I'm done with Apple...

[theBB]

it amazes me that some people seems to have exceptionally high rate of failure on their machine... >10x higher than average rate of failure... does that, not at all, indicate there might be something wrong with how you use the machine?

It can also indicate a bad batch of hard-disks that Dell received, as the two machines in question were purchased at the same time and their harddisks failed within two weeks of each other. In any case, the argument is over customer service and in each case we had to wait for about a week for Dell to send somebody over. I don't think you can blame that delay on the user.

I don't know if Apple is any better, but in the end Dell had two chances to impress me with its customer service and failed in each occasion.

 

[mattcube64]

I find it so funny that when people have a bad experience with Apple, they seem to always have had GREAT experiences with Dell. Whenever someone says something positive about Apple in these threads is automatically "fanboy"

Its almost never "I just want to vent", or "I'm frustrated, maybe you can give me advice" its "I hate apple..... and Dell is so much: cheaper, better, better support, better specs, better user experience... and XP really isn't that bad, especially since Tiger is so unstable"

Not me. I made a post a few days ago saying my MB has begun to stain. It's my first Mac, and I'm a switcher. I bought my MB in July, and is just now beginning to stain. I have to have my MB, as it is my only computer. However, my post was to vent and ask for advice. I plan on making my next purchase before college another Apple. I love the design and OS, even though game support (and tech support, apparently) is lackluster.

 

[Butthead]

So I sent in my MBP to get the RSD problem fixed... along with the "pitting" of the handrest and peeling up of the topcase while it was there.

Of course... they blame me immediately for all the problems. They claim that accidental "fall damage" caused the topcase to peel apart and that the case was misaligned... which apparently caused bad heat distribution which is causing the RSD issue.

I guess they just pull at anything they can to cast the blame elsewhere... if they don't fix the shut down issue I'm gonna go nuts. Either way this is my last Apple. Dell doesn't treat their customers like this... and they dont't charge 2k either.

Note to Adm., it would be helpful if when you delete a post by an offending member, that you put in a short statement in the latest post by such banned member, as to that fact, and why they were banned (detailed explanation not necessary, just a short *member* banned for *such* such violation). It should be a policy of MR for the mods/admn to do just that, and might possibly reduced the need for banning, yes?

I don't want to get banned for making some common mistake I could have avoided if I know how the Adm team is sensitive to their vision of unacceptable conduct.

TIA

Personally, I think since the OP member has been banned, this thread therefore has become irrelevant and moot, it should be locked/closed.

 

[annk]

...

I don't want to get banned for making some common mistake I could have avoided if I know how the Adm team is sensitive to their vision of unacceptable conduct....

Read the rules, especially Moderation and the points following, respect them, and you'll be fine.

If you want to contact a mod or an administrator, send a PM. You can't assume a comment directed to them in a post will be noticed or answered.

 

[Dunepilot]

I can quite understand how someone could get so disillusioned by Apple's aftercare service as to give up on Macs altogether.

I've never owned anything other than a Mac and never will, such is my loyalty to Apple's computers and computing vision, but my experience of dealing with the Apple Store Regent Street staff has been appalling. Maybe they've become jaded through dealing with idiots who've wiped their iPod collection of tracks they got from their friends' computers and that kind of thing, but the point mentioned earlier in this thread about them trying to pin any defect on the user is absolutely true.

 

[0010101]

I'll say this.. i've owned many Apple computers, and i've owned many more 'PCs'. The Apple hardware has always had a higher failure rate.

So much for superior hardware design.

The upside is that a Mac is useful much longer than a PC (when it keeps working, that is) but that longer 'lifecycle' comes at a premium initial purchase price.

I won't buy new Macs anymore.. they're just too damn expensive, and their customer service/warranty repair service is sub par at best.

OSX really is a superior OS.. it's a shame they don't bundle it with hardware and support that's as pretty as the cases.

Fortunately for me, I don't do anything with my computer that requires cutting edge, top of the line speed.. I find what was 'top of the line' two years ago to be just fine.

I'm looking forward to buying a used 17" MacBookPro in two years.. provided they all haven't fallen apart by then!

