Does Apple stand by its products?

[kuntryklucker]

Hi All,

I am fairly new to Mac, in fact I bought my first macbook pro a few weeks ago. Anyway, I am writing this post because I am having some problems with my macbook. I called applecare yesterday, they said that my hard drive has crashed. I have had the computer for almost 3 weeks, how can that happend. I bought a mac because they are the cream of the crop and the best and now I cannot even use a 18 day old machine.

I am going to the apple store today, I am very nervous because I am afraid that I am going to just be stuck with a machine that does not work.

Has anyone had experience with a troublesome machine, how did Apple take care of you? Did they stand by their product and reputation?

Thanks

 

[maflynn]

Apple has excellent customer support and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised

While they do make high quality products, things do happen and like any product, its made by imperfect human beings and sometimes a defective unit does slip through the cracks.

 

[tobeornottobe]

Hi All,

I am fairly new to Mac, in fact I bought my first macbook pro a few weeks ago. Anyway, I am writing this post because I am having some problems with my macbook. I called applecare yesterday, they said that my hard drive has crashed. I have had the computer for almost 3 weeks, how can that happend. I bought a mac because they are the cream of the crop and the best and now I cannot even use a 18 day old machine.

I am going to the apple store today, I am very nervous because I am afraid that I am going to just be stuck with a machine that does not work.

Has anyone had experience with a troublesome machine, how did Apple take care of you? Did they stand by their product and reputation?

Thanks

That's fine, when I bought my first Mac the 'w' key for my keyboard didn't work. They replaced it with a new one. I was shocked at first but delighted after.

 

[r0k]

Hi All,

I am fairly new to Mac, in fact I bought my first macbook pro a few weeks ago. Anyway, I am writing this post because I am having some problems with my macbook. I called applecare yesterday, they said that my hard drive has crashed. I have had the computer for almost 3 weeks, how can that happend. I bought a mac because they are the cream of the crop and the best and now I cannot even use a 18 day old machine.

I am going to the apple store today, I am very nervous because I am afraid that I am going to just be stuck with a machine that does not work.

Has anyone had experience with a troublesome machine, how did Apple take care of you? Did they stand by their product and reputation?

Thanks

Apple is the best in the industry when it comes to customer care. There are a few isolated cases of not getting the best service. If you are unsatisfied with any aspect of your service, do not hesitate to ask for a manager.

There is not much Apple can do about a crashed hard drive other than install a new hard drive for you and give you the machine back. I recommend picking up a small usb, firewire or thunderbolt external drive and make yourself a Time Machine backup immediately. Even if you've only had the machine for 3 weeks, you should never ever be faced with losing data.

Another option is to use one of the cloud backup services. I've had trouble with Time Machine (to network drives and Time Capsules) so I use both methods. I haven't lost anything of significance in years despite having 3 crashes. Just so you know, nothing about my crashes was Apple's fault. The first one was my daughter hacking around parental controls and I had to reformat her Mac and lock it down even tighter. The second was when I was upgrading my wife's 5 year old (at the time) Mac mini to Lion. The third was when my wife's 7 year old Mac mini finally gave up the ghost. In two of these situations, one of my backup methods worked. In an unhappy coincidence, it so happened my Time Capsule died at the same time my daughter's machine died so I permanently lost some of her data. Apple replaced the offending Time Capsule free of even though it was 6 months past its 1 year warranty.

I did have one bad experience with Apple repair. I had a "free" iPod Touch that died after about 3 months. The Apple Store tech wasted a lot of my time going over the thing with a hand held microscope trying to find evidence the thing had water damage. I asked for a manager and he offered no help either. Later I called Applecare and got a free replacement. Some years later I got an email asking if I wanted to participate in a class action against Apple for water damage claims. Since mine was fixed free, I declined. I think Apple learned their lesson and nowadays they err on the side of making the customer happy, providing the customer is asking for something reasonable.

Don't bother (for example) asking them to hand you a brand new 15 inch rMBP free of charge to replace a crashed 2007 Macbook. But just about any reasonable request will be handled with courtesy and efficiency.

 

[kuntryklucker]

Apple has excellent customer support and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised

While they do make high quality products, things do happen and like any product, its made by imperfect human beings and sometimes a defective unit does slip through the cracks.

Ok, thank you for your post, I do hope that I am pleased with the outcome today.

I bought a mac because those that I talked to had such good things to say about their products.

They never had any trouble with their machines so they were not able to tell me what apple did for them.

thanks

----------

Apple is the best in the industry when it comes to customer care. There are a few isolated cases of not getting the best service. If you are unsatisfied with any aspect of your service, do not hesitate to ask for a manager.

There is not much Apple can do about a crashed hard drive other than install a new hard drive for you and give you the machine back. I recommend picking up a small usb, firewire or thunderbolt external drive and make yourself a Time Machine backup immediately. Even if you've only had the machine for 3 weeks, you should never ever be faced with losing data.

