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braeburn22

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 26, 2009
22
0
Queensland Australia
I've had my new iMac 24" 2.93GHz less than 48hrs and I found a dead / stuck pixel. I think this is unacceptable when spending AU$3000 on a computer. The online store I bought it from will not accept a return and refund, they simply palmed me off to Apple. Apple keeps reciting their pixel policy, of which there is no policy on their website, just some vague couple of paragraphs on LCD abnormalities. Also, why do Apple treat people who buy directly from them better than people who buy through a reseller?
 
Well, after reading threads and stories from different people with dead, or stuck, pixels, it seems to be at the discretion of the (Apple) person you're dealing with. Some Apple owners have had their computers replaced with one dead pixel.
 
Also, why do Apple treat people who buy directly from them better than people who buy through a reseller?

I'm buying directly from Apple and they won't ship my iMac to me till 7 weeks from the order date and it will be 8 weeks when I get it. You think that's good treatment. At least you have your iMac.

And one dead pixel on a 1920x1200 24 inch screen is nothing to complain about. I have one dead pixel on my 24 inch monitor now and I challenge anyone to find it without running a test pattern.
 
Sorry to hear that your computer is taking so long Delta, is it something to do with having it custom built?

I do think its an issue with having a dead pixel. When I sell this computer down the track, I think it is highly unlikely that I would get the same price for it than if it had no dead pixels.
 
You got the 4850, you have no right to complain unless people start having their 4850s ship before yours.

No right to complain, the ****ing card has been out since June last year, if anyone ordered a Dell and was waiting on ****ing 9 month old video card everyone would be ****ing pissed off, but because it's Apple everythings cool, "you have no right to complain". I HAVE NEVER HAD TO WAIT ON ANY COMPUTER MORE THAN ONE WEEK AND THIS GREAT COMPANY THAT CAN DO NO WRONG CALLED APPLE CAN MAKE ME WAIT 8 WEEKS, THAT IS THE BIGGEST LOAD OF ******** I'VE COME ACROSS SINCE I'VE BEEN USING COMPUTERS!
 
No right to complain, the ****ing card has been out since June last year, if anyone ordered a Dell and was waiting on ****ing 9 month old video card everyone would be ****ing pissed off, but because it's Apple everythings cool, "you have no right to complain". I HAVE NEVER HAD TO WAIT ON ANY COMPUTER MORE THAN ONE WEEK AND THIS GREAT COMPANY THAT CAN DO NO WRONG CALLED APPLE CAN MAKE ME WAIT 8 WEEKS, THAT IS THE BIGGEST LOAD OF ******** I'VE COME ACROSS SINCE I'VE BEEN USING COMPUTERS!

You shouldn't have ordered it if shipping time was all that mattered to you. It isn't that hard to actually look over your order before placing it.

Don't post any further in this thread. Your inane ramblings have nothing to do with the topic. If you want to scream at me further, do it in a PM so that I can report it.
 
You shouldn't have ordered it if shipping time was all that mattered to you. It isn't that hard to actually look over your order before placing it.

Don't post any further in this thread. Your inane ramblings have nothing to do with the topic. If you want to scream at me further, do it in a PM so that I can report it.

Insane, your the insane one if you think what Apples doing is OK. I don't know about whatever country or state you live in but around here what Apples doing is actually illegal as you can't make a consumer wait more than 6 weeks for a item. Now shut up before you get me angrier.

Sorry Breaburn this Tallest Skil guy always upsets me.
 
He said inane, not insane. ;)

In what way is it illegal? I can't imagine it's illegal if they tell you at the point of order that the wait is 6-8 weeks.
 
He said inane, not insane. ;)

In what way is it illegal? I can't imagine it's illegal if they tell you at the point of order that the wait is 6-8 weeks.

Consumer law in my state is that you can't have a customer wait more than 6 weeks for a product. I don't know why that's the law here but it is, so 8 weeks is more than the law allows. I found this out a couple of years ago when I orderd a new motherboard, I placed my order then the shop said it would be 10 week. A call to consumer affairs made them get the motherboard to me the following day.

