing me a favor by not charging me for the Logic Board! I mean, they broke it...why would it even be a question about who should pay for it?

----------
noisycats said:
Not if he's outside of warranty. Either the one year or three-year AppleCare.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I am outside the warranty period.
 
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I know I dread going to my local apple store they are extremely rude and god forbid you get frustrated by their shotty work. I had logic board, ram hdd all fail. Last straw was wifi card going out. Apple is now replacing my 2011 27-inch iMac with a fully loaded 2013. But it took emailing Tim cook which got me in touch with executive relations. They were able to do a much better job. If you use regular joe "genius" you will get the run around.
 
Ak907Freerider said:
I know I dread going to my local apple store they are extremely rude and god forbid you get frustrated by their shotty work. I had logic board, ram hdd all fail. Last straw was wifi card going out. Apple is now replacing my 2011 27-inch iMac with a fully loaded 2013. But it took emailing Tim cook which got me in touch with executive relations. They were able to do a much better job. If you use regular joe "genius" you will get the run around.
Click to expand...

Did Tim reply to you directly?
 
Ak907Freerider said:
I know I dread going to my local apple store they are extremely rude and god forbid you get frustrated by their shotty work. I had logic board, ram hdd all fail. Last straw was wifi card going out. Apple is now replacing my 2011 27-inch iMac with a fully loaded 2013. But it took emailing Tim cook which got me in touch with executive relations. They were able to do a much better job. If you use regular joe "genius" you will get the run around.
Click to expand...


I agree I too dread dealing with the so called Geniuses at the Apple Store.
 
Johnf1285 said:
I agree I too dread dealing with the so called Geniuses at the Apple Store.
Click to expand...

It's easy to be critical, my experience has been the opposite, that Genius's are pretty good. They tend to be pretty well trained, while they may not know everything (who does???) they tend to be resourceful in that if they don't know they will do what they can to get you pointed in the right direction.
 
rkaufmann87 said:
It's easy to be critical, my experience has been the opposite, that Genius's are pretty good. They tend to be pretty well trained, while they may not know everything (who does???) they tend to be resourceful in that if they don't know they will do what they can to get you pointed in the right direction.
Click to expand...

Very true. I guess we also hear all the horror stories on here.
 
rkaufmann87 said:
It's easy to be critical, my experience has been the opposite, that Genius's are pretty good. They tend to be pretty well trained, while they may not know everything (who does???) they tend to be resourceful in that if they don't know they will do what they can to get you pointed in the right direction.
Click to expand...
Critical? When you bring a broken item to a "genius" and tell them it works if you unplug then replug said item but quits after @1 hour use. Then their "genius" fix "let's plug it in for your 15 min. appointment and see if it fails" guess what "genius" it will work for 15 mins. So what do they do, hand it back and tell you "it looks to us that it works fine." Or having a "genius" call you to tell you your computer is fixed. So you get a babysitter go to apple store only to be told "oh we are still waiting on parts" I'm sorry but just cause your name tag says "genius" it still means you are not the sharpest tool in the toolbox. If they were they would be designing and making the products.
 
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