Hi everybody,
I have been reading this forums as a guest occasionally when I was looking for tips and advice on anything related to Apple and macs.
I wish my first post here would have been a more positive one, but sadly it is one of frustration and crying out for help.
You are welcome to read all the details below, but in essence my Late 2013 13 inch MacBook Pro has been the worst computer I have ever had, and with Apple Support also failing me.
The short story
I've had two major issues with the laptop: 1) recurring crashes and slow bootup for the last 2,5 years, leading in one case to needing to fully restore the machine from my Time Machine backup, and in the second case not able to bootup at all. Leaving me with an unusable laptop for 3 months till I was able to visit a Service Provider. 2) my screen has been suffering a lot from the 'staingate' (don't like the name either) with the anti reflective coating failing and causing 'stains' in the screen. I have had my screen replaced twice already and this third screen is actually the worst so far.
I've reached a point where I'm very unhappy with the laptop. I've called Support and requested to escalate the manner to find a permanent solution. I got a mail from senior support staff/manager who ensured me that 'he would take care of it' and that I ' could always personally contact him'.
I sent the manager an e-mail that seeing the time and effort I've spend with Apple Support, the time I've lost the laptop due being in for service and not working, and the continuous re-occurrence of both the start-up and screen issues that at this point I want the laptop exchanged for a new one. My faith in the reliability of this laptop is zero.
The manager despite his personal assurance never responded. I've now resorted to sending tcook@apple.com an e-mail everyday in the hope somebody responds. If you're asking why I don't go to an Apple Store, right now I'm living on Bali Indonesia and there is no such thing. There are Service Providers but these are usually not the best in this situation. This according to a friend on the island who needed to escalate to get his screen replaced.
I accept that it can happen that computers don't work or have problems. But I'm extremely disappointed by Apple Support which I hoped would stand on my side in this matter after escalating it. I've sent 5 e-mails to the support manager who guaranteed me 'that he will take care of it' and 4 to tcook@apple.com. I have had no response so far. At this point I'm becoming more interested in getting my purchase reimbursed so I can purchase a Windows machine despite preferring to work with Mac OSX
I hope some of you have tips how I can get Apple to react to my case.
The long story
I have had a few computers over the years, 3 Windows desktops and 3 laptops. I've also build and setup 2 home media servers (NAS) myself. I would consider myself pretty comfortable with computers, and with a competence level above the average computer user.
Since 2005 I have been a regular user of Apple products, having used iPods, iPad, iMac, iPhones and accessories such as Airport stations and Time Capsule. My ownership and user experience has in general been very good. (Except the power supply& cooling on the first generation Time Capsules which is bad design so when that died I replaced it myself with an external power supply).
However I’m afraid I cannot say that of the ownership experiences of my MacBook Pro, which has been an at sometimes highly frustrating experience. Allow me to briefly recap the issues, and apologies in advance for the long mail as that is a result of the many issues.
The model involved is a late 2013 Retina MacBook Pro 13 inch. I have a mobile career and life as an active dive instructor, at often remote locations. So therefore this case involved various Apple Store, Apple Support and Authorized Service Centers worldwide.
*The MacBook was purchased on 28 October at the Apple Store at Woodlands Mall while passing through Houston, Texas, USA as I was returning from a training in Honduras. I specifically purchased the MacBook at this time as the newest ‘Late 2013' models were just released (23 October) and during my visit at the store I specifically requested this lastest model. On my flight out of Houston later that day as I booted up the MacBook for the first time I was shocked to discover that I was sold an previous model (‘Early 2013'). As I arrived in The Netherlands for a short family visit I visited the Apple Store in Amsterdam and after escalation at Apple Support I was able to exchange the MacBook for the model I had requested at my initial purchase in Houston.
*On 24 March 2014 whilst working on the island of Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean my MacBook froze/crashed during regular use. After reboot the MacBook was hanging at startup in the grey screen with apple logo and spinning wheel, with a full bootup of the system taking anywhere up to 30 min. Rebooting in verbose mode (command-v) showed it was hanging at the following on bootup: AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus - received status packet, payload 2: device was reinitialized.
*On 13 September 2014 whilst working on the island of Flores, Indonesia, the same occurrence happened as on 24 March 2014. On the same day 13th september 2014 (within my warranty period) I recorded a case by internet chat. I was told as due my remote location I could bring in the Macbook in for service as soon as had access to an Apple Store or Authorized Service Provider.
*On 11th November 2014 I brought in the MacBook at the Apple Store at Bondi, Sydney, Australia
The technician at the Genius Bar did a scan of the hardware and couldn’t find any faults with the hardware despite me explaining the issues. I explained that based on the symptoms and my internet research the SSD was most likely developing faults. Due to the technician not finding any faults I was advised to to a full reinstall of the system after backing up. I did this, and restored from the Time Machine back-up.
