WTF?!! not repaired!! bad taste in music!!!

[Creative]

hi all. please help me as im in a small dilemma.

first, been using this site for a year now but first post! thanks all for a great site.

NOW.... got an ibook 700mhz. it has a 2year warranty on it. had it for under 18 months and have just got it back from repair. it had many problems....black screen, broken keys on keyboard, cd drive not functioning, one speaker blown, casing warped around screen, constant kernel problems and more.
anyhow.... it is now back from repair. the screen has been replaced for sure as it looks spankin new. only problem is, is this screen is coming apart at the catch/latch bit at the top! this problem wasnt there before! also the keyboard hasn't been fixed. all they have done is placed the keys back on but you can still see/feel they are broken as they arent flush and come off when typing! speaker HAS been fixed. everything else seems to be ok but i cant fully test it all untill i sort out this one problem....

upon booting the thing up i noticed a dead battery. plugged it in, thought nothing of it. when booted i checked the recent items and system preferences, sytems profile and itunes had both been used. i thought this baby was supposed to be clean!!! i checked itunes and found something weird but also annoying!

in itunes there were various songs on it i for sure did not put on there! in total about 30-40 songs. ranging from michael jackson (billie jean is a classic), kylie (there is no excuse here), the venga boys (now that is bad), and to top it off 50% of them were asian/bangra songs! (lord! put a bullet to my head!) now how on earth did they get on there i ask?

looking at there playcount (another itunes great feature) i found that the songs had benn played FULLY ranging from 1 to 6 times each. now i find it strange how they would be on there but even stranger they had been played so much. would that been to have test the speaker? strange.

the date on the ibook today is 9th feb 1970. these songs were played last on 31st dec 1969. this was when it was (according to the repair sheet) a day after "repair completion". does this mean some disrespectfull tard has used my ibook for there own itunes pleasure??! this has made me pissed. at first i thought it was petty but now its got to me.

also i phone apple instead of the store i purchased from and they told me it hadnt been repaird by them as they have no details of the repair. also the helpfull advisor told me it should of been completly "fresh" installed. also she thinks theres no reason for the tech people to put music on there to test the new speaker.

im gunna call the store 2moro to ask "wtf??". is the fact the battery was completly dead was that someone used my ibook instore on the battery? dont apple usually charge the battery before giving it back to you? id rather not give the store name for now but they have a free 2year warranty on macs and are in the uk. they are a very well established chain of stores. i hope you can figure it out!

well please any info or idea's about this will be great. im so angry it has to go back in. its already been away for 3months!.

thanks all,
Creative.

EDIT: also just forgot! the screen looks really "white washed". as though the colour seems real washed out. hmmmm. is it because i've been using an old powerbook since its been in repair and im not used to it? its seems "too washed" though. as in: that sceen looks crap!

 

[insanelygreat]

Before I begin, let me make note that the following information pertains to the US, I do not have experience with repairs initiated internationally. Also, please pardon the book! Sorry!

Let's see, where to start...

I'll give you a little background first of all. I'm an ACDT/ACPT (Apple's desktop and portable certs) technician for an Authorized Service Center / Retailer in Southern California. Service Centers are given a couple options when they recieve a machine like yours. If they have an ACPT on hand then then have the option of repairing the machine on the spot. This is, however, a time consuming process and generally it's cheeper for us to send the machine into Apple since our hourly service rate exceeds the reimbursement Apple would otherwise extend. More often than not lately, I've become more of a client's advocate than a technician. We've experienced serious issues with domestic repair centers and they may very well have such issues with international repair centers too.

Communication procedures disallow technicians at the repair center from directly contacting us. I once had to send a Powerbook in four times before I finally got a reasonable response. With this machine the battery would literally fall out of the device when you picked it up. I kept getting a flyer in the return box stating that it could not be fixed because battery drain (referring to not holding a charge) was not covered under the limited warranty. I even taped a note on the device saying, "This battery literally falls out, it's not an electrical issue!" Eventually I got ahold of someone who looked up the repair center technician's notes and finally told me why it wasn't coming back repaired: there was case separation on the battery casing which Apple almost always assumes to be the result of abuse, it therefore voided the warranty. So I hate to say it, but you may find yourself in a similar situation.

I'm quite concerned that you've been without your machine for three months. That is absolutely outrageous. I generally try to get machines in and out in three days, usually it only takes two, at most four. This includes repair made in-house. I can't imagine holding a machine for repair that long.

