hardware warranty? - Apple product quality

[delightdesign]

Hi I'd just like to ask advice of the mac community what other apple customers do when the quality of their products fails?

my customer experience of Apple:

I bought an Ipone 3g in the July of whichever year it came out and have since upgraded to the 3gs model.

during this time, I've lost count how many times I have had this experience:

Apple-product-quality.JPG

I've gone from a would-be Apple "fan", to a cynical and resentful Apple customer, because...... I know this sync cable wire breaking up thing does not just randomly happen to "my" sync cable. In fact, I've not met a regular sync/charge cable user who this has not happened to.

what a disgrace, that a company could be smug enough about its image of "quality product" for premium price... to very obviously continue producing these cables with the same bewilderingly poor quality thinking it wont even make a dent in this "quality" "stylish" image.

ok, so is it realistic that a company the size of Apple does not know how to manufacture, or how to arrange the manufacture of....... a wire?

whats going on with this? if not for the fact that this company seem to market themselves in such a way as to "convert" their customerbase into unconditional evangelists, lets as customers get honest here...

the quality honestly is .... poor quality ....... surely its high time for the "apple products are quality" historic myth to be left as an illusion of the past.

just look at the photo again, taken on my 3gs model, look as this photo taken in a bright room? .... because this company had the technology then to put a better camera in, but held back in order that then.... i would have reason to upgrade and give them more of my cash for an iphone 4, presumably with a sync/charge cable which breaks.

ok, my question therefore in this "mac basics and help" forum, is as an Apple customer, contracted with this phone for the immediate future, what to do about this sync cable, which in itself was a replacement of the last one which broke in the same place..... whats the point in a warranty to replace a broken product with one which wont last... do they hope i will pay for a new cable? whats the motive of a company who produces (and very definitly knows about) wires which break, and who charges some ridiculous price for these ****** cables too!!

incidentally, some people may pull the sync cable out by the wire, others may pull it out from the plug...... both sorts of use result in this defect.

what have any so called "Apple fanboys" got to say about the quality of their companies products, in the context of this post?

 

[MacDawg]

I would say a couple of things...

1. Don't post duplicate threads in various forums, it is against Forum Rules, but seeing as this is your first post on MR, you won't get a warning

2. I have never experienced the problem you are citing here and I use a LOT of these cables

3. I am very happy with the quality of my Apple products

Welcome to the Forums

 

[Mal]

Obvious troll is obvious.

The only post on the boards ever, and it includes a link to a picture that's not theirs, labelled "Apple Product Quality" and showing an obviously mistreated part. Putting words like 'customers' and "fan" in quotes, and talking about the myth of Apple's quality.

Yep, I think we can see where this is coming from.

jW

 

[agentphish]

• I have been an iPod owner since 2002.
• I have had 8 different iPods through the years, all with Apple's cables.
• I still have my original firewire 400 sync cable and USB sync cable that came with my first iPod.
• I have never ever experienced any cable fraying at all on any of my cables or failure of any apple wall plug/magsafe adapter.
• I have only ever used one 3rd party Griffin cable when in my car, it has been in environment of hot/cold in various cars since 2002 and though it no longer charges the newer devices, I can and do still use it for audio playback.

Another case in point is I was able to sell an early 2008 15" MacBook Pro for $1150 just as the Mid-10's came out last year, it was in immaculate condition, not a scratch on it and I traveled extensively with the unit.

I didn't own a Mac until '04 so i'm not some lifelong apple fan either. In fact I used to despise Mac OS X until I started using it every day and realized what a joy computing can be. I don't know what took me so long to figure out that because the iPod was so amazing, a Mac computer would be too.

incidentally, some people may pull the sync cable out by the wire, others may pull it out from the plug...... both sorts of use result in this defect.

There is no possible way for a cable to become damaged if you are removing the connector by the plastic and not the cable because you are not putting any stress on the cable.

Bottom line is if you took care of your stuff and were responsible, you will have it for a very long time. If you don't you can cause it to fail unnecessarily or become damaged.

 

[delightdesign]

the unemotive facts

ok i apologise slightly - but only for overly expressing myself since being genuinely disgruntled with Apple, having got over that, there is still a serious point to me made, I'm not alone with this issue, in fact this defect is massively widespread, even on your own forum:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/593642/


to the point about not applying any stress on it wont break it, sufficient to say in my experience (perhaps its just the iphone batches not the ipod batches??), either way, just having the phone plugged in charging and 'moving' the phone will apply enough 'stress' over the course of a few months for this defect to manifest.

thanks, and please understand im not at all generically anti apple, not more than anti bp, or whatever, im just a consumer who wants to pay good money for good products.

 

[delightdesign]

you guys

you guys who dont seem to stand with me on this perhaps might be interested in my latest multiple forum post, you might be interested because actually I'm on Apples side more than you - I want to buy a quality product from them, but you guys dont seem to mind? :

Hi, I'm thinking of upgrading to the iphone 4, but having had a 3g and 3gs and encountered the same hardware defect multiple times:

apple product quality

I would like to know from any iphone 4 users if Apple are still ripping off their customer base on these cables? - I'm suspicious Apple are selling these cables at some ridiculous price, knowing they break, knowing people will buy replacements, making a mint from us, millions of users, millions of defective sync cables..... go figure.

so is a poor quality cable also included with the iphone 4? if so, i object to purchasing from Apple, not because i dont want to get a cable from a 3rd party, but on principle. if people say, hi ive got an iphone 4 and the cable is fine, i might consider the quality of it isnt so bad anymore...

