cybergoober
Neomaxizoomdweebie
brianleahy said:
No, but it should have come with a DVI to VGA adaptor
AppleCare Cares Nothing For Downtime
- Thread starter brianleahy
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No, but it should have come with a DVI to VGA adaptor
Go3iverson
Registered
Apple tends to only do onsite repair when they're 99.9% sure that the solution they've come up with will get you up and running after the repair. When they're unsure after troubleshooting over the phone, they prefer to bring it to an authorized repair center.
For example, dead hard drive, possibly in a G4, but they're not 100% sure. They send the drive and find out that it wasn't the drive, its the motherboard. Ok, so now, not only are you waiting double the time for new parts and the install of the parts, but they just wasted money on that drive and on getting a tech out there.
For example, dead hard drive, possibly in a G4, but they're not 100% sure. They send the drive and find out that it wasn't the drive, its the motherboard. Ok, so now, not only are you waiting double the time for new parts and the install of the parts, but they just wasted money on that drive and on getting a tech out there.
jobsen_ski
Daily Player
MacMuppet said:
I dont know but I realy hope they are just nicely-t-shirted salesmen becasue I realy want a job there. I was also thinking of asking at my local PC world (UK) I was thinking that I could be there mac "expert" they def dont show them off enough t my local show I wen in the other day All the mac were turned off there was this gut looking at them, no sales person aproached so i turned on the 17" iMac and showed him the basic features, there was also an iBook whic had gone into permanant sleep mode I unpluged it and doid a force restart - LOL and tumed the rest of the iMacs on and the ipod - and the emac
no one even bated an eye lid. Doubt they knew how to turn them on. LOL
brianleahy
Colonel Panic
I'll have to look through the junk I got with the G5 and see if I do have such an adapter (I don't recall there being one, but perhaps). If so, I actually *DO* have a cheesy old VGA monitor I could use temporarily. Better than nothing I guess....
About six years ago I bought a high end NEC 17" monitor (back when that was something!) from a discount mail order house. The unit came in, it had one dead phosphor dot, less than a pixel and barely noticeable. I called NEC, and they shipped me a new monitor and a prepaid label to return the "defective" one. And I didn't pay any extra for support.
Randman said:
Go3iverson
Registered
I think the difference here is time of ownership. I was under the impression that the thread originator had his system for some time now? By some time, I mean it didn't have the blue line right out of the box, on delivery day, like your monitor. If that was the case, I'm sure Apple would have taken the monitor back because, well, you're well within your return policy time, that and no one wants a machine that needs repairs right out of the box.
If you pay 10% of the cost of the machine for additional warranty and support, then it shouldn't matter how long he owned it. It is an insurance policy.
Also, IMHO, Apple Care or any other extra cost warranty is wasted money. If you buy a Mac, is the dropout rate after warranty anywhere near 10%? If not, why would you insure the machine for such a high cost? Unless the machine is vital to the operation of your business (or your life), then you are better off financially to self insure against the risk. An in the case of apple care, in this story, if the machine was vital, the coverage provided was still not adequate for the cost.
Also, IMHO, Apple Care or any other extra cost warranty is wasted money. If you buy a Mac, is the dropout rate after warranty anywhere near 10%? If not, why would you insure the machine for such a high cost? Unless the machine is vital to the operation of your business (or your life), then you are better off financially to self insure against the risk. An in the case of apple care, in this story, if the machine was vital, the coverage provided was still not adequate for the cost.
The Dell tech (some service contractor) that replaced my defective floppy drive some years ago came equipped to replace the motherboard, power supply, or any other plausible failed component. And that was also a no extra cost plan.
Guys, stop making exuses for Apple. I love my Mac, I think it is superior to any PC i've owned. But the warranty service, with or without apple care, sucks.
Guys, stop making exuses for Apple. I love my Mac, I think it is superior to any PC i've owned. But the warranty service, with or without apple care, sucks.
Go3iverson said:
Go3iverson
Registered
I'd hardly say it "sucks".
The drive in my G4 server was a 5400RPM 40GB drive, which has now been replaced with an 80GB 7200RPM drive at zero cost to me.
Whenever I've needed a repair, it's always been done on site within 24 hours, besides for a phantom laptop issue, which I mailed in and received back in just about a week.
The drive in my G4 server was a 5400RPM 40GB drive, which has now been replaced with an 80GB 7200RPM drive at zero cost to me.
Whenever I've needed a repair, it's always been done on site within 24 hours, besides for a phantom laptop issue, which I mailed in and received back in just about a week.
drustar
Gold Member
Viro said:
Well if something were to happen in 2 or the 3rd year you own this PowerBook, it'd be nice to have the labors be comped for and replace the so-called parts that are broken - if Apple deems it that it's covered by the warranty.
It's a sound investment if you ask me - if you're one of those "rugged" Mac users.
tysonbarber
Tech
I didn't buy the exdended apple care plan too much for my PowerBook G4, almost 300 bucks. in the first year the FireWire port, and hard drive went out. all covered and both times the computer was back to me within 5 days. Just a week ago I put out 280 bucks to send it in outside the 1 year plan, they replaced the logic board, CD-w/DVD drive, heat sink, av power module, and a secondary fan. all for just 229 for repair and shipping, plus 49 to open the account. all this was still cheaper than the 300 bucks for the apple care, if nothing would have gone wrong I would be out nothing, and the one time fee for repair was cheaper than a new computer.
applewhore
Registered
i just changed my PB for a new 1.33 GHz... I'm trying to sell my old one (11 months old) through my local Apple dealer...Viro said:
When I said I didn't have AppleCare the price he offered me dropped by much more than the cost of the insurance... so I got it.
