Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

wifi card apple store are they kidding?

T

Tonytownsend

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 16, 2010
64
0
So I went to buy a wifi card for my mac pro. The girl went in back for 20 minutes and comes out and says we have them but we cant sell one to you.
It has to be installed in the store. I said are you kidding, You expect me to bring my 80 pound machine in here that is installed in my studio, and wait in line for you crappy service team to install a wifi card. I asked for the manager, He came out and said the same thing. I so fed up with apple this is my last one. I dont care anymore.
 
Um, you do know that you can get wifi cards at places other than in an Apple Store, don't you? Just order it online and have it delivered to your door.

I'm not saying that it isn't silly that they wouldn't just sell one to you.
 
I know it's ridiculous, especially for something so simple, maybe the apple employees just want to make themselves feel like they have a purpose by telling us we're not worthy to install the ****ing thing :p Just get one on ebay I guess.
 
This is Apple policy and has been for many years. It is not considered a consumer changeable part. So you would have to uninstall it if you had a problem under AppleCare.

I also enquired about having one in my mac pro, it wasn't worth the hassle. It is one of the many stupid policies still employed by Apple.
 
It's just a little card you slide into place. How could that not be considered user replaceable? It's brain dead easy to do. I did it myself on mine.
 
I just ordered one. But its crazy these are design to be able to add or remove hard drives, Card, Ram easily. They should just seal the thing off if they dont want you touching it, like an iphone battery.
 
Absolutely not true!!!

When I got my refurb 2.66 - now 3.33 with 600 dollar w3580 installed, I was told by the general manager of my local Apple store that yes, I could buy the airport card. And indeed, I did - for 49 bucks.. install was 30, but well worth it. You must have gotten a girl who knew nothing about regulations or something..

Did you speak with the store manager?


Tonytownsend said:
So I went to buy a wifi card for my mac pro. The girl went in back for 20 minutes and comes out and says we have them but we cant sell one to you.
It has to be installed in the store. I said are you kidding, You expect me to bring my 80 pound machine in here that is installed in my studio, and wait in line for you crappy service team to install a wifi card. I asked for the manager, He came out and said the same thing. I so fed up with apple this is my last one. I dont care anymore.
Click to expand...
 
Wow, that's hilarious :D What's next? They won't sell you a mouse unless you bring your Mac Pro to the Apple store so they can insert it into a USB port? It may be an expansion card and it may be store policy but we are talking Mac Pro and advanced computer users. Very funny.
 
TennisandMusic said:
It's just a little card you slide into place. How could that not be considered user replaceable? It's brain dead easy to do. I did it myself on mine.
Click to expand...

Not user replaceable in terms of Apple's policy. Check it out. It's not in the Mac Pro manual.

Anything not shown in the manual is not considered "user replaceable"*.

* by Apple.
 
Roman23 said:
When I got my refurb 2.66 - now 3.33 with 600 dollar w3580 installed, I was told by the general manager of my local Apple store that yes, I could buy the airport card. And indeed, I did - for 49 bucks.. install was 30, but well worth it. You must have gotten a girl who knew nothing about regulations or something..

Did you speak with the store manager?
Click to expand...

You got it installed though? They offered to do that for him he didn't want that. Did you get offered the thing with no install?
 
Yes, of course

Then again, my Apple store in Towson MD is very customer service oriented and I feel welcome there if I should have any problems.. The only reason why I elected to have them install it is because my fingers are too big for this tiny device. While I do have a+ certification in working with pc's and stuff, I've never seen anything this small and "complex" on a pc logic board.

I will reproduce my receipt showing 49.00 for the airport card and I can also show you the 30.00 receipt for installation.. Sounds like your apple store could learn from mine, a hell of a lot.

Plus, I also know people who work there and some of which know I did my processor transplant and found out that they are geniuses and won't reject my warranty should I ever need to bring in my system.. When I told them I simply removed the 2.66 with the w3580 - one of my friends there said to me, "Wow, at least you didn't have to spend 1200.00 to go with the 3.33 in the 1st place".

But, yes.. the Apple store will sell you the airport card, but they do prefer you to have them install it.



Umbongo said:
You got it installed though? They offered to do that for him he didn't want that. Did you get offered the thing with no install?
Click to expand...
 
Did you speak with the store manager?
Click to expand...

Yes I did he said he couldnt sell me one. I was about to give him a piece of my mind but figured it wasnt worth it. Hes just some imoron. Im done going in the apple store, place pisses me off to bad.
 
I walked to many Apple stores, including Apple Authorized service centers in Hong Kong looking for a wifi card, I was denied after a 6-store search. I will probably buy one from B&H online when I go back to the US.
 
Haha

Those arial cables are tricky!!! they wouldnt want you to hurt yourself! haha! :p
I got mine off ebay, best place just make sure you get the newest version of the airport card! :apple:
 
FWIW, I had the same problem at my local Apple store when trying to get an airport card for my refurb 2008 Mac Pro, since you can't get refurbs built to order. The mgr said that he couldn't sell it to me unless I lugged in the Mac Pro and had them install it.

That was on a Saturday afternoon, a day when they are very busy and the mgr was in the store.

So what was my resolution? I went on a Tuesday night, like 7 or 8 PM, when the place was dead, and there was no mgr to be seen. They sold me the card and I was in and out in 5 minutes.
 
IIRC, the WiFi card for the Mac Pros is not a standard card. You have to remove a bunch of other things to access the space behind the card. And when it's installed, it doesn't have the best of antennas because - again - there are things that are blocking the card.

If you just need 802.11g, you could save a lot of time and money and get a cheap USB dongle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back