So there was your intrepid reporter deciding to ditch his PC and 'think different'. I bought a white 2GHz Macbook on Monday 17th July. It was great! So great in fat that when it started to turn ORANGE on Saturday of that week I was more than just a little disappointed. The next day I went into my local Apple reseller and they feigned surprise. "I've never heard of this before!" they claim, despite the fact I'd been tripping over dozens of reports of this problem every time I'd fired up Camino. Eventually I managed to persuade him to swap it for a new MacBook.
Problem solved? Not quite.
On Friday 29th, only four days after I'd taken my second MacBook home, it starts turning that all too familiar orangy-pink. I took the machine into Scotsys the next day and was told that they'd try and source a new palmrest from Apple, that they'd call me on Monday (or possibly Tuesday morning), and that I could take the machine home with me. On Wednesday I called them, and was told that they couldn't do anything without leaving the machine with them. Helpful.
Yesterday the trackpad button itself started coming loose.
This evening I decided to make my first call to Apple support. After spending ten minutes trying to explain where the 'stain' was ("NO! Not ON the trackpad!") to the French tech support, ten more minutes listening to him repeat the details to me in excrutiating detail, and five minutes on hold, he said I should send the machine to them for repair.
Now maybe I'm setting my expectations too high, but I really don't want a repair. Three weeks ago I spent £1000 on a new computer, and I expect it to work. I don't expect it to change colour. I don't expect bits to start falling off of it. I certainly don't expect this to happen TWICE. I asked to speak to Customer Relations.
After another ten minutes on my mobile phone (no, they won't call you back) with another French person whose English was mercifully a little better than that of her colleague it was suggested that I take it back and buy a black one. "But that's £150 more!" I said. I was reassured that it also had extra capacity. GREAT! SOLD!
Hmm, NO. I asked if Apple would provide a guarantee on any repairs they did, so I'd be safe in the knowledge that any replacement palmrest wouldn't have the same problems. They couldn't do this, apparently. The upshot of this epic and horrifyingly expensive phone call is that if I don't want to have this second defective machine repaired I have to take it back to my local Apple shop for a refund. As far as I know the machines there are all from affected batches, so there's no point in another swap.
And so here sits yours truly, thinking different. I'm thinking of going back to my nice and reliable Toshiba, spending my thousand refunded pounds on gin, then getting drunk as hell and starting fires. Or just demanding I have my machine swapped for a BlackBook for free, even though I prefer white.
Is this what Apple is all about? Is this the kind of customer experience any company would want posted on a public forum? I very much doubt it, althought they're not doing a great deal to sort it out.
Problem solved? Not quite.
On Friday 29th, only four days after I'd taken my second MacBook home, it starts turning that all too familiar orangy-pink. I took the machine into Scotsys the next day and was told that they'd try and source a new palmrest from Apple, that they'd call me on Monday (or possibly Tuesday morning), and that I could take the machine home with me. On Wednesday I called them, and was told that they couldn't do anything without leaving the machine with them. Helpful.
Yesterday the trackpad button itself started coming loose.
This evening I decided to make my first call to Apple support. After spending ten minutes trying to explain where the 'stain' was ("NO! Not ON the trackpad!") to the French tech support, ten more minutes listening to him repeat the details to me in excrutiating detail, and five minutes on hold, he said I should send the machine to them for repair.
Now maybe I'm setting my expectations too high, but I really don't want a repair. Three weeks ago I spent £1000 on a new computer, and I expect it to work. I don't expect it to change colour. I don't expect bits to start falling off of it. I certainly don't expect this to happen TWICE. I asked to speak to Customer Relations.
After another ten minutes on my mobile phone (no, they won't call you back) with another French person whose English was mercifully a little better than that of her colleague it was suggested that I take it back and buy a black one. "But that's £150 more!" I said. I was reassured that it also had extra capacity. GREAT! SOLD!
Hmm, NO. I asked if Apple would provide a guarantee on any repairs they did, so I'd be safe in the knowledge that any replacement palmrest wouldn't have the same problems. They couldn't do this, apparently. The upshot of this epic and horrifyingly expensive phone call is that if I don't want to have this second defective machine repaired I have to take it back to my local Apple shop for a refund. As far as I know the machines there are all from affected batches, so there's no point in another swap.
And so here sits yours truly, thinking different. I'm thinking of going back to my nice and reliable Toshiba, spending my thousand refunded pounds on gin, then getting drunk as hell and starting fires. Or just demanding I have my machine swapped for a BlackBook for free, even though I prefer white.
Is this what Apple is all about? Is this the kind of customer experience any company would want posted on a public forum? I very much doubt it, althought they're not doing a great deal to sort it out.
