You wont believe this!!!!

[cforand1293]

ok, i had to send my macbook into apple because it would not shut off. I would hit the power button and turn it off, but it would keep running. So i called apple and the had me to this and that. Even had me reset my p-ram. No luck. So I sent it in on Friday, got it back today, but here is were it gets good. I have nothing on my mac. No pics, no music, no files....NOTHING...Is this right? The repair had nothing to do with the hardrive. I will be on the phone first thing with apple trying to get this fixed. The strange thing is it doesnt even feel like my old computer. The SS is the same, but i am very confused. Has this happend to anyone else? i need time machine!!!

 

[ksz]

When I sent in my iPod for repair, they made it very clear that all contents of the hard drive can be erased and that the data *must* be backed up beforehand.

While I have never sent my PowerBook in for repair, I suspect Apple cautions customers to back *everything up* first.

 

[nichos]

Not to sound insulting, but just the /Users directory, maybe they made another user to see if it was profile related? Just a thought. Good luck!

 

[xfiftyfour]

Yeah, it's basically repair 101 knowledge: if you're sending your computer in to Apple, make sure you backup your HD first. Even if the repair seems like it will have nothing to do with the HD, it's still a good thing to do, cause you never know.

But with what was wrong with yours I would have DEFINITELY backed up, since the source of the problem was unknown and they inevitably would need to troubleshoot the HD in the process.

Sorry, but I doubt calling Apple will result in anything. They'll probably tell you that you should have read the inserts they'd included that gave you a sort of "checklist" of what to do before sending the lappy in - which included backing up your data.

 

[cforand1293]

i never saw or heard a single thing about backing up the computer. I understand how things work, but apple should make it sell known that you need to ba. ckup. The give great instructions on how they want it boxed up and all that crap. There was no paper work about backing up, or talk with apple care about backing up...

 

[laidbackliam]

you should always back up data when sending in your hardware.

you could lose it otherwise. pretty well known for the most part, and it does suck that it happened.

 

[cforand1293]

how do you know???? Someone had to tell you....No one told me. Its simple. What I dont understand is all my programs are gone...This that I have to buy to get back...Apple must make this known to customers. So maybe I'm a newbie still does not matter...The should let you know

 

[MovieCutter]

how do you know???? Someone had to tell you....No one told me. Its simple.

It's common sense...

Look on the bright side...you learned something today.

You'll never send in equipment without backing up again now will you?

 

[tweakers_suck]

how do you know???? Someone had to tell you....No one told me.

You've been officially notified. Backup your data on a regular basis.

 

[cforand1293]

No its not common sense. I sell for a living and I can tell you thousands fo things people should know, but dont. This is something that APPLE not a buddy should tell you.

 

[xfiftyfour]

i never saw or heard a single thing about backing up the computer. I understand how things work, but apple should make it sell known that you need to ba. ckup. The give great instructions on how they want it boxed up and all that crap. There was no paper work about backing up, or talk with apple care about backing up...

I just sent in my (ex)MB to Apple and they DEFINITELY included a "checklist" sheet of things to do prior to sending it in. It was the same one that you had to fill out your name/serial/dispatch number on and include in the box. It also included deauthorizing iTunes.

But, most importantly, it clearly said to backup your data.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, and it sucks to have lost all your stuff (BIG time, I know).. but blaming Apple for it doesn't seem fair when I know for a fact they make it well known that you should safeguard yourself against this sort of thing.. you just overlooked the reading material.

 

[sushi]

how do you know???? Someone had to tell you....No one told me. Its simple. What I dont understand is all my programs are gone...This that I have to buy to get back...Apple must make this known to customers. So maybe I'm a newbie still does not matter...The should let you know

It sucks to learn the hard way.

Always backup your data before giving your computer up for repair because you never know what the repair guys will change out to fix the problem.

Speaking of backups, in the future you should backup your data on a routine basis. At least weekly would be my recommendation.

 

[jsw]

While I agree that many people on these forums would know to back up their systems, deauthorize iTMS, etc., I don't think it's common knowledge. I think the average person would assume they'd get their system back, fixed, with no loss of data unless the problem itself involved loss of data.

This is not a realistic expectation, but it's not uncommon.

It'd take Apple less than a penny's worth of material to make the backup requirement clear to all.

But, most importantly, it clearly said to backup your data.

Things must have changed. When I brought my PM in six months ago, such a warning wasn't obvious. It may have been there, but it wasn't obvious.

This is the sort of thing that should be clear and obvious, period. Big bold colored print on a separate piece of paper. It should take effort to miss it.

 

[kered22]

Backing up when you send your system in for service is a given. Even back when I had to take my 6100 in for service (this being back in 1994 or so), I had NO idea the tech was going to replace the hard drive. Thankfully he was kind enough to let me get my Bernoulli drive, hooked it up and did the backup without any extra charge.

 

[TonySwartz]

i never saw or heard a single thing about backing up the computer. I understand how things work, but apple should make it sell known that you need to ba. ckup. The give great instructions on how they want it boxed up and all that crap. There was no paper work about backing up, or talk with apple care about backing up...

Mine came with instructions to back up...

 

[xfiftyfour]

Things must have changed. When I brought my PM in six months ago, such a warning wasn't obvious. It may have been there, but it wasn't obvious.

This is the sort of thing that should be clear and obvious, period. Big bold colored print on a separate piece of paper. It should take effort to miss it.

It wasn't anymore obvious now, but it was there. Before I hand over something as important as my lappy and HD, I'd be sure to read all the instructions they provided; especially as a "newbie" who had never done it before.

