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Unbelievable.

Love

Love

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 20, 2007
1,782
4
Just southeast of Northwestshire
On Saturday, 1 August, I took my MacBook Unibody in to the Apple Store. There was a video problem rendering it unusable. It was initially diagnosed as a logic board issue and the logic board was replaced. I was told the repair would be done in 4 hours, at 7PM, and I'd get a call if it went well or not, or if any further repairs were needed. 7PM came, no call. The store's closing time came with no call. The store's opening came the next day, no calls. I waited until 1:30 PM to call them and ask what was up. I called and asked what was happening. I get put on hold for 15-20 minutes, to hear the guy say "I couldn't find it... I'll ask a Genius."

Holding for another 5 minutes. Apparently the Geniuses were having a "Genius Meeting" and were busy, and I'd get a call back in about an hour. 2 hours later, I get a call. They had to order in a screen, as the logic board did not fix the issue. I asked how long it would be. To which the customer service rep at the store said "It could be in Monday, it could be in Friday, I have no idea...erm, Friday, is somewhat likely".

Yeah, that came in on Monday 10 Aug. Early morning Tuesday or late Monday I was informed that the machine was ready for pickup.

I came in to the store and picked it up yesterday. I had to wait at least 15-20 minutes for a concierge to help me, but at least she was apologetic and friendly about it... It was busy, I don't blame them.

I got it home, big pink plastic bubble bag and all. It was all nice and shiny. I didn't use it a lot. Today, I used it a lot, and noticed this wonderful bit of Apple quality control:

5-10 dead/stuck pixels, in the top left hand corner.

This is getting irritating - has anyone had this bad of luck with Apple Q/C?

Not only the MacBook, but the problem iMac that had 12 trouble tickets, and the 5 iPhone replacements...
 
You've never worked in retail, have you? ;)

Just bring it back to the store. They really do try their hardest, sometimes it can just be a little more difficult sometimes. Let them take a look at it and hopefully they can help you out.
 
I would have gone to the store right at 7pm if I could have made it. I wouldn't have waited that long if that was my uMBP.
 
Love said:
I get put on hold for 15-20 minutes, to hear the guy say "I couldn't find it... I'll ask a Genius."

Holding for another 5 minutes. Apparently the Geniuses were having a "Genius Meeting" and were busy, and I'd get a call back in about an hour.
Click to expand...

The reason your service sucked is because the guy you first talked to was jealous because he wasn't invited to the secret Genius club meeting.
 
I've gotten my iPod touch replaced 3 times with new ones. And my MacBook looked at for a logic board problem. Not once has my Apple Store not kept their promises. They said about 1 hour for my MacBook and 1 hour and 2 mins later they called my Dad for pickup. The one I went to was the one Steve Wozniak went to to buy his 3GS, and it's pretty crowded.

So maybe you just got bad luck? :eek:
 
Mine's crowded. There's only two in Alberta, one in BC, and the two in Alberta are like 4 hours apart, and it's 12 hours driving to get to the Vancouver BC store, and after that they're all in Ontario and Québec.

I've had to go to customer relations with repeatedly bad products twice. iPhone and iMac. That iMac was endless problems.

I've had a lot of Apple products. Only two of them didn't require a Genius bar visit or an over the phone replacement.

I had my iPod touch replaced 3 times. iPhone 4 times.
 
Love said:
I had my iPod touch replaced 3 times. iPhone 4 times.
Click to expand...

And, that is why we pay so much for apple products. If I had those kinds of problems that necessitated that many replacements I probably wouldn't be coming back.

1 iPod, 1 iPhone, 1 Macbook. No problems.
 
Zazoh said:
And, that is why we pay so much for apple products. If I had those kinds of problems that necessitated that many replacements I probably wouldn't be coming back.

1 iPod, 1 iPhone, 1 Macbook. No problems.
Click to expand...

5 iPods, 3 iPhones, 1 Macbook, 1 Macbook Air, 1 Macbook Pro, 1 Power Mac G5, 1 Mac Mini, 1 Power Mac G3. Problems? 2 with the Air, resolved each one in 2 days. Besides that, problem free.

I noticed problems seem to follow people in bunches. Nobody here ever has 1 issue, they have 2, 3, 4, 5. Maybe its them?
 
Out of the computers I have in my house right now (and a few that have passed on to other families), I've had 4 hardware failures that come to mind. 2 were hard drives (one of which was an upgraded, so it is what it is...), 1 was a failed optical drive (4 years old), and 1 was a faulty cooling system on a liquid cooled G5.

Not bad, when you put into perspective what all is *still* running, trouble free - that includes 2 mac plus's, a mac classic, a mac SE, SE/30, Performa 450/575, Powermac 7500, Beige G3, iMac DV, eMac, Mac Pro... and I know I'm forgetting a few in there. Only a few of these are up and running every day, but they all still work.

And of course, Apple replaced my leaking G5 5 years after purchase (when I never had apple care), so while dealing with the retail arm can be frustrating at times (I had to make all of the calls to them, rather than waiting for them to call me... because they didn't), it's worth the time. They'll eventually get it right, and you'll be left with a machine that will last a very long time.
 
Zazoh said:
And, that is why we pay so much for apple products. If I had those kinds of problems that necessitated that many replacements I probably wouldn't be coming back.

1 iPod, 1 iPhone, 1 Macbook. No problems.
Click to expand...

And, I won't be coming back. I'm thinking about selling my iPhone and buying a BlackBerry.
 
uberamd said:
I noticed problems seem to follow people in bunches. Nobody here ever has 1 issue, they have 2, 3, 4, 5. Maybe its them?
Click to expand...
Fully agree. I knew 2 people who were always pissing and moaning about their whitebook casings needing replaced because of cracking/chipping. Then I watched how they closed their macbooks - they literally "slammed" it closed every time like it was luggage.

