Need to rant: Bad experience with genius bar.

[snaky69]

As some of you may or may not remember, my logic board on my early 2008 MBP went due to the dreaded nVidia 8600GT card on monday.

It was diagnosed as such and the local apple stored gladly switched out my logic board with a brand new one.

I went there tonight to pick up the machine, I noticed the top case had not been properly clipped back into place, I told the genius, clipped it back on myself, shook hands with the genius and went on my merry way.

Here's where it turns sour:
First off I notice my pristine MBP is covered in greasy dark smudges, as if the person working on it had motor oil on his hands.

I open up the computer from sleep mode, it sounds like a frickin' jet engine, both fans are going nuts at 6000rpm and the computer is at about 30C. I shut it down, reset both the PRAM and SMC, turn it back on, no improvement at all.

I pull up iStat and I notice that the CPU temp is not showing, even though it is checked in the preferences. I open up FanControl in the system preferences, not only does the temp read incorrectly, it reads as -128C, yes, MINUS 128C. All the while the fans are blaring at 6000rpm.

I close the system preferences, decide to check my e-mail, and get a Kernel Panic instead. Pissed off, I shut down the computer, turn it back on, only to get similar results.

Long story short, I'm extremely pissed, and I feel sorry for the fellow that will be getting me tomorrow, he's going to have an earful.

Do they even test the machines before they give it back? Surely fans spiking up to max speed on idle is something someone would notice?

 

[Adidas Addict]

As some of you may or may not remember, my logic board on my early 2008 MBP went due to the dreaded nVidia 8600GT card on monday.

It was diagnosed as such and the local apple stored gladly switched out my logic board with a brand new one.

I went there tonight to pick up the machine, I noticed the top case had not been properly clipped back into place, I told the genius, clipped it back on myself, shook hands with the genius and went on my merry way.

Here's where it turns sour:
First off I notice my pristine MBP is covered in greasy dark smudges, as if the person working on it had motor oil on his hands.

I open up the computer from sleep mode, it sounds like a frickin' jet engine, both fans are going nuts at 6000rpm and the computer is at about 30C. I shut it down, reset both the PRAM and SMC, turn it back on, no improvement at all.

I pull up iStat and I notice that the CPU temp is not showing, even though it is checked in the preferences. I open up FanControl in the system preferences, not only does the temp read incorrectly, it reads as -128C, yes, MINUS 128C. All the while the fans are blaring at 6000rpm.

I close the system preferences, decide to check my e-mail, and get a Kernel Panic instead. Pissed off, I shut down the computer, turn it back on, only to get similar results.

Long story short, I'm extremely pissed, and I feel sorry for the fellow that will be getting me tomorrow, he's going to have an earful.

Do they even test the machines before they give it back? Surely fans spiking up to max speed on idle is something someone would notice?

Make enough noise on a busy friday lunchtime and you might just blag a sandy bridge

 

[acedickson]

That's unacceptable, you should speak directly to the store manager. First, you were inconvenienced when the GPU went out and now you have to go back because it's in running but somewhat worse condition.

 

[snaky69]

Make enough noise on a busy friday lunchtime and you might just blag a sandy bridge

Actually I have an appointment with a "genius" tomorrow at 12:45. I will definitely try to coax and employee into giving me a new high end 15'' for free.

Thing is, I need this computer for school work, it has all my projects and engineering programs on it and reading week is next week and I'd actually like to get crap done.

 

[snaky69]

That's unacceptable, you should speak directly to the store manager. First, you were inconvenienced when the GPU went out and now you have to go back because it's in running but somewhat worse condition.

It actually is running worse than when I brought it in, the gpu showed no signs of failing screen wise, it was only detected through their testing.

 

[Hansr]

Go back. Sound like they forgot to plugin some sensor or fan controller.

 

[snaky69]

Go back. Sound like they forgot to plugin some sensor or fan controller.

Got an appointment tomorrow. They better fix it on the spot.

 

[mikeo007]

Your 3-year old computer's GPU failure doesn't entitle you to a free new machine I'm afraid. Make all the noise you want, the best they'll do is repair the machine again.

Now as to your situation, I can sympathize. I have had nothing but bad experiences with virtually every tech support / in-store computer purchase I've ever experienced. I find that the employees are much too pushy, and tend to spew BS whenever they talk. I've worked in tech support for years, and before that, had lots of experience building and repairing computers as a hobby. The long and short of it is, you don't need much of an education to get a job at one of those places, and it often shows.

