R.I.P. iPod. never again.

[boi]

well, after several problems, my iPod is now officially out of commission. Kudos to Apple for not offering service on any of it, even though it was under warranty .
after about 3 or 4 months of usage, the battery wouldn't last any longer than 3 hours. i called Mr. Apple and told them about the problem. they said that i could send it in and pay $30 shipping to have them look at it. but he warned me that "if the case is scratched, they'll deem it as abused and would not service it". after ranting about the fact that the back scratches after i breathe, look at, or even talk about the ipod, i finally gave up. i just got a car charger and went on with my musical life.

next i decided "hey, i'll get a cool new remote thingie. that'll be neato". so i got one. it was apparently DOA. i called Mr. Apple yet again and got the sound advice to "push it in hard and wiggle it around. trust me, it will work". neat! i love easy fixes. wiggle wiggle push push wiggle wig-- SNAP. $#@%! that little round thing around the headphone jack snapped in half. terrific. by then the Apple store near me opened up, so i took it there. the Apple Geniuses? wouldn't take the headphones back or even look at my now tattered ipod.

two months later. it's now 2 weeks before the one year anniversary of my iPod and i's bittersweet relationship. like clockwork the iPod decided to self destruct right before the warranty went out. the firewire port won't work at all. i've got ONE cd on the ipod right now that i'm pretty tired of. sigh. off to the Apple Store?. after an hour and a half drive, i arrived to some happy, healthy employees and Geniuses?.
"hmm..." the Genius? said as he made a frowny face. "how long have you had it?"
"almost a year now. it's still under warranty" i said, making sure to speak the last four words very slowly and intently.
"hmm..." the Genius? repeated. "let me take it to The Back."
so back he went, where the employees hide and talk about how sexy their computers are and read magazines with naked G4s. i sat on the little round chair meant for kids and waited. waited. waited.
waited.
i felt like i was waiting for my mother to come out of surgery.
finally the Genius? emerged and handed me the iPod.
"well fella" he said, putting his hand on my shoulder as if he really, truly, deeply cared for me.
"you see these hairline fractures here?"
"no"
"they're right there. see?"
"uh, okay. yeah. i see em."
"those are signs of abuse."
ding ding ding! there's that word again! i think it's the only thing they teach their tech guys concerning products under warranty. for all i know they took into The Back to abuse it themselves. i bet they tied it to a chair and whipped it for the entire time i sat on the kiddie chair. anyway, the conversation had to go on.
"since these fractures are here, we can't send it in because Apple will probably deny service"
"couldn't you try?"
"it would be better if you shipped it out. that way we could eliminate the middle man and you have more of a chance to get it fixed under warranty"
"but it costs me $30 and costs you nothing. go ahead and ship it out for me."
"nono, we can't do that. blah blah blah blah blah"
i stopped listening. i didn't care any more. i knew i was just beating my head against the $400 brick i was holding in my hand. there was no use.
it's all very sad. i expected Mr. Apple to give me a little more respect because i purchased the $400 iBrick, but no. i suppose he thinks i got my moneys worth because i had the opportunity to use his amazing product for almost a year. he probably feeds them to his dog.
anyway, yeah. i'm through ranting... has anyone had a similar experience?

[Darkshadow]

no

[dixonbm]

That is really horrible. I do agree thought that the iPod does scratch much too easily. Hairline fractures...HA! Remember the cracks in the G4 Cube.....

Anyway, you should copy your 'rant' and mail it to apple. Although, I doubt it would do you any good. It sounds to me like it was really apple's fault when they told you to push it in harder, the headphones that is.

Best of luck.

[Izzy]

hmm...I'm wanting to get an iPod, but now I'm worried. Does it really break that easily?

Fractures? Did you ever drop it by accident or leave it in a bag that you dropped? You mean it just get's cracks in it through normal use? I can see scratches here and there...

I'd hate to throw down this kind of cash and then have the same experience.

[voice-]

I've had a similar experience (not as bad, but...)

I got my 5GB iPod for christmas 2001. That is, I was supposed to get it by then, it was supposed to arrive in November, middle of December at last. February 2002 I had a brand new iPod...I loaded it with music, ran OS X off of it at school, carried it around everywhere for months.

As many have experienced, it crashed. No biggie, a little Menu+Play and it was fine.
Same thing happened again nopt long after, now I left it for 24 hours and then rebooted. Great!

January 2003 (when warranty was expired cause Apple said I would have it in November) the battery ran out and refused to recharge. Now I have to send it back to Apple to even hear if they want to fix it for me...at my expense of course.

May I suggest Creative Jukebox Zen, boi? 20GB HD, lower prize, about the same size and support MUST be better...

[RPS]

Whoa I totally know how irritating, frustrating, downright awful that feels. Like voice, I got my iPod weeks too late, too. Now, Everything is starting to break. The plug on the iPod is broken.
But, it stull works fine. But when I plug my under 2 months old remote control in, 80% of the time all I get is *chrssssssgggghhhhhh*. I call them and they say it's the iPod, but when I just put my headphones in it, w/o the remote, it works fine!

btw= I know this is not your priority right now, but you write really funny.

[chevy]

Originally posted by voice-
I've had a similar experience (not as bad, but...)

I got my 5GB iPod for christmas 2001. That is, I was supposed to get it by then, it was supposed to arrive in November, middle of December at last. February 2002 I had a brand new iPod...I loaded it with music, ran OS X off of it at school, carried it around everywhere for months.

As many have experienced, it crashed. No biggie, a little Menu+Play and it was fine.
Same thing happened again nopt long after, now I left it for 24 hours and then rebooted. Great!

January 2003 (when warranty was expired cause Apple said I would have it in November) the battery ran out and refused to recharge. Now I have to send it back to Apple to even hear if they want to fix it for me...at my expense of course.

May I suggest Creative Jukebox Zen, boi? 20GB HD, lower prize, about the same size and support MUST be better...

The warranty starts at the day you receive it, not at the day you order it or the day you are supposed to receive it.

[j79]

the little round thing for my headphone plug also broke.
i've resorted to surrounding my headphone plug with a thinly slice piece of eraser.
would the remote be of any value? does it sit better?? right now, if i touch the jack (without the eraser slices), it'll either make a static sound, play thru one side, or just stop producing sound...