Also when I put my order through Apple quoted 4-6 weeks (must have been to avoid any legal trouble), not 6-8 weeks. Maybe if I call consumer affairs again they can help, I just want my new computer, not all this anger it's giving me.
 
Okay, hold on a minute. To me, it sounds like (assuming there's some truth in your interpretation of the law) they can't make you wait more than 6 weeks after you've ordered it if they haven't made you aware prior. Apple have made you aware prior.

The reason you were quoted 4-6 weeks is because you are ordering a few weeks after the release, so naturally the wait time has decreased from 6-8 weeks!
 
You asked for it...

It was 1997, I think - I bought 2 Dell laptops (lattitudes? It's been a while) for my mother and me.

They arrived and checked them both out. One was perfect, I gave that to Mom. The other had a few stuck pixels - 3 or 4, not together but spread out. I called Dell, and they said it was within their tolerances.

I asked if there was anything they could do and was told "no - but you can always use the 30-day return guarantee." So I did just that - Returned the unit, Get a refund, re-order.

Long story short - I did this 4 times and still had 3-4 stuck pixels on each. I spent much of my free time on the phone with Dell trying to get someone to actually look at the unit during their "testing stage" but to no avail.

Finally, I managed to get ahold of a VP along the way - I said "Look, I really need someone to check these before they ship. Both of our time is wasted dealing with this, and now you have 4 brand new laptops that you have no choice but to resell refurbished. You are losing money due to the fact that you don't have someone look at these before they get to me.

Three days later a new one shows up at my door - I check it out and it is perfect! The best part about it is they didn't require me to send the old one back first and go through the whole refund-reorder process. I promptly sent the 4th one back and never had another problem with Dell.

Sorry, I knew you were looking for Apple stories but I couldn't resist. And to this day I STILL wonder if that VP went down to the line and actually checked the screen before they sent it to me - Or if the 5th time I just got lucky....

China

PS - I may be a mac person now, but every Dell I ever owned was retired due to technology upgrades and if I plugged each of them in now, they would still work.
 
Insane, your the insane one if you think what Apples doing is OK. I don't know about whatever country or state you live in but around here what Apples doing is actually illegal as you can't make a consumer wait more than 6 weeks for a item. Now shut up before you get me angrier.

Sorry Breaburn this Tallest Skil guy always upsets me.

Would you have preferred if apple just didn't mention the 4850 until it came out? So that in a month when they are ready to ship, you can come to forums to rage about how apple is so unfair for not announcing that it would have a build available?

Think of it this way, apple let you know "Hey, next month we'll have a build of this machine with an ATi card. But even though its gonna be a month, if you'd like to order now, by all means go for it." If you couldn't figure that out, then I don't know what to tell you.

To the original poster, sorry for the derail. You're best to try to find different people to talk to every time, since you'll likely find different answers every time. If you're talking to people at the store, try calling apple directly. If calling, try a store (if you have one anywhere nearby).
 
Okay, hold on a minute. To me, it sounds like (assuming there's some truth in your interpretation of the law) they can't make you wait more than 6 weeks after you've ordered it if they haven't made you aware prior. Apple have made you aware prior.

The reason you were quoted 4-6 weeks is because you are ordering a few weeks after the release, so naturally the wait time has decreased from 6-8 weeks!

No, I ordered it on the 3rd of March when the new iMac's where released and they said 4-6. I was wondering what was up with that, so before I ordered I called the nearest Apple store, they said that when that happens Apple is giving a worst case scenario and I should get it in about 2 or 3 weeks. So I clicked on order, next thing I get a recite with the 23 of April on it. They had already charged my credit card so I was stuck with this stupid long and very aggravating wait.
 
I can't see the problem. At the point of ordering you were told there is a 4-6 week wait for that spec. It's now been just 3 weeks.
 
You got the 4850, you have no right to complain unless people start having their 4850s ship before yours.

Agree.....

