This is a rant. Sorry.
I received my 15" C2D MBP (purchased online) on Oct. 31, which may have been an omen.
Loaded up scads of dev software on it, used it for about a week on various critical school & work projects, and then started having the system lock up. Called tech support, they suggested various disk repair steps that didn't work, so they made me an appointment at the Mac Store.
Monday 11/13: take MBP to mac store. We verify the problem, but genius bar guy says it isn't the hard drive. They will run tests overnight and call me when they find out.
Tuesday 11/14: I call store around noon, am told tests are still running and they will call me when ready. I call again at 8:45pm just before store closes and they say it is a bad hard drive, and parts are on order, and it will be "2-5 days for the parts and then a day for the hard drive swap."
Thursday 11/16: I call store around 6pm to check up. Am told that parts are are order. I ask for ETA. Another store employee gets on phone, says that the 160gig hard disk is endlessly delayed since the machine is so new, suggests I do a return through online apple store. She asks me how long I have had it. I say I am not sure. She puts me on hold, then comes back and tells me the machine is past 14-day return period. I have since looked up dates and tell her that I received it on 10/31 and returned it to store on 11/13 so that's 14 days. Another hold and then the manager gets on the phone. He says they will return it, they will email me a shipping label. Later that evening the first store employee calls me back and says all I need to do is print the shipping label, come down to the store, get the MBP and a box, and take it to the Fedex shipping store and Apple will ship my new machine as soon as they receive the old machine.
Friday 11/17: I drive to the store with shipping label in hand, am told that I need to return the entire retail box, not just the MBP. So I drive back home, get the original box and all accessories, and take it to Fedex and drop it off. Later that evening I look at the tracking and realize my MPB is going GROUND to California, so who knows when it will get there!!! WTF???
Tuesday 11/21: Fedex tracker shows the machine is still in transit -- no record other than it was received at warehouse on 11/17.
I have a few issues with this process.
I guess I just need to be patient. But, I had grown accustomed to the warranty service provided by e.g. Gateway, in which a defective computer is shipped back on Monday, is fixed on Tuesday, and returned to my hands on Wednesday. And that was the default "business cheap" support plan!
I received my 15" C2D MBP (purchased online) on Oct. 31, which may have been an omen.
Loaded up scads of dev software on it, used it for about a week on various critical school & work projects, and then started having the system lock up. Called tech support, they suggested various disk repair steps that didn't work, so they made me an appointment at the Mac Store.
Monday 11/13: take MBP to mac store. We verify the problem, but genius bar guy says it isn't the hard drive. They will run tests overnight and call me when they find out.
Tuesday 11/14: I call store around noon, am told tests are still running and they will call me when ready. I call again at 8:45pm just before store closes and they say it is a bad hard drive, and parts are on order, and it will be "2-5 days for the parts and then a day for the hard drive swap."
Thursday 11/16: I call store around 6pm to check up. Am told that parts are are order. I ask for ETA. Another store employee gets on phone, says that the 160gig hard disk is endlessly delayed since the machine is so new, suggests I do a return through online apple store. She asks me how long I have had it. I say I am not sure. She puts me on hold, then comes back and tells me the machine is past 14-day return period. I have since looked up dates and tell her that I received it on 10/31 and returned it to store on 11/13 so that's 14 days. Another hold and then the manager gets on the phone. He says they will return it, they will email me a shipping label. Later that evening the first store employee calls me back and says all I need to do is print the shipping label, come down to the store, get the MBP and a box, and take it to the Fedex shipping store and Apple will ship my new machine as soon as they receive the old machine.
Friday 11/17: I drive to the store with shipping label in hand, am told that I need to return the entire retail box, not just the MBP. So I drive back home, get the original box and all accessories, and take it to Fedex and drop it off. Later that evening I look at the tracking and realize my MPB is going GROUND to California, so who knows when it will get there!!! WTF???
Tuesday 11/21: Fedex tracker shows the machine is still in transit -- no record other than it was received at warehouse on 11/17.
I have a few issues with this process.
- A defective MBP!!!
- Evasive behavior by Apple Store employees, failing to call me back with status as promised
- No seeming urgency on the part of any employee of Apple whom I have dealt with, to try to get me a new machine as quickly as possible
- Why do they make me drive down to the $#%#! store and ship it myself?
- Why ground return shipping? Had I known I would have spent my own $45 and sent it back overnite myself!
- Why, when Apple Store had my defective MBP, do they need to wait until the old machine is received before they can ship replacement?
I guess I just need to be patient. But, I had grown accustomed to the warranty service provided by e.g. Gateway, in which a defective computer is shipped back on Monday, is fixed on Tuesday, and returned to my hands on Wednesday. And that was the default "business cheap" support plan!
