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UnixMac · Nov 9, 2004, 06:11 PM

I have been having some minor issues with my Mac, items that are hard to track down as to what the cause is, etc... and I just wanted to share with the forum members my experience with Apple on this, since we all tend to post when we have a bad experience, yet no one ever posts a good experience.

Without getting into the details of the items that cause my system trouble... I basically called Apple Care on the various issues, and when the regular tech was unable to sort out my problem, I was escalated to the higher echelon support.

Over a few weeks, I managed to talk to 3 different senior support engineers and all seemed very concerned that my machine is made right. They were also concerned that what ever trouble I was having was also possibly happening to others and wanted accurate logs of the various problems. They sent me a proprietary app that captures the specs of my machine to "sample" it's goings on when various troubles manifested themselves and I've been emailing them those data files.

It is great to see a company so genuinely concerned with the quality of their product and the satisfaction of their customer.

Thats all.

davidflas · 06:10 PM

I like the fact that someone is posting a positive thread here.

Turnpike · Nov 10, 2004, 05:07 AM

beautiful

anyhoo, yeah, sometimes we forget why we love Apple, especially because this place, by nature, is a place people bring up the negative things... or for people to whine about how they know so much better than Apple when it comes to running Apple's business...

UnixMac · Nov 10, 2004, 10:58 AM

Randman & Turnpike, thanks for sticking to the topic...

the point is even more interesting when contrasted with my experience with Gateway and IBM in the past with system problems and their answer was ALWAYS... recovery disk, and wipe the disk clean and start over... very frustrating.

India call center aside, the Apple care is the single best add on to any Mac.

I also have found that when ever it is that we perceive Apple as unresponsive or stubborn, it's because they are very pragmatic and at the same time beaurocratic... so you have to have patience with the lower echelon tech support, but once you are talking to the "real" support engineers, they do a good job.

jamil5454 · Nov 11, 2004, 08:23 AM

In that case, all in good spirit, let me post a positive experience I've had.

I had never used a mac before October 20, 2004. I don't know what it is, but I had to have one. I then decided to get the cheapest yet best value Mac there is - the iBook. This way I could experience OS X and have a portable at the same time. I even set up a deal with a small church to record their live worships every Sunday if they would pay for the iBook. I probably should have gotten a 12" PB for this, because the 4200rpm drive in the iBook couldn't handle the 1.5 hour garageband recordings ("Disk too slow" errors occured). I then downloaded Audacity and now record at 22kHz instead of 44.1kHz. It's working fine so far. Hopefully in a few months when college starts I'll be able to keep the iBook. If not, I'll probably buy a DP 1.8 G5 and another 12".

To sum it all up, I'm really excited that I've moved away from the PC. Hopefully one day I'll get a more powerful machine because I'm still used to XP's responsiveness (even on an AthlonXP 1800+).

UnixMac · Nov 11, 2004, 10:07 AM

Originally posted by jamil5454:
In that case, all in good spirit, let me post a positive experience I've had.

I had never used a mac before October 20, 2004. I don't know what it is, but I had to have one. I then decided to get the cheapest yet best value Mac there is - the iBook. This way I could experience OS X and have a portable at the same time. I even set up a deal with a small church to record their live worships every Sunday if they would pay for the iBook. I probably should have gotten a 12" PB for this, because the 4200rpm drive in the iBook couldn't handle the 1.5 hour garageband recordings ("Disk too slow" errors occured). I then downloaded Audacity and now record at 22kHz instead of 44.1kHz. It's working fine so far. Hopefully in a few months when college starts I'll be able to keep the iBook. If not, I'll probably buy a DP 1.8 G5 and another 12".

To sum it all up, I'm really excited that I've moved away from the PC. Hopefully one day I'll get a more powerful machine because I'm still used to XP's responsiveness (even on an AthlonXP 1800+).

Thanks for sharing this experience. That was in the spirit of this thread.

barryjaylevine · Nov 12, 2004, 07:30 PM

I received a used dual-1.25GHz G4 (about 18 months old) that came with AppleCare. Shortly thereafter the unit started experiencing three kernel panics per day. A call to AppleCare connected me with an individual whose sole purpose in life (it seemed) was to help me "get back in business". I had an iBook during this time that was able to be used for my business data so I was extremely patient while four different AppleCare product specialists attempted to rectify the situation.