At this time I also addressed the issue that the coating on my screen was peeling off leaving ugly stains and making working on the MacBook a more unpleasant experience. After some discussion the Apple Store Bondi agreed to replace the screen under warranty.
*Following my visit to Australia I was working remotely in the South Pacfic (Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu). In this period then I have had multiple (I would say approx 5 times) a full hang/crash of the system, and subsequently again very long bootup times.
*In the week around 14 May 2015 (can’t recall exact date) after a crash during bootup the system couldn’t even find the startup volume (Macintosh HD) and I ended up in the Utility menu. From the disk utility menu (First Aid) I could not select the Macintosh HD as it was greyed out. I tried things like NVRAM reset, /sbin/fsck -fy command, verified disk with Disk Utility (disk needed repair but could not be repaired from Recovery HD). At this time I needed to fully restore the system from my Time Machine backup to get a working MacBook again
After this instance I again recorded a new case on May 14th 2015. As I was in a remote location (Tonga) the chat dropped out at some point and could not be re-established.
*After the Time Machine restore the Macbook was working again, albeit with the occasional crash and slow reboot. As these symptoms kept occuring I opened a new case on 18/10/15 to register the issues and requested that I could bring the MacBook in for repair as this was an ongoing issues since my warranty period.
*On 22/10/2015 the MacBook crashed again and completely hanged at startup and shut itself down again. The symptoms were:
-hangs at startup and shuts down
-verbose mode: keeps rechecking & repairing disk
-recovery menu
-> verify, repair needed
-> can't repair disk
-> can't find Time Machine backup
*On 24/10/2015 I tried to boot up the MacBook again with the same results as 22/10/2015.
*On 30/10/2015 I tried to bootup the MacBook again, you could hear the startup ‘boing’ sound and the MacBook powered itself off. During this the fan ran at very high speed for 10-20 secs while the display remained black.
*On 09/11/2015 I reported the issues and opened a new case. I couldn’t report it at an earlier opportunity as I was sailing and out of internet access. It could not be resolved with Apple Support and I was advised to bring the MacBook in for repair. At the time I was working in Papua New Guinea and I the first place I would be with a Apple Support center would be Cebu, Philippines, so I was given address of Support Centers there.
*From this issue occuring to the opportunity for repair I was for almost 3 months without a working MacBook, which was a great inconvenience as I need the computer to proces paperwork associated with dive training, and for marketing and sales work (mail, website, social media) for my employer at the time. I realise this long period is also due to my remote working, but I would expect a common device as a laptop certainly from a ‘premium’ regarded brand as Apple to provide a basic level of reliability.
*On 5 January 2016 I brought the MacBook in for repair at the Power Mac Center in Cebu, Philippines. They are an Authorized Service Provider. I had to pay a diagnostics fee for them to take care of the earlier reported issues. The technician did a scan of the hardware and couldn’t find any faults with the hardware despite the MacBook clearly not booting up. When I brought the MacBook in the technician also looked at my screen and noticed the coating peeling of. She informed me of the Quality Program to replace screens with this issue and authorized replacement of the screen. I had noticed the coating coming off again, but to be honest I hadn’t addressed it in my earlier chats with Apple Support as the bootup and non-working issues had a way higher priority.
*After a week the MacBook was ready for pickup. A new screen was installed, and the technician informed me that the startup problem was due to the machine not able to find a bootable partition. They had fixed this issue.
*On 30 January 2016 the MacBook experienced another crash with error text lines ‘breaking through’ the OS screen, but it was able to reboot ok.
*Since this last crash the MacBook appears to be working fine, although as you can understand my confidence in the machine is pretty low.
*In July 2016 I noticed the new screen again showing peeling as the coating is coming off again. This time it is actually worse than on previous screens. Whereas on my previous screens the issues was mostly on the edges, on this screen it is actually also right in the middle, right in the working/viewing area. This is highly distracting while working on the machine.
At this time I contacted Apple support by chat and requested escalation of the case seeing the history of issues.
*Following this call I requested Apple Support to exchange my laptop for a new one.
*Saturday 14th August 2016 my MacBook completely froze up again during a routine operation (copying a jpg pictures between two folders) and needed to be reboot. Startup after reboot required about 10 minutes.
*Sunday 15th August my MacBook rebooted itself uncommanded during routine work (writing on my blog/website).
I've sent 5 e-mails to the support manager who guaranteed me 'that he will take care of it' and 4 to tcook@apple.com. I have had no response so far.
[doublepost=1471425119][/doublepost]I just posted the same Message on the Apple Support Forum. Well there actually appear to be people at Apple who can react to users messages! It was removed in 5 minutes....
Extremely frustrated and angry at Apple at this point.
