Reply addressing Ph4lynx's complaint
The following is from 4th Dimension Computer. We only had difficulty of the nature described by Ph4lynx with one customer's system during the time frame stated. The following listed events are believed to be those to which Ph4lynx is referring.
In all fairness to Ph4lynx's representation of events, I will add a few points.
On 4/2/04, a Friday, the customer dropped off the system at our store. At the time of leaving the system, our shop turn-around time was 5 business days due to a heavy schedule. Each customer is informed of this. The stated 2 day turn-around time Ph4lynx is quoting could not have come from our shop during the time stated. If our schedule had been normal, it still would have been no earlier than the following Wednesday, and that does not include shipping time for parts from Apple, if required.
The information that the unit had been dropped was not on the customer-signed service order. What was included was that the system wouldn't boot, that Applecare had diagnosed bad RAM and a bad airport card, and that an Apple Case number had been logged reporting the problem. Our service order is presented to each customer for approval and signature prior to any work, as with any repair business. The fact that the system was not booting when it arrived is far more significant a problem than a short in the speaker system.
Our shop follows published Apple diagnostic procedures, the same as Apple. In accordance with this, and in accordance with our turn-around time stated when Ph4lynx signed and agreed to have the work done, we had a diagnosis on 4/8/04. The indicated problem causing the failure to boot, according to our diagnostics, was a logic board. A further issue was caused by damage to the internal airport card antenna that had apparently happened during a prior disassembly NOT at our shop. The customer approved the non-warranty portion of the repairs for the damaged airport card antenna, and the order for parts was submitted the same day, 4/8/04, a Thursday. So, with Apple's normal shipping, we would have had the parts on Monday, 4/12/04 at the EARLIEST.
As events happened, Apple's GSX system listed the logic board as backordered. This service order was followed, and we were aware of the backorder. The customer called 4/14/04, Wednesday, to inquire about the status of the repair. We informed him of the backorder. He was extremely unhappy on the phone, and made this quite known. Unfortunately, even though we are an Apple service provider, we have no recourse with Apple in the case of a backorder. In fact, the customer has a greater degree of recourse in solving these problems through the Customer Satisfaction system with Apple. We did, however, contact the Apple service provider above us to inquire about the backorder. They confirmed it as well, had no recourse, and the GSX system provided no ETA.
The customer spoke with Apple about the delay. Apple shipped out a board overnight to our location. Our store has no information on why Apple listed the board as backordered when they were able to do this for the customer. The new logic board, though indicated by Apple diagnostics, did NOT alleviate all of the problems. We did get the system booting, but were still left with an optical drive problem and the mentioned speaker issue (which we discovered once the system was booting). At this point, and in light of receiving numerous calls from the customer regarding the perceived delay, we gave the customer the option of continuing diagnosis or coverting the order to a mail-in for Apple to handle directly. This was on 4/15/04, Thursday.
The customer gave us an answer on 4/16/04 that he wished us to reassemble the system and covert it to a mail-in for Apple. This call came in at nearly 3 pm and too late to ship that day. The next shipping day using Apple's normal shipping options available to us was Monday. The unit was converted to a mail-in on 4/16/04 and then shipped on 4/19/04. At that point, the handling of the system was completely out of our control.
Our next contact regarding this repair was with Apple on 4/26/04. Apple called 3 times that day. The customer had asked Apple if the unit could be shipped directly to him. Apple called us to verify that nothing else was outstsanding on the service order. We confirmed that the unit was clear with us. They informed us that they would ship it directly to him. However, the last call to us on 4/26/04 was Apple informing us that they could NOT ship the unit directly to the customer, that this was against their policy. They told us they were shipping it to us and to have the customer pick it up.
The unit was shipped to us from Apple, the customer was informed of the arrival, and the unit was invoiced out of our store on 4/28/04. The invoicing was simply for record keeping purposes.
Unfortunately, it's clear that Ph4lynx has made a decision regarding our business. However, the characterization made of our business in a public forum was less than complete, and not entirely fair in our view.
Yes, the customer's repair took quite some time. Far longer than the 2 days he stated. However, if the above text is read, we did not cause any undue delays due to our customer service or business practices. Most of the delays were either caused by misunderstanding in turn-around time, lack of weekend shipping for normal Apple warranty service, and the backorder on the logic board. If however, the customer believes we were at fault, we apologize.
We understand the customer's frustration, and share it in some of the process elements. There is absolutely nothing for us to gain, and everything to lose, through a delay like this. Had we legitimately made an error that caused this customer's delay, we would have tried to make it right with the customer. The circumstances that caused the problems in this case were out of our control.
We make every effort to provide excellent and fair repair service to all our customers within the constraints of the Apple warranty. We also follow Apple's instructions in situations where they make a decision to except portions of their warranty.
Perhaps this post will provide some additional information and understanding of the full events that lead to Ph4lynx's decision to not do business with us.
Sincerely,
4th Dimension Computers Management