Another option is to use one of the cloud backup services. I've had trouble with Time Machine (to network drives and Time Capsules) so I use both methods. I haven't lost anything of significance in years despite having 3 crashes. Just so you know, nothing about my crashes was Apple's fault. The first one was my daughter hacking around parental controls and I had to reformat her Mac and lock it down even tighter. The second was when I was upgrading my wife's 5 year old (at the time) Mac mini to Lion. The third was when my wife's 7 year old Mac mini finally gave up the ghost. In two of these situations, one of my backup methods worked. In an unhappy coincidence, it so happened my Time Capsule died at the same time my daughter's machine died so I permanently lost some of her data. Apple replaced the offending Time Capsule free of even though it was 6 months past its 1 year warranty.

I did have one bad experience with Apple repair. I had a "free" iPod Touch that died after about 3 months. The Apple Store tech wasted a lot of my time going over the thing with a hand held microscope trying to find evidence the thing had water damage. I asked for a manager and he offered no help either. Later I called Applecare and got a free replacement. Some years later I got an email asking if I wanted to participate in a class action against Apple for water damage claims. Since mine was fixed free, I declined. I think Apple learned their lesson and nowadays they err on the side of making the customer happy, providing the customer is asking for something reasonable.

Don't bother (for example) asking them to hand you a brand new 15 inch rMBP free of charge to replace a crashed 2007 Macbook. But just about any reasonable request will be handled with courtesy and efficiency.

Thank you so much for your account of experience with apple. I have done nothing to my machine, in fact I treat it like a fine piece of china. I have had it 18 days, past the 14 day return policy but still brand new. I am hoping that I can leave with a working machine if not a new machine since I have lost trust it the one that I currently have.

I am sorry you had a bad experience at the store with your ipad. I am glad that they were able to replace it for you.

----------

That's fine, when I bought my first Mac the 'w' key for my keyboard didn't work. They replaced it with a new one. I was shocked at first but delighted after.

Wow!! a key that did not work, and they have you a new machine.
That is amazing. I am past my 14 day return window, it is 18 days old, hopefully they will give me new machine or at least be able to leave the store with a working machine in some way.

 

[Tyler23]

Ok, thank you for your post, I do hope that I am pleased with the outcome today.

I bought a mac because those that I talked to had such good things to say about their products.

They never had any trouble with their machines so they were not able to tell me what apple did for them.

thanks

----------



Thank you so much for your account of experience with apple. I have done nothing to my machine, in fact I treat it like a fine piece of china. I have had it 18 days, past the 14 day return policy but still brand new. I am hoping that I can leave with a working machine if not a new machine since I have lost trust it the one that I currently have.

I am sorry you had a bad experience at the store with your ipad. I am glad that they were able to replace it for you.

----------




Wow!! a key that did not work, and they have you a new machine.
That is amazing. I am past my 14 day return window, it is 18 days old, hopefully they will give me new machine or at least be able to leave the store with a working machine in some way.

Even outside of the return window, you have a warranty (I believe it's at least 1 year? Been a while since my last non-iDevice Apple purchase) - so either way you'll be covered.

Hard drives crash - it's unfortunate but it happens. And the HDs themselves are not made by Apple.

Good luck, let us know how it all turns out. Apple is very good when it comes to customer service.

 

[firedept]

You will be surprised by Apple customer Service. I have used Apple products for years and have only ever had one iMac that was a problem. Over a 19 month period I had several problems with this iMac and Apple always got it fixed and back to me working again but a few months later it would be down again. Well low and behold after having it in the shop for the 5th time for repairs they decided to give my a replacement machine and surprise it was even a newer model.

Apple will do it's best to make it right for you. They stand by their products. Not every machine can be perfect off the line, it's like a car, but at least Apple will replace it if they have too. Have never had any problems with any other of my Apple products and have had many over the years.

 

[kuntryklucker]

Even outside of the return window, you have a warranty (I believe it's at least 1 year? Been a while since my last non-iDevice Apple purchase) - so either way you'll be covered.

Hard drives crash - it's unfortunate but it happens. And the HDs themselves are not made by Apple.

Good luck, let us know how it all turns out. Apple is very good when it comes to customer service.

Thank you so much for you post. I went to the Apple store today. I told them my problem and that I have had the computer for only 18 days and that according to AppleCare my hard drive has crashed. They gave me a new macbook Pro no questions asked. The manager felt so bad, he really bent backwards for me. I was very surprised at how easy the exchange was. He said that Apples are not supposed to do that. He said that I got a defective machine that he was very sorry and even helped me set it up again. I was amazed to say the least. I thought they would want to fix the other computer and have me wait for a few days while they shipped it back to the manufacturing. That would have really been hard on me as I have some school work due before Thanks Giving break. Anyway, I was blown away at the amazing customer support. I am so please with Apple.