I'm in the middle of completing transfers across from old to new and the old one's screen has just decided to die! Blurry, fuzzy colours - nothing like the screen I've loved for 11 months!
Anyway, I never got AppleCare before either, but I think on this occasion I'm going to be doubly glad I have!
It might be worth not ruling out...
brianleahy
Colonel Panic
For the record, I got the Display and G5 late last October - so just about exactly six months later the line showed up.
They do mean to fix it for free, no quarrel there. My disappointment is that they expect me to do entirely without for several days. This stands in sharp and unfavorable contrast to extended warranties I have purchased for other computer hardware from other vendors. I did not expect Apple to be behind the curve on this score, but they are. In addition to the aformentioned printer and cell phone, here's another example: a few years ago I bought my wife a wintel laptop (she needed windows, alas, for her work) and extented warranty at Circuit City. The laptop has had to go in 2 or 3 times, and CC has have always provided a loaner. It is my opinion that without real-time replacement or loaner service, AppleCare cannot be considered the premium service plan that Apple portrays it to be.
As for taking it to a store: I live on the west side of Cleveland, OH. Supposedly there's an actual Apple store recently opened up on the east side (about 90 minutes away) and there's another in Columbus (3+ hours south). Then there's CompUSA, only 5 minutes away, but I have no confidence in that place at all -- despite being "Apple-authorized" the staff's antipathy to Mac questions is severe.
Even so, I'd gladly make the trek to any of these places *IF* on the same trip I'd be walking out with a replacement display in hand. But if I'm going to have to go home empty handed anyway, it's easier to just mail it in & have it mailed back fixed.
They do mean to fix it for free, no quarrel there. My disappointment is that they expect me to do entirely without for several days. This stands in sharp and unfavorable contrast to extended warranties I have purchased for other computer hardware from other vendors. I did not expect Apple to be behind the curve on this score, but they are. In addition to the aformentioned printer and cell phone, here's another example: a few years ago I bought my wife a wintel laptop (she needed windows, alas, for her work) and extented warranty at Circuit City. The laptop has had to go in 2 or 3 times, and CC has have always provided a loaner. It is my opinion that without real-time replacement or loaner service, AppleCare cannot be considered the premium service plan that Apple portrays it to be.
As for taking it to a store: I live on the west side of Cleveland, OH. Supposedly there's an actual Apple store recently opened up on the east side (about 90 minutes away) and there's another in Columbus (3+ hours south). Then there's CompUSA, only 5 minutes away, but I have no confidence in that place at all -- despite being "Apple-authorized" the staff's antipathy to Mac questions is severe.
Even so, I'd gladly make the trek to any of these places *IF* on the same trip I'd be walking out with a replacement display in hand. But if I'm going to have to go home empty handed anyway, it's easier to just mail it in & have it mailed back fixed.
applewhore
Registered
does no-one actually read what's been written previously prior to posting their own little pearls of information?!
brianleahy
Colonel Panic
...and so it did. I now have an old Dell VGA monitor connected to my G5, while I (finally, and reluctantly) send in my Apple 20" display for repairs. At least I'm not dead in the water (no thanks to Apple) though it's quite a come-down from the flat-screen.
Hurry Apple, fix my baby & send it back...
brianleahy
Colonel Panic
Note to moderators: if my post seems harsh, I hope you'll take a hard look first at the one I am responding to.
A lot of us here have done, either professionally or 'gratis', a ton of support. Most of us know first hand that most users' problems are of their own making and that you can't trust what they say. In short, there are very few people here who could conceivably be ''shown the light' by your jeremiad?
And I am amazed you actually brought up Procare. I don't know about you, but that option didn't pop up at all when I was ordering my Mac - unlike Applecare. I only heard of it a week or two after my problem started, and if it existed at all before that (and if it exists now apart from the few dozen Apple stores in the world) it was a well-kept secret; hardly a valid rebuttal to this issue.
Procare is, in fact, support for MY position: Apple has, it seems, finally realized what many of their competitors know already; there is no logistical, economic or moral reason NOT to provide premium-service-plan customers with real-time replacements. It can be done, it does not destroy a company's cash flow, it does not encourage frivolous service calls (such plans always include a clause that, if there is no problem with the original, the user is billed for the cost of the new unit.)
The only way Apple's - or any home tech company's - service is going to be graded or evaluated - is in comparison to their competitors. And by that yardstick, Applecare DOES suck in some ways. This is not opinion, but empirical, verifyiable fact.
A lot of us here have done, either professionally or 'gratis', a ton of support. Most of us know first hand that most users' problems are of their own making and that you can't trust what they say. In short, there are very few people here who could conceivably be ''shown the light' by your jeremiad?
And I am amazed you actually brought up Procare. I don't know about you, but that option didn't pop up at all when I was ordering my Mac - unlike Applecare. I only heard of it a week or two after my problem started, and if it existed at all before that (and if it exists now apart from the few dozen Apple stores in the world) it was a well-kept secret; hardly a valid rebuttal to this issue.
Procare is, in fact, support for MY position: Apple has, it seems, finally realized what many of their competitors know already; there is no logistical, economic or moral reason NOT to provide premium-service-plan customers with real-time replacements. It can be done, it does not destroy a company's cash flow, it does not encourage frivolous service calls (such plans always include a clause that, if there is no problem with the original, the user is billed for the cost of the new unit.)
The only way Apple's - or any home tech company's - service is going to be graded or evaluated - is in comparison to their competitors. And by that yardstick, Applecare DOES suck in some ways. This is not opinion, but empirical, verifyiable fact.
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