this is a cautionary tale as this happened to me over the weekend:
- bought and downloaded iWork '09 March 8 from authorised Apple reseller in Hong Kong, used it for a week. loaded software onto white MacBook 13'' 2.16Gz. machine is now 7 months out of the standard 1-year warranty (meaning I've owned the machine for 1 year and 7 months).
- Apple Auto Update cued update for iWork '09 (Pages, Numbers) on March 13, which i authorised for it to download.
- left and came back to computer, which does not turn on. tried resetting PRAM, SRAM, doesn't work - completely crashed, light next to IR port does not turn on, battery does not charge, but power adapter lights up green when connected.
- went to CASE, in Mongkok (Hong Kong), over the weekend - 3rd party service contractor of AppleCare HK, which takes care of hardware problems. the counter rep said it will cost me HK$600 (US$100) just to examine the problem because the machine is out of warranty. i kicked up a fuss. he finally gave it a cursory look, say something is wrong with logic board and says they will have to charge me HK$10,000 (US$1,200 = which equals new aluminum MacBook) to fix it - ridiculous!!! but they said i should wait to speak to a Customer Service rep on Monday to see what more could be done.
- so i went home, took out the hard drive and put it into an external hard drive (SATA) case.
- over USB, backed up my critical user files onto another macbook.
- there were "stop signs" overlaid my file folder icons, i clicked on them, opened them up, transferred these files onto another external drive.
- returned original hard drive into unbootable macbook (apparently this should have fixed it), did not try to power up one last time (see below).
- called up AppleCare Customer Service on Monday (see below); they were helpful.
- at CASE (AppleCare's 3rd party contractor), technician pushed power button and to my utter amazement, the computer turns on. screen shows the machine was just about to restart - it was stuck on Apple Update, which has just finished downloading for iWork 09. the technician says actually i am the second person to have this problem - the other person was installing updates for iLife '09. technician also says this has never happened before iLife or iWork 09. apple really should be notified about this.
AppleCare Customer Service HK - CS Rep. Raymond Kong - Tel: 21120099:
- for their part, AppleCare HK's CS was very helpful. CS Rep Raymond Kong was exemplary in his handling of my situation. though out of warranty for 7 months, he offered me full labour and parts + 3 months' extended warranty on the repair. initially he gave me some resistance, as per expected, but here was my argument:
- why am I penalised for using authentic Apple products on an Apple machine, of which led to the complete demise of an Apple product.
- apple costs twice as much as similar machines running on PC, but if their selling point is durability and dependability, apple has to uphold its promise
- reparation costing as much as a new machine? Raymond tried to settle for half the costs, but i said no way.
- my previous laptop was an IBM which I used for 5 years with little problem, but decided to switch to apple because the machine is running worse for wear.
- although technical people will say software will not affect hardware, this really isn't an argument at all. this has been my case.
- although the 1-year warranty is the standard, i maintained that spending $10,000 (US$1,300) on a machine that lasts only 1 year is ridiculous. minor breakdowns and glitches are expected due to wear and tear, but buy a computer only to have it be replaced after a year, that's just nonsense.
- if they don't take responsiblity for this software / hardware problem, is apple suggesting i not buy apple softwares / products anymore? how could i even have the confidence to use, let alone buy, apple products anymore without it having crashing on me?
- bought and downloaded iWork '09 March 8 from authorised Apple reseller in Hong Kong, used it for a week. loaded software onto white MacBook 13'' 2.16Gz. machine is now 7 months out of the standard 1-year warranty (meaning I've owned the machine for 1 year and 7 months).
- Apple Auto Update cued update for iWork '09 (Pages, Numbers) on March 13, which i authorised for it to download.
- left and came back to computer, which does not turn on. tried resetting PRAM, SRAM, doesn't work - completely crashed, light next to IR port does not turn on, battery does not charge, but power adapter lights up green when connected.
- went to CASE, in Mongkok (Hong Kong), over the weekend - 3rd party service contractor of AppleCare HK, which takes care of hardware problems. the counter rep said it will cost me HK$600 (US$100) just to examine the problem because the machine is out of warranty. i kicked up a fuss. he finally gave it a cursory look, say something is wrong with logic board and says they will have to charge me HK$10,000 (US$1,200 = which equals new aluminum MacBook) to fix it - ridiculous!!! but they said i should wait to speak to a Customer Service rep on Monday to see what more could be done.
- so i went home, took out the hard drive and put it into an external hard drive (SATA) case.
- over USB, backed up my critical user files onto another macbook.
- there were "stop signs" overlaid my file folder icons, i clicked on them, opened them up, transferred these files onto another external drive.
- returned original hard drive into unbootable macbook (apparently this should have fixed it), did not try to power up one last time (see below).
- called up AppleCare Customer Service on Monday (see below); they were helpful.
- at CASE (AppleCare's 3rd party contractor), technician pushed power button and to my utter amazement, the computer turns on. screen shows the machine was just about to restart - it was stuck on Apple Update, which has just finished downloading for iWork 09. the technician says actually i am the second person to have this problem - the other person was installing updates for iLife '09. technician also says this has never happened before iLife or iWork 09. apple really should be notified about this.
AppleCare Customer Service HK - CS Rep. Raymond Kong - Tel: 21120099:
- for their part, AppleCare HK's CS was very helpful. CS Rep Raymond Kong was exemplary in his handling of my situation. though out of warranty for 7 months, he offered me full labour and parts + 3 months' extended warranty on the repair. initially he gave me some resistance, as per expected, but here was my argument:
- why am I penalised for using authentic Apple products on an Apple machine, of which led to the complete demise of an Apple product.
- apple costs twice as much as similar machines running on PC, but if their selling point is durability and dependability, apple has to uphold its promise
- reparation costing as much as a new machine? Raymond tried to settle for half the costs, but i said no way.
- my previous laptop was an IBM which I used for 5 years with little problem, but decided to switch to apple because the machine is running worse for wear.
- although technical people will say software will not affect hardware, this really isn't an argument at all. this has been my case.
- although the 1-year warranty is the standard, i maintained that spending $10,000 (US$1,300) on a machine that lasts only 1 year is ridiculous. minor breakdowns and glitches are expected due to wear and tear, but buy a computer only to have it be replaced after a year, that's just nonsense.
- if they don't take responsiblity for this software / hardware problem, is apple suggesting i not buy apple softwares / products anymore? how could i even have the confidence to use, let alone buy, apple products anymore without it having crashing on me?