Terrible Applecare experience with iMac

[VPrime]

FINALLY got the iMac! Well it was available yesterday but didn't have time to pick it up until today.
New one seems to be working perfectly.

Got a refund on the additional applecare I purchased before (which didn't transfer over to this iMac for some reason). All perfect.. Took the computer in July 27, have a working computer Sept. 13..............
Worst turn around ever? Probably.

 

[VPrime]

Never mind.. Too good to be true.
Turns out the imac they sent is the 1gb video card version NOT the 2GB BTO that I originally ordered!!!!


Aggghghhhh!

 

[Psychopulse]

OMG.

This thread scares me. I live in London. I bought the new retina mbp a month ago, the machine is amazing but there is a problem with a keyboard - when I type and use the 'p' key it gets stuck. The thing is, its not the key that is stuck, it just the computer that sees it as a pressed one and I have to restart the machine, sometime several times until there is no 'p' pressed. It's my 10th Mac since 2005 and so far all of them worked perfectly. So, yesterday, I took the laptop with me to the Apple Store at Regent Street, and asked them what can they do about the keyboard prblem. The first person sent me to another one, the other to next one and finally I've been sent to some guy at genius bar, who told me that I have to make an appointment and the earliest date available is on next saturday (a week from now). Are you f…ing kidding me?? I bought a 3000$ computer and I have to wait a week to have somebody even look at it? This is ridiculous at best. Any ideas what I could do to get the mac fixed earlier?

Thanks guys.

 

[alias99]

OMG.

This thread scares me. I live in London. I bought the new retina mbp a month ago, the machine is amazing but there is a problem with a keyboard - when I type and use the 'p' key it gets stuck. The thing is, its not the key that is stuck, it just the computer that sees it as a pressed one and I have to restart the machine, sometime several times until there is no 'p' pressed. It's my 10th Mac since 2005 and so far all of them worked perfectly. So, yesterday, I took the laptop with me to the Apple Store at Regent Street, and asked them what can they do about the keyboard prblem. The first person sent me to another one, the other to next one and finally I've been sent to some guy at genius bar, who told me that I have to make an appointment and the earliest date available is on next saturday (a week from now). Are you f…ing kidding me?? I bought a 3000$ computer and I have to wait a week to have somebody even look at it? This is ridiculous at best. Any ideas what I could do to get the mac fixed earlier?

Thanks guys.

Use the appointment booking system online and check the stores near you. I have never had to wait more than a day for an appointment.

EDIT: Bluwater, white city and Lakeside all have appotinemtns throughout the week. Maybe a bit further than you want to go but at least you can get it fixed.

 

[Psychopulse]

Thanks a lot, I will try that!

 

[krravi]

The disheartening thing about this whole episode about that Ontario Apple store experience was not that the Retail Store geniuses screwed up royally, but APPLE did not do anything about it when it was bought to their attention.

Shame on you Apple for pretending that any mac that needs a repair is always users fault and you can do no wrong !!!

 

[Yamcha]

I've had a similar experience in the past, I had to get my iMac 21.5" repaired because of dead pixels and yellow tinting.. The girl told me it would take 72 hours, ended up taking two weeks.. Once It was repaired I had noticed they scratched it up in a few places, and there was now gap between the glass display & aluminum, so much so that you could slip a card in the gap without much effort..

Basically after tons of arguing, they replaced it with a brand new one.. It still had yellow tint, but to be honest I wasn't going to go through any more exchanges or repairs..

While I love Apple, they have to make improvements with customer service..

 

[VPrime]

So the person directly at apple in California I am dealing with finally is allowing me to bypass the store completely. I told her I am not going back to the store after this.

She arranged a paid UPS shipping label and I'm mailing this incorrect imac and getting one shipped directly to me this time.
Now I just have to wait until they get this back so they ship me a new one.

She offered me an imac to be sent before they receive this one but I would have to give them my credit card info (normal), but I declined as honestly at this point I don't trust apple to not screw up there either.
I'll probably be out another $2500+ and still have no imac so show for it.

I also got a refund on my applecare. The woman on the phone was originally supposed to give back a prorated amount, but after hearing the date of when I took the computer in her supervisor let her refund the whole amount... As I never really got to take advantage of the apple care.

----------

OMG.

This thread scares me. I live in London. I bought the new retina mbp a month ago, the machine is amazing but there is a problem with a keyboard - when I type and use the 'p' key it gets stuck. The thing is, its not the key that is stuck, it just the computer that sees it as a pressed one and I have to restart the machine, sometime several times until there is no 'p' pressed. It's my 10th Mac since 2005 and so far all of them worked perfectly. So, yesterday, I took the laptop with me to the Apple Store at Regent Street, and asked them what can they do about the keyboard prblem. The first person sent me to another one, the other to next one and finally I've been sent to some guy at genius bar, who told me that I have to make an appointment and the earliest date available is on next saturday (a week from now). Are you f…ing kidding me?? I bought a 3000$ computer and I have to wait a week to have somebody even look at it? This is ridiculous at best. Any ideas what I could do to get the mac fixed earlier?

Thanks guys.

I assume you are in London UK as there is no apple store on regent street here... I'm in London Ontario Canada.
I'm going to guess you're safe.

 

[VPrime]

New iMac is here again, this time with the correct specs.. they did send it with the wrong keyboard, but at this point I don't care as long as the computer works.

I also noticed that I foolishly left my extra 8gb of ram inside the iMac I shipped back to apple . Looks like a refurb purchase will be getting 12gb of ram with their purchase.

Finally happy this whole ordeal is over and I can get back to work... Took the computer in For repair in July, got it back end of September.