Granted, I think Apple could spend the extra couple cents to make it bold/colored/bigger, but I don't think they should be held responsible for something when someone was too lazy/rushed to read the material they were provided.

 

[jsw]

Backing up when you send your system in for service is a given. ... I had NO idea the tech was going to replace the hard drive.

Which means... it's not common knowledge, or at least wasn't then.

I know it, you know it, most people here know it. But I doubt it's actually common knowledge.

I don't think they should be held responsible for something when someone was too lazy/rushed to read the material they were provided.

Obviously, they aren't held responsible. There's no legal recourse or whatever. But I don't think it's reasonable to assume all customers will read everything you put in front of them. Maybe you do. Most people don't, and this is something that's very important to most people and which would be trivially easy for Apple to remedy.

 

[kered22]

Which means... it's not common knowledge, or at least wasn't then.

I know it, you know it, most people here know it. But I doubt it's actually common knowledge.

Yeah, I didn't even give it a thought back then. LOL The word backup wasn't even known to me (this was my very first Mac).

 

[Silentwave]

they made a point of it on the phone with me today. I learned the hard way with windows to backup backup backup.

 

[cforand1293]

you guys are missing the point...except jsw....I had no idea. No idea. No idea. I dont care if you think its a given, its not. Apple needs to make this very blunt, and they dont. My family has had a apple product on the desk back with an apple 2. I have been on computers all my life. I have never heard of backing up before you send it in. Dont you think if I knew I would have done it. Guess what never even crossed my mind. So once again. Apple sent me a bad product. This is not my fault, they should make it WELL known to back up and they dont. This must be fixed....Maybe thats why they are coming out with time machine? to help newbies like me...wait I had a mac before most of you even thought about making the change. sure wish i still had my mac classic...

 

[jsw]

Well, I guess we'll all be better off when Leopard and Time Machine use an external drive to make this all a moot point.

Edit: it was just coincidental that I mentioned Time Machine. But, yeah, I do think it'll help.

 

[Chone]

you guys are missing the point...except jsw....I had no idea. No idea. No idea. I dont care if you think its a given, its not. Apple needs to make this very blunt, and they dont. My family has had a apple product on the desk back with an apple 2. I have been on computers all my life. I have never heard of backing up before you send it in. Dont you think if I knew I would have done it. Guess what never even crossed my mind. So once again. Apple sent me a bad product. This is not my fault, they should make it WELL known to back up and they dont. This must be fixed....Maybe thats why they are coming out with time machine? to help newbies like me...wait I had a mac before most of you even thought about making the change. sure wish i still had my mac classic...

Too bad you are about as knowledgeable on Macs as people who haven't even switched (yet *inserts evil grin here*)

No, seriously, you can't held Apple responsible for your negligence, however Apple should be the extra cool guy and backup your data FOR you, after all Macs are supposed to be easy

Heh sorry I'm talking ****

 

[xfiftyfour]

you guys are missing the point...except jsw....I had no idea. No idea. No idea. I dont care if you think its a given, its not. Apple needs to make this very blunt, and they dont. My family has had a apple product on the desk back with an apple 2. I have been on computers all my life. I have never heard of backing up before you send it in. Dont you think if I knew I would have done it. Guess what never even crossed my mind. So once again. Apple sent me a bad product. This is not my fault, they should make it WELL known to back up and they dont. This must be fixed....Maybe thats why they are coming out with time machine? to help newbies like me...wait I had a mac before most of you even thought about making the change. sure wish i still had my mac classic...

I'm sorry, but there's no way you've been around computers your entire life and are only just NOW discovering the idea of backing up. It's common sense: back up your **** before handing it over to someone else.

At the very least, if it isn't common sense to you to back up your data before sending it in for a repair, then SURELY it's common sense to READ WHAT THEY GIVE YOU.

You were not sent a bad product. Apple is not at fault. They fixed your computer, assumed you followed their directions, and sent it back. End of story.

 

[tweakers_suck]

you guys are missing the point...except jsw....I had no idea. No idea. No idea. I dont care if you think its a given, its not. Apple needs to make this very blunt, and they dont. My family has had a apple product on the desk back with an apple 2. I have been on computers all my life. I have never heard of backing up before you send it in. Dont you think if I knew I would have done it. Guess what never even crossed my mind. So once again. Apple sent me a bad product. This is not my fault, they should make it WELL known to back up and they dont. This must be fixed....Maybe thats why they are coming out with time machine? to help newbies like me...wait I had a mac before most of you even thought about making the change. sure wish i still had my mac classic...

You clearly have been a computer user for a long period of time. Do you mean to say that in all of your years you have never backed up an important file? Not even once? You have never heard of someone losing data and have not backed-up any of the data?

If you have been using computers since the Mac Classic, it seems you would understand how critical it is to perform routine data backup.

Perhaps you do not want to admit your mistake and instead are looking for the easy way out and blame someone else. It sounds like you are lashing out.

 

[cforand1293]

not even close to end of story. I understand backing up.....and i do it....I had the mac for 4 weeks. Ok, apple did fix my problem...BUT they did send a bad product. Thats why the sell refurb products. Because it didnt make it the first time...LISTEN......I just think apple....IN BIG BOLD PRINT....RED LABEL>.....or simply just a paper that ALL it says is be sure to backup your computer....I wonder how many calls a day apple gets about this.....Here is the thing just wait untill I get off the phone with apple then we will have the rest of the story!!!! but that in your pipe and smoke it...