Amazing.
 
Love said:
And, I won't be coming back. I'm thinking about selling my iPhone and buying a BlackBerry.
Click to expand...
Then do it. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. I switched from the iPhone twice (first to the MotoQ, then to the Android G1), came back both times. Sounds simple leaving the device until you don't have it and its capabilities anymore. The browser, apps, and more are unmatched by any other device.

Richard1028 said:
Fully agree. I knew 2 people who were always pissing and moaning about their whitebook casings needing replaced because of cracking/chipping. Then I watched how they closed their macbooks - they literally "slammed" it closed every time like it was luggage.

Amazing.
Click to expand...
Yeah I have seen the same thing. Not to mention countless posts here saying "I have taken [product name] to the Apple store 5 times, once they put a tiny scratch in it!! CRY!!!!!!!"

Amazing indeed.
 
Terrible

I recently sent in my white macbook in because paint was chipping. Getting it back to realize that it has a huge dent right next to the screen, I now have to send it in again! Apple does there job fast, but not the best service, still better than most.
 
veo321 said:
I recently sent in my white macbook in because paint was chipping. Getting it back to realize that it has a huge dent right next to the screen, I now have to send it in again! Apple does there job fast, but not the best service, still better than most.
Click to expand...
your ipod link does not work?
 
Richard1028 said:
Fully agree. I knew 2 people who were always pissing and moaning about their whitebook casings needing replaced because of cracking/chipping. Then I watched how they closed their macbooks - they literally "slammed" it closed every time like it was luggage.

Amazing.
Click to expand...

You mean that problem that Apple has decided to:

Cover out of warranty for ANY MacBook in EVERY country with NO questions asked?

That is a serious design flaw and while the way you use the computer can certainly influence how quickly/often it happens, it's certainly not acceptable for it to happen through normal use.

There's no way Apple (bear in mind their reputation in this area) would cover such a problem if it was due to user abuse.
 
uberamd said:
I noticed problems seem to follow people in bunches. Nobody here ever has 1 issue, they have 2, 3, 4, 5. Maybe its them?
Click to expand...

I use to think that as well but when you look at case logs and notes everyday you'll rethink that. I'm not saying that these have a higher defective rate in this order, it's just based on what I've dealt with/seen:

1. Mac Pro/Power Mac (PSU most common failure, amazing when you have a Mac Pro user call in, 98% chance they had a PSU failure)
2. MacBook Pro (Logic Board most common failure)
3. iMac (intel and PPC) (PSU/GPU most common failure)
4. MacBook (logic board but frequency much less than MBP)
5. MacBook Air (heating problems, everything else is surprisingly solid)
6. Mac Mini (really nothing to note, except bad SuperDrive but overall very solid machine)

It's like with most things, what's something goes wrong/bad, expect something else to go shortly after. You can make the argument if the case is dented or whatever then it's the users fault but when the long list of problems usually include PSU, logic boards and video problems, I highly doubt slamming shut cases causes those problems. Although I'm sure many people haven't had that many problems with it, my view of Apple products as of late is you either have a product that is perfect and won't give you problems or you have one that gives you that one problem and others just follow.
 
Richard1028 said:
Fully agree. I knew 2 people who were always pissing and moaning about their whitebook casings needing replaced because of cracking/chipping. Then I watched how they closed their macbooks - they literally "slammed" it closed every time like it was luggage.

Amazing.
Click to expand...

Agreed. It doesn't even seem to occur to some people that you have to take care of your computer or even your stuff in general.
 
There really shouldn't be an argument about the cracking cases. It's a flaw that Apple acknowledged. If you don't have any cracks, great but it's something that will likely happen regardless if you baby your computer or not.
 
I would be on the phone to apple corporate screaming about your situation. I've been lucky with all my purchases but hear more and more about bad experiences at apple stores. Maybe that store has lazy employees. As much as we dish out for apple's hardware, we should expect better experiences from apple. Can't believe they didn't check it out before telling you its ready. Pretty sorry on there part.

Love said:
On Saturday, 1 August, I took my MacBook Unibody in to the Apple Store. There was a video problem rendering it unusable. It was initially diagnosed as a logic board issue and the logic board was replaced. I was told the repair would be done in 4 hours, at 7PM, and I'd get a call if it went well or not, or if any further repairs were needed. 7PM came, no call. The store's closing time came with no call. The store's opening came the next day, no calls. I waited until 1:30 PM to call them and ask what was up. I called and asked what was happening. I get put on hold for 15-20 minutes, to hear the guy say "I couldn't find it... I'll ask a Genius."

Holding for another 5 minutes. Apparently the Geniuses were having a "Genius Meeting" and were busy, and I'd get a call back in about an hour. 2 hours later, I get a call. They had to order in a screen, as the logic board did not fix the issue. I asked how long it would be. To which the customer service rep at the store said "It could be in Monday, it could be in Friday, I have no idea...erm, Friday, is somewhat likely".

Yeah, that came in on Monday 10 Aug. Early morning Tuesday or late Monday I was informed that the machine was ready for pickup.

I came in to the store and picked it up yesterday. I had to wait at least 15-20 minutes for a concierge to help me, but at least she was apologetic and friendly about it... It was busy, I don't blame them.

I got it home, big pink plastic bubble bag and all. It was all nice and shiny. I didn't use it a lot. Today, I used it a lot, and noticed this wonderful bit of Apple quality control:

5-10 dead/stuck pixels, in the top left hand corner.

This is getting irritating - has anyone had this bad of luck with Apple Q/C?

Not only the MacBook, but the problem iMac that had 12 trouble tickets, and the 5 iPhone replacements...
Click to expand...
 
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