[cms]

A classic case of iBook logic board failure; diagnosed and agreed by the techies at Apple (UK) over the 'phone, picked up by UPS last Wednesday to be taken in for free repair under the extended logic board replacement programme.

So far so good....BUT

Got a call today to say the new logic board can't see the original 30G hard disk and I need to pay �250+ for the Apple techie to replace the hard disk. The disk in question was fine when it was sent in. The machine could boot from it and I could mount it via firewire on my G5 -- and in fact did to retreive the data as I knew Apple would wipe the drive when they replaced the logic board.

Apple's Customer Services will not discuss this with me, saying that they will not replace the drive unless I pay the money, despite the fact that I have told them until I am blue in the face that the drive was fine when I sent it in and that this is a new problem that has surfaced while it has been in for repair.

My question is, simply, where do I go from here? I want my iBook back and I want it working. But I don't want to pay for the hard disk to be replaced when the old one was just fine. If it has been broken while in for repair of the logic board, which it obviously has, how do I get Apple to listen to me? At the moment, I am dealing with a supposedly senior Customer Care person, who clearly doesn't care at all! I am not able to speak directly to the people at the repair centre and so am dealing with a technical issue with people who don't understand my questions and merely parrot back what they have been trained to say.

This is very frustrating and deeply disappointing. I have been a loyal Apple customer for 20 years, and spend tens of thousands of pounds with them every year on behalf of the school I work for and for other private clients. In all this time, I have always had excellent service from Apple, and have recommended them to my clients, not just because of the high standard of their products but also the excellent aftersales service. Until now, that is. This latest experience has made me feel decidedly disillusioned.

There must be a way forward but, short of writing to the CEO of Apple Europe, I just don't know how to progress this through the proper channels. Any advice would be very welcome indeed!

[d4nth3m4n]

can you use the file dates on you g5 to prove anything?

or a console log or something?

[molala]

i agree with the previous suggestion - print out the list of files from the backed up HD to show that it was working just before you sent it in. and fax that to apple.

i'm also wondering if the new logic board they installed is defective, and not your HD. would they be willing to test the logic board on a different iBook?

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
can you use the file dates on you g5 to prove anything?

or a console log or something?

[cms]

Originally posted by molala:


i'm also wondering if the new logic board they installed is defective, and not your HD. would they be willing to test the logic board on a different iBook?

I had this thought last night and will ask them to do this when I am able to speak to someone from Customer Services. At the moment, this problem has clearly been placed in the "too hard" basket, as when I tried to speak to a senior customer services person yesterday afternoon, everybody was suddenly "unavailable"! I have been promised a call back some time today.....we shall see.

Thanks for the suggestions and support. I will keep you posted!

[Simon]

cms, I'm sorry to hear your story. I'm getting the impression that Apple's European customer service is really going down the crapper.

If this customer rep remains stubborn you might try to demand for his superior and talk to him. If that doesn't work, how about you get yourself a lawyer to write them a short letter?

And, I'd let [email protected] know about it.

[Centris650]

My advice...
1) Never, NEVER deal with the person answering the call. They don't have the authority, usually, to ok something like this. Like someone posted earlier, talk to the reps manager. They usually have the power to make such decisions.

2) Believe or not but what Simon suggested about emailing Steve Jobs DOES work. I've read other posts about people soooo frustrated they took a stab at emailing Steve...AND IT WORKED. If you do email Steve do it politely and with your temper in check. You might be surprised.

Good luck!

[cms]

Good news! The problem has been sorted. I emailed and then spoke with a contact I have elsewhere in Apple and he managed to get the whole thing escalated and dealt with in no time at all. I am delighted, of course, but still think it is not really appropriate that I had to call a favour from someone to get this whole mess dealt with.

I take the point made by Centris650 that one should never deal on potentially delicate issues with the person who answers the call and, in fact, I didn't. The customer services person whose intransigent and unhelpful attitude yesterday quite took my breath away was someone to whom my call had been already been passed. If nothing else, the whole experience should tell Apple that they need to pay some serious attention to training their customer service personnel. Just sticking to the script without any regard for form or content of the problem is simply not acceptable.

And yes, I know that a note to Mr Jobs will quickly bring results. I have done this myself in the past on another matter. However, I believe this to be an avenue of last resort and a card one should only play once in a blue moon!

Thanks to all who responded to my post -- I really appreciate your advice and support and am really pleased to be able to report a happy outcome all round.

[Centris650]

Originally posted by cms:
Good news! The problem has been sorted. I emailed and then spoke with a contact I have elsewhere in Apple and he managed to get the whole thing escalated and dealt with in no time at all. I am delighted, of course, but still think it is not really appropriate that I had to call a favour from someone to get this whole mess dealt with.

I take the point made by Centris650 that one should never deal on potentially delicate issues with the person who answers the call and, in fact, I didn't. The customer services person whose intransigent and unhelpful attitude yesterday quite took my breath away was someone to whom my call had been already been passed. If nothing else, the whole experience should tell Apple that they need to pay some serious attention to training their customer service personnel. Just sticking to the script without any regard for form or content of the problem is simply not acceptable.

And yes, I know that a note to Mr Jobs will quickly bring results. I have done this myself in the past on another matter. However, I believe this to be an avenue of last resort and a card one should only play once in a blue moon!

Thanks to all who responded to my post -- I really appreciate your advice and support and am really pleased to be able to report a happy outcome all round.

Congrats!

[molala]

glad to hear you got it sorted . but not great for apple uk that you needed to call in a favour to do it. i hope their services do improve.