As it turned out, it took about a month of phone calls and the resulting visits by a techie to resolve the problem. After four motherboards, two sets of CPUs, and a RAM module, it was decided that the situation was hopeless; Apple swapped the now-useless unit for a brand new dual-1.8GHz G5.

Am I happy? You bet. Had I not had AppleCare I'd have a G4 boat anchor.

Barry

henryblackman · Nov 12, 2004, 07:37 PM

I too have experienced exceptional support from the AppleCare guys, in fact, it was just a regular warrenty repair.

My iBook decided that the speakers wouldn't work. I called, explained, within 10 minutes the lovely Irish lady had arranged a courier to arrive at my office, with a box, wait for me to put my iBook inside, tape it up and send it away. 3 days later (within the same week) I had my iBook back - all working just fine. I'm in the UK, so AppleCare might work differently here, but I just got the impression that nothing was a problem to them, all they had were solutions.

From this experience alone I recommend Apple over any other manufacturer, ignoring any feelings of greatness I get from using OS X. I simply can't praise them enough.

scottiB · Nov 12, 2004, 07:58 PM

My original graphite base station purchased in May 2000 failed. Since its serial number fell within the replacement range of a power capacitor recall, Apple replaced it for free. The replacement failed with the same symptoms in February 2002. I thought I was out of luck but called Apple as a lark.

When I discussed the situation with Apple, they noticed I had purchased AppleCare on a G4 Dual 800 in December 2001--obviously not nearly close in time to my original Airport base station purchase. Apple agreed to replace my replacement ABS, much to my surprise.

Sure, there're times when Apple FUBARS, but, on the whole, I think they really try to remedy a situation--and the most recent Consumer Reports adds credence to that.

power142 · Nov 12, 2004, 10:30 PM

My last repair was on a G4 DP which was quickly diagnosed (under 24hrs) and fixed (3 days) through the Genius Bar in my local Apple Store, after multiple trips to my (nearer) Apple Authorized repairer failed to fix the problem. Apple/AppleCare not only fixed it faster, but they also refunded the charges that the repair agent had charged me.

UnixMac · Nov 12, 2004, 11:34 PM

I am typing this on my mom's (I bought it for her) new iMacG5 which while only costing some $1500 has the AppleCare because, if anything it's another two years of warranty on an all new hardware design (that just so happens to pack a lot of components into a small space).

My only gripe with AppleCare today, vs 5 years ago when I first called them the more and more frequent use of the India call center. Nothing against Indian's as some of the greatest computer engineers and scientists are from India. However, my experience with them so far has shown them to be not much better, if at all, than the one's I get for my sisters IBM in Ireland. Basically, I know Apple uses Canada call centers and maybe other countries, but if you're going to outsource labor, please make sure it's a quality product.

That said, if there were no telephone support, AppleCare is still a great deal. Like CompUSA's TAP..

milhouse · Nov 13, 2004, 11:07 AM

Hey everyone,

I had some issues with the display on my PB 800 Ti a few months ago.
I called applecare and they had a pre-paid box to me the next day. Long story short I had the laptop back, with a new LCD in 4 days. It was repaired and shipped back to me the same day!

When I checked the repair out I noticed a chip in the lower case that wasn't present prior to the repair. I once again called applecare and they sent out a pre-paid shipping box the next day.

Fast forward... I had the laptop back to me the same week, with a new top case.

My two year old Ti looks like new and the display is flawless, nary a dead pixel.

I was quite happy with the way that Apple took care of these issues and would recommend applecare to anyone.

cheers

andydg · Nov 13, 2004, 11:07 AM

I switched to Apple just over a year ago, and have been extremely happy ever since. I bought a G4 tower then and continue to use it. A few months ago the sound began to decline. The volume would no longer respond and the sound coming from the speakers was severely muted. Even the headphone jack on the front of the tower would not respond. I called Apple care and they suggested, after the trouble shooting procedures, to take it to a local Apple care tech station. Upon calling them I found that they would need at least 4 to 7 days for the repairs, due to back log. Being that my computer still functioned normally otherwise, and I can't go a day without email and forums, I called Apple again to request a tech to come out to my house for the repair. No problem, we will have someone call you to set up an appointment within 24 hours. Two days later the logic board was replaced in less than 30 minutes, as I watched. I should add that the tech took all the necessary precautions to ensure that everything was done carefully and properly. Using a grounding wrist strap, etc. Unfortunately the new logic board proved to be bad also, immediate kernal panics when all the ram slots were filled. I called Apple care again and had them set up another appointment. Two days later a new logic board again. Since then it has been working flawlessly. I've since upgraded my wifes computer to a mac, with Apple care of course.

darcybaston · Nov 13, 2004, 01:21 PM

I sent my iBook off to get 3 things fixed: ink disappeared from keys, crack in the bottom left corner of the bottom part, and poor battery life. Apple replaced the keyboard, but didn't touch anything else. They deemed the crack was abuse and the battery life of 1 hour acceptable. The Mac reseller took it upon themselves to replace the battery with a new one.

