My 15" powerbook 1.67ghz recently kicked the bucket after just under 3 years. I do have the Applecare protection plan and called Apple, the guy said that since my problem is that my computer will not recognize my charger at all, my problem is either the charger or the logic board. I have checked the charger out and it seems to be fine. Apple is sending me a box to send my laptop back for repairs. My question is will they repair things that I didn't complain about? I told the guy that I have been having strange power related problems for a while now, for example my battery life went from 3 hours to 15 minutes, literally over night. I am also starting to get a few dead pixels and strange white sploches on the lcd and there is a key broken on the keyboard. My protection plan expires next month. Do I need to include a note when I send it back asking them to please look at other things?
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powerbook applecare question
- Thread starter smdoty
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Call them back and use the case number they assigned when speaking to a rep. Report the additional problems you mentioned and they will add that to the case and repair order.
OK... Here's the problem.
This is a HUGE issue with powerbooks of 1.67ghz and 1.5ghz, at least in my mind. I have a 1.5ghz which is mine and a 1.67ghz which is my fiancee's.
We both had recalled batteries in the powerbook battery recall a few years back.
We were both sitting pretty with 2.5-3 hour charges still being held on our replaced batteries until about 2-3 weeks after installing Leopard (around the second week of Nov.) in her machine her charging capacity went to 0% OVERNIGHT.
I was like WTF?! So I called Applecare and they agreed to send me a new battery right away, citing that this was a "known issue" I swear the Applecare Agent used those exact words.
No problem, got the new battery, everything's good... within 2 weeks I am talking to 4 of our friends who have experienced the SAME thing with their 1.67ghz machines, 3 of them had upgraded to Leopard, one was still running Tiger. We all went to art school together so we all bought our computers around the same time, except myself, I had purchased mine a year prior to everyone else, hence why I have a 1.5ghz... Some people go them online online, some over the phone, some from a local apple shop. NONE OF THEM GOT ANY SATISFACTION FROM APPLE WITH THIS ISSUE. They all ended up paying for new batteries or in 2 of the 4 cases new logic boards.
So a few months later (Jan or Feb) I come home after a weekend away, and I had left my powerbook 1.5ghz plugged in and turned off. I unplugged it, and wen to fire it up, and got NOTHING. I checked the charge on the battery. I just got one quickly flickering green LED on the bottom.
My powerbook had just experienced the SAME issue. This time when I called Apple (I am clearly out of applecare at this point) I got nowhere. I spoke to a level 1, 2 , and finally a 3 or "Supervisor" none of whom were helpful to me, none of whom wanted to hear me out. And the last of whom was EXTREMLY rude when I suggested that it had to be the same issue that my Fiancee had experienced. They even looked up her case and said they didn't know why her battery was replaced etc...
At this point I emailed Sjobs@apple.com. Clearly stated the issue, and within 2 days I was on the phone w/ a wonderful lady named Linda from apple executive relations. She was happy to let me speak with a "powerbook engineer" and we went through some trouble shooting on the phone, the 3 of us together. They both heard me out about my Fiancee's case, and then my case.
In the end they sent me a new battery and that seemed to fix the issue w/o any problems.
My point is that I think it's a more widespread problem than Apple will ever recognize as is the norm for them. There's numerous threads about this and similar issues on Apple Discussion boards.
In the end what I'm saying is BE CAREFUL especially this close to the end of applecare, when you get it back from them, run the hell out of it and make sure that everything is to your liking. If it's not send it right back. Report all of your issues clearly and quickly.
Sorry for the long post/semi rant, but people need to know this stuff.
This is a HUGE issue with powerbooks of 1.67ghz and 1.5ghz, at least in my mind. I have a 1.5ghz which is mine and a 1.67ghz which is my fiancee's.
We both had recalled batteries in the powerbook battery recall a few years back.
We were both sitting pretty with 2.5-3 hour charges still being held on our replaced batteries until about 2-3 weeks after installing Leopard (around the second week of Nov.) in her machine her charging capacity went to 0% OVERNIGHT.
I was like WTF?! So I called Applecare and they agreed to send me a new battery right away, citing that this was a "known issue" I swear the Applecare Agent used those exact words.
No problem, got the new battery, everything's good... within 2 weeks I am talking to 4 of our friends who have experienced the SAME thing with their 1.67ghz machines, 3 of them had upgraded to Leopard, one was still running Tiger. We all went to art school together so we all bought our computers around the same time, except myself, I had purchased mine a year prior to everyone else, hence why I have a 1.5ghz... Some people go them online online, some over the phone, some from a local apple shop. NONE OF THEM GOT ANY SATISFACTION FROM APPLE WITH THIS ISSUE. They all ended up paying for new batteries or in 2 of the 4 cases new logic boards.
So a few months later (Jan or Feb) I come home after a weekend away, and I had left my powerbook 1.5ghz plugged in and turned off. I unplugged it, and wen to fire it up, and got NOTHING. I checked the charge on the battery. I just got one quickly flickering green LED on the bottom.
My powerbook had just experienced the SAME issue. This time when I called Apple (I am clearly out of applecare at this point) I got nowhere. I spoke to a level 1, 2 , and finally a 3 or "Supervisor" none of whom were helpful to me, none of whom wanted to hear me out. And the last of whom was EXTREMLY rude when I suggested that it had to be the same issue that my Fiancee had experienced. They even looked up her case and said they didn't know why her battery was replaced etc...
At this point I emailed Sjobs@apple.com. Clearly stated the issue, and within 2 days I was on the phone w/ a wonderful lady named Linda from apple executive relations. She was happy to let me speak with a "powerbook engineer" and we went through some trouble shooting on the phone, the 3 of us together. They both heard me out about my Fiancee's case, and then my case.
In the end they sent me a new battery and that seemed to fix the issue w/o any problems.
My point is that I think it's a more widespread problem than Apple will ever recognize as is the norm for them. There's numerous threads about this and similar issues on Apple Discussion boards.
In the end what I'm saying is BE CAREFUL especially this close to the end of applecare, when you get it back from them, run the hell out of it and make sure that everything is to your liking. If it's not send it right back. Report all of your issues clearly and quickly.
Sorry for the long post/semi rant, but people need to know this stuff.
Thanks for the tips. Sometimes Apple is very reluctant in replacing parts. My original MacBook, had the inverter, LCD, and logicboard replaced. The screen keep flickering. THey wanted to replace the HDD next. I called and said: "Come on, how long should be without a computer? I need this computer replaced, I cannot go on and on waiting until your replace something else."
AppleCare protection is good to have, but it really depends on who you get on the phone when you call. I always reset the PRAM before calling them. I then say: "Before you ask me to do this, I've already done it and it did not solve the problem." I also tell them that I do technical support for a living. I've noticed that after I say that, they usually don't give me a lot of BS
To the OP: I would do as merl1n suggested as soon as possible so that when they get the unit, they have all the information in the database.
It's funny too, whenever it comes to the executive relations team, the minute you tell them that you had a poor experience on the phone or in a store, they actually DO something about it. Either a District Manager gets notified or an Applecare Operations Supervisor gets notified.
In my last post, the lady Linda who I worked with claimed that she specifically go in touch with the level 3 "supervisor" guy who was quite rude to me and told him to "knock it off"
She's awesome.
In my last post, the lady Linda who I worked with claimed that she specifically go in touch with the level 3 "supervisor" guy who was quite rude to me and told him to "knock it off"
She's awesome.