I purchased my iMac G5 before they were released and received it in early October '04. In Jan or Feb I started having clicking noises, thought it was a failing hard drive. I called Apple and they told me it was software and charged me $50 (since I was out of the 90 day phone support warranty period). Sure enough the problem came back and occassionally would pop up, but I did not want to call them and be charged $50 each time this happened.
I backed everything up.
10 days or so ago my hard drive died. The first apple rep believed it was the hard drive, but I was disconnected. The 2nd rep tried to convince me it was software related and told me to buy Diskwarrior (Apple actually suggested I buy diskwarrior b/c the cd they provided me wasn't sufficient for this).......so I actually hung up on this guy. So Apple called me back (3rd person I spoke with) and he stated there was no doubt that it was the hard drive. He shipped me a new one so I could replace it myself. Great, not much trouble.....except for the $500+ they will charge me if they do not get the broken one back in 10 business days.
While discussing the hard drive I mentioned some issues with the disk drive. This needs replaced or fixed too.
3 days after this multi-phone call session, my screen goes out. All black. So I call Apple again, it's the logic board. Now I have to take it in. Knowing full well that this is a large-scale issue and people are not getting their iMac G5's back for 3 weeks or more.
So I call Apple Customer Relations. I called from my office on speaker phone while I worked..........I was on hold for 75 minutes (my phone totals the time). One rep answered after 5 minutes and transferred me....and no one else ever answered.
Got home, installed the new hard drive that arrived today.....but I cannot install the OS b/c of no screen. I tried booting in Target disk mode with a Mac Mini running, but nothing.
So now I have a faulty hard drive that I have to return to Apple or be charged $500+ while I leave my iMac G5 at the shop with the new hard drive installed and a faulty disk drive and faulty logic board that will take who knows how long.
I will be calling Customer Relations again tomorrow. I have spent over $10,000 on Apple computers, software, hardware, and iPods since January of 2002 (when the iMac G4 is released). I feel that it is unacceptable to have a nearly $2000 machine have 3 things go wrong with it that render the computer useless in a week period. This is a lemon and I expect that they will send me a replacement and not make me wait 30 days (and waste 30 days of my newly purchased AppleCare Warranty) while it sits on a shelf and collects dust until logic boards arrive.
This is the buggiest Mac I have ever had.