 

[slffl]

Heheh, funny stuff. I wish people would stop trying to convince these 'switchers' to stay when they post these kind of threads. There are too many switchers as it is. There are way too many 'PC geeks' converting and it will only make things worse, not better.

 

[KevKaos]

I just wish one of these clowns who are fed up with Mac's would agree to sell me their Mac for a cheap price.

 

[iW00t]

Now if they want me to start on about the 10 laptops that my office bought a few years ago, I could. Here's a hint. 3 identical failures which required motherboard replacement. 3 out of 10 is a 33% failure rate. I don't know about you, but that is unexceptable. But you know what? We just bought 8 new Dell D610's that arrived last week. Fingers are crossed that we don't have a repeat of that sort again.

30%? So what?

Even if you get 50% failure rate you are still out ahead of a Mac user. Simply throw it away (disregarding the warranty at all) and buy another one. With Dell's cheap pricing you can't lose.

With Apple, good luck. And may God help you if they point to a scratch on your glossy computer and voids your Applecare then and there because of "abuse".

It is quite an arrogance with just a few cases of customer support under your belt to assume that you've seen everything either company has to offer. We purchased two desktops from Dell, both of which had harddisk failures. Our in house support did not show up for a week for one of those and that was our institutional support. 100% failure rate, awful customer support and no apologies, either.

Of course, everybody in those surveys who rate Apple higher than Dell are of course gullible foolish consumers. All of those surveys and rankings of quality are worthless as well. Pffft!...

100% of 3% is a lot smaller than 10% of 50%. Just a thought for you...

 

[iW00t]

Remember when 15 inch tibooks cost 3000 new?

How does that compare to 15" laptops back in the day?

Remember paying $1000 for a 100MB hard drive?

So what? Technology pricing drops.

 

[Kolind]

100% of 3% is a lot smaller than 10% of 50%. Just a thought for you...

Wouldn't that be 3% and 5% respectively? Don't see 3% as being a lot smaller than 5% really? Unless you see 5% as being 66% more than 3%

 

[iW00t]

Done with Apple? Good. Don't really want you anyway.

Since when did he wanted you to want him?

Don't feel validated IRL? Doesn't surprise me, even if you die tomorrow I won't give two hoots about it.

Heheh, funny stuff. I wish people would stop trying to convince these 'switchers' to stay when they post these kind of threads. There are too many switchers as it is. There are way too many 'PC geeks' converting and it will only make things worse, not better.

Yeah, I am sure there are too many switchers. AAPL's shareholders probably will agree with you too.

 

[BBGun]

It's posts like this that really annoy me over this site which seems to be filled with irrational fanboys. Granted, there are many, many people here I can conduct a fun and intelligent conversation on a variety of topics but apparently not over slighting Apple.

I presume a lot of you have considered Applecare. A lot of you probably went for it. With your previous Dell, did you ever pay for the equivalent-cost service? Because that's what I do always. First-line support is always slightly annoying with any vendor, but if you purchase the extended aftercare services off these vendors you get response times and fix times off HP, Dell and Lenovo which makes Applecare look like a complete joke.

Okay, I didn't finish reading this thread yet, but I'm going to respond to this post anyway...

I currently work as a Systems & SAN Admin/Engineer. I've dealt extensively with tech support from the following companies: Sun, IBM, McData, EMC, CipherTrust, Nortel, CA, Brocade, Cisco, JNI, QLogic, Apple, Dell, etc. I've personally owned Apple, Toshiba, IBM/Lenovo, HP, and Epson hardware and dealt with their tech support as a private user. I have had both good and bad experiences with ALL of them, even [gasp] Apple!

Prior to this, I was a Systems Admin for a very large ISP, and thus, in addition to my regular duties, I was occasionally called on as 2nd/3rd level tech support. I was co-located with a call center full of 1st level folks, so I know how it works from the tech support side too.

In my experience (12+ years), tech support is very prone to "the human factor". You get good support and bad support based on any/all of the following:
- the person with whom you're speaking
- their knowledge of the specific product being dealt with
- their background in technical things in general
- their normal personality
- their bad-day personality
- the drugs they took for that stupid cold of theirs
- what they had for lunch
- the time of day (is this shift almost over?)
- the time of the month (sorry ladies, but it's true)
- the phase of the moon
- etc...

