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pptiger · Sep 30, 2003, 11:32 AM

Today I received an email from apple saying my credit card company has blocked my account and they gave me one business day to solve this problem otherwise my order will become inactive. Then I called my credit card company. A rep told me that Apple charged me one day later after I placed my order and today they want to charge me for the same amount again! It exceeds my credit limit and they blocked my account. Then I called Apple and it looks like they are extremely busy right now; I've been waiting for one hour and nobody answered the phone. This is just great, isn't it? I read a lot negative reports on new 15" powerbook. But now before I have it in hand, the trouble already came in. What the hell are they doing? If they delayed my order, I will cancel it. Last time when I bought an ibook from apple, everything is great. This time, the experience is not pleasant...

aapljack · Sep 30, 2003, 11:42 AM

Sorry to hear you are having trouble. Seems like alot of Powerbook orders have been jinxed. Don't get discouraged, these are great machines (even if they have short battery life).

Any chance you can just cancel your order and buy one at a local Apple Store? There is a Apple Store in Austin, right?

-brian

LfGrdMike · Sep 30, 2003, 11:48 AM

Hang in their man you will get through this. I know it seems tough now but you will get it sorted out. Maybe Apple will give you a discount for messing that up, and actually i would demand one.

pptiger · Sep 30, 2003, 01:06 PM

No, there is no local Apple store in Austin. The only place I can go is the Campus Computer store of UT, but currently they don't have the new model.

Originally posted by aapljack:
Sorry to hear you are having trouble. Seems like alot of Powerbook orders have been jinxed. Don't get discouraged, these are great machines (even if they have short battery life).

Any chance you can just cancel your order and buy one at a local Apple Store? There is a Apple Store in Austin, right?

-brian

pptiger · Sep 30, 2003, 01:31 PM

* Update *

After 1 hour and 20 min waiting (am I the luckiest person?), someone spoke to me and told me everything is OK now. What a relief!

KeriVit · Sep 30, 2003, 06:12 PM

Originally posted by pptiger:
* Update *

After 1 hour and 20 min waiting (am I the luckiest person?), someone spoke to me and told me everything is OK now. What a relief!

See now- Apple not Bad! Apple good! Yay!

Don't just speak of the negative people! Remember the positive- Switchers are lurking..........

LfGrdMike · Sep 30, 2003, 06:15 PM

Like I said you will live.

pptiger · Sep 30, 2003, 08:35 PM

I feel I am a happy man again

Originally posted by LfGrdMike:
Like I said you will live.

pptiger · Sep 30, 2003, 08:55 PM

Hmm, talking about switchers, I am a switcher. I've been using Windows since 1994 and just switched to Apple last year. Why I didn't switch earlier? Because I am from China and the only choice in China is Windows. Apple is successful in Japan, but not in China. The only mac I ever played with was Apple II when I was in middle school. And all I knew about Apple at that time was Apple is a computer company. After I came to America for gradschool, I learned more and more about Apple. The first time I saw an iMac, Oh, man, what in my eyes was not a piece of metal or plastic but a beautiful creature. I could feel life was growing inside its body. It was cool! The feeling was so tremendous that I started loving Apple immediately. Being a Windows user for 7 years, I have no problem when switching to Apple, everything is just smooth and much better. I don't think those switcher ads on Apple's website are necessary. It is your own choice to be cool or just ordinary. who cares how much market share Apple has? As long as I am alive, I go with Apple.

The good news is there are some small Apple clubs in big cities of China recently. I think Apple should push hard into China. Who on earth can resist a rocking Apple?

Originally posted by KeriVit:
See now- Apple not Bad! Apple good! Yay!

Don't just speak of the negative people! Remember the positive- Switchers are lurking..........

LfGrdMike · Sep 30, 2003, 09:01 PM

ya apple made a mistake so of course they will solve it and in some circumstances you can get special deals because of it. Sure it can be stressful at the time, but rest assured they will correct the mistake. With apple every buyer counts, and thats how they get switchers. So they need to listen, and offer good support.

beijinger · Sep 30, 2003, 09:09 PM

Originally posted by pptiger:
The good news is there are some small Apple clubs in big cities of China recently. I think Apple should push hard into China. Who on earth can resist a rocking Apple?

