Apple Customer Care
Recently I tried to send Apple Computer an iBook G4 that developed the dreaded white splotches on the screen (areas on the screen that appear whiter and brighter than the rest). The iBook still had a year of extended warranty coverage, so I decided to take it down to my local Apple store
at the International Plaza mall in Tampa, FL.
One of the highly over confident tech guys tolled me that the problem was a common one (what happened to Apple quality?), and that the warranty should definitely cover it - NOT!
A week later I get a call from Apple telling me the problem was pressure related and not covered under the warranty. The iBook is in excellent condition cosmetically and well taken care of. The problem is obviously a design flaw and not a result of user misuse or abuse. Suffice it to say, Apple wanted to charge me $750 for a new display. Screw that, so I told them to send it back with no repairs. I just hope it doesn't get damaged during shipping.
Now after this depressing and enlightening ordeal, I thought about never buying an Apple product again, then I realized it's really the only game in town if your a graphic designer. Linux and Windows are not viable options, but I would switch in a heart beat if Windows didn't have such security and virus problems; and Linux had a decent GUI, was more user friendly and could run Photoshop natively without emulation software. The biggest advantage the Mac had over other platforms was user friendliness, but with the birth of OS X, that's pretty much over. It's still not as troublesome as Windows, but it appears Windows is getting better and the Mac OS is getting worse. The Mac OS has just become another GUI shell over a command line driven operating system. Now don't get me wrong there are some things I really like about OS X; protected memory and true multitasking, but it could be so much better - I'll leave that for another rant.
Apple is not the company they used to be where they cared more about innovation and customer support and less about the bottom dollar. Does a technology company really have to sacrifice quality and customer care to be profitable. Look at Microsoft; they put out mostly crap, but they're one of the richest companies in the world.
at the International Plaza mall in Tampa, FL.
One of the highly over confident tech guys tolled me that the problem was a common one (what happened to Apple quality?), and that the warranty should definitely cover it - NOT!
A week later I get a call from Apple telling me the problem was pressure related and not covered under the warranty. The iBook is in excellent condition cosmetically and well taken care of. The problem is obviously a design flaw and not a result of user misuse or abuse. Suffice it to say, Apple wanted to charge me $750 for a new display. Screw that, so I told them to send it back with no repairs. I just hope it doesn't get damaged during shipping.
Now after this depressing and enlightening ordeal, I thought about never buying an Apple product again, then I realized it's really the only game in town if your a graphic designer. Linux and Windows are not viable options, but I would switch in a heart beat if Windows didn't have such security and virus problems; and Linux had a decent GUI, was more user friendly and could run Photoshop natively without emulation software. The biggest advantage the Mac had over other platforms was user friendliness, but with the birth of OS X, that's pretty much over. It's still not as troublesome as Windows, but it appears Windows is getting better and the Mac OS is getting worse. The Mac OS has just become another GUI shell over a command line driven operating system. Now don't get me wrong there are some things I really like about OS X; protected memory and true multitasking, but it could be so much better - I'll leave that for another rant.
Apple is not the company they used to be where they cared more about innovation and customer support and less about the bottom dollar. Does a technology company really have to sacrifice quality and customer care to be profitable. Look at Microsoft; they put out mostly crap, but they're one of the richest companies in the world.
posted by Cool Stuff Zone at 3:45 PM
1 Comments:
I empathize with you on this one - my room mate recently had her screen crack on her laptop during our move. She had gotten a insurance for the lt which covered her brecking it as well. Well it turns out that the SCREEN was not covered - its not apart of a laptop. What bullshit. She paid 350$ for that insurance and she couldnt even use it!
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