Some of the Apple stores even outsource their repairs, so for all you know, it could have been a mechanic fixing your macbook on his lunch break

 

[snaky69]

Your 3-year old computer's GPU failure doesn't entitle you to a free new machine I'm afraid. Make all the noise you want, the best they'll do is repair the machine again.

Now as to your situation, I can sympathize. I have had nothing but bad experiences with virtually every tech support / in-store computer purchase I've ever experienced. I find that the employees are much too pushy, and tend to spew BS whenever they talk. I've worked in tech support for years, and before that, had lots of experience building and repairing computers as a hobby. The long and short of it is, you don't need much of an education to get a job at one of those places, and it often shows.

Some of the Apple stores even outsource their repairs, so for all you know, it could have been a mechanic fixing your macbook on his lunch break

mikeo007, I said this in jest, of course, but I will make a point of it being unnacceptable, I'm definitely not entitled to a new machine, but a guy can dream right? I hope we can work out something that'll allow me to have some kind of computer to use if they decide to keep it for further testing as I really need this computer for a ton of projects during the next week, this couldn't be a worst time.

I'm almost tempted to splurge on a new one, and return it within 14 days once my machine is properly repaired. Thing is, that is dishonest, and I'm not that kind of person.

Mechanic on his lunchbreak? Could be.

 

[Mal]

I would guess that they simply forgot to plug back in the sensor for the CPU and the fans are running high as a result.

Definitely something they should get fixed, and an annoyance for you, but the best you'll get is a quick repair and an apology (that's what would happen if I was the one fixing it, I'd make it right as quickly as possible, while you waited if I could, but nothing more).

jW

 

[Grouchy Bob]

Got an appointment tomorrow. They better fix it on the spot.

You'd better check it "on the spot" before leaving. (Like you should have done the first time).

 

[DarwinOSX]

No they don't.
But they are talking about outsourcing all Apple Store repairs to one company. Alot of the repairs are done at night by people who work at on the Genius bar and they can't leave until all are done.

Some of the Apple stores even outsource their repairs, so for all you know, it could have been a mechanic fixing your macbook on his lunch break

 

[Luba]

I also heard that repairs done when store closes. I don't think I would like it if it's outsourced as the notes/instructions for repair could be misinterpreted.

Sadly, the level of expertise of the geniuses vary greatly. Never had anything fixed there, but talking to geniuses it's very obvious the knowledge level is not consistent. I wonder if sometimes the store assigns you to an iPhone genius instead of a Mac genius when the store is busy. A "genius" printed out a knowledge base article, then starting to explain his theory that contradicted the article in many places. He completely didn't know what he was talking about.

No they don't.
But they are talking about outsourcing all Apple Store repairs to one company. Alot of the repairs are done at night by people who work at on the Genius bar and they can't leave until all are done.

 

[tigress666]

Sadly, the level of expertise of the geniuses vary greatly. Never had anything fixed there, but talking to geniuses it's very obvious the knowledge level is not consistent. I wonder if sometimes the store assigns you to an iPhone genius instead of a Mac genius when the store is busy. A "genius" printed out a knowledge base article, then starting to explain his theory that contradicted the article in many places. He completely didn't know what he was talking about.

Gotta agree. Sometimes it feels like I could do their jobs. But one time I did get a good one (when it really mattered, my hard drive died. I was just trying to figure out a way to get info off of it, didn't realize genius bar was more of a turn your computer in when it's broken and either pay for repairs or have it fixed under warranty. I thought they were there for advice. But he did manage to give me really good advice about how you can circumvent the annoying first aid tools on the startup disk and just peruse the hard drive manually using Unix <- I did not know you could access Unix from the startup CD. The first aid kid kept finding one bad file and instead of skipping it would just tell me that copying the hard drive failed. Ridiculous recovery software, of course there are going to be bad segments, why couldnt' they program it to just skip that file and keep going? Luckily in Unix you can tell it to copy everything and skip any files that are too degraded).

I wonder how many genius's there are there now that know their way around Unix that could give me that advice.

 

[184550]

As some of you may or may not remember, my logic board on my early 2008 MBP went due to the dreaded nVidia 8600GT card on monday.

It was diagnosed as such and the local apple stored gladly switched out my logic board with a brand new one.

I went there tonight to pick up the machine, I noticed the top case had not been properly clipped back into place, I told the genius, clipped it back on myself, shook hands with the genius and went on my merry way.

Here's where it turns sour:
First off I notice my pristine MBP is covered in greasy dark smudges, as if the person working on it had motor oil on his hands.

