Customer Service Nightmare

[giraut]

I am at the tail end of an extremely frustrating dispute with Apple. I am not a malcontent or whiner, but I have been astounded at how unreceptive Apple's so-called "Customer Service" has been to my attempts at discussing my problem rationally and finding a mutually satisfactory resolution.

Without going into any real detail, I will say that it involves the sudden and mysterious appearance of "liquid damage" in my Power Mac G5. It absolutely was not me who caused the damage, and the intake "Genius" at the Apple Store where I took it noted "NO LIQUID DAMAGE" on his Work Order. But somehow it appeared and Apple is claiming that this voids my warranty, so I will have to pay for any repairs, which may be more than the cost of a new computer. This machine is just a little more than a year old and has been plagued with problems from the outset, from the USB port and the logic board to the power supply and the boot drive -- all of which have had to be replaced and all of which were covered by my Apple Care. Though not a paranoid person, I am beginning to suspect that if a computer requires more than a certain dollar amount of warranty-covered care, techs are instructed to "find" some liquid damage to void the warranty. I know that sounds crazy, but you may not have spent as much time talking to Apple customer support people as I have lately. They just don't make much sense.

Anyway, my real question here is: What would be the logical magazines to contact to see if they'd be interested in doing a story on Apple Customer Support? I am obviously not going to get any reasonable response from Apple at this point, so I figure, before I abandon the whole fight and start saving my pennies for a new computer, maybe I could get the 4th Estate to shine a little light on the murky doings of this so-called "Customer Support" office at Apple. If you have a specific recommendation of a tech reporter with an actual investigative gene, send the name along.

Thanks a lot.

Paul Spillenger

 

[MartyMoe]

Without going into any real detail, I will say that it involves the sudden and mysterious appearance of "liquid damage" in my Power Mac G5. It absolutely was not me who caused the damage, and the intake "Genius" at the Apple Store where I took it noted "NO LIQUID DAMAGE" on his Work Order. But somehow it appeared and Apple is claiming that this voids my warranty, so I will have to pay for any repairs, which may be more than the cost of a new computer.

Do you mean like somebody spilled something in it, or the coolant leaked? There are some liquid-cooled G5s that can leak-- see towards the middle of the page at http://www.apple.com/support/powermac/care/


"...Some Power Mac G5 models use a liquid cooling system to manage the temperature in the computer. The liquid cooling system is sealed and is designed to be opened only by an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP). Warning: Do not attempt to open or service the liquid cooling system. Opening the liquid cooling system may damage your equipment, and such damage may not be covered by the limited warranty on your computer.
Warning: Always operate your computer in an upright position. In the unlikely event that coolant leaks in or from your computer, disconnect all electrical power to the computer and do not restart it. Contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple for information about servicing your computer."


Or see http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/macosgliquid_cooled_power_mac_g5s_leaking


If it is not a coolant leak, or your model isn't liquid-cooled, then I am sorry to hear about your issue. I just thought I would mention it in case it was.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Anyway, my real question here is: What would be the logical magazines to contact to see if they'd be interested in doing a story on Apple Customer Support?

Have you written to Apple and gotten written responses? or is this all telephone conversation?

You need to do your due diligence, get all of the evidence and papers together and submit it to Apple in writing and document their response(s) in writing.

Absent any evidence you have exercised all of your options with Apple, threatening media exposure is unlikely to do any good.

You are one customer, with one specific problem (which you declined to detail for us). You are not a trend, or indicative of a systemic problem at Apple support. You are angry and have dark suspicions of a conspiracy to defraud customers.

Make your case then. Document it, escalate it (In Writing) with Apple, bring a small claims action if you have to. Contact your local consumer affairs office if you have evidence that Apple has broken any laws in dealing with you. But don't start a crusade, a petition, a magazine expose... we (the public, or the Apple consuming public) just don't care about one guy and his motherboard.

 

[giraut]

Thanks for the replies.

MartyMoe: The Apple Store techs say it was coffee spilled on the inside of the machine. They said nothing about liquid coolant. I haven't seen the computer yet; I've been pursuing my case with the executive offices before coming in to pick up the machine.

CanadaRAM: I have written to Apple twice now. In response to the first letter, I was contacted by phone. The person I spoke with was not very helpful, not very polite, not very interested in resolving the problem. Really just interested in making me go away. He was a bully, and I don't like bullies.

You make a lot of unjustified assumptions. I am not a conspiracy theorist. I have documented every single claim I've made. I have sent copies of these documents to Apple with my letter. I have absolutely done due diligence. The reason I didn't go into detail on my situation was so as not to burden everyone with a lot of specifics. Believe me, if I'd wanted to go into detail beyond what I did in my initial post, I could have.

As for whether my experience is anomalous or pervasive, you don't really know one way or the other, do you? From what I've read, there are many people who feel Apple's Customer Support office has not been responsive to their legitimate complaints. I'm not "threatening" anything. I'm considering whether telling my story might bring to light others who have had similar experiences. If it does, then it might be something Apple might want to address. This is something the media is actually good for -- shining public light on a problem that is allowed to continue because it remains in the dark.

As for whether you care about it or not, I myself couldn't care less. By all means, please care about whatever you like. I have already gotten several helpful replies from other sources -- not crazies, not conspiracy theorists, not whiners. Just individuals like myself who alone can't take on a huge corporation that is perpetrating an injustice. A very expensive injustice.

 

[Wednesday]

Hi Giraut,

Did you read my thread just below yours about Apple UK? I am having similar problems simply trying to get them to send me an adequate answer to my three written complaints.

Admittedly, I don't have serious hardware problems like you (with my Apple equipment anyway ), but the principle is the same: we pay good money for these products and should be entitled to an acceptable level of customer service if things go wrong.

I've been Googling for days attempting to find names of any of the people in the Cork office to write to directly, but I think I may just write to the Cupertino address now to see if that makes a difference. Please post back or PM me if you get anywhere

 

[giraut]

Wednesday, no I haven't red your post, but I will. Thanks for your reply, and good luck. I'll let you know if anything good comes of my efforts.

Hi Giraut,

Did you read my thread just below yours about Apple UK? I am having similar problems simply trying to get them to send me an adequate answer to my three written complaints.

Admittedly, I don't have serious hardware problems like you (with my Apple equipment anyway ), but the principle is the same: we pay good money for these products and should be entitled to an acceptable level of customer service if things go wrong.

I've been Googling for days attempting to find names of any of the people in the Cork office to write to directly, but I think I may just write to the Cupertino address now to see if that makes a difference. Please post back or PM me if you get anywhere