As for the music left on the machine, that was probably done to test the speakers. To verify that the speakers are functioning one need simply press the volume button to hear the standard "click." A good technician, however, will put the machine through a bit more of a test to ensure the speakers are capable of hitting a full range of tones without [out of spec] crackling and vibration. 40 songs? Well that's a bit suspicious. I generally am doing 20 things at once and will just drag over a handful of songs from my G5, but 40? Makes me wonder what they were doing for the last three months...

Before you call up the retailer, call up Apple. The retailer should have provided you with paperwork documenting the repair if it was sent in to Apple for repair, on which you should find a phone number. Regardless who completed the repair, you make known irregularities and your general dissatisfaction with this business. No matter who completed it, there should be a record of when the repair was initiated. Apple's repair / part ordering system imposes stiff monetary penalties for repairs not made soon after initiation, which makes me even more curious about the time it took.

If your retailer facilitated an Apple repair (and did not do the repair on their own), they will probably be instructed to send the machine in as "Repeat Service." Make sure to list issues you've discovered since it's return and make sure that when they process it, they include the previous repair's dispatch #.

As I think about it, they probably did the repair on their own. That would explain the case separation. They're quite difficult to get into and very easy to break, which is the exact reason I send the machines to Apple for such intrusive procedures. That's a fairly common result of an improperly completed repair. As for it being whitewashed, try adjusting the brightness setting (in OS X, go to System Preferences, then click on displays), otherwise they probably didn't calibrate it.

Goodluck!

- Insanely Great

 

[RGunner]

Insanely Great

This was a great read, its folks like you who make Macrumors worth reading. I only hope when I have issues, you are able to chime in.

Thanks you.

Before I begin, let me make note that the following information pertains to the US, I do not have experience with repairs initiated internationally. Also, please pardon the book! Sorry!

Let's see, where to start...

I'll give you a little background first of all. I'm an ACDT/ACPT (Apple's desktop and portable certs) technician for an Authorized Service Center / Retailer in Southern California. Service Centers are given a couple options when they recieve a machine like yours. If they have an ACPT on hand then then have the option of repairing the machine on the spot. This is, however, a time consuming process and generally it's cheeper for us to send the machine into Apple since our hourly service rate exceeds the reimbursement Apple would otherwise extend. More often than not lately, I've become more of a client's advocate than a technician. We've experienced serious issues with domestic repair centers and they may very well have such issues with international repair centers too.

Communication procedures disallow technicians at the repair center from directly contacting us. I once had to send a Powerbook in four times before I finally got a reasonable response. With this machine the battery would literally fall out of the device when you picked it up. I kept getting a flyer in the return box stating that it could not be fixed because battery drain (referring to not holding a charge) was not covered under the limited warranty. I even taped a note on the device saying, "This battery literally falls out, it's not an electrical issue!" Eventually I got ahold of someone who looked up the repair center technician's notes and finally told me why it wasn't coming back repaired: there was case separation on the battery casing which Apple almost always assumes to be the result of abuse, it therefore voided the warranty. So I hate to say it, but you may find yourself in a similar situation.

I'm quite concerned that you've been without your machine for three months. That is absolutely outrageous. I generally try to get machines in and out in three days, usually it only takes two, at most four. This includes repair made in-house. I can't imagine holding a machine for repair that long.

As for the music left on the machine, that was probably done to test the speakers. To verify that the speakers are functioning one need simply press the volume button to hear the standard "click." A good technician, however, will put the machine through a bit more of a test to ensure the speakers are capable of hitting a full range of tones without [out of spec] crackling and vibration. 40 songs? Well that's a bit suspicious. I generally am doing 20 things at once and will just drag over a handful of songs from my G5, but 40? Makes me wonder what they were doing for the last three months...

Before you call up the retailer, call up Apple. The retailer should have provided you with paperwork documenting the repair if it was sent in to Apple for repair, on which you should find a phone number. Regardless who completed the repair, you make known irregularities and your general dissatisfaction with this business. No matter who completed it, there should be a record of when the repair was initiated. Apple's repair / part ordering system imposes stiff monetary penalties for repairs not made soon after initiation, which makes me even more curious about the time it took.

If your retailer facilitated an Apple repair (and did not do the repair on their own), they will probably be instructed to send the machine in as "Repeat Service." Make sure to list issues you've discovered since it's return and make sure that when they process it, they include the previous repair's dispatch #.

