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6 January, 2009
AppleCare Idiot
I've been an idiot over AppleCare these last few weeks; sick to my stomach with computer withdrawl. I wrote a letter this morning explaining:
29 April 2006
Today I bring my Powerbook G4 in for its third repair in under three weeks. Currently, the poor beast thinks a second monitor is attached at all times. Even when there’s not.
This was the reason I brought the computer to the Apple Store, last Tuesday April 25th.
This was not the reason I brought my computer to the Apple Store on Tuesday, April 11th.
In early April, I noticed that one of my two gigabytes of memory wasn’t showing up. Also, my DVD drive began to eject discs without being able to read them. Jon from the Genius Bar suggested I had to send the laptop to AppleCare to resolve these problems.
Repairs usually take 5-7 days; sometimes as few as three days! But sometimes more, I found out. I received my computer back thirteen days after I dropped it off for the first repair, on Monday April 24th.
I am about an 8 hour a day computer user. Some days more, some days less. But it averages out. So I really noticed not having my computer.
That wouldn’t be so bad, it might even be relaxing not to work. But I enjoy my work! I love editing video. I love corresponding! I’ve been making these high-dynamic range, software merged multi-exposure photos. I’m building my grad school thesis as a web-based multiplayer game. On my Macintosh!
But at least I got my laptop back, last Monday. With a new logic board, and a new problem. Now, the computer believed there was a second monitor attached at all times. Martin at Apple phone support suggested I do an Archive and Reinstall of my system. When I went to insert my OSX install disk, the machine wouldn’t accept my DVD.
One of the old problems, one of the new problems. Back to the Apple Store! On Tuesday, April 25th, Mindy from the Genius Bar saw the DVD problem, and the monitor problem. We returned the laptop to Apple as a “looper” – a item returned for service twice.
And on Friday, April 28th, I got the laptop back again. I found the DVD drive had been replaced, and my hard drive had been erased. Fortunately, I had a back up. So I eagerly restored all my data; discovering two things after about six hours:
1) I didn’t use very good backup software.
2) Erasing the hard drive did not fix the phantom second monitor problem.
Eighteen days and two repairs later, my laptop still had a problem it never had before. I re-erased my hard drive just to be sure I wasn’t hallucinating – even with the factory installation of Mac OSX, the computer still thought there was a second monitor attached.
This wouldn’t be the biggest deal either, except that I run two monitors at home. When I go on the road, my windows are scattered all over the dual desktops: out of reach if you can’t see them on the second screen! I can see all my windows if I lower my resolution to 800x600 and mirror my displays. But then I can’t see all my icons in my application menu bars. Besides, it makes my computer look like something from the 1990s.
I bought this computer in mid-2004 when I started grad school. I bought the best 15” laptop I could – most RAM, most HD. I got the Dot Mac service. I bought AppleCare. Everything! Of course – because I wanted to have a powerful computer that I could kick ass and count on.
Now, I feel like an idiot. Because I brought my computer in for repairs two weeks before finals were due at school. Because I care so much about wanting to use my computer. Because I nearly broke my foot running to the door when I thought my laptop had come back. Because I hit reload on the “repair status” page on Apple.com about once every 40 minutes for the last 18 days. Because I care so much.
Thanks for reading this,
Justin Hall
April 11th Repair: R7804254
April 25th Repair: R7940353
April 29th Repair:
Posted by justin at April 29, 2006 6:21 AM
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Comments
I read it all. That really sucks! Is there any sort of "no lemon" policy, where if you send it in for repairs too many times, they just give you a new one?
Posted by: msteffen ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://interactive.usc.edu/members/jhall/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 29, 2006 11:31 AM
This is almost the opposite of my apple care experience. I'm sorry. What I hate is their "tier" repair system.
My HD has crashed twice in the two years I’ve had my powerbook, and every time they charge 1k. Note: this isn't too different from my PC experience w/ Western Digital drives. I still experience weird bugs, like random battery failures, but I try to take it with a grain of salt.
I asked them to replace just the HD, but they tell me that it doesn't work like that; there are 4 tiers of repair.
Being without a machine is good, but for technophiles like us it's really hard. Maybe Andrews thesis experience will help you reconcile?!?
May the computer gods bless you in the near future my friend.
Posted by: SEDinehart at April 29, 2006 12:34 PM
Sorry for the issues, I wonder if there is someone out there in Apple Land you can talk to about correcting your issues. I just bought a dual core G% and it came to me DOA!! Now I have to wait for two more weeks while they figure out why it died!! I'm wondering if the polish is fading on the Apple now...
DuaneO
Posted by: DuaneO_turtledude at May 2, 2006 3:23 PM
By the way - for the record, it took me many months to straighten this out, but in the end, Apple made sure I had a good working system. I am happy, and shortly after this, I bought another Apple computer.
Posted by: Justin Hall at November 20, 2006 8:01 AM
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