Wait of 10 weeks or more to replace DOA set

[Cerano]

Hi guys

recently i received my 1.6ghz, 4gb ram 11.6" MBA...
sadly it had a medium sized chip that could be felt on the aluminium on the right side.

I had waited for over a month to get this set as it was a CTO set and was extremely disappointed

So i called the reseller upon opening the set immediately and they told me they would look into it after pushing me to apple's authorised service centre and apple care which pushed me back to the reseller.

Incredible as it sounds, the reseller even once said that the damage was cosmetic and that apple doesnt cover cosmetic damage. For a DOA set wow.

They just shrugged it off and told me to wait. So the next week they told me that they would do a replacement but I would have to wait 10 weeks or more
and that i would have to send in my set immediately.
i told them that i needed my MBA since its my only laptop but they refused to listen

they told me to send it in by that day or else they wouldnt be able to replace it for me.
I asked them to let me keep the set till the new one came but they refused.

Between this I also made multiple calls to Apple but Apple told me that they could not do anything.

Then i spoke to the premium reseller's higherups and it was only after much bargaining that they agreed to loan me a previous generation MacBook air.

When i sent it the set and they passed me the loaner, it was incredibly slow (1.6ghz, 2gb ram, 4200rpm HDD), the hinge could barely hold itself up and creaked with every open and would sometimes drop itself.

Not to mention much much bigger and heavier...

I was quite surprised to hear from Apple's Customer Relations that they could not do anything to even censure or monitor their own "premium resellers" and that these resellers could in fact take as long as they please to replace a set.

As a customer who waited over a month to get a set and then to find that its DOA and having been told to wait over 10 weeks to 3 months without a loaner or replacement initially, i think its quite ridiculous. What do you guys think?

if you're wondering why didnt i purchase it directly from apple it is because there isnt a single Apple store in my country and there are only resellers.

 

[TheRealDamager]

What is a DOA set? To me that means dead on arrival.

 

[hcho3]

Resellers have their own policy. Apple doesn't control them. Calling apple was pointless. Why didn't u try to buy from apple website? Don't they have apple website in ur country? Don't blame apple because they cannot do anything.

 

[DarwinOSX]

Apple supports their products as long as they are sold by an authorized reseller so part of your story isn't adding up. Who is the reseller? Do you have an Apple store you can go to?

 

[SR71]

Yeah, who exactly is the reseller?

 

[Cerano]

Apple supports their products as long as they are sold by an authorized reseller so part of your story isn't adding up. Who is the reseller? Do you have an Apple store you can go to?

Nope i mentioned in my post that there isnt any Apple Store in my entire country

http://www.infiniteasia.com/sg/

This is the reseller

Thats what I thought so too given that this is not just a store selling apple products, its an Apple Authorised/Premium Reseller.

It sells only Apple products under Apple's good name and reputation and do you think Apple should step in if its ruining their reputation and service quality standards? I do think so

What is a DOA set? To me that means dead on arrival.

Defective on Arrival

Resellers have their own policy. Apple doesn't control them. Calling apple was pointless. Why didn't u try to buy from apple website? Don't they have apple website in ur country? Don't blame apple because they cannot do anything.

I am not blaming Apple. I am just wondering as to why on earth is this permitted by Apple under their certification programme? How rigorous is this certification programme? What makes a reseller?

So it is legal if they put the customer on wait for 3 months? This is certainly a loophole in the system.

I would have purchased it from an Apple Store if they had one here but not the online store. This was because I wanted an actual feel of the laptop and a sense of security buying in real life. Little did I know I would be beset by such problems

 

[ceiph]

you wanted the feel of buying in real life but u bought CTO so really its the same as if u went to apple.... that said your reseller is on http://www.apple.com/sg/reseller/apr/list.php list so your applecare should be legit so that isnt the issue however it sounds like in the end they are taking care of the situation abit slow but all you can do is give them a negative review so that others dont shop there and goto apple.com im just not sure how you would do this. in the US id be talking to the BBB about this not a message board.

 

[Cerano]

you wanted the feel of buying in real life but u bought CTO so really its the same as if u went to apple.... that said your reseller is on http://www.apple.com/sg/reseller/apr/list.php list so your applecare should be legit so that isnt the issue however it sounds like in the end they are taking care of the situation abit slow but all you can do is give them a negative review so that others dont shop there and goto apple.com im just not sure how you would do this. in the US id be talking to the BBB about this not a message board.

yup thats right. in fact at the start they even cited cosmetic damage wasnt covered by Applecare and they refused to replace it.
Then they started pushing me around everywhere.
I had no choice but to call Apple but even they told me they couldnt do anything.

Im posting this here to see what you guys think if this is reasonable at all?

this brings about the question, what even makes an apple premium reseller? Doesnt apple have any reign over "misbehaving" resellers spoiling Apple customer's experiences
If they dont doesnt it cause their system of employing customer satisfaction metrics in Apple stores to backfire?

Is there anyway I can escalate this given that this is a work tool?

 

[deadlystriker]

I feel for you. BTW who is the reseller?

 

[Cerano]

I feel for you. BTW who is the reseller?

reseller is above bro

infinite. they have shops within Best Denki Stores and their own shop around too

 

[TheRealDamager]

How big is this chip? Can you put up a pic?

 

[TPadden]

Defective on Arrival

Definitely a communication problem; a chip in the case is cosmetic and DOA means "DEAD ON ARRIVAL" to every retailer I've purchased electronics from.

I had trouble understanding why you wanted to keep a "DOA" computer until it was replaced .....

