As much as I have fallen in love with OS X and the design of Apple hardware, I think I will be switching back to PCs. I wish you all luck, but I have just had too many bad experiences to keep doing business with Apple.
In our home, we have 6 Apple products. An iBook G3 900, an iBook G4, a 17 inch Powerbook G4 1.67, a 23 inch Cinema Display, a photo ipod, and a 40 gig ipod. Of these products, the iBook G3 has had to have the logic board replaced, the 40 gig iPod is being sent off for repairs right now (total failure), and my Powerbook will have to be serviced because it doesnt function correctly when hooked up to an external display. All three of the laptops have the wake from sleep issue that I have discussed here before. So that's 50% of the products needing service.
That alone was not enough to turn me away, as I can accept that these items break down from time to time and maybe I was having bad luck. When my iBook had to have its logic board replaced, I went through London Drugs for repairs (as I ordered it through them) and they were very polite and fixed the problem in their own facilities in about a month.
When I purchased my powerbook, I did so through the online store. I purchased the cinema display at the same time, and purchased an Apple Care protection plan for both.
My first problem directly with Apple was when they sent me my developer package, which they left outside my front door (I live right beside a busy street in a major city). Granted, this was the fault of the shipping company. Apple did not offer any apology when I mentioned this to them, they just informed me that they would not accept any fault for it, although DHL did apologize. No big deal.
Then I tried to enroll my Apple Care. I was unable to do so online, and was told to call to clear it up. When I called, I spoke to someone who was generally polite, but he said he could not enroll me because my postal code was invalid. I had to actually direct him to the Canadapost.ca website to prove that it was indeed my postal code (despite the fact that they delivered the computer to that address). He then said I would have to call back in a month so that they could clear this problem up. Ok, not a big deal he was a nice guy and Apple had just made a mistake.
So now I called back to try again. This time I was on hold for 45 minutes before being connected to someone who was immediately rude with me. I wasnt immediately upset by either of these things as obviously they were very busy, and she had probably had a bad night. I explained to her that I had been having trouble enrolling my Applecare. She asked for my serial numbers, and then accused me of trying to enroll a display that was not purchased with the computer. I thought this was strange since I purchased the computer from them with the monitor, and had my order email, order number, and web order number to prove it. None of this was enough to prove that I was being honest though, and I was instructed that I would have to print off the order email from Apple and fax it in. I dont have access to a fax machine, and so I asked why they could not just determine this from their records, or if I could just send the email to someone. She then became almost furious with me, and just kept saying that I would have to fax it in so they could consider my application. I dont really see this as being fair, as I purchased the items from them, and when I purchased the apple care, I didnt realize it would be treated as an application, I thought it was a sure thing.
Well, by the end of the call she was being very condescending and rude. I may be paranoid, but I could hear her frantically typing near the end of the call and I cant help but think she was labeling me as a difficult customer, even though I was just trying to understand why I would have to fax them their own information to prove I wasnt lying to them, and I didn't once raise my voice or say anything rude.
I love apple products, and was just about to purchase a powermac to replace my desktop, but now I dont think that would be wise for me. I doubt Microsoft would be a pleasant company to deal with either, but at least I would have the choice to deal with others. I used to deal with IBM and found them to be excellent.
Anyway, Im sad now because I have advocated Apple so heavily for the last two years since I got my iBook, but it seems now that it really was all too good to be true.
In our home, we have 6 Apple products. An iBook G3 900, an iBook G4, a 17 inch Powerbook G4 1.67, a 23 inch Cinema Display, a photo ipod, and a 40 gig ipod. Of these products, the iBook G3 has had to have the logic board replaced, the 40 gig iPod is being sent off for repairs right now (total failure), and my Powerbook will have to be serviced because it doesnt function correctly when hooked up to an external display. All three of the laptops have the wake from sleep issue that I have discussed here before. So that's 50% of the products needing service.
That alone was not enough to turn me away, as I can accept that these items break down from time to time and maybe I was having bad luck. When my iBook had to have its logic board replaced, I went through London Drugs for repairs (as I ordered it through them) and they were very polite and fixed the problem in their own facilities in about a month.
When I purchased my powerbook, I did so through the online store. I purchased the cinema display at the same time, and purchased an Apple Care protection plan for both.
My first problem directly with Apple was when they sent me my developer package, which they left outside my front door (I live right beside a busy street in a major city). Granted, this was the fault of the shipping company. Apple did not offer any apology when I mentioned this to them, they just informed me that they would not accept any fault for it, although DHL did apologize. No big deal.
Then I tried to enroll my Apple Care. I was unable to do so online, and was told to call to clear it up. When I called, I spoke to someone who was generally polite, but he said he could not enroll me because my postal code was invalid. I had to actually direct him to the Canadapost.ca website to prove that it was indeed my postal code (despite the fact that they delivered the computer to that address). He then said I would have to call back in a month so that they could clear this problem up. Ok, not a big deal he was a nice guy and Apple had just made a mistake.
So now I called back to try again. This time I was on hold for 45 minutes before being connected to someone who was immediately rude with me. I wasnt immediately upset by either of these things as obviously they were very busy, and she had probably had a bad night. I explained to her that I had been having trouble enrolling my Applecare. She asked for my serial numbers, and then accused me of trying to enroll a display that was not purchased with the computer. I thought this was strange since I purchased the computer from them with the monitor, and had my order email, order number, and web order number to prove it. None of this was enough to prove that I was being honest though, and I was instructed that I would have to print off the order email from Apple and fax it in. I dont have access to a fax machine, and so I asked why they could not just determine this from their records, or if I could just send the email to someone. She then became almost furious with me, and just kept saying that I would have to fax it in so they could consider my application. I dont really see this as being fair, as I purchased the items from them, and when I purchased the apple care, I didnt realize it would be treated as an application, I thought it was a sure thing.
Well, by the end of the call she was being very condescending and rude. I may be paranoid, but I could hear her frantically typing near the end of the call and I cant help but think she was labeling me as a difficult customer, even though I was just trying to understand why I would have to fax them their own information to prove I wasnt lying to them, and I didn't once raise my voice or say anything rude.
I love apple products, and was just about to purchase a powermac to replace my desktop, but now I dont think that would be wise for me. I doubt Microsoft would be a pleasant company to deal with either, but at least I would have the choice to deal with others. I used to deal with IBM and found them to be excellent.
Anyway, Im sad now because I have advocated Apple so heavily for the last two years since I got my iBook, but it seems now that it really was all too good to be true.
