# Apple Tech Support STINKS!



## bkiser (Jul 23, 2002)

Here is my story:

Bought a new PowerMac G4 on 3/23/02.  Love it- works great!  On 4/17/02, the CDRW mysteriously spits out the CD that was playing- weird.  No sweat, I will call Tech Support.  Call Tech Support and they say that my complimentary period began on 12/15/01, but if I would like to pay $49.99 for a one-time call or purchase AppleCare for $249.99, then they will be happy to help me.  Um, no thanks.  They give me the number to some support administration place which supposedly can fix the date discrepency.  On 4/18/02, my wife goes into labor 10 days early, so the Mac is not exactly up on the priorities list.

To make a long story short, after dealing with various baby health issues for 3 months, I finally get the chance to call Tech Support.  In the meantime, I have done a little troubleshooting on my own, and discovered the the CDRW opens by itself under the following conditions- 1. Mac is powered on.  It occurs with all disks, under both OSs, while the computer is booting, while no one is logged on, and even with the IDE cable unplugged.  It doesnt take a Systems Engineer (even though I are one) to figure out that this is indicative of a bad drive.  Great- its under warranty!  Of course, to get this warranty, I still have to pay $49.99 or $249.99 or carry my G4 100 miles to a service center.

If Apple really wants to win former PC users, then this needs to change- if my G4 is under warranty for hardware, I expect a drive to be put in the mail and sent to me, with a return box for the bad drive.  I have had a Dell laptop for 3 years, and its had its fair share of hardware problems, but every time parts have been sent NEXT DAY.  All I want is a stupid CDRW to be sent to my house- its not like I am asking for a motherboard or anything.

Needless to say, after dealing with Apple's snotting "product specialist" I will not be purchasing another Mac   .

Am I just being a little whiny baby?

Brian
AIX RS6000 SP certified


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## xaqintosh (Jul 23, 2002)

rather than call apple tech support, you should just consult the fine folks here at macosx.com for all your problems! wwe have experts in ALL areas.


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## bkiser (Jul 23, 2002)

I would be more than happy to, as long as someone will send me a free (working) CDRW!  

My problem is that they will not let me talk to someone about hardware without first going through every single possibility with their help desk guy first (for $49.99).


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## boi (Jul 23, 2002)

> _Originally posted by bkiser _
> *Am I just being a little whiny baby?
> *



absolutely not. higher prices for computers had better = much better service. especially since their stuff rarely breaks and they have such a small customer base. they should treat us like freaking kings if something ever does break. it's the service that wins over a lot of customers. 
i'm kind of disheartened to hear about this-- come on Apple! i thought you were made of better stuff. stories like this make you sound like a bunch of slimeballs.


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## boi (Jul 25, 2002)

update: i was using my PC at home during a thunderstorm, and a bolt of lightning fried the ethernet card, which was permanently connected to the motherboard. i called Dell and they sent a guy the next morning to take apart my machine and give me a new ethernet card/motherboard. he put it back together, said "have a nice day" and left. 

... he CAME TO MY HOUSE and FIXED IT FOR ME for FREE.

God forbid anything ever happen to my mac, it would mean buying a new mac.


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## JetwingX (Jul 25, 2002)

anyone remember the golden old days of *Free* (yes FREE) tech support? i loved those days


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## MikeMc (Jul 29, 2002)

> _Originally posted by boi _
> *update: i was using my PC at home during a thunderstorm, and a bolt of lightning fried the ethernet card, which was permanently connected to the motherboard. i called Dell and they sent a guy the next morning to take apart my machine and give me a new ethernet card/motherboard. he put it back together, said "have a nice day" and left.
> 
> ... he CAME TO MY HOUSE and FIXED IT FOR ME for FREE.
> ...



When my daughter was first learning to pull herself up on things, she pulled herself up on a tray that I had sitting by my desk, with my Dell laptop sitting on it.  She pulled down the tray, laptop, and a couple of big programming books that I have, all come crashing down... keyboard was not responsive anymore, and needed to be replaced.  I thought for sure that Dell would turn away the warranty because it was my fault, but they not only sent someone out the next day, they sent the guy to my work.  He swapped the keyboard, tested it, and left, no problem... he didn't even care about linux being on the box (which most PeeCee manufacturers throw a fit if you change the OS)... of course, from what I hear, they no longer have this high quality support...


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## dixonbm (Jul 29, 2002)

Ok, since there are a few Wonderful Dell stories I thought I'd share my crappy Dell story.