 

[Cerano]

How big is this chip? Can you put up a pic?

i'd love to put up a pic but i already sent the set to them though ):

its quite apparent as in you can feel it. its along the right edge of the laptop '
just above the ports its along the "sharp" line

 

[TheRealDamager]

Gotcha - if it is on the edge, that would be annoying.

 

[Cerano]

Gotcha - if it is on the edge, that would be annoying.

yea and after waiting over a month just to get that set... they tell me that i gotta wait 2-3 months or more now again

what do you guys think i should do

 

[vanwel]

I am not blaming Apple. I am just wondering as to why on earth is this permitted by Apple under their certification programme? How rigorous is this certification programme? What makes a reseller?

So it is legal if they put the customer on wait for 3 months? This is certainly a loophole in the system.

I would have purchased it from an Apple Store if they had one here but not the online store. This was because I wanted an actual feel of the laptop and a sense of security buying in real life. Little did I know I would be beset by such problems

Isn't there an apple store in 313 mall above somerset mrt?

 

[Cerano]

Isn't there an apple store in 313 mall above somerset mrt?

that one is Epicentre i thought. Apple Premium Reseller
There's no Apple store in Singapore

 

[gnasher729]

yup thats right. in fact at the start they even cited cosmetic damage wasnt covered by Applecare and they refused to replace it.
Then they started pushing me around everywhere.
I had no choice but to call Apple but even they told me they couldnt do anything.

1. It would be good if you stated clearly at the very beginning _where_ this happened. People reading this are all over the world. They can't guess where you are.

2. Yes, AppleCare doesn't cover cosmetic damage. MacBooks don't develop scratches all on their own, so a scratch that suddenly appeared _after_ you bought it would be your fault. However, that is completely irrelevant here. If you bought a MacBook, then you bought a MacBook without scratches and you have the right to get one without scratches.

3. I don't know the laws of Singapore. In Britain, it would be the seller's responsibility to get you a MacBook without any defects. (They would likely get their cost reimbursed by Apple if it was Apple's fault, but that is not your problem). If they tried to not replace it, you would first talk to their store manager, then you would call the Trading Standards office and the store would be in trouble for breaking the law. If you didn't know what to do, you would go to your local Citizens Advice bureau and they would tell you exactly what to do. I would assume that the situation in Singapore is quite similar.

4. If what you say is correct, then I would believe that they are indeed breaking the law. You'll have to find out what to do in Singapore when someone breaks the law to your disadvantage. I can only say that if it had happened in Britain, I would have walked into the store with a scratched MacBook, and I would have walked out of the door with a brand new one, and anything else would have been trouble for the store.

 

[Cerano]

1. It would be good if you stated clearly at the very beginning _where_ this happened. People reading this are all over the world. They can't guess where you are.

2. Yes, AppleCare doesn't cover cosmetic damage. MacBooks don't develop scratches all on their own, so a scratch that suddenly appeared _after_ you bought it would be your fault. However, that is completely irrelevant here. If you bought a MacBook, then you bought a MacBook without scratches and you have the right to get one without scratches.

3. I don't know the laws of Singapore. In Britain, it would be the seller's responsibility to get you a MacBook without any defects. (They would likely get their cost reimbursed by Apple if it was Apple's fault, but that is not your problem). If they tried to not replace it, you would first talk to their store manager, then you would call the Trading Standards office and the store would be in trouble for breaking the law. If you didn't know what to do, you would go to your local Citizens Advice bureau and they would tell you exactly what to do. I would assume that the situation in Singapore is quite similar.

4. If what you say is correct, then I would believe that they are indeed breaking the law. You'll have to find out what to do in Singapore when someone breaks the law to your disadvantage. I can only say that if it had happened in Britain, I would have walked into the store with a scratched MacBook, and I would have walked out of the door with a brand new one, and anything else would have been trouble for the store.

On point 1, actually I had no intention of dissing the reseller at all thats why i left out the country and the reseller's name initally. I only wanted to see if anyone had any idea of a suitable recourse.

On point 2, exactly thats why I told the salesperson that its ridiculous when its not customer caused at all.

On point 2, yes after much haggling I managed to get them to agree to order me a replacement however, I was initially quoted a timeframe of 3 months then revised to 4-6 weeks then finally revised again to 10 weeks or more

On point 3 Well there is a fair trade act but as you can tell, they're not explicitly breaking any laws because they agreed to replace.

Basically what they told me at first was

"Look, we'll get you a replacement but you have to wait 10 weeks or more"
"but I need a laptop for my business and this is my only laptop... I would like to keep this one till the new one comes in"
"Sorry sir... cant be done"

This goes on for days until the salesperson texts me

"If you dont send in your set by today, we will not be able to replace it"

So their Chief Operating Officer calls me and agrees to loan me a previous generation MBA. During the call I asked to loan an 11.6" base model display set but I quote his words verbatim "No certainly not"

He even emphasised that it is out of pure "good will" that they are replacing it for me and that they are loaning me a set.

The loaner they lent me creaks at the hinge and it can barely hold itself up and is slow (lots of CPU throttling due to the heat, 1.6ghz 9400m 2gb ram 4200rpm hdd)
Not to mention heavy and pretty big

So thats the situation im facing right now. And Apple customer relation officers cant seem to help at all.

What appalls me is not so much the customer service or lack thereof but rather the waiting time of 10 weeks. 10 weeks is 2.5 months and that is after waiting over a month for the set. So in total I will have waited nearly 3.5 months or more just to get a functional, working MacBook Air in good condition.

And Apple has no say over this. Now that's appalling