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My poor 12" Powerbook - Apple Care gone bad

amin

amin

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 17, 2003
977
9
Boston, MA
Here's my story for any sympathetic ear:

2 weeks ago - Bought a new 15" PB (basic model) last week to replace my Rev A 12" PB.

Saturday (6d ago) - Was planning on selling 12"er, but sent it to Apple Care to have white spot on display issue fixed prior to selling

Wednesday - Received my 12" back from Apple Care in less than one week, aluminum siding smashed in on one corner - not subtle at all. Battery no longer can be attached, and the cover doesn't shut properly. The kicker was that it came with a sheet saying I would be billed within one week for the display repair which was "not covered." Of note, the box I received it in was not damaged and had lots of cushioning, so I'm guessing the damage happened before they shipped it back to me rather than during the shipping process. Their own notes say that they received the item from me in good condition.

Same day (Wed) - Called Apple Care who said the sheet had been a mistake and that I would not be billed for the display repair. Told me to bring the bashed in PB to my local Apple Store to have it shipped back for repair of the deformed/bashed side. On the phone, they specifically told me that they had entered all theinfo in the computer and that the Apple Store employees would see it and not give me a hard time.

Thursday - Apple Store gave me a really hard time saying that I should have gotten a special number on the phone to indicate it would be covered since the damage was Apple's responsibility. After some really poor treatment, they ship it to Apple for me.

Today - I get an email saying they need to talk to me before they do the repair since this repair is not covered by Apple Care. I called Apple Care again, and they after putting me on hold several times and transferring twice told me that this was another mistake and that of course I would not be billed.

I really hope they do a proper repair. If I get back a shoddily-repaired PB, I will be really angry. I have been an Apple customer since the ][+. In the past 3 years, I have bought a G5 PM for my dad, got my mom to buy my brother a 15" PB, bought myself two PBs, got my family 5 Ipods, and purchased every new version of OS X, iLife, iWork, QT Pro, and more. I expect better service than this. So far, I have wasted way too much time on the phone. Wish me luck...
 
They need to streamline their policies. I had a similiar issue, in which I recieved several answers to the same question.
 
OnceUGoMac said:
They need to streamline their policies. I had a similiar issue, in which I recieved several answers to the same question.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think they need to decide in their small print whether they are going to service a certain issue or situation or not. None of this begging game...
 
Thanks guys. Even if they do a proper repair, I am a bit concerned that something internal may not be quite right given the force that I presume was necessary to cause such damage. The Apple Care rep told me Apple would verify that all the insides were okay, but I don't want to sell a PB that is going to give the new owner trouble. On the other hand, at least it has Apple Care time left, through late August, 2006. C'mon Apple, come through for me here. My wife really feels bad for me. She knows this 12" has been my baby for two years now, and to see it come back like that was terrible.

I plan to keep this thread updated - I'm no longer expecting great things from Apple Care, and I want a witness
 
ITASOR said:
Yes, I think they need to decide in their small print whether they are going to service a certain issue or situation or not. None of this begging game...
Click to expand...

This doesn't really apply to my situation since they should obviously cover the fact that they smashed in the side/corner of my laptop.

Also, if they weren't going to cover the screen defect - which should also obviously be covered since I didn't cause it in any way - they should not have fixed it without asking me first for authorization.
 
Sorry to hear about your problem. Its definitely not what you expected - sending a computer in for repair only to have it further damaged. Hopefully Apple will set it right. Wishing you the best outcome in this situation amin.
 
Thanks for that number. If my book comes back still messed up, I will definitely be calling them.
 
Sounds like the people at Apple just need to communicate with each other better. At least it looks like it will be fixed in the end. I've only had good experiences with AppleCare but I've heard stories from others. Hope it works out.
 
dmw007 said:
Sorry to hear about your problem. Its definitely not what you expected - sending a computer in for repair only to have it further damaged. Hopefully Apple will set it right. Wishing you the best outcome in this situation amin.
Click to expand...
Thanks very much dmw.
 
Heb1228 said:
Sounds like the people at Apple just need to communicate with each other better. At least it looks like it will be fixed in the end. I've only had good experiences with AppleCare but I've heard stories from others. Hope it works out.
Click to expand...
Thanks Heb. Hopefully it will be repaired properly, and without too much more wasted time.
 
I sent in my 12" Rev D Powerbook to fix a heat warp issue and they replaced the warped bottom case, but did not seat and secure one of the corners properly. I could probably live with this, but I happened to be checking my system profile after upgrading to 10.4.2 and I noticed I only have 256 megs of RAM instead of 512. I tried to open it up to see if the RAM had come unseated or if they forgot to put it back in, and the damn thing won't open. Back to Apple it goes. :mad:
 
amin said:
Also, if they weren't going to cover the screen defect - which should also obviously be covered since I didn't cause it in any way - they should not have fixed it without asking me first for authorization.
Click to expand...

i just had a similar experience this week. I sent my iBook in for repair (it died on me while I was using it and then refused to boot) and they gave absolutely no indication that it would not be covered. The actual repair was carried out within a day and I had it back the next day, they never contacted me--as it specifically says they will if they decide they need to charge you for the repair.

Nevertheless, the sheet I got back said that they had replaced the logic board and I would get a bill within a week since it was not a covered repair. I called Applecare and they promised that it was just a mistake and that I would not be billed. It hasn't been a full week yet, so I'm still waiting to see if a bill shows up, they'll be hearing about it if one does.

Tim
 
Sorry to hear that you too are having a suboptimal Apple Care experience. I hope someone from Apple reads these forums. Sure most people have a good experience, but I'm no longer confident that I am a rare exception.
 
They got it right in the end.

In the end, Apple Care came through. They replaced the bottom of the unit, re-replaced the LCD, reseated the Airport card, replaced the trackpad cable, and gave me a new battery. I am now confident that I am selling a Powerbook in excellentt condition. I'm going to miss this little marvel. The keyboard in particular is much nicer than that of my new 15"er, which feels sticky by comparison. Thanks to all for listening. I thought you might like to hear the ending.
 
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