[/B]

When I moved to BJ 11 years ago as head of an investment bank's office in China, I forced the company to agree to have everything Mac and this is 11 years ago!!! At that time, most of the work for me and my staff were in English and French, so it was fine.

But when our needs for Chinese documents became overwhelming...Word, PP, Excel etc, problems came. Office for the Mac was and still is not localized!!!! All menus continued to be in English, until today.

So I was forced to move to the PC. Personally, still keeping Macs around but the office moved to PC.

Now I have an iBook, a TiBook and a new 17 inch, with a couple more coming this week for the office.

The real story, rumours have it, is that Dell, HP, IBM etc., insisted that Microsoft China does not localize its Office Suite in China. They are right! If it is localized, who would buy windoze machines any more!

pptiger · Sep 30, 2003, 09:27 PM

Forced the company to agree to have everything Mac! That was awesome!

I think the problem is not only on Microsoft's side. Although I don't like it, Windows has done a good job for the Chinese localization. The Chinese input method in Mac OS X is too bad. I can input around 100 characters per minute with the input method provided by Windows, but in Mac OS X, I can only input at most 40 in one minute. And most Mac software don't support Chinese. It took me one week to find an FTP software that truely support Chinese.

Anyway, I believe Microsoft intends not to localize office suit for Mac. Just looked back and saw what Microsoft did to Netscape, it is not a honest campany, and without any creative spirit.

Originally posted by beijinger:
When I moved to BJ 11 years ago as head of an investment bank's office in China, I forced the company to agree to have everything Mac and this is 11 years ago!!! At that time, most of the work for me and my staff were in English and French, so it was fine.

But when our needs for Chinese documents became overwhelming...Word, PP, Excel etc, problems came. Office for the Mac was and still is not localized!!!! All menus continued to be in English, until today.

So I was forced to move to the PC. Personally, still keeping Macs around but the office moved to PC.

Now I have an iBook, a TiBook and a new 17 inch, with a couple more coming this week for the office.

The real story, rumours have it, is that Dell, HP, IBM etc., insisted that Microsoft China does not localize its Office Suite in China. They are right! If it is localized, who would buy windoze machines any more!

pptiger · Sep 30, 2003, 09:29 PM

To beijinger,

So you've been in Beijing for 11 years. I spend 7 years in Beijing for my high school and college. You are more "Beijing" than me!

Di

beijinger · Sep 30, 2003, 09:37 PM

Originally posted by pptiger:
To beijinger,

So you've been in Beijing for 11 years. I spend 7 years in Beijing for my high school and college. You are more "Beijing" than me!

Di

Yup! Eight in Taiwan, 17 in New York, 15 in Europe and 11 in BJ. I am an old man.

pptiger · Sep 30, 2003, 09:59 PM

Originally posted by beijinger:
Yup! Eight in Taiwan, 17 in New York, 15 in Europe and 11 in BJ. I am an old man.

What a wonderful life you have!

CorpITGuy · Sep 30, 2003, 10:06 PM

Originally posted by pptiger:
No, there is no local Apple store in Austin. The only place I can go is the Campus Computer store of UT, but currently they don't have the new model.

Heh.. UT. WOOOOOOOOOO... PIG! SOUIE!! RAZORBACKS!!!

(Sorry, I couldn't resist.. I'm a terrible sport)

beijinger · Sep 30, 2003, 10:28 PM

Originally posted by pptiger:
What a wonderful life you have!

The best part has been in BJ- no where else in the world do you find the growth and business potential of China today. Lots of money around too. You can get anything you want (good stuff and bad stuff) here. Note my new 17 inch AL and two 15 inchers coming right now.

pptiger · Sep 30, 2003, 11:26 PM

Originally posted by nstehle:
Heh.. UT. WOOOOOOOOOO... PIG! SOUIE!! RAZORBACKS!!!

(Sorry, I couldn't resist.. I'm a terrible sport)

next time we meet you, you'll see how horns rock and roll!

nobitacu · Oct 1, 2003, 05:04 AM

Yea, sorry to hear that... hope things will be cleared out for you soon...

Ming