This doesn't even include the additional issues with off-shore tech support!

Sesshi, your point about "first-line support... always [being] slightly annoying with any vendor" is a good one and it's very important. The key to getting good tech support from anyone is knowing that there are multiple levels of support at most (larger) companies. This is even true of Applecare support, despite what their marketing material may imply.

The first tech support person you speak with (sometimes that's not the guy/girl who first answers the phone and takes notes on your problem) is usually 1st level support; someone who is not necessarily highly trained and/or paid. They often have a manual/guide in front of them and they just follow the listed procedure/steps. Some have more experience than others and it may show. They may not even really understand everything about the inner workings of your product.

If they don't seem to have a clue or don't give you the support you think you deserve, then ask for the next level (e.g. 2nd level support). If they balk or refuse, then demand to speak to their boss. You have to persist until you get the appropriate level of help. Sometimes, it's almost a game to see who can be the most annoying: you or them. And remember, dealing with tech support is like dealing with life: no one said it was always going to be easy.

And one more thing: 1st level support can also be used as a defense mechanism by companies. There are a few folks out there who "break" something and then call tech support claiming it's a problem with the product. You know who you are.

Basically, they (we) are all the same. I do believe you get more from Apple, but they have their bad days too.

BTW, I've owned 15 Macs over the years (both work and play), and I've only had two of them fail on me (and one of those was actually "killed" by my son). We'll see how long my new Macbook C2D lasts. Hopefully, it isn't destined for an early demise.

Seeshi, your experience is only one, as is mine.

(Way more than) 'nuf said.

 

[iBorg20181]

Wrong!

You hit the nail on the head there. If you did spend $2K on a Dell laptop you would actually get an engineer on-site, it'd be insured for accidental damage and it wouldn't be away for a week unless it was something very serious.

This is what makes me hesitant about buying Apple gear nowadays and what makes me take a crack at OSX86 every now and again (no it doesn't work properly, alas).

Lovely OS, pretty but less-than-it-should-be hardware, support service - or the lack of - that defies belief (from this 'used to corporate HP/Dell support' person).

I was reading a post elsewhere where someone was saying that they were impressed that their iMac got turned around in a week. Dell had a misbehaving memory fan on one of the Precisions fixed the next day, on-site. *That* is support I expect for paying Applecare prices, and while I don't mind paying the Apple premium for hardware, despite the superior design I do expect the stuff to be built a whole lot better than it is. My MBP deformed, for Christ's sake.

Which makes me a fool for wanting a Mac Pro, but damn - I really want a good excuse to buy one

Either way, you've just got to either follow through with pressing for your defective machine to be replaced or refunded, depending on how much you love OS X. The customer service department can be reasoned with, although I had to turn to a lawyer for quick results.

LOL!

My son's Dell, costing $2,500, has been sent in for repairs 3 times over the past 2 years, under warranty, each time taking 1 week to return, and each repair lasting about 6 months, then needing another send-in. Each time, a call to a tech-support person from Pakistan/India with limited English abilities (not bad if I'm calling from India, but not from Minnesota!), taking 30+ minutes to convey the problem and need for repair. Sure, you can buy on-site repair, but it's extra beyond the 3-year extended warranty!

In comparison, I've had 3 different Mac notebooks, and an iMac requiring send-in repairs, and each call to tech-support was to an articulate, knowledgable person who quickly arranged an overnight express box for pickup, overnight express to repair, and the same back to me, for a total 3-day turnaround.

Dell for tech support/warranty/repair? HAH! I'll take Apple anyday!



iBorg

 

[tyroja00]

....Dell has 2-3 levels of quality (unlike Apple, who simply supplies a better screen than any of Dell's), ...

So, you both have stupid repair guys and screw-ups by the company. You both have your computers back and working. ONE of you is crying on the web about how sucky the company is. Who's got the problem, again?

With all do respect, my Dell's screen is a lot better than my MBP C2D (as far as resolution and banding). There are numerous theads about this on this forum alone.

Second, if it wasn't for some of these so called "cry-babies", we wouldn't have known about some major issues such as peeling, shipping delays, RSS, etc. That is what a forum is for, to discuss your preferences and yes, your complaints as well.