So 2/3 isn't so bad. The dealer really went out of their way and made a permanent customer. I'll just crazy glue the crack or something.

Feathers · 09:47 AM

I had the iBook LVDS cable problem. Rang Apple on Monday, the laptop was collected on Tuesday and arrived back on Thursday of the same week which was stunningly impressive!

Unfortunately, logic board failed the following Sunday... called on Monday, collected Tuesday and back (again) on Thursday. This time case was badly scratched and I mean BAD! It should be explained that Apple were using a company called ADT to do their repairs and they were (honestly) as angry as I was. Laptop speedily sent and returned again!

Final time, the lower shell of my crystal white iBook had been replaced with the part from an opaque iBook (G4) so it was two different whites. I didn't particularly mind but I rang Apple to let them know. They minded more than I did!!! iBook went back again and for some reason everything was replaced except HD and optical drive, or maybe they were transferred to a new iBook but the serial number remained the same! Bottom line, I ended up with basically a new iBook (that had been eleven months old)! At all stages Apple were very concerned about my situation and I do believe were genuinely pissed off about the sub-contractor who was basically responsible for all the problems.

This was the first time I had ever had an RTB hardware problem with any Apple product in more than fifteen years of Apple usage and I was well impressed with the way they dealt with things. (As noted by another post, my problems were also dealt with through Apple in Ireland).

msuper69 · Nov 13, 2004, 09:11 PM

Originally posted by scottiB:
My original graphite base station purchased in May 2000 failed. Since its serial number fell within the replacement range of a power capacitor recall, Apple replaced it for free.
...

Same thing happed to me. What I found amazing was that I called Apple in the afternoon and I received the replacement by 10:00am the following morning. Wow!

UnixMac · Nov 14, 2004, 12:42 AM

Walked into an Apple store today (Burlingame, CA) and went over to the Genius Bar and complained to the guy that my G5 will not boot into the CD's it shipped with since I got my Nv6800... and he listened to my reasons that I believed it was not working, and then basically said... I'll be back.

5 minutes later, he came out with a newly Burned DVD of OS X 10.3.5 bootable with Nv40 drivers on board... now I can REPAIR MY DISK!! Finally!

Try getting this kind of service at you local (now out of business) Gateway store!

MilkmanDan · Nov 14, 2004, 03:55 AM

My roomie just had his 867 12in Powerbook replaced with a brand new 1.33 ghz Powerbook thanks to Apple Care. He had sent it in twice, and keep having the same HD/ CD drive issues. Lucky devil.

villalobos · Nov 15, 2004, 06:24 PM

Originally posted by MilkmanDan:
My roomie just had his 867 12in Powerbook replaced with a brand new 1.33 ghz Powerbook thanks to Apple Care. He had sent it in twice, and keep having the same HD/ CD drive issues. Lucky devil.

Lucky you. After 3 motherboards replacement I still have my iBook. It recently decided that it would not show the picture on its screen anymore. Since Apple wanted upward of $300 to replace the $50 cable, I decided to do it myself. Found out in the meantime that numerous screws were missing (never replaced by Apple techs) and 2 of them were nearly stripped making it very difficult to take them off... Not really impressed with AppleCare I gotta say. I am just wishing now that the motherboard goes again, since 4 times seems to be the magic number for the replacement.

waffffffle · Nov 15, 2004, 10:31 PM

Originally posted by scottiB:
My original graphite base station purchased in May 2000 failed. Since its serial number fell within the replacement range of a power capacitor recall, Apple replaced it for free. The replacement failed with the same symptoms in February 2002. I thought I was out of luck but called Apple as a lark.

I have 2 old base stations. I bought my first in December 2000 and acquired an older one the following May. A year later the older one that I got died and was replaced by Apple for free through that program. My newer (although older to me) base station just died this summer due to the same capacitor problem. I think I'm going to replace them myself. The thing lasted almost 4 years so I can't really complain.