Time to Blast Apple

N

njpaddler

Registered
I just got off the phone with an Apple Specialist and I told him Apple can make things right and resolve my issue or have an angry unsatisfied customer. They chose unsatisfied. I purchased a brand new ibook and received it 2 weeks ago. From the moment I started the laptop I have had problems. I ended up sending a new laptop to apple for service. Never used and out of the box. They said they fixed the laptop. I received it back after a week and ended up having the same issue with it. They suggested I bring it to a local specialist. They thought my issue was corrupted software and my install disks for OSX 10.2 were also corrupted. The apple specialist locally found that they could not install any operating system on this ibook and the laptop is going back to apple a second time.
Remember! This is a brand new ibook never used with these kind of problems. Now I talked to an Apple Specialist requesting apple keep this laptop and send me a new machine or give me a refund. They refused to do either. They said they will repair the laptop. I do not think my request for a new machine replacement is un reasonable at all. Again I never even had a chance to use this machine. Problems out of the box. I have $1200 invested in to this laptop and it will be around 3 weeks when all is said and done before I can attempt to use it. They did offer me a free second battery. Nice jester but i just wanted a working machine 2 weeks ago and would of been happy. I see no reason why I am stuck and the loser here. Apple could of sent me a new replacement and I would be typing a letter on how professional they could of been and happy i would of been. Then they could of just repaired the laptop and sold it refurbished. My suggestion is to buy a pc from someone other than apple. Though they attempted to provide good customer service they fell way short.
Unsatisfied customer who should of purchased a Dell.
 
You may be angered from the way Apple treated you, but your treatment would have been much worse if you had bought a dell (speaking from a friends experience). Apple did what they thought was best by repairing the laptop, remember they too would be losing 2400 by sending you a laptop (cost of a new one, and the old one). When EVER you make something (this really applies to tech), there will be a percent of failure, your iBook just happened to be one of those failures (I hear that dell has a pretty high failure rate compared to other companies). In times of tight finances and a poor econmony Apple made the right decision. Be thankful Apple doesn't charge you for shipping back and forth, they even send you a box and all you have to do is arrange a pickup! How nice!! Even if Apple was going to send you a new iBook you probably wouldn't gotten it for two or three weeks anyway (they have to fill the order, build the machine, etc.). Be glad you own an Apple, once everything gets straightened out I'm sure you will be happy.
 
I'm not trying to bash Apple... but I know if I bought a new machine and it didn't work out of the box, I'd be very upset.

A friend of mine bought a brand new car, and it had no motor oil in the engine. After running the car for a week or two, you can guess what happened. He took the car back to the dealership and in an hour he was driving off the lot with a brand new car. The dealership knew something that Apple customer care had forgotten in the above example. It's worth doing whatever you can to keep the customer happy.
 
I think Apple should have switched out the machine, especially if he just bought it. This is the type of customer-relationship Apple doesn't need.

The proper thing to do is write a letter to Steve Jobs and explain the situation. Also explain what you consider a solution. Even though he won't read it, his assistants will, and they'll get on it right away. This is how I ended up with three cell phones in the US--all from Sprint, all for free. One of them was an MP3 phone. Here, in New Zealand, when I wasn't satisfied with the treatment I got from Vodafone, I wrote to the CEO.

When a company sees a customer is taking the time to bring it to the top, they usually make extra efforts to make one happy.

I think in this case the customer should still write a proper complaint letter to Steve Jobs. I don't believe in the "well this is the way Apple does business attitude". If you pay for something, demand satisfaction!

:banana:

D'OH!

well, one day we may have banana man...
 
Originally posted by JohnnyV
You may be angered from the way Apple treated you, but your treatment would have been much worse if you had bought a dell (speaking from a friends experience). Apple did what they thought was best by repairing the laptop, remember they too would be losing 2400 by sending you a laptop (cost of a new one, and the old one). When EVER you make something (this really applies to tech), there will be a percent of failure, your iBook just happened to be one of those failures (I hear that dell has a pretty high failure rate compared to other companies). In times of tight finances and a poor econmony Apple made the right decision. Be thankful Apple doesn't charge you for shipping back and forth, they even send you a box and all you have to do is arrange a pickup! How nice!! Even if Apple was going to send you a new iBook you probably wouldn't gotten it for two or three weeks anyway (they have to fill the order, build the machine, etc.). Be glad you own an Apple, once everything gets straightened out I'm sure you will be happy.
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This is untrue. Dell probably has the best customer service of any company I've ever done business with. If Dell's policies haven't changed, they would have replaced the computer within the first 30 days no questions asked. Dell also has higher customer satisfaction than Apple. Go figure.

Apple's policy is to fix the problem, not replace it but if they can't get it right in two tries, they really should just save you the time and headache and replace it. Most of the times they will. You just need to know who to ask for and what to say.