I have been reading this forums as a guest occasionally when I was looking for tips and advice on anything related to Apple and macs.
I wish my first post here would have been a more positive one, but sadly it is one of frustration and crying out for help.
You are welcome to read all the details below, but in essence my Late 2013 13 inch MacBook Pro has been the worst computer I have ever had, and with Apple Support also failing me.
The short story
I've had two major issues with the laptop: 1) recurring crashes and slow bootup for the last 2,5 years, leading in one case to needing to fully restore the machine from my Time Machine backup, and in the second case not able to bootup at all. Leaving me with an unusable laptop for 3 months till I was able to visit a Service Provider. 2) my screen has been suffering a lot from the 'staingate' (don't like the name either) with the anti reflective coating failing and causing 'stains' in the screen. I have had my screen replaced twice already and this third screen is actually the worst so far.
I've reached a point where I'm very unhappy with the laptop. I've called Support and requested to escalate the manner to find a permanent solution. I got a mail from senior support staff/manager who ensured me that 'he would take care of it' and that I ' could always personally contact him'.
I sent the manager an e-mail that seeing the time and effort I've spend with Apple Support, the time I've lost the laptop due being in for service and not working, and the continuous re-occurrence of both the start-up and screen issues that at this point I want the laptop exchanged for a new one. My faith in the reliability of this laptop is zero.
The manager despite his personal assurance never responded. I've now resorted to sending tcook@apple.com an e-mail everyday in the hope somebody responds. If you're asking why I don't go to an Apple Store, right now I'm living on Bali Indonesia and there is no such thing. There are Service Providers but these are usually not the best in this situation. This according to a friend on the island who needed to escalate to get his screen replaced.
I accept that it can happen that computers don't work or have problems. But I'm extremely disappointed by Apple Support which I hoped would stand on my side in this matter after escalating it. I've sent 5 e-mails to the support manager who guaranteed me 'that he will take care of it' and 4 to tcook@apple.com. I have had no response so far. At this point I'm becoming more interested in getting my purchase reimbursed so I can purchase a Windows machine despite preferring to work with Mac OSX
I hope some of you have tips how I can get Apple to react to my case.
The long story
I have had a few computers over the years, 3 Windows desktops and 3 laptops. I've also build and setup 2 home media servers (NAS) myself. I would consider myself pretty comfortable with computers, and with a competence level above the average computer user.
Since 2005 I have been a regular user of Apple products, having used iPods, iPad, iMac, iPhones and accessories such as Airport stations and Time Capsule. My ownership and user experience has in general been very good. (Except the power supply& cooling on the first generation Time Capsules which is bad design so when that died I replaced it myself with an external power supply).
However I’m afraid I cannot say that of the ownership experiences of my MacBook Pro, which has been an at sometimes highly frustrating experience. Allow me to briefly recap the issues, and apologies in advance for the long mail as that is a result of the many issues.
The model involved is a late 2013 Retina MacBook Pro 13 inch. I have a mobile career and life as an active dive instructor, at often remote locations. So therefore this case involved various Apple Store, Apple Support and Authorized Service Centers worldwide.
*The MacBook was purchased on 28 October at the Apple Store at Woodlands Mall while passing through Houston, Texas, USA as I was returning from a training in Honduras. I specifically purchased the MacBook at this time as the newest ‘Late 2013' models were just released (23 October) and during my visit at the store I specifically requested this lastest model. On my flight out of Houston later that day as I booted up the MacBook for the first time I was shocked to discover that I was sold an previous model (‘Early 2013'). As I arrived in The Netherlands for a short family visit I visited the Apple Store in Amsterdam and after escalation at Apple Support I was able to exchange the MacBook for the model I had requested at my initial purchase in Houston.
*On 24 March 2014 whilst working on the island of Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean my MacBook froze/crashed during regular use. After reboot the MacBook was hanging at startup in the grey screen with apple logo and spinning wheel, with a full bootup of the system taking anywhere up to 30 min. Rebooting in verbose mode (command-v) showed it was hanging at the following on bootup: AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus - received status packet, payload 2: device was reinitialized.
*On 13 September 2014 whilst working on the island of Flores, Indonesia, the same occurrence happened as on 24 March 2014. On the same day 13th september 2014 (within my warranty period) I recorded a case by internet chat. I was told as due my remote location I could bring in the Macbook in for service as soon as had access to an Apple Store or Authorized Service Provider.
*On 11th November 2014 I brought in the MacBook at the Apple Store at Bondi, Sydney, Australia
The technician at the Genius Bar did a scan of the hardware and couldn’t find any faults with the hardware despite me explaining the issues. I explained that based on the symptoms and my internet research the SSD was most likely developing faults. Due to the technician not finding any faults I was advised to to a full reinstall of the system after backing up. I did this, and restored from the Time Machine back-up.
