If you’re wondering why Clagnut has been so quiet in 2005, blame AppleCare. As many of you know I write this blog on a 7 month old iBook G4 during 2½ hours of daily commute. On 19 December my iBook broke; more specifically it suddenly kept crashing with horizontal coloured lines across the screen. The Regent Street Apple Store is only three Tube stops away from work so I booked in to see a Genius. And so the saga begins (present tense – the iBook is still broken…)
I explained the symptoms to the Genius and proposed that the graphics card was fried. He agreed and not unreasonably suggested we ran some diagnostics to verify. An hour later, after failing to complete the diagnostics without the iBook randomly crashing, the Genius agreed that is must indeed be the graphics card, thus necessitating a logic board replacement. However the Genius then said that the Apple Store had a sizeable backlog of repairs and I would be better off getting AppleCare to do the work. “Just tell them I said the logic board needs replacing,” he said, as if it would be that simple.
I phoned up AppleCare and recounted the visit to the Apple Store, passing on the repair instruction from the Genius. “I’m afraid we’ve got no record of your Genius Bar consultation so I’ll have to run some diagnostics.” Protest as I might, the AppleCare rep refused point blank to arrange a repair until the diagnostics were run again. And so another hour of failing hardware passed until, lo and behold, the rep conceded the logic board needed changing. The next morning UPS turned up and the iBook was on its way. I thought, at a push, that I might get the computer back by Christmas. After all, the three people I knew who had iBooks repaired in 2004 got their machines back within the week. And so the wait began.
Christmas Eve came and there was no iBook. “Oh well,” I thought, “I should have it by the time I’m back at work in the new year.” A week later I phoned AppleCare for a progress update. All they could tell me was that the machine was with the repairers. The next week, back at work now, I phoned again, only to receive the same response. And again the following week they still had no idea when the iBook would be ready.
Finally on 20 January, one month after being picked up, UPS arrived with my computer. Eagerly I unpacked it, plugged it in and booted up. Five minutes in, the screen went black. It had crashed again. Three attempts later and I was on the phone once more to AppleCare. It turns out the repairers had misinterpreted AppleCare’s case notes and replaced the perfectly good LCD instead of the logic board. Needless to say I was somewhat livid. And to add insult to injury, the AppleCare rep insisted on going through the diagnostics yet again as the fault was slightly different (no horizontal lines this time). He even had me removing the extra memory in the hope that might be the problem. 75 minutes later the rep conceded defeat and agreed the logic board did in fact still need replacing but AppleCare wouldn’t be able to fast track my repair even though they screwed up the first one. Instead he suggested I found a local Apple Service Centre as it would be quicker than going through AppleCare again.
The first ASC I phoned was refusing to take on more repairs as they were already overloaded. The next said they had a wait of 4–6 weeks and informed me that AppleCare’s regular repair company had gone into liquidation shortly before Christmas, hence all the delays. Finally I located an ASC which, very apologetically, had a two week turnaround time. That was a week ago, and so the wait continues.
Update: It’s fixed! I finally got my iBook on 11 February, seven weeks after having contacted AppleCare. As a post script, it still came back with broken Airport – fortunately they had just failed to properly plug the aerial back in (still another irritation though). I wrote to Apple in Cupertino a fortnight ago to explain the saga and ask for an explanation. As yet I have not had a reply.
Andy Budd wrote:
Man that sucks. Like you, all the people I know have had excellent experiences with AppleCare, which makes your situation even worse. Rather than piss you off it would probably be better for them to give you a brand new iBook, repair the old one and sell it as a refurb.
Rob Mientjes wrote:
Ouch man. That sucks. Big time.
But, like Andy says, you’re just an exception (which does not make it better though).
Rich wrote:
I presume that I’m not the only one waiting for weeks on end at the moment. That would be even worse!
Stephen Grainer wrote:
I know how you feel. Last fall, around the middle of September, my G5 died. I took it in to the nearby Apple store, where they tested and replaced various parts until they decided that the cost of repair was more than the cost of a completely new computer. So (roughly two weeks after I gave them my computer initially) they sent in a request for a new computer to AppleCare to replace the one that was broken. It was supposed to take 1–4 weeks for the new computer to be built and shipped.
To make a long story short, about two months later (with at least 2–3 calls to AppleCare or the store per week), they finally shipped the new computer back. (To be fair, the Apple store was extremely nice and gave me an extra 1.5 gigs of RAM to make up for my troubles.)
The problem, for me at least, was a lack of communication between the store and AppleCare – the store said they sent all the information that AppleCare needed to process my “order,” and AppleCare said they still needed something else. It was a big mess at one point, and I was practically mediating it. Definitely a place for improvement in the Apple support sphere. (Despite that, everyone I talked with was very kind and tried their hardest to figure out the problem. It was the nicest, if also the longest, support experience I’ve had with a computer company to date.)