 

[g4 powerbookboy]

apple's products are the very best. I have never had a problem with any of apple's products from cables to a mac pro! with that said, you must be having problems figuring out how to plug and unplug a cable like a human and not an ape.

 

[Winni]

apple's products are the very best.

That's VERY debatable. Let's rather say that Apple products are what -YOU- like the best, that's probably closer to the truth.

 

[John T]

Like Agentphish, I am regularly using Apple cables that are at least 10 years old with no signs of fraying, breaking etc. Why? because I treat them with respect.

People who complain about the so-called poor quality of Apple's cables should realise a few salient points:-

1) Apple do not manufacture cables.
2) The material used for the jacket of these CAT type cables is PVC.
3) PVC is not particularly flexible and these cables are not meant to be over flexed. Therefore tightly winding/unwinding and twisting will eventually crack the jacket (simple material fatigue!).
4) What's more, the cable should never be bent close to the connector.
5) When plugging/unplugging the connector into the relevant appliance, the lead should always be held by the plug and not by the cable.

In a nutshell, providing the cables are treated with respect and inteligence, they will provide years of trouble-free service.

 

[Snilloc]

Have to gone to Apple Store

Just go to the Apple Store, if one is near you. They will normally do something called a POS Swap or just grab one from the backroom. However looking your pic, what the H*** did you do to that cable? The cable's weak point is where the cable connects to the 30-pin connector. People usually bend cable there. I can also tell you from experience that if you bought a third party cable from a no name to save money they are usually crap and separate at the 30-pin connector.

I have a friend with an Samsung Android of some kind and he has gone thru 5 cables in the first year. These type of thin cables don't stand up too terribly well when they are abused.

Probably didn't answer your question, but the bottom line is the Apple will replace the cable at their store. If one isn't near you don't know what to tell you

 

[John T]

If one isn't near you don't know what to tell you

I can. Look after your cables and stop moaning!

 

[chrismacguy]

I can. Look after your cables and stop moaning!

Or better yet, purchase a box of 500 cables, and then throw them if they manage to do that again (Lets see, Ive had 30 of those cables and not 1 has done anything. ever).

 

[Mactrillionaire]

I can admit that I've had an issue with a USB charging cable, but it was covered by AppleCare. I also had an iPod touch arrive with a dead pixel, but Apple again stepped up to the plate and replaced it without any hassle (that isn't their policy btw for one dead pixel). The bottom line is that Apple may have their manufacturing issues (as other companies do), but at least they aren't like those other companies in wasting your time until you give up and just accept whatever is wrong with the product unless you are being unreasonable with Apple or not requesting help tactfully. It would be an unfair generalization to say that Apple products always use "premium" parts. The products Apple makes are generally more desirable than the ones the competitors are making and Apple doesn't generally give you a hard time when it is clear they haven't lived up to reasonable customer expectations (unless you are being hostile with them about it). I have never experienced Apple employees be rude about making a warranty repair unless the customer was not first rude themselves. That aside, let's not kid anybody: Just about every company is in it to make a profit. That sometimes means that quality is sacrificed in the name of profit. That's just an inherent thing of business that we can't really do away with even if we wanted to because no one is in business to give things away at a loss and few are in business not to also make a profit. At least we know Apple will stand behind their products without a lot of aggravation should those products not live up to reasonable customer expectations. The same can't be said for most other technology companies.

 

[delightdesign]

keeping in touch

Just go to the Apple Store, if one is near you. They will normally do something called a POS Swap or just grab one from the backroom. However looking your pic, what the H*** did you do to that cable? The cable's weak point is where the cable connects to the 30-pin connector. People usually bend cable there.

lol - i have to admit to finding the whole crap quality cable thing quite funny, basically my usual pattern is to first try supergluing where the cable splits, then that bit goes solid, and so then when MOVING the phone.......... not twisting the cable, wrapping it up, pulling it, pushing it, just in normal use, then what happens is the bit below becomes the point of 'movement', that splits, glue it up etc.... then after awhile glue no longer suffices so i wrap sellotape around the whole area.

thing is, since this photograph was taken, the wire has actually again split above the sellotape - right up where it joins the plug... so what usually happens (with my last 2 or so APPLE cables) is the fraying etc gets to the stage where presumably it short circuits and no longers works.

ok, important points are:

I did buy a 3rd party cable years ago, from ebay, very cheaply, this has NO sign of wear, no fraying, no splitting... yes thats it, like a laptop charging cable, or a hair dryers plug wire, or headphones, or actually any other USB cable..... wires by other companys dont in my experience at all mind being MOVED! ...

important point 2: obviously after my first cable freyed up... dont you (the guy who suggested otherwise) dont you think i went from a normal user to a more sort of extremist careful user - joking aside about why it should be necessary to be careful with a wire... of course i was proper careful not to put any 'stress' on it.

other point: are iphone and ipod cables the same batches?

final point: when this sellotaped one finally breaks, i will take it in an Apple store, i dont have a receipt but it is about half a year old - it was a replacement one from Apple, if they replace it for free then i will resent them wasting the earths resources ... although at least having some consideration for customers.... all be it, not consideration enough to arrange the manufacture of nothing special, nothing magical or technologically advanced... just a normal wire which any other company seems to manage seemingly without a second thought...

 

[delightdesign]

acknowledging

to be fair - i acknowledge the samsung story written above... maybe they got the idea of replacement cable profit from Apple? ... i mean come on guys, wires are nothing new... its a wire.. ive never had a laptop charging wire split and i move around my laptop all the time its plugged in.