I want to share with you my months of frustation with Apple and AppleCare. For months, now, I have had intermittant issues that spanned many parts of my system. Mail, iPhoto, memory allocation, slowness in the entire system. I have jumped through every hoop AppleCare required of me, including spending $100 I didn’t have to increase the amount of memory. (BTW, this wasn’t the problem, and I was never reimbursed for this.) I have had the following problems with Mail alone: Some emails not showing HTML format (only on this computer, not any other), some emails giving error messages when being deleted, some emails deleting by themselves, some emails not sending. I have missed opportunities because of my emails not going. This is the area of issues that have impacted me most, along with the extreme slowness of the system.
I have wiped and re-installed the system 4 times, now, and sent it in for repair twice. The problem always comes back. It was suggested that my Norton Antivirus was the issue, and at the suggestion of a Senior Advisor, I installed Avast instead. Issues occurred on completely wiped and re-installed operating system with nothing else installed.
My case was escalated up, and a member of the “executive” team called. However, this person offered me more troubleshooting help with a Specialist. {Of course, the last Senior Advisor I spoke to said that I would only have to do one more thing, which I did, and they would end up replacing my computer.} I told him that I have spent HOURS and HOURS troubleshooting over the last few months. The total of these hours would probably end up to be close to full-time work for a week or two. He accused me of not wanting to troubleshoot. Ummm… Did he not read the notes?????
He had a Specialist call me yesterday, and we spent another hour on the phone. He called me back today and said that we would have to wipe it again (4th time). I wiped it, following his directions which were the same as what we had done before. What’s funny is that this Specialist kept having me try to erase the ENTIRE hard drive, but it wouldn’t unmount. He gave some excuse and had me erase it the same way as the Senior Advisor had me do it. I figured out later that the reason it wouldn’t unmount is because we were actually using the disk… How come he didn’t know this?
Anyway, the Specialist insisted on troubleshooting with my husband while I was not at home. He had said that this would all be resolved today. Ummm… No, it wasn’t. My computer is now set up with a user name that will not be compatible with my backup. Neither was it tested in a way that would produce errors. After the email addresses were brought in, he had my husband send and receive 2 messages and called it good. Ummm… No, the problems occur with actual work being done. He helped my husband install iWork. Then, he called it good. Ummm… Again, no work was actually done. Is a computer just supposed to sit empty and look pretty?
What I think is happening is that they want to try to prove that something strictly software (other than Apple) is causing the problems. They don’t want the system tested well before adding things. They want to do minimal testing to minimize the chance of seeing issues until they get other things added. It was another 4-5 hours of working on this today between my husband and me. I actually sent them data from the system after the previous wipe when issues were happening. They should have all the information they need. They are not going to get the problems to replicate themselves with 2 emails sent…
I understand that some people make fake things to get replacements. Yes, the Specialist mentioned that some people do that. However, I AM NOT the type of person who would do that. I have fought with these issues for months and would rather have had a working system. I have been working on a lower level PC for the last 2 months. A PC that was never intended for the work that I do. BTW, I didn’t mention that the “executive” person told me that I should have had a similar system for a backup. Huh??? I can’t afford TWO MacBooks!!! I am a normal person who has been wronged by Apple.
I just wanted to share my experience with you. I know that I will likely never purchase an Apple product again. I have worked with several people over this time, and I have been given so much conflicting information! Anyone have a good suggestion for an iPhone replacement?
Customer service is my passion! I could never treat any customer the way I have been treated by Apple.
BTW, I am a fair person, and if Apple does come back and right this situation, I will share that with you, too.
Grrr!!! So frustrating. I bought an HP in the spring and I’ve had a bunch of little issues with it, but I haven’t actually called and complained yet. I should – but I just try to learn to adapt. What a martyr!
Anyway, this is SO frustrating. The only Apple product I have is an iPad (which I won). I think their prices are VERY inflated and I can’t really afford their stuff. Hopefully they will make this right for you.
I am so sorry your going through this, I hope they do the right thing and offer you a replacement.
I’m sorry you’re dealing with this and will pray they will replace your MacBook. What makes this even worse is that they’re ruining your livelihood.
About the iPhone: I have a DROID RAZR I really like, although I would have gotten the Maxx if it was in my budget for the mega-battery. As it is, I found a great app that helps save my battery. 🙂
It seems like a horrible way to do business. I’m actually shocked to here such a big name company being so evasive about simply replacing a product. It’s does more damage for their company and name than simply replacing the product. If you were just out to scam them, I would think you would have given up by now. They really need to up their customer service, and realize word of mouth spreads like wild fire… I hope they rectify the situation with you and you get your replacement. Good Luck.
I can’t imagine the frustration! You were far more patient than I would have been. I hope everything works out for you.
I have a macbook pro that was in a series that had a bad part (not Apple’s fault, it was a bad batch from nvidia). I had to take it to the Genius Bar a few times until we could get it to replicate the problem and give them the code they needed to see (that pointed to the part) so they could replace it. It never cost me anything to do any of this. Sorry, that was a really long way to ask if you’ve gone in to the Genius Bar?
We have HTC phones and LOVE them. I have the Evo 3D and hubby has the HTC Evo 4g LTE.
I don’t live close enough to a Genius Bar. I wish I did, but going to a Genius Bar is not an option. They sent me a tool to capture codes, but I don’t always know when it is going to occur. If I just start it running and let it run in the background until something happens, the file will be too large to send.
Oh, bummer! Would they accept a compressed file? There is a free program that we use to compress files called Handbrake.
Awe.. What a shame, I am so sorry to hear about this… I hope things get worked out!