iBook Experience with Apple

[Qion]

I bought an older iBook for one of my family members (they're Apple fanatics and it'll make them really happy on their birthday). When the 'book got here, I began seeing symptoms of the motherboard problem exhibited by flickering vertical lines, strange colors, and a frozen screen. I optimistically waved it off at first, but when it didn't stop, I checked out Apple's website to read about the iBook repair program for this particular model. I ended up on the line with a support guy for about 20 minutes.

In this time, I managed to recieve the best customer support I've ever been subjected to, plus a motherboard replacement for my iBook without so much as a warranty.

I just wanted to post this to say I'm extremely happy with Apple's customer support. I know it wasn't so good a year ago, but it's definitely improved.

 

[eric2006]

I agree. I had a similar experience with my new-old PowerBook G4, which had the "white spots" issue. It was out of warranty, but it was covered by the program. I brought it in, and the Genius diagnosed the problem, and said it would be ready in three days. Two days later, it was ready to be picked up. Not only was the screen repaired, but the hinges too, and a full diagnostic check had been run.
I had another good experience helping my mom get her iBook.. spacebar.. fixed (it doesn't sound major, but if you do a lot of writing, it is). The little white thing under the spacebar was broken/chipped. We came in a bit late, and all the appointments were full. I talked to a non-genius guy, who offered to get us in anyways, the problem being so minor. Not only did we get a fixed keyboard, but they replaced the entire keyboard module (partly because the non-genius decided to find the part that we needed). We waited for the Genius to finish his appointment, then he quickly installed the keyboard and cleaned the screen. The paperwork that they need to fill out is substantial, it took much longer than the actual repair.

 

[powermac]

I had a PowerBook G3 Prismo, A week after my extended warranty expired, the logic board and Hard-drive toasted. I called Apple support, etc. They told me to bring it to the local authorized store, and within a week it was all fixed, without any cost to me.
All my interactions with Apple, over the years has been positive.