Apple would not be out $2400 by doing this. In the short run they would be out $1200, the cost of the replacement iBook. Theoretically though, if Apple is able to please the customer, there is no reason to believe that customer wouldn't continue buying Apple products for a long time to come. Now that this Apple customer is terribly displeased, he will likely sell his iBook and buy a PC notebook the first chance he gets. Apple is now out a lot more money in the long run. This is exactly what Apple needs to avoid during an economic down turn. They can't afford to lose a single customer.

What is even worse is the damaging effect negative word of mouth can have from just one displeased customer. In the food service industry, one displeased customer can have an impact on 100 potential customers. I'm sure its not much different for the PC industry. Just like what you've heard from your friend and Dell. Luckly though, Dell is ontop of the industry, they can afford not having you or 100 of your friends as customers, Apple cannot.

One thing to keep in mind is that AppleCare is outsourced to another company in most cases. Whoever you have dealt with thus far may not be acting in the best interest of Apple. You should asked to be bumped up to a supervisor and keep doing this until someone is willing to give you what you want. Eventually it will happen, you just need to be persistent.

Writing Jobs in my opinion would be a waste of time. It may get you want you want, it likely will not. Giving away cell phones is a lot more inexpensive than giving away iBooks. I'm sure Jobs gets a lot of email from displeased customers every day. I've actually only heard of one person getting something due to writing Jobs and he was the editor of a Magazine. Go figure.

Just keep complaining. Asked to be bumped up to higher customer service. Keep complaining until you get what you want and don't forget, keep complaining.
 
I do understand njpaddler's pain!

Having said that, it must be said that it is probably impossible to get OS X running on a Dell or any other PC. Therefore, I believe buying one of those would be a poor alternative.

Similarly, I've been so angry at Microsoft that my head exploded (explain that to the wife!). One word: Millenium Edition.

It doesn't help.

Doug
 
well, i once had a powerbook that didn't work right out of the box. brought it to my apple dealer, got a replacement.

on the other hand, we had 5 different DELL technicians in our company, fiddling with our CEOs notebook for over 8 weeks. it wasn't replaced. only it's motherboard, it's keyboard', it's optical drives, the LCD, the RAM. because they just HAD to find the error. ah, yes, the keyboard finally was the problem. it didn't work well with the soundcard. yes, dell is perfect. :)
 
Originally posted by fryke
yes, dell is perfect. :)
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Tell me about it. I work at a Dell certified repair center. Dell is the most fickel company when it comes to support. One day a customer will bring in their computer, warranty has been gone for months...dell repair is free of charge.

Next day a customer brings in a computer that is DOA. First Dell tells us (the repair center) that we haven't done enough troubleshooting. After we finally convince them that it was a DOA computer, they tell us that it isn't covered by warranty - which it obviously is. So, finally when we get them to admit that they should be repairing, if not replacing, the computer...then they start with their typical crap. First they send a motherboard...that doesn't work, so they send another one...still doesn't work (Cause it isn't a motherboard problem) ... so they send another. Five mainboards later they send a HD ... and then an motherboard and a hard drive.....etc, etc, etc.

And that is why I bought my iBook. Say what you want about Apple, but I love them. I had to get my iBook repaired and their service was great~! The longest part of the process was sitting at the Apple store while the Mac Genius typed in all the information (geeze, how many hoops does Apple make those guys jump through before getting an work repair number????:confused: )
 
Buying an new computer and having noticed that the machine is not working properly from the start up is indeed very disappointing and frustrating. Especially if a computer is said to be a "plug & play" machine and even your local dealer is not able to make a clean MacOS installation on your new iBook.

I believe you shoud receive a brand new iBook from Apple.

I can understand your reaction if you receive the same machine from your Apple dealer one more time and your computer is still not working properly as it should be.

I think you should write Apple Computer/Steve Jobs a letter and explain what exactly(!) happened. Try to be as precise as possible.

I hope that everything works out well for you.

sincerely yours,

PXL Transmitter
 
The FACT is if the computer is faulty out of the box then you have the write to a replacement within a short time period (changes from product to product). In Australia its apart of "Consumer Law">>>Which over writes ANY! company warrenty.

I have owned 2 Mac and both were faulty out of the box. Apple refused to replace even after knowing there was a fault (owned both for 2 days). After exercising my write as a consumer I got a replacement in both situations.

JohnnyV Apple did what they thought was best by repairing the laptop, remember they too would be losing 2400 by sending you a laptop (cost of a new one, and the old one)
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Who cares about the loss of money to companies involved. This is not charity and we fork out good money for a computer that should work from day one.:mad:
 
i think that they would only be out $300-400 dollars because they can sell it for $800 or $900 referbished
 
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