 

[VPrime]

Just got some good news regarding the ram.
Apple says I can just go into the apple store and pick up 8gb because of all the hassle I went through they will waive the cost.

 

[rotorblade69]

Just got some good news regarding the ram.
Apple says I can just go into the apple store and pick up 8gb because of all the hassle I went through they will waive the cost.

Just checked back on this thread. You finally got a good iMac. If I had this much trouble out of a store I would have told them to stick it sideways without lube.

Just make sure the Memory you pickup is actually 8GB of "real memory" and not the Memory they use in the Mission Impossible data machines.



You know the "this message will self destruct in 5 seconds".

 

[VPrime]

heh the ram is working fine and hasn't self destructed yet.

Also, apparently apple charges 200 dollars for this ram ! The 8gb I shipped back to apple cost me 50 dollars last year.

 

[iChrist]

not news

.
Hello. This is very typical of the new Apple. The Browett design for short term profit first. And that it was worked on by canadians does not help.

 

[loybond]

That sucks OP. They should have offered you something else as compensation, can't believe they STILL messed up the keyboard. WTH is going on eh?

All the Apple store around me in the GTA have been pretty much perfect (apart from BO and too-weak AC in the summer), Square One, Sherway Gardens, Yorkdale, Eaton Centre. They've replaced whatever I've needed ASAP/on the spot.

Over the phone, they've even sent me a free battery out of warranty for a white Macbook back in the day.

Another time, I bought a used iPad that came with a nasty smart cover with those marks on the metal (the magnets attract minute filings of metal over time from the constant attaching/detaching) and saw that people are getting replacements, so I went in, and wanted to pay extra for the leather one, but they wouldn't let me and replaced it with the plastic gray one. I came home, called Apple and asked if I could pay extra over the phone, and the rep apologized to me profusely for "my experience" and sent me a free red leather cover.

Members in other places bringing up consumer protection law - ours in Canada is super strong as well (part of why Canada is consistently at the top of a lot of statistical rankings, and far better than the UK I might add), but that has jack to with OPs experience. As a customer, you come across poorly-managed establishments, and that's all that happened here.

Those who have said there's another side etc... BS. OP is a paying customer and is entitled to the service he paid for, plain and simple.

 

[VPrime]

That sucks OP. They should have offered you something else as compensation, can't believe they STILL messed up the keyboard. WTH is going on eh?

All the Apple store around me in the GTA have been pretty much perfect (apart from BO and too-weak AC in the summer), Square One, Sherway Gardens, Yorkdale, Eaton Centre. They've replaced whatever I've needed ASAP/on the spot.

Over the phone, they've even sent me a free battery out of warranty for a white Macbook back in the day.

Another time, I bought a used iPad that came with a nasty smart cover with those marks on the metal (the magnets attract minute filings of metal over time from the constant attaching/detaching) and saw that people are getting replacements, so I went in, and wanted to pay extra for the leather one, but they wouldn't let me and replaced it with the plastic gray one. I came home, called Apple and asked if I could pay extra over the phone, and the rep apologized to me profusely for "my experience" and sent me a free red leather cover.

Members in other places bringing up consumer protection law - ours in Canada is super strong as well (part of why Canada is consistently at the top of a lot of statistical rankings, and far better than the UK I might add), but that has jack to with OPs experience. As a customer, you come across poorly-managed establishments, and that's all that happened here.

Those who have said there's another side etc... BS. OP is a paying customer and is entitled to the service he paid for, plain and simple.

Yup, I too have had other great experiences with apple. The past service I received and their great quality products is why they haven't lost me as a customer for their products (very close, but not quite). But they have lost me as a customer (and advocate) for applecare , and will also have me thinking twice on wether I will get great or super poor customer service.

With another iMac I bought in the past they sent me a wireless keyboard just because I called and asked why there is no extender cable included with the wired keyboard.

With my iPad2 it got damaged in shipping. So after a few days of waiting for the replacement I get a call from apple apologizing and offering to discount my order or a free accessory. I got a leather smart cover free.

Last year I preordered the iPhone 4s right when it went live on apple.ca. My iPhone was one of the many that didn't arrive on time. When I called to ask for the estimated date they gave me a free bumper for my troubles.

In Germany while on vacation, my 3GS died. They gave me an unlocked one instead! (I don't know if it was a mistake.. but it really helped for the remainder of my vacation)

I have had some really great experiences with apple. They have always gone above and beyond. But this situation has been so bad that I am pretty sure I have some grey hairs!
All I wanted was my computer fixed. I don't understand why it had to take this long to be sorted. I never demanded anything more than what I have paid for. Which is service for my iMac.

When they REFUSED to service my iMac I knew that I would never buy applecare again, and from that moment on I had a complete different opinion of apples customer service.

I'm just glad this situation is over and I have an iMac that works finally.

 

[the27thvoice]

This story really reminds me of my first and last experience with Apple's customer service. I live in Norway and we don't have AppleStores around, so I had to send it through mail. Bought a PowerBook G4 back when nobody had it, it was so cool and the illuminated keyboard was the big new thing.

It had a production flaw that many users reported, the graphics card was poorly connected and as soon as it got hot, any pressure on the body (resting hands/pressing keys) would give dots and blurs on the screen.
Sent it in, came back with scratched screen and a "curly" keyboard with several keys that wouldn't work properly.
Sent it back, came without the illuminated keyboard.
Sent it back, came back with a foreign keyboard layout.
By that time a new model came out, my brand new laptop was outdated and Apple had had it longer than I had. I did get my money back eventually, but only after months of arguing with them. Then even managed to tell me they weren't bound by Norwegian laws (they were) because their European headquarters were based in Ireland.

Sadly, ever since this experience, I have only bought Apple products through 3rd party stores. I do not want to deal with these people ever again.