Apple Customer Service

[Tim <timmagee@hotmail.com>]

Anyone considering purchasing an Apple computer of any kind should hear
about my experience. I decided early this summer that I wanted to
switch to a Mac. I wanted to spend more time producing digital
multimedia and audio and I felt a Mac best suited my needs. I planned
to take a class at NYU starting at the end of Sept. and wanted to get a
couple of months of use with the Mac before starting class. After
monitoring the newsgroups closely for some time and reading the
headlines of the Mac World expo, I decided that the Power Mac G4 for
the best model to suit my needs. Plus they had just introduced a sweet
new dual processor line for the same price as the single version that
was being discontinued(except for the 400 mhz model which is still a
single.)

I ordered my Dual 450 G4 on  July 28, 2000 from the online Apple Store.
I also ordered the new studio display which the Apple store told me
would delay my order for 21 days. During that time, I bought Mac Home
magazine, logged on to Apple.com everyday to monitor the news section,
and read and posted to the various Mac user groups on
applestore.com/support. I felt prepared to handle and understand any
quirks the new machine had as I read about other customer�s
experiences.

But nothing could help the situation I was faced with when I finally
received my machine on Monday August 21. I picked up my computer at 7:12
(I checked the Fed-Ex record) and took it home to set up. I took the
machine out of the box. I marveled at its appearance for a few minutes
and then I sat down to see what the new machine had to offer. Mac
barely includes any software with its computers so I opened up the only
thing I had, iMovie, the desktop movie editing software. I opened
iMovie and the computer crashed. Ok. No big deal. I restarted opened
iMovie and�Crash! Ok third times a charm. Crash! Apple�s tech support
had closed for the evening by this time so I went to bed with the
comforting feeling of having spent $3000 for a glorified desk fan.

The next day, after work, I tried one last time to run iMovie. No luck
again so I call tech support. I spend about 1.5-2 hours on the phone
with tech support. The tech support was convinced it was a software
problem so we did everything under the sun to try and correct it. We
did a Software Restore, a Software Install, and re-installed iMovie
twice. It still would not work. As I am going through the CDs for the
install I notice a CD called �Hardware System Test.� I ask the tech guy
about it and he replies, �Oh, that is the one you don�t want to have to
use.�

Well, after being bounced around and disconnected once, I finally get
another tech support guy. He tells me to run the Hardware Test CD. Ok,
what is going through my mind at this point is that I just bought a
brand new computer and I am running a CD that the guy before me said I
really don�t want to use. So I run it and BAM! My brand new �two brains
are better than one� G4(you know the one that Jobs ran the Photoshop
test with at Mac World to show how much faster than Windows it was) had
a defective processor. Tech support tells me that I need to get it
repaired, they give me information about taking it to Comp USA for
service.

This is were the debacle begins. I just took this computer out of the
box and now I am supposed to take it to get repaired? That is the
consensus. Apple Support closes and I get another good night�s sleep
admiring my $3000 oversized paperweight.
I wake up the next morning and call apple support again. My complaint
is just as I mentioned above. I want a replacement, not a repaired
system. I call and speak with sales they transfer me to tech support,
tech support transfers me to sales. And back again, twice!! In the
meantime I review Apple�s return policy. They have a DOA policy that
reads the following:

An Apple-branded hardware product is considered DOA if it shows
symptoms of a hardware failure preventing basic operability, upon its
first use out of the box.

Hardware Failure = a defective processor. Doesn�t it?

�Preventing basic operability� = being able to open applications. Right?

Apparently not! Basic operability, from what tech support told me,
seems to mean that your computer lights up and the monitor turns on.
Now I have a $3000 desk lamp.

How could the processor not be included in the �basic operability� of a
computer that is sold on the strength of its processor? Check every ad
for this machine, everything is about how great the processor is. That
is why people buy a dual processor G4, the processing power.


Apple sends me on to someone else. This woman says to me that she
understands that I am annoyed and that this is unfair, but it is the
policy. How is that for customer service! They know they are annoying
their customers, they know they are treating their customers unfairly,
yet they don�t care. She says that Apple makes millions of computers
and that it is to be expected that some of them are going to
malfunction. My reply to which was �Why don�t I send you this broken
one and you send me one of the millions that work?� She said no. I ask
if there is a manager. No. This is the beauty of an online store.
Instead of dealing with customers face to face where you can see how
upset they are, on the phone all you have to do is hit that transfer
button. Problem solved.

So I call Comp USA just out of curiosity, not really having any
intention of getting a new computer repaired before I even used it.
They tell me I can take it in but it won't get looked at for another
week. No thanks.

So I go home one last time and turn the machine on(so I think) to show
my brother what the problem is. But now the computer won't even turn
on. I get some lights on the machine and the fan turns, but that is it.
I get on the phone with apple and tell them my problem. This seems
finally to be grounds for replacement. But not before an hour of
ridiculous attempts to fix the machine. The one tech support agent
actually told me to disconnect every wire from the computer, even the
power, and wait 30 seconds. He said the computer was going to "reset
itself". Now, I am not a computer technician, but what the hell is the
computer going to do without any power running into it?

Finally apple arranges to have the computer returned. Fed Ex comes on
Aug. 28th to come pick it up. It is sent overnight and apple had it buy
Wednesday at the latest. So I am looking for my new machine around
Friday. Nope! I call apple and they tell me they have my computer but
they have to credit my American Express card, then they start to build
my new computer, then they charge my card again. I expect to have it in
about a week which would make the total time from order to delivery 1.5
months!

I know this is long, and to sum it up I am a recent college grad(NYU
class of 2000!). I am broke and I saved this summer for this computer.
$3000 is the most I have ever spent on anything in my life. It doesn't
work! I have gotten absolutely nothing in the way of customer service
from apple.





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Before you buy.