No right to complain, the ****ing card has been out since June last year, if anyone ordered a Dell and was waiting on ****ing 9 month old video card everyone would be ****ing pissed off, but because it's Apple everythings cool, "you have no right to complain". I HAVE NEVER HAD TO WAIT ON ANY COMPUTER MORE THAN ONE WEEK AND THIS GREAT COMPANY THAT CAN DO NO WRONG CALLED APPLE CAN MAKE ME WAIT 8 WEEKS, THAT IS THE BIGGEST LOAD OF ******** I'VE COME ACROSS SINCE I'VE BEEN USING COMPUTERS!

There is obviously another reason for the delay.... Do you think for a minute Apple would not want to get these machines out as quickly as possible and collect the revenue? Of course not..... If you are so displeased order without the 4850.
 
You shouldn't have ordered it if shipping time was all that mattered to you. It isn't that hard to actually look over your order before placing it.

Don't post any further in this thread. Your inane ramblings have nothing to do with the topic. If you want to scream at me further, do it in a PM so that I can report it.

lol... I love how this guy posts as though he's everyones father. Man, you're starting fights with your comments and you know it. Everytime I read one of your posts, you're either talking down to someone or treating others with little to no respect at all.

Anyways, I had a stuck pixel on my old iMac, tried all the remedies, nothing seemed to do the trick.
 
Well if anyone has bought their Mac machine at an apple store they should have told the salesman to open up the box and set the computer up and check for screen problems, sound problems, stuck or dead pixels. That is what I did when I bought my iMac at the Jax. Fl apple store. I checked it out along with the salesman and everything was just fine. He wrapped it back up and I took it home. Of course when you buy online you can't do that.
Now about dead or stuck pixels, I once read a few years ago that you would be surprised how many lcd screens that just throw out at the factory because of defective screens, and dead or stuck pixels. That was the reason the cost of lcd screens was so expensive back then, because maybe there was one good screen out of a dozen or more and the rest of the defected ones was thrown out.
 
Well, I think the first thing to do is to determine if your pixel is dead or stuck.

A dead pixel, well, that's that. But a stuck pixel may be fixed by yourself if you're willing to put up with a series of seizure-inducing flashing screens. Granted, even the flashing screen fix may not work, but some people claim it actually does so at least you can give it a try if Apple won't let you take back the computer.

In regards to pixel policy and taking back the computer, I really think that depends on the Apple store and/or rep you talk to. I've heard personal accounts in this forum of people not allowed to exchange their computers for 1 dead/permanently stuck pixel, and others who can exchange even if just for a single dead pixel.

I bought the new 2009 iMacs, and after a week of having it, a dead pixel popped up. I had read about the pixel policy, but figured I would give it a try at exchanging it; the worst that can happen is they say no.

I went to the Apple store, told them I bought the iMac there just a week ago, and there was a dead pixel. They asked how many, and I said just one. They apologized to me that I got a bad quality Apple product and no questions asked (and no restocking fee) they gave me a new one. They didn't even check to see if the pixel was even dead. They just slapped a "dead on arrival" tag on the box, took it in back, and gave me a new one.

Now, as you've mentioned you didn't get it directly from Apple, I'm not sure how well that strategy would work. You could try to go to an Apple store and politely explain what happened, and take a chance that they'll be nice and let you bring it in for an exchange? Worst they can say is no.

If you can return it to the original online seller (is there at 14 day no questions asked return policy?) you could get the money back and just re-buy another one?

I hope it works out for you; my local Apple store was super nice, and I hope you can have similar luck!
 
It's definitely hit or miss, depending on who you see in the store. My 6 month old MacBook Pro developed 9 dead pixels together in one spot on the screen and I took it to the store last week. The person I spoke with considered it within tolerance as he regarded it as only 1 defect since all the dead pixels are together. I'm going to take it another apple store and try again, but not sure how much luck I'll have since he made a note of it in my service record.
 
You have 14 days to return it. I found stuck pixel and called to Apple and the lady who I was talking with told me that "Good that you called us, we'll build you a new one and it'll be the first in the line".

It depends who you are talking to, but when you pay over 1000€ for computer, even one stuck/dead pixel is too much.
 
Don't post any further in this thread. Your inane ramblings have nothing to do with the topic. If you want to scream at me further, do it in a PM so that I can report it.

unreal... go start a blog or something and stroke your golden ego there... ya narc.
 
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