Apple flat out has the best service on earth

[Anthony8720]

I cant believe what happened to me tonight. I had RSS on my macbook like many others. Apple failed to fix it after three attempts, so they offered me a replacement. The replacment macbook had a broken display inverter (bad buzz), the next one had 3 dead pixels (which they took back no questions asked),and the one that i recieved today had a broken hinge (the display actually rubbed the top case while opening/closing).

I took pictures of the bum hinge, and sent them to an applecare representative. He was in disbelief of how bad my luck was. I said i wanted to just buy a new macbook pro, and pay the difference, because i had no faith left in the macbook line. He said he would call me back in a little bit.

When he called back, i was amazed. He said he had a solution that should make me very happy. He offered to upgrade me to a new C2D macbook pro for free!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. Then, about an hour later, a customer relations person called me to set up the paperwork. He actually apologized and said if he were me he would have demanded his money back a long time ago! Everyone has been so nice and accomodating, i am truly impressed. I will be a customer for life.

 

[TaylorB]

Wow! That is really amazing. That is really cool that you were upgraded to what you wanted. A feature I like is that Apple understands their customers and I think this is a good representation of it. Congratulations on your new C2D MacBook Pro.

 

[UmaThurman]

Wow, very nice! Lucky!!! You're gonna love the new mbp!

 

[fivetoadsloth]

thats awesome. good luck with it.

 

[Jiddick ExRex]

*sniffle* Happy endings always touch me emotionally...

 

[vega07]

lucky!!

but you deserve it, so enjoy.

 

[ero87]

i cant' believe how terrible all of those macbooks were. sounds horrible.

the build quality is disappointing me! c'mon apple!

 

[cyrax83]

i've had the exact opposite experience.

Apple has to have the worst customer service on earth.

my brother bought a macbook pro coreduo. couple of weeks in, developed cpu whine and one of the keys came loose.

Took it to apple center, one week to repair. Got it back, couple of weeks later, key not fixed, cpu whine returned, and lcd flicker.

Returned back to apple store, 1 week later they say its all fixed.

Next week cpu whine returns and the wireless keeps dropping it (yes was in the same room as the wireless router). Took it back to apple center (By this time, the laptop has spent more time in apple center than being used. I was on a first name basis with the service man).

Was pretty pissed off about it and they said that he had a look at it and didnt find nothing wrong. I asked for a brand new unit and they said there was nothing they could do if they didnt think there was anything wrong with it and didnt show any symptoms infront of them.

Rang apple directly and spoke to one of the reps, after telling them the story and finally threatening to go to department of fair trading if the service guys didnt do anything they went limp and gave me a new replacement C2D macbook pro.

Pretty pathetic that I have to threaten them to get any sort of response. Having your laptop in apple care longer than being used shows the amount of problems plagued the pro's. Even having the guys at the service center tell you the laptop is fixed when it clearly isnt is shocking.

 

[advocation]

Congrats on your new MBP! Thats amazingly bad luck with the MB's..

I'd say that their customer service is very helpfull.. During the process of ordering my MBP there have been a few things that havnt gone right, like one thismorning where I received the shipping notification, the carrier name (TNT) and the carrier number, but when i tried to check the number on the TNT site, it was coming up with another order from 2 months ago! I phoned them, and the woman was very helpfull! As were the people I spoke to the other 4 times I have phoned them for various reasons!

 

[emotion]

My mate had a 12" powerbook which failed. He sent it back via the courier to get fixed and the courier promptly lost the machine. After a few apologetic calls from Apple they replaced it with a fully loaded Powerbook 15" for free.

Sometimes Apple service is good!

 

[YS2003]

That's quite a story. I hope I would be also treated like that by Apple if I ended up in the same shoes as you were with never-ending Mac hardware problems. So far, my Macs have been trouble-free to this day.

 

[PDE]

That's quite a story. I hope I would be also treated like that by Apple if I ended up in the same shoes as you were with never-ending Mac hardware problems. So far, my Macs have been trouble-free to this day.

Great that Apple came through for you. However, the problem is that apple quality control is so bad that their service people HAVE to be accommodating or Apple would be out of business. I'd prefer that they put their money into making machines that don't have lots of problems and that the occasional customer service encounter was ok, rather than great. I returned three macbook pros for various issues and I've had several macbooks, all of which had one issue or another and needed to be repaired or replaced. I don't think it's unusual at all...regrettably.

 

[andrewfee]

Lucky you. I was without a computer for four months, and Finally got my 17" Powerbook replaced with a stock 15" 2.33GHz MacBook Pro on Monday.

 

[Random Passerby]

i cant' believe how terrible all of those macbooks were. sounds horrible.

the build quality is disappointing me! c'mon apple!

Geez. I hate reading all these posts about the bad quality control of the macbook line because that's what apple gave me when I finally called up Customer care over my G3 with logic board issues.

It's a much more powerful machine and I love it, but I'm anxious about the possibility of another Apple lemon...