Michael Moncur wrote:
Thanks alot. Here I was all excited because I have a brand new iBook G4 on order, and now you tell me Apple’s service is just as fallible as the PC companies?
The nearest “Genius” is 450 miles away, so I hope mine works.
Andrew Hume wrote:
Super shit…
Sometimes I find Apple employees to be so damn smug. Even the sales staff. You should have seen them at the Regent Street opening: running down the road high fiving each other, and half the queue offering to suc… you get the picture. You had to laugh.
Best of luck with your ibook. :)
2se7en wrote:
Apply for this job, and break the crap out of their website when employed.
https://jobs.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Employment.woa/wa/jobDescription?RequisitionID=2249782
Ingoal wrote:
Ouch, now that really sucks. Keep us updated if or when the second repair attempt is successful, I really thought the whole point of AppleCare was no hassle whatsoever in case of a defect…”
craig snyder wrote:
Mmmmmm….
While I sympathise I can’t help thinking that:
1) You can afford a computer.
2) You will someday get back your computer.
3) You are not [ at the moment ] in any physical danger.
Just some thoughts. I hope you get it back soon…
howie wrote:
Oh dear. I feel for you. I switched to Mac a couple of years ago, bought myself an iBook and went through graphic card hell. After 3 months I started to get the horizontal lines so I took it back to the Apple reseller. They ran diagnostics, and 3 weeks later replaced the logic board. 3 months later, same thing happened. Told the store I wanted a replacement, not another repair. They refused so I got in touch with Apple. I finally agreed to a repair if they extended the warranty. So, they ran diagnostics, replaced everything except ther clam-shell and couldn’t fix it. Ended up offering me a replacement… but there were none in Australia for another 3 weeks. So after 7 weeks, got my replacement. 3 months later.. horizontal lines again!
This time I decided I wanted a refund. I found a heap of people with the same problem on the forums on the apple web site, but neither the store, nor Apple would admit that it was a design fault. I ended up taking the reseller (and Apple) to the small-claims court and one day before the hearing, the reseller refunded me in full. Frustrating and unnecessary. I lost my faith in Apple (my iPod’s not been much better).
Six weeks after the refund, Apple admitted it was a design fault and offered free repairs. This was all over one year ago, and I’ve recently been tempted to put my faith back in Apple. But I also got my mum to switch to a Mac at the same time, and last week she told me too had the same problem.
For all those that aren’t aware, Apple are now aware of a design fault and run a repair program. Don’t waste your time with aplecare and diagnostics. Just visit the apple’s home apge. There is a link to a page explaining about the repair program.
Tom wrote:
oh dear, well I do hope you get it back sooner or later, I’ve allways heard good thinks about apple care, so perhaps its just a one one?
Rich wrote:
Howie – Thanks for the post – sounds like you’ve had a frustrating time. The iBook logic board replacement program you mention only applies to the G3 models as far as I can tell. I’m hoping the same problem hasn’t crept into the G4 too – I’d like to think it unlikely, although if the symptoms are the same…
Alistair Lattimore wrote:
I find that saga quite amazing. On the occasions my mates have needed something on their various Apple products replaced, they have taken it to a Brisbane (Australia) Apple re-seller. They blindly image his current machine, ghost it onto another similar piece of hardware and send him on his way about 15 minutes later.
He gets a phone call about a week or two later and he returns, copies off what he wants onto a freshly installed version of OS X and he smiles.
It would appear that isn’t standard practice.
;|
Al.
Small Paul wrote:
Ooof, nasty. Apple really are going to have to put some of that $6 billion into better customer service and fault handling (and, indeed, quality control) if they want all those switchers buying iBooks and Mac minis to be glad they switched.
It’s such a shame. More intelligent behaviour from tech support, and some effort to reduce the delay, would mean you were happier, and other people weren’t looking at your experiences, potentially deciding to steer clear of Apple.
And good customer service, as it’s so rare, will make people in Apple’s target market willing to spend more on a computer.
Lars wrote:
As I noted when I quicklinked to this post, the real and apparently overlooked problem is Apple’s poor quality. Fixing the support issues is merely fixing the symptoms, not the cause.
Depite my admiration for Apple’s design and marketing skills, I am increasingly convinced that their products are overpriced, considering what you get.
And I still find it fascinating that of all the Apple owners posting about broken machines (and there are many), not a single one has seen it fit to criticize Apple for their quality problems. Post-purchase reinforcement perhaps? :)
Kevin wrote:
Sorry to hear about your problems with your ibook, but not surprised I’m afraid as I’ve been around the houses with Apple a few times myself. My ibook originally developed problems with one of the usb ports around the middle of November last year. This was actually resolved very quickly by AppleCare – sent the thing off Wednesday, got it back on Friday – but I then noticed a problem with the machine waking from sleep.
