First Poor Customer Service Experience with Apple

[ZipZap]

I recently spent (i.e this evening) over 1.5 hrs on the phone with Apple technical support. I am not one to usually call support but here was the issue.

I was having trouble with my system around three days ago and decided to wipe the 2011 MBA after making a TM backup. After wiping the main partition I could not restore the OS via the Recovery HD option due to an error message. "What the heck I thought, why not use the newfangled internet recovery feature." I wiped everything and made one new partition on the MBA in the sig. It starts internet recovery, I connect to my WiFi and BOOM....nothing happens. Wait for it....nothing. Globe spins, network selection choice with full bars, then...nothing. After trying this forever and browsing the web for a solution I call Apple technical support to see if something needs changed with my router/network settings (firewall/ports/etc). They finally decide after 1.5 hours that I have three options.

1. Take it to an Apple Store for reinstall (nearest one is 2.5hr drive)
2. Send it in to them for reinstall (at least 1 week turn around without my main laptop)
3. Pay them for a full Lion reinstall disk and they would send it to me so I could do it myself.


I could not believe what I heard. I sat on the phone with you for that long and you offered me that? I clarified with the rep that since Apple chose not to include re-install media with the laptop and decided to implement a new "recovery feature" that was not working correctly I must now pay again for an OS on a system that I already bought an OS for?

She confirmed my statement.



Ultimately I decided to send it in (now I have to wait for a box). I have usually had excellent service from Apple but this really irritated me. Sorry for the long rant.

As others have suggested call back and request escalation. Seems to me they can overnight a recovery USB to you. Be persistent and keep escalating.

 

[Puevlo]

It's not Apple's fault you have a dodgy internet connection.

I hope you do complain and they send you an OS X Lion USB, because it won't even work on your MBA. Just like it says in http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4905.

Use Lion Recovery to restore Mac computers released after OS X Lion. If you attempt to use the OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive, a message will appear stating that you cannot install this version of OS X on your computer.

 

[tmoerel]

It's not Apple's fault you have a dodgy internet connection.

I hope you do complain and they send you an OS X Lion USB, because it won't even work on your MBA. Just like it says in http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4905.

This is BAD! I know a few people living in the bush in Africa who have no internet access for most of the year. How can they reinstall a crashed MBA?

These are people relying on their macs professionally. If they can not reinstall they will be forced to look elsewhere. This is not acceptable!

 

[jterp7]

As others have suggested call back and request escalation. Seems to me they can overnight a recovery USB to you. Be persistent and keep escalating.

I guess I'm glad I have 2 stores within 25 miles...still apple has yet to impress with any ounce of intelligence from their genius support er staff

That said they're no worse than many of the successful brands/businesses in this area so I guess they're not that bad.

 

[forgottensoft]

I know its no help to you now, but typically what I do is when I get a new computer I install all the software I need, run all updates and then use Carbon Copy Cloner to make an image of the "fresh" install. Then if I am having issues like you were, I simply boot off an external drive (with the latest OS on it) and push the image back to the computer. It takes some time to setup up front, but after that it save a TON of time.

 

[MUBiomed]

It's not Apple's fault you have a dodgy internet connection.

I hope you do complain and they send you an OS X Lion USB, because it won't even work on your MBA. Just like it says in http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4905.

You are exactly what this forum needs Puevlo...a rude/sarcastic jerk who offers nothing to the conversation. By looking at the few posts you have actually made, it is obvious that most are as helpful as this one. It is pretty clear by my comments and those from others that we are aware the USB restore doesn't work on the 2011 MBAs.

I know its no help to you now, but typically what I do is when I get a new computer I install all the software I need, run all updates and then use Carbon Copy Cloner to make an image of the "fresh" install. Then if I am having issues like you were, I simply boot off an external drive (with the latest OS on it) and push the image back to the computer. It takes some time to setup up front, but after that it save a TON of time.

I have looked into these options before (and used to do them with Norton on PC's, but due to the problems you talk about (i.e. time consuming)...I got lazy and stopped. Of course I rationalized it by the fact that I had never once needed one of my backups

 

[thekev]

It's not Apple's fault you have a dodgy internet connection.

I hope you do complain and they send you an OS X Lion USB, because it won't even work on your MBA. Just like it says in http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4905.

Nice trolling All you did was point out a distinct failure on Apple's part. Not everyone has an excellent internet connection, so it falls on Apple to ensure that these guys receive a usable product. The phasing out of optical media was a choice by Apple, and Lion is not available in dvd form. They really need to handle the transition better than this.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Oops! Never mind.