I open up the computer from sleep mode, it sounds like a frickin' jet engine, both fans are going nuts at 6000rpm and the computer is at about 30C. I shut it down, reset both the PRAM and SMC, turn it back on, no improvement at all.

I pull up iStat and I notice that the CPU temp is not showing, even though it is checked in the preferences. I open up FanControl in the system preferences, not only does the temp read incorrectly, it reads as -128C, yes, MINUS 128C. All the while the fans are blaring at 6000rpm.

I close the system preferences, decide to check my e-mail, and get a Kernel Panic instead. Pissed off, I shut down the computer, turn it back on, only to get similar results.

Long story short, I'm extremely pissed, and I feel sorry for the fellow that will be getting me tomorrow, he's going to have an earful.

Do they even test the machines before they give it back? Surely fans spiking up to max speed on idle is something someone would notice?

Yes, because s/he's the one that serviced your Mac to begin with.

I'll never understand people who act like this...

 

[acedickson]

Your 3-year old computer's GPU failure doesn't entitle you to a free new machine I'm afraid. Make all the noise you want, the best they'll do is repair the machine again.

Now as to your situation, I can sympathize. I have had nothing but bad experiences with virtually every tech support / in-store computer purchase I've ever experienced. I find that the employees are much too pushy, and tend to spew BS whenever they talk. I've worked in tech support for years, and before that, had lots of experience building and repairing computers as a hobby. The long and short of it is, you don't need much of an education to get a job at one of those places, and it often shows.

Some of the Apple stores even outsource their repairs, so for all you know, it could have been a mechanic fixing your macbook on his lunch break

I didn't see him imply anywhere that he should get a new machine.

 

[184550]

Actually I have an appointment with a "genius" tomorrow at 12:45. I will definitely try to coax and employee into giving me a new high end 15'' for free.

Thing is, I need this computer for school work, it has all my projects and engineering programs on it and reading week is next week and I'd actually like to get crap done.

I didn't see him imply anywhere that he should get a new machine.

The lack of an emoticon suggests to most that he is marginally serious.

 

[elpmas]

Hope the best for you

 

[MarkMS]

My 2 cents: Go in with an open mindset and don't get angry like everyone else. Be cool and calm, but make it known that you're unsatisfied with the repairs (citing the fan issue and grease spots). Then when the time is right, comment on how you really need a reliable MBP and how a replacement would be the best way to resolve all your issues.

These workers are lambasted and yelled at every day over issues they themselves can't control. It's refreshing to them to see a customer that isn't lashing out on them and they tend to be more receptive to your orders/requests. I've had a MBP replaced with a brand new unibody because of the NVIDIA issue after one repair. Other friends of mine had to go through 2, 3, or 4 repairs before the Rep recommended a replacement. The main difference, I went in with a positive attitude and they went in with a bad attitude and "chewed" out the Genius reps.

 

[acedickson]

The lack of an emoticon suggests to most that he is marginally serious.

If I were in this situation I might try to coax someone into to, wouldn't you?

 

[axu539]

If I were in this situation I might try to coax someone into to, wouldn't you?

Well, I'd be happy with my machine fixed. As long as OP gets his machine, or an equally functional machine, it's fair. Getting a brand new 2011 MBP seems like a stretch, and really does not make sense.

 

[acedickson]

Well, I'd be happy with my machine fixed. As long as OP gets his machine, or an equally functional machine, it's fair. Getting a brand new 2011 MBP seems like a stretch, and really does not make sense.

I agree with you but I would try to get a new one because it doesn't hurt to try. I don't think he deserves one but if they are willing then more power to him.

 

[Merkava_4]

Actually I have an appointment with a "genius" tomorrow at 12:45. I will definitely try to coax and employee into giving me a new high end 15'' for free.

I hope you get one. I'm waiting for my 2008 MBP to freak out again too. Just a matter of time.

 

[brentsg]

I'd say a completely botched repair deserves some additional compensation.

I don't know about everyone else, but I can barely find the time to get my car, computer, etc serviced if it breaks. I definitely don't have the time for them to dick around and take multiple shots at it.

And no, the OP shouldn't get out of line, but he needs to let the manager know that the repair job wasn't acceptable.

 

[acedickson]

I'd say a completely botched repair deserves some additional compensation.

I don't know about everyone else, but I can barely find the time to get my car, computer, etc serviced if it breaks. I definitely don't have the time for them to dick around and take multiple shots at it.

Amen brother!