After a lengthy discussion with a Genius at the Regent Street shop it was decided that the logic board had to be replaced. It then sat in the shop for a week, “awaiting pick-up” to go back to the repair centre. The store then informed me that the repair centre was refusing to accept any more repairs. I was then told they’d do the repair in store but had to get parts delivered. So about 3 weeks later (about the 7th of January by now) I get it back, only for the RAM on the motherboard to blow after something like 10 minutes use.
I opted to have the machine re-repaired in store and they promised to prioritise it. I picked it up three weeks later.
Two weeks on and it’s still working…
Hope you get your ibook back soon. Give my regards to Gedge next time you see him.
Pete Barr-Watson wrote:
it’s sad to say that this kind of experience isn’t restricted to apple. EVERY time I have to deal with companies via the phone etc I have these kinds of issues. It’s got to the point where I refuse to speak to anyone on the telephone in these cases. I either write or visit. Customer service doesn’t exist in the modern UK at all – just endless lies and frustration that is badged as ‘customer service’. BT nearly drove me to a nervous breakdown a couple of years ago – I kid you not…
Anyway, hope you get it sorted soon Rich…
Rich wrote:
Unfortunately Pete, you are so right. Had I not heard such good things about AppleCare and its responsiveness I probably would have just written this whole saga off as a normal customer service experience. But my expectations had been set higher.
mark rush wrote:
You’re lucky, im still designing websites on a 500mhz celeron pc thats years old! – still waiting for that honeypot project that will pay to upgrade all my kit!
mark
Ambrose wrote:
My band, Action and Action has a website (www.actionandaction.com) that’s going without updates until my iBook G3 comes back from Regent Street.
It went in for repair four weeks ago today, and Apple’s site shows that it’s still in progress. This IS poor; when my girlfriend had her powerbook repaired last year, replacement of the screen took about 2 days from pickup to return. My mate Chris also has a 12” Powerbook waiting for a new logic board, again at Regent St.
I really hope something happens soon. If it doesn’t, I’m going to lodge a complaint to Cupertino. We all know that Apple has the best level of hardware quality in the industry, but when things go wrong, you want them sorted out satifactorily.
Which brings me to my final point. When all of this began, I called up Applecare figuring that I wouldn’t have time to take a day off work to queue up to be seen. It turned out that they wouldn’t deal with me without charging me for making the call – within the terms of UK guarantees I’m sure this is not legal practise.
Justin wrote:
Yeah, Regent Street has made themselves a useless tithole in my recent opinion. I dropped off my iBook 30 days ago for a logic board repair and have got nothing but waffling excuses and flat out lies from their “customer service” people.
The parts were in on the 26th of february but no estimate of a repair date could be given. The “repair was being done” on the 2nd of march when I called and “should be ready by the end of the day, or tomorrow at the latest”. By the 7th of march, the parts had just come in two days prior (god knows how that works, ffs!) and it “should be ready in 2–3 days”. It’s four days past today and still nothing. A call to regent street and haggling with the chap on the phone, i finally wrestle out of him that I have basically no recourse but to sit and wait. Maybe write a letter to the manager, he says, but he can’t help me. C**TS!! My life and work are on hold here…this is ridiculous!
Pete Barr – you got it right. I’m certain this more endemic of the UK’s completely useless and grossly incompetent management sector rather than Apple’s standard business practice. Either way, i’m not happy.
Paul wrote:
I have had poor experience with Applecare as well. I bought my computer in mid-December 2004, and the LCD needed to be replaced because there were bright spots on the screen. I took it to an Apple store and the “genius” there agreed there was a problem and sent it to the “depot.” The machine was sent back to me saying no problem found (Apple contracts with company called Flextronics that does all of their repair work.) The Airport Card was unplugged when I got the unit back.
I called Applecare to complain and they assured me that if I sent it in again the screen would be fixed. I sent it in, and it came back from “Flextronics” with a screen that was very scratched and gouged on the case, unlike the “like-new” unit I had sent them.
I complained, and they told me to sent the unit in again. While backing up my data (trying to, anyway) I discovered the Superdrive was not working properly. After trying several times to back up my data, the machine even stopped recognizing audio CDs (I was trying to back up my data to a DVD).
I took the computer to the Apple Store, and the “genius” there (another one) noticed that the plastic components were not properly seated, and asked me suspiciously how the gouge got on the damaged case they had sent me. I explained they had sent me back the damaged screencase (the LCD itself wasn’t great either) and he said usually that was “customer damage.”
I called Applecare with the repair number, and they have told me if it’s not fixed this time I will get a new machine. We will see.
It’s been two weeks since I sent it one. I received an e-mail last week saying they were “waiting for a part.”
My saga continues…
Nils wrote:
Hmm, sometimes I wish I could add to these stories. But I can’t, because Apple still has not shipped my Feb 2nd Powerbook order. Thanks a lot, indeed…