As I think about it, they probably did the repair on their own. That would explain the case separation. They're quite difficult to get into and very easy to break, which is the exact reason I send the machines to Apple for such intrusive procedures. That's a fairly common result of an improperly completed repair. As for it being whitewashed, try adjusting the brightness setting (in OS X, go to System Preferences, then click on displays), otherwise they probably didn't calibrate it.

Goodluck!

- Insanely Great

 

[Applespider]

From your description, it sounds like it came from a UK retailer with the initials JL.

They won't have repaired the iBook in house - it will have been sent to an external supplier to be fixed (Apple or otherwise since JL fund the second years of warranty themselves). Three months sounds unusual for a repair from them - generally JL customers are jumping up and down requesting the moon with 3 days - unless there was some other problem.

It is highly unlikely that JL checked the repair completely when it arrived back at the store - there's no-one with the specialist knowledge needed so they'd trust the repairer unless you tell them differently. As a result, I'd guess it wasn't them downloading music into iTunes or running down the battery.

Battery-wise, did you send along your charger? If not, it might be that the battery had run down to a low charge when the repairer had finished with it and in the interim days, it's gone to no charge at all. I assume that the battery is OK now that you've recharged it.

JL are pretty good about customer service (so much so that many customers take them for a ride) and believe me, they will want to know if one of their 'repairers' is performing badly or doing things that aren't above board (it costs them more in the longrun after all). I'd suggest going into the computer department and asking to speak to the department manager about your repair. Tell them how long you've been without it and what the problems were/are now and see what they say.

Make sure you know what you want before you go - do you just want it fixed, do you want monetary compensation, do you want a new iBook (just kidding!)? They may turn round and ask you what you'd like them to do. Give them a chance to put it right before you get, justifiably, upset.

 

[Creative]

thanks so far!

thanks for all the excellent replies so far. my, i sure didnt except such detailed and helpful posts. again, thank you.

i didnt send the charger off with the iboook and have messed around with the screen settings already. i managed to get rid of some of the whitewash but im sre some more calibiration i can get it lookin ok.

the intials JL are bang on! like i said before i know they must of sent it out of house as there was a apple repair sheet inside the ibook with things like dispatch number and serial etc. i phoned the apple 0870 mumber on the repair sheet inside the ibook but a really polite apple advisor could not find anything about my repair as they had no details of it.

due to the nature of this whole "ibook charade", we had wrote to the customer service manager before it got repaired, and he replied asking us to phone him when we recieved the ibook back if there were any problems.

i will phone him first thing in the morning and speak to him to let him know. i really hope something can be sorted as in way, this whole dilemma has taken up so much of my time and effort (writing, calling, waiting, collecting, returning, waiting, collecting again and now this) that i wish i hadnt bought the damn thing! even so i must admit it is my first mac ever and since i've had mac - i aint going back! (sorry )

as for what i want to be done about the situation, well i just want it sorted. but im afraid im looking at another 4 weeks of repair again!

anyhow, feel free to keep posting before i call them 2moro. then i will get back with an update.

thanks again people,
Creative

 

[0098386]

i can offer no help, but i sympathize.

i spent £250 on what i thought was a brand spanking new Sony MZ-R91 minidisc player/recorder a good 6 years ago now (i think) and the name library was full of indian music names! anyways i took it back complaining that somebody had been using it and they put up a fight. eventually they gave me £50 back which was alright i suppose.

 

[Applespider]

RaggedJimmi - there was a post a few weeks ago about someone who got an iPod Shuffle direct from Apple and it was loaded with lots of odd stuff and was still sealed in its box. I think the outcome was that it was a test load to check that all was working - I guess that every so often deleting the songs after the check gets missed.

Creative - I wonder whether corporate repairs (which might be how JL return to Apple) and consumer repairs are handled differently? Might explain why you have an Apple repair sheet and no record at the customer service number? Just a thought... good luck with your call tomorrow - let us know how it goes.

 

[Creative]

and one more thing....

i noticed that the ibook has been already set up. as in "fully installed". like when you get your new ibook and you have to enter all the info in - its already been done but the "STORES" details have been used.
does that mean the apple repairers for the store would have done that as a normal procedure or has someone done that at the store after it had been repaired?

sorry, im just trying to work out what happened to this thing?!! it just i was given a loan powerbook from the store (after kickin up a 3hour fuss!! ) and it had been set up as using the stores name for the user account, address etc etc. and when i returned the powerbook when collecting the ibook, i informed the advisor i had changed the password on it. he said it wasn't any problem as they just do a "wipe and install out the back!".

thanks again guys,

Creative

 

[Applespider]

I'm confused.

