This is a precautionary tip to iMac purchasers, I think this was an auto service included with a the purchase of an iMac in Central America. The retailer or Apple never informed me of this hidden "feature". Buyer beware.
This is in the form of a story which follows
My recent purchase of an iMac was an event that I enjoyed. The high tech box it came in gave me the emotional rush that only a kid gets when he views his first bicycle under the Christmas tree. Fond memories like this are rare for a 72 year old post depression baby. The iMac installed itself on my newly acquired high speed connection and I was off and running. Everything went well until I opened an account with Apple, registered and gave up my personal info and placed an order for iWork . A few weeks later Apple ,without my permission, opened a mobilMe account for ME and charged my credit card with some sort of geeky* service. Essentially it was one of those if you do not notice this we will stick you for a hundred bucks kinda thing, Ethically comparable to the type of tricky mortgages used by institutions that helped to* bring down the world economy.
Promptly I went on line and entered the apple support pages which is like an endless maze that often doubles back on itself. The site is appears to be a tricky device used to avoid your talking to someone at Apple with a heartbeat. How many support geeks are there at Apple? I would guess that there is the minimum and allows Apple to break records in the cost effective arena. Essentially I think it was cleverly designed for a do it yourself geeky customer who does not have much to do and an infinity of patience. After attempting to find my phantom account for an hour I dug deeply into the bowels of Apples support site and found a* 1-800 number. A young man answered and informed me that I did not have a charge or an account that he could find. He also informed me that it was probably pushing or some such thing, that had informed me of this unknown phantom account and charge of mine. He suggested that I ignore it for this reason and that Apple folks just like me get a lot of those letters.*I took his advice but added at the end If I am charged by Apple for this service will you guarantee a refund? He replied Of course you will get a refund sir. The next time I* went on line and there was a charge on my bank account. The Phantom had found me and zapped me for over a hundred bucks. Again I returned to the Apples support site, logged in, and again went to Mobile MeMe and could find no evidence of a charge or an account. Since I never opened or charged anything to this phantom account it was not a surprise.
The choice was to dispute the charge from the Phantom, a process that shuts down your bank account for at least two weeks and requires a new card, etc , etc. I decided to go back to Apple and take a hard line. This is unpleasant and has the effect of forcing an innocent* victim to pay homage to the monarch or behead the first person who answers the phone at the so called Apple support 1-800 number. I chose the latter. The person who answered stood behind the well thought out barricade and said she could do nothing about the charge and suggested that I return to the Mobile MeMe site to cancel the account. I replied that she should find someone who could take care of this.
She continued her defense of the barricades until I informed her that I would like to either speak to someone or get a permanent divorce from Apple until death do us part. Finally a supervisor answered and after 20 minutes, made a refund, hopefully she closed my mobile whatever account and I wished her a nice day.
What Apple should consider is the following questions, How can you bundle a hidden auto account with a sneaky auto charge and sleep well at night? Why is your support system so complicated and looped that you often end up where you started without a viable solution? Why do you avoid contact with a customer who has proven that there is a problem after numerous telephone calls and visits to your support system sites? Does such a high tech company not communicate well within their own organization? Why are you passing out my private information without first informing me? I have experienced all the above. It is to be hoped this arrogant behavior will cease in the future but I will never have complete confidence in Apple. In my opinion you have a pathetic support systems, it is not designed for solving customers problems but for Apples bottom line. You have ruined my enjoyment of your product and my Christmas past. If it were not so costly I would take a hammer to my iMac.
This is in the form of a story which follows
My recent purchase of an iMac was an event that I enjoyed. The high tech box it came in gave me the emotional rush that only a kid gets when he views his first bicycle under the Christmas tree. Fond memories like this are rare for a 72 year old post depression baby. The iMac installed itself on my newly acquired high speed connection and I was off and running. Everything went well until I opened an account with Apple, registered and gave up my personal info and placed an order for iWork . A few weeks later Apple ,without my permission, opened a mobilMe account for ME and charged my credit card with some sort of geeky* service. Essentially it was one of those if you do not notice this we will stick you for a hundred bucks kinda thing, Ethically comparable to the type of tricky mortgages used by institutions that helped to* bring down the world economy.
Promptly I went on line and entered the apple support pages which is like an endless maze that often doubles back on itself. The site is appears to be a tricky device used to avoid your talking to someone at Apple with a heartbeat. How many support geeks are there at Apple? I would guess that there is the minimum and allows Apple to break records in the cost effective arena. Essentially I think it was cleverly designed for a do it yourself geeky customer who does not have much to do and an infinity of patience. After attempting to find my phantom account for an hour I dug deeply into the bowels of Apples support site and found a* 1-800 number. A young man answered and informed me that I did not have a charge or an account that he could find. He also informed me that it was probably pushing or some such thing, that had informed me of this unknown phantom account and charge of mine. He suggested that I ignore it for this reason and that Apple folks just like me get a lot of those letters.*I took his advice but added at the end If I am charged by Apple for this service will you guarantee a refund? He replied Of course you will get a refund sir. The next time I* went on line and there was a charge on my bank account. The Phantom had found me and zapped me for over a hundred bucks. Again I returned to the Apples support site, logged in, and again went to Mobile MeMe and could find no evidence of a charge or an account. Since I never opened or charged anything to this phantom account it was not a surprise.
The choice was to dispute the charge from the Phantom, a process that shuts down your bank account for at least two weeks and requires a new card, etc , etc. I decided to go back to Apple and take a hard line. This is unpleasant and has the effect of forcing an innocent* victim to pay homage to the monarch or behead the first person who answers the phone at the so called Apple support 1-800 number. I chose the latter. The person who answered stood behind the well thought out barricade and said she could do nothing about the charge and suggested that I return to the Mobile MeMe site to cancel the account. I replied that she should find someone who could take care of this.
She continued her defense of the barricades until I informed her that I would like to either speak to someone or get a permanent divorce from Apple until death do us part. Finally a supervisor answered and after 20 minutes, made a refund, hopefully she closed my mobile whatever account and I wished her a nice day.
What Apple should consider is the following questions, How can you bundle a hidden auto account with a sneaky auto charge and sleep well at night? Why is your support system so complicated and looped that you often end up where you started without a viable solution? Why do you avoid contact with a customer who has proven that there is a problem after numerous telephone calls and visits to your support system sites? Does such a high tech company not communicate well within their own organization? Why are you passing out my private information without first informing me? I have experienced all the above. It is to be hoped this arrogant behavior will cease in the future but I will never have complete confidence in Apple. In my opinion you have a pathetic support systems, it is not designed for solving customers problems but for Apples bottom line. You have ruined my enjoyment of your product and my Christmas past. If it were not so costly I would take a hammer to my iMac.