 

[richard4339]

After working in a tech support call center for almost two years (I won't say where), there's one thing I've learned; its all about who you talk to, and the mood they're in. I mean, I hate saying it that way, but its the truth. If you call AppleCare, you never know whats going on. That person may have just been chewed out by his manager, and may be a little less forgiving than if he's had a good day. Some people are more likely to help the customer, some are not. In my call center, when people call in, they'll request to not speak to a specific technician, because they know he's no help. Others will request a technician because they know he or she will be great.

Long story short, I've heard good and bad about AppleCare. I personally have had three experiences with them, one bad, one good, and one neutral. It just all depends on who you get when you call.

 

[makismagoo99]

Customer Satisfaction = warm and fuzzy

I have to say I agree! I bought a MacBook a week and a half ago. Lo and behold, they update to the C2D processor. Go Figure. I check their return policy and it says no returns on customized products (I customized the HD to 100GB). But I thought, hey, it can't hurt to ask. I called AppleCare and asked nicely and they are letting me return it for a new one! I'm totally stoked! More RAM and 120GB HD and 6x DL Superdrive for the same price! I did have to pay the restocking fee, but it just goes to show how much Apple cares (sorry for the pun) about their customers. I'm just hoping the new one runs cooler (and so are the tops of my legs )

 

[deadpixels]

Great that Apple came through for you. However, the problem is that apple quality control is so bad that their service people HAVE to be accommodating or Apple would be out of business. I'd prefer that they put their money into making machines that don't have lots of problems and that the occasional customer service encounter was ok, rather than great. I returned three macbook pros for various issues and I've had several macbooks, all of which had one issue or another and needed to be repaired or replaced. I don't think it's unusual at all...regrettably.

apple build machines like no other company out there, sleek and powerfull with innovative design, tolerances are so tight that somtimes problems occur still there's a lot of people that are happy with their mac, you have to live with that or go buy a plastic dell or else and be happy with it

 

[davede70]

If Apple had the greatest service on earth you wouldn't have had those problems in the first place. They should have stop the problem after the first one or taken care of you earlier in the process.

I am a recent convert to apple and while I LOVE the interface of it. The hardware quality, experiences with tech support, and the release of better version of my purchase 6 months after mine was released all have really bothered me.

I got the run around with my Random Shutdown Issue. Now the button on my trackpad is acting strange, which means another round of repair issues. Then what really drives me nuts is the release of a faster version of my macbook within a year of when I bought mine. What the hell is that? I know you're going to tell me I should have waited but I needed a laptop at the start of the summer.

I just got done helping my dad set up his new dell *shudder* and it cured me of thinking of going back to the nightmare world of PC. But Apple has some issues it needs to work out.

 

[SMM]

i cant' believe how terrible all of those macbooks were. sounds horrible.

the build quality is disappointing me! c'mon apple!

Not true.

 

[SMM]

i've had the exact opposite experience.

Apple has to have the worst customer service on earth.

my brother bought a macbook pro coreduo. couple of weeks in, developed cpu whine and one of the keys came loose.

Took it to apple center, one week to repair. Got it back, couple of weeks later, key not fixed, cpu whine returned, and lcd flicker.

Returned back to apple store, 1 week later they say its all fixed.

Next week cpu whine returns and the wireless keeps dropping it (yes was in the same room as the wireless router). Took it back to apple center (By this time, the laptop has spent more time in apple center than being used. I was on a first name basis with the service man).

Was pretty pissed off about it and they said that he had a look at it and didnt find nothing wrong. I asked for a brand new unit and they said there was nothing they could do if they didnt think there was anything wrong with it and didnt show any symptoms infront of them.

Rang apple directly and spoke to one of the reps, after telling them the story and finally threatening to go to department of fair trading if the service guys didnt do anything they went limp and gave me a new replacement C2D macbook pro.

Pretty pathetic that I have to threaten them to get any sort of response. Having your laptop in apple care longer than being used shows the amount of problems plagued the pro's. Even having the guys at the service center tell you the laptop is fixed when it clearly isnt is shocking.

Sorry, I do not believe you. Looking at your post history, I doubt if you have ever touched at Mac.

 

[iW00t]

Sorry, I do not believe you. Looking at your post history, I doubt if you have ever touched at Mac.

I won't go as far to say that. Different service centres do have different levels of service.

I should know, because in my city Apple has no official presence, which means all sales and support are done through resalers in this area. One of the stores (strangely named Apple resaler of the year!) belong to a chain known as NextByte, and in the few times I set foot in these I always get disinterested "genius" flapping their ass cheeks basically.

Since then I discovered another smaller chain MacMedia, and that's where I go to now when my machines need help. Considering that they never made a dime off me (since I always order off the online store) I'd say their service is really exemplary, those guys really love Macs, and it shows. On another forum it was even said that the NextByte guys run their backend software on Windows servers and the iMacs they use are on the counter are just for the sole purpose of remote desktop in.

 

[emotion]

.....and the release of better version of my purchase 6 months after mine was released all have really bothered me.

Then what really drives me nuts is the release of a faster version of my macbook within a year of when I bought mine. What the hell is that?

You're talking about computers here. They almost double in speed every couple of years.

As soon as you buy a computer it's out of date, that's good, it means your current machine is way more capable than the 12 month old model.