My friend has decided to refrain from posting here, he just doesnt want to lose his job. He told me most of the stuff he would have written so I will do the best I can to relay that information myself. Please do not give anyone my IP address, and remember this information has passed from my friend to me, I dont have first-hand knowledge about this. I think John will recognize some of it and know that what I am writing is true.
Apple customer service has a rating system for its consumer customers. John is considered a consumer customer at Apple, not a business, because most of Johns hardware is registered in his name, not his company.
My friend works in Texas but some customer reps do not. All of the information my friend relayed to me was gathered by looking at his file and making some inquiries to other friends of his at Apple, not all of them in Texas.
Customers are rated with regard to their own level of skill, novice, skilled, expert, etc. But there are also some code words used to inform customer reps whos on the other end of the phone line. For instance, say you call Apple constantly, asking them how to set up your email, your browser preferences, or even how to use AppleWorks. Your records will reflect that you are a novice, but it will also reflect that you are a nuisance. Although the rep sees every call you ever made he has this information so he doesnt have to read all the notes in your file. When he sees that you are a nuisance caller he adjusts his tone and method of helping you. He tries to make it a point that you should be reading online about your problem and not calling Apple, even though its your right to do so.
If you happen to be a consumer with several Macs you are given another rating. If you have more than your share of problems you are given another rating. If these problems are small ones you are given yet another rating, if your problems are big ones, yet another. You get the idea. The notes are often too long to read by the rep on the phone so Apple devised a system that tell the rep how to deal with you.
For a long time John was rated as an expert consumer, someone who knows what hes talking about, so often the reps would bypass a lot of the steps in solving a problem. Stuff like zapping the parameter RAM, dumb things like that. They know its a waste of time.
According to Apple records Johns first G4 PowerBook was the 400Mhz. His first problem was the loose battery issue. Apple repaired it by replacing the battery. Modifications were made to the battery that allowed it to sit more firmly.
Apples records show that John registered several G4 PowerBooks. Almost everyone had a problem of one sort of another. Each problem was verified to be real problems and all of them were taken care of, for a while.
John was soon rated a problem customer and he was dealt with as a suspicious customer. John was never upgraded and he never asked to be upgraded. I mean John never asked to have a PowerBook replaced by a newer one. The records do show that John wanted his Gforce 4 MX card replaced with another card, but that was denied. My friend and his co-workers wanted to tell customers that the card was fine and all it needed was a good firmware upgrade, but they were told to tell customers their problem was not a problem. Anyway, Johns third Tower had the same problem but he chose not to take another one, even though it was offered. According to the records, it was John who told Executive Relations to close the case. He also had a problem with his 22 cinema display and refused to have it fixed because he didnt want to be without it. The Executive Relations person in charge wanted to have it fixed and John kept refusing and again asked that the case on it be closed. Closed by customer request
Back to the PowerBooks though. Ask any Apple repair tech and he or she will tell you that the Titanium PowerBook was always problematic. The best one produced is the current one, the 1Ghz with the improved logic board and the better paint. But there are video problems with some of these.
According to the records John called Apple and told them his sound out port was not working on his 1Ghz PowerBook. It was sent in for repair but because of his rating his repair wasnt covered. He was told that he yanked out a headphone jack too hard, thus it was his problem. John denied doing this. He was also informed that the case was cracked around the PC slot, but my friend said just the paint was cracked, but Apple told him that it would be more than $600 to replace the case. He declined and the case was closed. John denied that the case was cracked when it came in. My friend says that the number of things that happen to a PowerBook while its in repair would scare the hell our of anyone. He thinks its a good idea to video tape yourself packing up the computer than handing it to Airborne Express and video taping the delivery back to you. Hows that for confidence in Apple??
In a matter of weeks John called back reporting video problems. According to John his screen would flicker. Again it as sent to Texas where it was discovered that the video was a real problem and the logic board was replaced under warranty.
John contacted Executive Relations again during this time and complained. He was then designated as someone to play hardball with. In other words, my friend said AppleCare was basically useless for John because future problems would be deemed his fault no matter what.
The records show that when John called Apple about his shattered screen it was sent to another level of support immediately. He was told flat out that the warranty would not cover the screen, that it was obviously his fault. My friend says that he and several other people there think that there is no way to dismiss his claim without seeing it, but because it was John it was made clear to him that he was out of luck. According to the notes John didnt argue about it, he asked how much it would be to get fixed. He didnt commit to getting it fixed. He didnt insist on elevating the problem either.
Nobody knows why, but Robin Roberts called John and asked that the PowerBook be picked up and sent to Cupertino. The records do not show him calling or writing anyone at Apple. He suspects that someone pointed out Johns column to customer relations and it was handed to Robin.
Robins notes indicate that she wanted to resolve the issue and John was amicable. It was sent to Cupertino and two days later notes appeared in his file that indicated there was a single scratch on the lower part of the PowerBook, a few scratches on the bezel and latch and a bit of chocolate on outside of the computer, near the pc slot. Although John says Robin didnt base her decision on this, she did. Johns PowerBook was not to be covered, not now, not in the future. Robins notes make mention about John saying his credit card company was going to reimburse him for the cost and he wanted to get it fixed. Robin indicates that the PowerBook was to be sent back the next morning. But my friend found out it was not, it was held two more days without Robins knowledge.
Another interesting thing, and something John reported, was that John did place a call to Apple and reported the screen shattered to a new Tech support person. Bumped up a level, the person wrote it up as a covered repair until he saw the notes. John says the guy said something like if it were a 15 screen we would cover it. Well, thats not exactly true. The rep was acting as he would with any customer with this problem and as he was filling out the forms he came across the note that said this PowerBook is not to be fixed under any circumstances. Thats when he changed his story and refused to have it fixed under Johns warranty.
) HP by walking around in slippers on carpet and then plugging in an audio jack, which sent a gigantic spark, frying the computer. In the same turnaround, HP recovered his lost data and put it on a new hard drive.