I will agree though that ALL companies screw-up, some more than others. But, you better believe that I would be more angry about performance issues with my Porsche than my Chevy. But, then again, my 'Vette better not be acting up.

It's relative, a $3,000 computer SHOULD be held to a higher standard than a $1,300 computer. A $1,300 computer should be held to a higher standard than a $700 computer.

But, to balance the argument, there are some who hold too unreasonable of a standard.

 

[iBorg20181]

I do realise I'm a bit of a fool for even trying to be even handed given my truly like-for-like experience on a board like this. But you can't blame a guy for trying... ?

Granted, I haven't come across many of your posts in the threads I've been following, but .... given your "Dell FanBoi" attitude on this thread, and your obvious distaste for Apple, I gotta wonder WTF you're doing posting over 1,900 posts to a Mac forum board over 5 short months! I mean, you haven't been "banned" from Dell forums for being a "Vaio FanBoi," have you?



iBorg

 

[deadpixels]

One misconception I see here is you guys assume that Apple is as big of a company as Dell and thats simply not the case. I have one Apple Store within a couple 100 mile radius or more and your expecting an on-site specialist? Dream on people I mean give the problem some reality.

-Kyle

you hit the nail on the head with this one, exactly my thoughts, i think people are not seeing the whole picture and expect apple to match a company that many times igger, unrealistic!

 

[whateverandever]

you hit the nail on the head with this one, exactly my thoughts, i think people are not seeing the whole picture and expect apple to match a company that many times igger, unrealistic!

http://www.macobserver.com/stockwatch/2006/01/16.1.shtml

'nuff said.

 

[iBorg20181]

I'll say this.. i've owned many Apple computers, and i've owned many more 'PCs'. The Apple hardware has always had a higher failure rate.

So much for superior hardware design.

The upside is that a Mac is useful much longer than a PC (when it keeps working, that is) but that longer 'lifecycle' comes at a premium initial purchase price.

I won't buy new Macs anymore.. they're just too damn expensive, and their customer service/warranty repair service is sub par at best.

OSX really is a superior OS.. it's a shame they don't bundle it with hardware and support that's as pretty as the cases.

Fortunately for me, I don't do anything with my computer that requires cutting edge, top of the line speed.. I find what was 'top of the line' two years ago to be just fine.

I'm looking forward to buying a used 17" MacBookPro in two years.. provided they all haven't fallen apart by then!

My experience is just opposite of yours! I've also have many PCs and many more Macs over the past 15 years, and I've found that my Macs have, by far, been better built and lasted longer.

And while in the past, Macs cost more than similarly spec'd PCs, most comparisons over the past year or two have shown that if you compare identical specs (which can now, finally, be directly compared since they're using the same parts!), the Macs will, in general, cost the same, and in many instances (e.g. MacBooks) cost significantly less (and that's without adding in the value of included software!).

I've already given my experience with Apple's warranty repair, which I found to be more efficient, customer-friendly, and faster than that of Dell and HP. Each poster's experiences will vary, and of course are a small sampling in the total scheme of things! But year-after-after, the consumer satisfaction surverys rate Apple as near-best among their competition

Even if I could run OS X on my PC, I'd still prefer my MacBook Pro - style, design, features all superior to the competition (IMHO, or course!).



iBorg

 

[Queso]

http://www.macobserver.com/stockwatch/2006/01/16.1.shtml

'nuff said.

Seriously out of date info. According to today's NASDAQ

Market Cap of Apple $ 72,375,690,604.80
Market Cap of Dell $ 58,312,331,380.00

However, Dell's turnover dwarfs Apple's which I think was being referred to. It's just that investors aren't confident that Dell's business model is going anywhere other than down.

 

[cynerjist]

Seriously out of date info. According to today's NASDAQ

Market Cap of Apple $ 72,375,690,604.80
Market Cap of Dell $ 58,312,331,380.00

However, Dell's turnover dwarfs Apple's which I think was being referred to. It's just that investors aren't confident that Dell's business model is going anywhere other than down.

Yeah but the Apple cap number is due to the iPod not computer sales, right?

I think Dell's business model isn't the problem. The investors don't trust the company. There was the battery recall and they are under federal investigation for "accounting irregularities."

Oh, and I could care less if OP quits Apple, but I wouldn't blame him.