Apple Center Frustrations
Well, I have my computer back. Sorta. Remember, I had dropped it off Monday to have it checked for the logic board defect that Apple is fixing for free. I took it to Apple Centre Broadway (since I’m still pissed at the one in the city for the headphone-fixing debacle). When I went in, I was like: “My display has been buggered for ages. I brought it to you guys last year and you told me I needed a new $2000 monitor. Since it’s out of warranty, I declined and I’ve been using an external monitor ever since. But now Apple are including my machine in this logic board repair program, and since my computer’s symptoms match the ones they list, I wondered if that might be the ultimate cause of the problem.” He was like, “Uh… okay.” I handed it over and waited. On Friday a technician called me at work to let me know that my machine needed a “new LCD panel”, and this would run me around $600. “What?” I asked. “What about the logic board? Did you check that?” Him: “Uh… logic board? What? Uh, no. It’s not that.” Me: “Well, how come you guys quoted me a totally different repair and price for the same problem last year?” No answer. Me: “Fine. Don’t do anything to it. I only wanted the free repair. I’ll pick it up tomorrow.” Idiot.
So yesterday the Snook and I headed over to pick it up. I brought it home, plugged it in, and started relishing the OSX prettiness. Then I fired up my browser and started working through my bookmarks. I also fired up Limewire to look for a song that had been stuck in my head. Suddenly my machine was running slow as a dog. The hard drive was churning and it was taking minutes to change between applications. “Snookums,” I said, “my machine’s acting funny. It’s really slow and the hard drive is making lots of noise.” He looked puzzled. “Hmm. Sounds like you’re low on RAM. You should check it,” he joked. “Sometimes service places steal it.” We shared a laugh as I fired up System Profiler. The laugh died as I noticed that only have the 128MB of built-in RAM… and the extra 256MB I bought and installed myself is missing. Son of a bitch. I immediately called the Apple Center and ranted at some poor little sales boy. He took down all my details but couldn’t do anything about it… as the service guys don’t work on the weekend. He’s like, “Well, the guy who did your computer is new, but he’s really good, and I’m hoping he just has it lying on his desk or something…” So I’ve got to go all weekend with a computer that can only handle one application open at a time. I think it’s time for another sternly-worded e-mail to Apple Customer Relations. I have no problem with the company, but I’ve been having a hell of a time with their affiliate retailers this year.
Update: The RAM was actually in the computer all along… He just forgot to “reseat” it. Uh-huh. Well, it should be back to normal now anyway.
psorr
June 27, 2004 — 12:17 pm
!! Losers!! Inexcusable, even if it was an ‘honest mistake.’ I only had 128MB for the first few months of Powerbook ownership, so I can relate to the ‘spinning beachball of death’ frustration.
patrick
June 27, 2004 — 1:20 pm
That’s ridikkulus. I have to send mine in for the dreaded “white spot” problem common to PowerBooks, and I’m hoping nothing like that happens. Of course, I also hope I get mine back, but that might be stretching it.
kristen
June 27, 2004 — 3:38 pm
holy crap! that’s appauling. i don’t care WHAT excuse they come up with, that’s totally awful.
Claire
June 27, 2004 — 5:48 pm
Yeah, my experience with Apple Centers in Melbourne has also been really disappointing. The people I’ve dealt with have been unorganised, incompetent and generally pretty unhelpful (not to mention sneaky when it comes to warranties, etc). I’m not sure whether this is just an Australian Apple thing, but it’s astounding how shoddy an organisation they are, behind all the slick advertising aimed at higher-end consumers. It’s all very false. I love my Mac, but God help me if anything ever goes wrong with it.
Kris
June 27, 2004 — 7:30 pm
Yeah. The problem as far as I can tell is that the Australia resellers are much less controlled by Apple themselves than in the US (and we don’t have any of the stores Apple runs themselves). So you get a lot of independent guys who sell and repair Apples, but aren’t necessarily up to scratch with the customer service. It sucks. To their credit, I did get an e-mail response last time from an Apple CSR saying that while they don’t control the stores, they’re definitely interested in making sure their consumers get a good experience.
Kris
June 28, 2004 — 12:28 am
Good grief. Listen to me! I sound like a battered girlfriend making excuses for her abusive lover. Apple have screwed me over! I shouldn’t defend that! I have issues.