Update Lost Repair...
Well, you'll never believe the outcome of this story.
I spent the day tracking down my laptop. As I pointed out earlier, I left the laptop with them August 9th (proof is on my receipt). I had been told several times that my laptop had been shipped out and that they would contact me as soon as they recieved it from Apple. I knew better, since calls to Apple Support and a check of
http://customer.apple.com/repairstatus/ indicated that Apple had not recieved the powerbook. So after being told to call back tommorow on Sunday, I decided to personally visit the store.
Let me tell you, CompUSA is horrible when it comes to customer service. I watched regretfully as idle employees stood around while i waited at the service desk for a representative. Not one bothered to ask me for help until five minutes after I arrived.
When I finally did get the attention that I needed, I asked the clerk to get me a tracking number for my package. I explained to her that I had left my laptop last week with them for repair and it was supposed to be shiped out on Monday Second Day (Airborne Express) to an Apple Repair Center. I also added that I had been in contact with Apple and that they had yet to recieve it. She went back to talk with a tech and came back with a tracking number. I wrote the number down and left.
Armed with a new lead I raced back home. I logged onto the Internet (
www.airborne.com) and entered the number, only to find that it wasn't in the system. To be safe, I tryed UPS, and FedEx too. But to no avail! I ended up calling Airborne express, and speaking with a representative. He confirmed exactly what the website said, the package number was not in the system.
So I called CompUSA. I was getting quite used to calling them, and had figured that all I needed to dial tech services was to hit ext. 5. Again, I asked for a tracking number. I thought surely I must have copied it down wrong earlier today. To my surprise she gave me the exact number I had written down with my earlier visit.
Of course, now I was thinking the worst. Was the package indeed lost?
I asked the tech at CompUSA if she had a copy of the Airborne Express reciept. She said yes she did, and asked if I would like to have it faxed over. Well I dont have a fax machine so I told her I would be over to pick a copy up.
I made yet another trip to CompUSA, 20 minutes away from my house.
Thankfully, the tech left it at the front counter and I didn't have to wait this time. Now I was thinking, here is proof that the powerbook was shipped off with Airborne Express. And as far as I could tell, this was a legit Airborne customer receipt. Oddly enough, it had been signed 8-15-03. Nevertheless, I went home once more and proceeded to call Airborne.
Again I told the Airborne representative my tracking number. And again, she told me it wasn't in the system. I triumphantly told the representative that I had a actual reciept from Airborne Express that they had indeed picked up my laptop. But she said it wasn't possible and asked at me to look at the drivers signature.
Big surprise, a driver never signed for the package. She told me that if he didn't sign for the package then they didn't pick it up, and that my missing laptop was surely with CompUSA.
By now I was furious. I seemed to have been given the run around all weekend long. I called CompUSA back, and asked to speak with the tech manager Armando.
I told my story to Armando, I gave him my Service Order number and told him about the reciept I had picked up earlier in the day that was missing the drivers signature. He put me on hold and went through his records.
A short while later he came on the phone and informed me that he had found my laptop. It was "at our warehouse". I asked how and why then was I told that the laptop had been shipped to Apple a week ago. To that question he could give no definate answer. He then asked wether I wanted him to ship the laptop out tommorow (Tuesday 19). A full ten days after I left it with him. I politly refused, making some comments about the level of service I was getting and told him I would be right over to pick up the powerbook.
I made my third trip to CompUSA to pick up my laptop. It had sat for a full 10 days waiting to be shipped.
I wonder if the idiots over at CompUSA were purposely misleading me through out the whole ordeal. Did they fake an order slip just to make me believe that they had shipped out my laptop? Or was it an honest mistake? Whatever it was, they sure are crappy in terms of the level of service that I would have expected.
Well I have amassed quite a bit of evidence, copies of the repair order, the purportedly fake Airborne Express reciept, and names of the employees who I dealt with. I am thinking of forwarding the whole mess over to the better BBB or perhaps Corporate CompUSA. What do you all think?
At the very least I am very happy to get my laptop back!
Cesar