Is your original account with files on the iBook? For what you described in the first post, I can't see why they'd have re-installed OS X during the repair. (Incidentally, why did you wait til it had so many problems before taking it in?)

Perhaps I did JL a disservice in earlier post by assuming they hadn't booted it up so they created their own account? Or perhaps it arrived back in and someone assumed it was one of their display models initially?

Make a list of everything - you keep finding new things from your posts - before you phone the customer service manager and bring things up in a calm, logical order. You'll get a lot further.

On the plus side, if it goes away again, you'll get that 12" Powerbook back - at least they're offering you something to work with while it's away!

 

[Creative]

I'm confused.
Is your original account with files on the iBook? For what you described in the first post, I can't see why they'd have re-installed OS X during the repair. (Incidentally, why did you wait til it had so many problems before taking it in?)

Perhaps I did JL a disservice in earlier post by assuming they hadn't booted it up so they created their own account? Or perhaps it arrived back in and someone assumed it was one of their display models initially?

Make a list of everything - you keep finding new things from your posts - before you phone the customer service manager and bring things up in a calm, logical order. You'll get a lot further.

sorry applespider for confusing you. its just i only get to use my flatmates pc everytime he goes for a coffee and fag break while doin his college work so i dont get much time to post - dont want to use ibook till i take it back in! also due to other issues my mind at the moment is elsewhere

i had to back up all the data onto a pc via data transfer as i dont have a cdrw drive on my ibook. JL refused take in my ibook with data on there not backed up as they said that its standard procedure for the ibook to be wiped.
why did i take so long to take it in? because i was finishing up my college work on it (hnd multimedia - so on the mac 24/7) and it was still usable. i spoke to john lewis everytime a fault occured and they said bring it in when you finish college as they had a repair time of upto 6 weeks and no lending machines avaliable. it was only when the screen died i took it in. luckily i had finished my college work a shortly before.
dont worry everthing is written down....a BIG long list! i hate being horrible to people on the other line (phone) as i work in a call center and have had lots of past experience with retail, so i know what its like when you get a angry customer who thinks its your "personal" fault they have a problem!!
the main reason why i wondered why they had there own account set up was i wanted to know if they had "used" my ibook (by accident or otherwise) due to the account setup and the itunes songs on it!

thanks again applespider,

Creative

P.S Is that you on that swing?!

 

[Creative]

just an update.....

hi all.

its been a while since i got back to you! i phoned the store many times and have only just got through to the customer service manager i was dealing with. He was either been off or in a meeting. I wanted to speak to him as he was the guy i was dealing with before i sent it off, and he wanted to handle it personally.

Well, i explained all to him. He said he was annoyed the repairs wernt fixed fully and the fact that the screen casing was only "semi-attached at the top" which wasnt there when i dropped it to them. I explained as best i could about the music but to be honest its was like explaining the fact that someone had left/put them on there and played them to a real basic computer user. i dont think he had ever touched a mac and his pc skills were probably quite low. Thats not his fault as not everyone is as "Mac-ed Up" as us, but he said he'd look into it (the itunes/music issue not his IT skills!).

Anyway i was real nice to him and i just told him i was calling him to let him know how my ibook wasnt repaired. He told me not to touch the ibook and to bring it straight in to him on sat or tues. i was working sat so tuesday it is. he said he'd get it sorted.

apparently the repair was handled by an apple service center not apple itself. thats why he said it wouldnt show up on apples system when i called them. he could only confirm that the screen on my ibook had been completly changed to a new one! my eye sights not the best, but i figured they changed the screen, just didnt expect so many tiny surface scratches on a "new" one. its obviously come off another duff machine or something.

Anyhow, so so far im goin in on tuesday. everynow and then i want my apple fix! needed to do a presentation and some flyers for my girlfriend. i thought....i'll use my ibook. make it look proffesional. well if i could use it! just have to make do with her pc.

i so pissed im gunna have to wait to get it back after tuesday. i havent had this thing since mid november last year! i want to go in "blazing" on tuesday, demanding something better, compensation etc etc, but im a quiet peacefull type so putting me in that situation i just go quiet and before anything the ibooks being repaired and im shaking the store mangers hand for repairing it for me!

anyhow just thought id give you an update. thanks to all that have helped me so far.

Creative