Inequality
I just want to chime in on this thread with a huge OMG apple suck so badly. I figured fellow kiwis would be feeling the pain the same.
Seriously? did NZ really pis them off or something, I would have thought apple might appreciate the general kiwi attitude of screw you we'll do it our way. I've been apple user since the late 80's, and I find myself getting frustrated and upset with the lack of apple representation in NZ.
We have 4 million people! we're a big enough market for a store. There should be one in at least the three main centers. I live in Wellington and there must be at least 20 stores within 15 minutes drive of my home that sell apple computers, another 20 on top of that which sell the small items like iPods and iPhones, and 1 dedicated apple store. You can't tell me that a market that is big enough to support that, isn't big enough to support an official apple store.
I get so frustrated when I hear about the amazing service that people get when they take their stuff into the genius bar. We just get screwed over. I had a macbook pro which stopped charging under warranty, I had to take it to the apple authorized reseller, who had their own team look at it. They replaced the charger under warranty and then sent apple the bill. I picked it up with a new charger, I asked about the battery and they said it was all ok....
The MBP was only three months old and I decided to check on the battery myself because I was worried that the charger had been on and off faulty since we got it. I checked the battery cycles and it was at over 600 cycles! on a 3 month old computer, so I rang them up and they said the battery was still ok and they weren't under any obligation to replace it under the warranty. It took three weeks for them to look at it and send it back with a new charger. Really? I knew the charger was the faulty thing to start with.
An apple store would have looked at it right then and there, tested the charger and replaced it, and replaced the battery too (from what I have read from others experiences) . I also recently posted a thread here and on another forum about attempting to fix a broken iPad. Nearly everyone has piped in with "just take it to an apple store and they will replace it for you" no, it doesn't happen that way here, what does happen is you send your apple equipment away to a third party agent, they look at it and then tell you how much they will CHARGE YOU to fix it because obviously a screen won't break unless you dropped it.
I know this is really ranty, and it's such a first world issue I almost feel embarrassed (not quite whitewhine.com worthy though) but seriously? we get sucked into buying applecare warranties when there is no apple to care for us. I guess someone has to pay for all those free replacements they dish out overseas
Oh and on topic, I think all packages cop the gst and duty on them, even if you get it sent in labelled as a gift. With the exchange rates making purchasing overseas a really attractive option they are being even more ocd about catching everything coming in so the chances are even if a relative sends it via post, you will get the extra charges on it. I'm just hoping that my cellphone lasts until they release 4S here. I'm still on the CDMA network (LOL my mac autocorrected that to read coma network) with my nokia 2118, they're closing that down at the end of July next year, so I need a replacement by then
I just want to chime in on this thread with a huge OMG apple suck so badly. I figured fellow kiwis would be feeling the pain the same.
Seriously? did NZ really pis them off or something, I would have thought apple might appreciate the general kiwi attitude of screw you we'll do it our way. I've been apple user since the late 80's, and I find myself getting frustrated and upset with the lack of apple representation in NZ.
We have 4 million people! we're a big enough market for a store. There should be one in at least the three main centers. I live in Wellington and there must be at least 20 stores within 15 minutes drive of my home that sell apple computers, another 20 on top of that which sell the small items like iPods and iPhones, and 1 dedicated apple store. You can't tell me that a market that is big enough to support that, isn't big enough to support an official apple store.
I get so frustrated when I hear about the amazing service that people get when they take their stuff into the genius bar. We just get screwed over. I had a macbook pro which stopped charging under warranty, I had to take it to the apple authorized reseller, who had their own team look at it. They replaced the charger under warranty and then sent apple the bill. I picked it up with a new charger, I asked about the battery and they said it was all ok....
The MBP was only three months old and I decided to check on the battery myself because I was worried that the charger had been on and off faulty since we got it. I checked the battery cycles and it was at over 600 cycles! on a 3 month old computer, so I rang them up and they said the battery was still ok and they weren't under any obligation to replace it under the warranty. It took three weeks for them to look at it and send it back with a new charger. Really? I knew the charger was the faulty thing to start with.
An apple store would have looked at it right then and there, tested the charger and replaced it, and replaced the battery too (from what I have read from others experiences) . I also recently posted a thread here and on another forum about attempting to fix a broken iPad. Nearly everyone has piped in with "just take it to an apple store and they will replace it for you" no, it doesn't happen that way here, what does happen is you send your apple equipment away to a third party agent, they look at it and then tell you how much they will CHARGE YOU to fix it because obviously a screen won't break unless you dropped it.
I know this is really ranty, and it's such a first world issue I almost feel embarrassed (not quite whitewhine.com worthy though) but seriously? we get sucked into buying applecare warranties when there is no apple to care for us. I guess someone has to pay for all those free replacements they dish out overseas
Oh and on topic, I think all packages cop the gst and duty on them, even if you get it sent in labelled as a gift. With the exchange rates making purchasing overseas a really attractive option they are being even more ocd about catching everything coming in so the chances are even if a relative sends it via post, you will get the extra charges on it. I'm just hoping that my cellphone lasts until they release 4S here. I'm still on the CDMA network (LOL my mac autocorrected that to read coma network) with my nokia 2118, they're closing that down at the end of July next year, so I need a replacement by then