At this time I also addressed the issue that the coating on my screen was peeling off leaving ugly stains and making working on the MacBook a more unpleasant experience. After some discussion the Apple Store Bondi agreed to replace the screen under warranty.
*Following my visit to Australia I was working remotely in the South Pacfic (Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu). In this period then I have had multiple (I would say approx 5 times) a full hang/crash of the system, and subsequently again very long bootup times.
*In the week around 14 May 2015 (can’t recall exact date) after a crash during bootup the system couldn’t even find the startup volume (Macintosh HD) and I ended up in the Utility menu. From the disk utility menu (First Aid) I could not select the Macintosh HD as it was greyed out. I tried things like NVRAM reset, /sbin/fsck -fy command, verified disk with Disk Utility (disk needed repair but could not be repaired from Recovery HD). At this time I needed to fully restore the system from my Time Machine backup to get a working MacBook again
After this instance I again recorded a new case on May 14th 2015. As I was in a remote location (Tonga) the chat dropped out at some point and could not be re-established.
*After the Time Machine restore the Macbook was working again, albeit with the occasional crash and slow reboot. As these symptoms kept occuring I opened a new case on 18/10/15 to register the issues and requested that I could bring the MacBook in for repair as this was an ongoing issues since my warranty period.
*On 22/10/2015 the MacBook crashed again and completely hanged at startup and shut itself down again. The symptoms were:
-hangs at startup and shuts down
-verbose mode: keeps rechecking & repairing disk
-recovery menu
-> verify, repair needed
-> can't repair disk
-> can't find Time Machine backup
*On 24/10/2015 I tried to boot up the MacBook again with the same results as 22/10/2015.
*On 30/10/2015 I tried to bootup the MacBook again, you could hear the startup ‘boing’ sound and the MacBook powered itself off. During this the fan ran at very high speed for 10-20 secs while the display remained black.
*On 09/11/2015 I reported the issues and opened a new case. I couldn’t report it at an earlier opportunity as I was sailing and out of internet access. It could not be resolved with Apple Support and I was advised to bring the MacBook in for repair. At the time I was working in Papua New Guinea and I the first place I would be with a Apple Support center would be Cebu, Philippines, so I was given address of Support Centers there.
*From this issue occuring to the opportunity for repair I was for almost 3 months without a working MacBook, which was a great inconvenience as I need the computer to proces paperwork associated with dive training, and for marketing and sales work (mail, website, social media) for my employer at the time. I realise this long period is also due to my remote working, but I would expect a common device as a laptop certainly from a ‘premium’ regarded brand as Apple to provide a basic level of reliability.
*On 5 January 2016 I brought the MacBook in for repair at the Power Mac Center in Cebu, Philippines. They are an Authorized Service Provider. I had to pay a diagnostics fee for them to take care of the earlier reported issues. The technician did a scan of the hardware and couldn’t find any faults with the hardware despite the MacBook clearly not booting up. When I brought the MacBook in the technician also looked at my screen and noticed the coating peeling of. She informed me of the Quality Program to replace screens with this issue and authorized replacement of the screen. I had noticed the coating coming off again, but to be honest I hadn’t addressed it in my earlier chats with Apple Support as the bootup and non-working issues had a way higher priority.
*After a week the MacBook was ready for pickup. A new screen was installed, and the technician informed me that the startup problem was due to the machine not able to find a bootable partition. They had fixed this issue.
*On 30 January 2016 the MacBook experienced another crash with error text lines ‘breaking through’ the OS screen, but it was able to reboot ok.
*Since this last crash the MacBook appears to be working fine, although as you can understand my confidence in the machine is pretty low.
*In July 2016 I noticed the new screen again showing peeling as the coating is coming off again. This time it is actually worse than on previous screens. Whereas on my previous screens the issues was mostly on the edges, on this screen it is actually also right in the middle, right in the working/viewing area. This is highly distracting while working on the machine.
At this time I contacted Apple support by chat and requested escalation of the case seeing the history of issues.
*Following this call I requested Apple Support to exchange my laptop for a new one.
*Saturday 14th August 2016 my MacBook completely froze up again during a routine operation (copying a jpg pictures between two folders) and needed to be reboot. Startup after reboot required about 10 minutes.
*Sunday 15th August my MacBook rebooted itself uncommanded during routine work (writing on my blog/website).
I've sent 5 e-mails to the support manager who guaranteed me 'that he will take care of it' and 4 to tcook@apple.com. I have had no response so far.
[doublepost=1471425119][/doublepost]I just posted the same Message on the Apple Support Forum. Well there actually appear to be people at Apple who can react to users messages! It was removed in 5 minutes....
Extremely frustrated and angry at Apple at this point.