One of my fraternity brothers got a dell last christmas, albeit without an ethernet card.  The first card didnt work, neither did the second, third, or fourth.  All 4 different brands.  The one thing the cards would do was lightup.  A connection existed on both ends from the hub to the nic card.  But no internet.  So we call Dell and they refused to even talk about the nic card since it was not installed upon purchase.  I finally convinced them there was a problem with the computer...possibly the pci slots...after I told them about the four different cards.  

So they sent out a new board...not a repairman.  I and another fraternity brother installed the board, but the problem was still not fixed.  To this day I don't know what is wrong with that computer.  When we called Dell again to say the problem still wasn't fixed, they said the problem must lie with the nic cards and they closed the case.  I tried to get my friend to call Dell again, but he just didnt' care enough.

So, I hate Dell.


As for the other Dell I've had the liberty of hooking up, one of its usb ports was bad.

Again, I hate Dell.


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## gastroboy (Aug 1, 2002)

We are doubly blessed here in Australia, if you think you have it bad there, come down under.
My G4 was bad out of the box it crashed 5 mins after I got it and kept crashing till I couldn't boot up off the HD. With no floppy drive, no networking on the OS CD and no booting up off the external Firewire drive I was up sh*t creek (otherwise known as the Apple experience) without a paddle.
After tremendous trouble contacting Apple (they had an old disconnected number on the warrantee card) I got slow, surly bad advice after bad advice.
In the end I was forced to take it to my Apple Centre who charged me $99, "not under warrantee because it was a software problem". 
Apple had the cheek to "survey" me afterwards as to whether I would buy from them again (think they wanted to know if they had totally burnt me off and was worth persisting with me or not).
I have friends who relish blaming ME if I site problems with Apple so I was gratified when one of them bought a dud G4 Cube only to have to return it 5 times to Apple, who kept denying anything was wrong even tho he went in and proved the fault to them.
In the end they never fixed it after having it for months and my friend just stuck it under his desk as a bad deal. 
Another friend had a bad CD door on her iBook,and  had lots of trouble returning it (Apple insisted it be shipped, not taken to a repair centre). It was lost in transit and Apple didn't own up for months. They finally offered her a new machine but no new warrantee to make up for the 3 months she had been without a computer.
Now ask me: Why am I not buying another Mac (ignoring the high prices and technology lag)?
Ever noticed how Mac users are getting older and no new younger ones taking their place?


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## xaqintosh (Aug 1, 2002)

wha? I'm only 13 and I'm a die-hard mac-fan. and I have been since I was 6. in fact a lot if not most members here at this forum are under 25.


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## gastroboy (Aug 1, 2002)

> _Originally posted by xaqintosh _
> *wha? I'm only 13 and I'm a die-hard mac-fan. and I have been since I was 6. in fact a lot if not most members here at this forum are under 25. *



Good for you! Are you in the States? Because the story isn't the same out here. Support for Apple was stronger here than in the States before the big Apple meltdown. Since then we have been virtually abandoned whilst Apple gazes at its Nth American navel.
Heck Apple can't even get the date right for non-USA users let alone A4 paper sizes as a default in Print. Their international support gets worse and worse.
Anyone know if they have fixed right to left text support in OSX or got Korean to work properly yet?


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## xaqintosh (Aug 1, 2002)

Yes I am in the states.


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## dixonbm (Aug 2, 2002)

> _Originally posted by gastroboy _
> *Ever noticed how Mac users are getting older and no new younger ones taking their place? *



I'm 22 and have been a mac fanatic since my first computer in 1991.  I've been grooming both of my little brothers as well....9 and 12.


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## gastroboy (Aug 2, 2002)

> _Originally posted by dixonbm _
> *
> 
> I'm 22 and have been a mac fanatic since my first computer in 1991.  I've been grooming both of my little brothers as well....9 and 12.   *



Yes but you are in Tennessee. 
Apple cast off its most loyal followers when it retreated to home base USA and has treated us (international users) like second class citizens ever since. Progressively making life harder and more expensive every year.
I am tired of being shown what American users are offered and what "reasonable prices" they are in the USA. We are suposed to pretend that somehow this applies to us here?
Apple has burnt a lot of bridges (and users along with them). The only reason we are still on Macs is we bought them a while ago and haven't got around to making replacement decisions. 
People bag Quark which has acted similarly, but Apple comes a close second for desultory customer support.
How do you spell hubris? A-P-P-L-E!


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