Why is it so hard to get Apple stores to do a decent job fixing their computers? Twice I have taken computers there to be fixed, and twice I have horror stories to tell about the experience and the results. I will never again take an Apple product to my local Apple store for repairs.
At this point, I own and regularly operate several Apple computers. Two laptops, a mac mini and a powemac g5 are all working happily at my beck and call. Once in a while, however something inevitably goes wrong and needs to be fixed. Never again, will I use an Apple store for this process.
My most recent experienced related to my newest mac, a MacBook Pro 17" unit. It's a great computer with a solid processor, 4GB of ram and high resolution glossy display. It's work flawlessly since I received it in July of last year.
Recently, however, while attempting to wake it from sleep mode, the screen remained black. This has happened before so I preceded to power the unit down and restart it. This time it remained black. It was clearly running... just no display.
So, quickly I called AppleCare. After walking me through several of the standard tests and memory reset procedures, they presented me with two choices. Send the machine to Texas or bring it to a local Apple store. I live about 20 minutes from one, so I decided to give them one last try.
I arrived 30 minutes later for my Genius appointment. After explaining the problem to the technician he went into the back room and came out a few minutes later to inform me that my machine was going to have to spend some time there as they "ordered a part."
Wrong item #1 - I was immediately informed that my machine was not covered under AppleCare and I was luck 'cause I brought it in before July... so it was covered under the normal 1 year warranty.
Faced with walking out with no machine or having them get started right away, I decided to let them have the machine. I was told that I'd have my machine back in 3-5 business days.
Upon day 5 and receiving no update, I called the store to find out what's going on. The back room tech did speak rather tersely and quickly, but informed me that they had no ETA on the part that was ordered, which was a new screen. They hoped it would be in a couple of days, as they did receive confirmation that a shipment of 15" displays were due the next day and the 17" displays usually came in shortly after that.
The following day, I received a phone call stating that my machine was fixed and in testing with its new logic board. Hmm.... that didn't sound like a new display. Further investigation on my part, revealed that I didn't have a problem with my screen, rather a logic board issue. Wrong item #2... incorrect diagnosis of problem.
Incidentally, when I picked up my machine I asked the person to look it up to ensure that it was covered under AppleCare. The look she gave me when I recounted the story was priceless. She confirmed that my machine is covered through July of 2010.
So that evening... while working with my computer, the light dimmed and my keyboard usually lights up to compensate. No longer does the cool, backlight work on the keyboard. So, once again, I have to get my machine to Apple.
As this issue was caused by the repair done at the store, I decided to let the store redeem themselves. So, another trip to the store the next day. And, you guessed it, they needed to order another part. This time, since I had a working machine, I opted to take my machine and await the phone call.
The next day, I did receive that call. The day after that, I had my machine back with a working keyboard... mostly. In fact, now I have a keyboard that does not feel as good as the original and has a finicky "a" key. I don't feel I should have to bang on the keyboard to get letters when all of the years I've been using Apple laptops, this has never been the case.
With my recent luck, I've decided to let this issue sleep for a bit as I just don't want to deal with that store any longer.
So, I figure I lost my machine for the better part of two weeks due to the improperly diagnosed problem, which I don't feel would have happened had I sent the machine to Texas to be fixed. Indeed, I sent another machine to Texas for repairs, and things were done faster and more professionally that way, than my recent experience with the store. From now on, I'll be choosing that option.
Why is it so hard to get Apple stores to do a decent job fixing their computers? Twice I have taken computers there to be fixed, and twice I have horror stories to tell about the experience and the results. I will never again take an Apple product to my local Apple store for repairs.
