Apple care and stores can suck my toe!

[MaLicE]

seriously!

had issue with my mbp, called apple care first guy says yeh battery problem.

he tells me to run a couple tests and call back if the problem persists.

call back, guy number 2 says that its not a battery issue and is hardware... and that i need to go to an apple store for a genius appt.

so off i go today genius apt booked, turn up 10 mins early get told to sit and wait... my apt was 2:20pm that time rolls past, 2:30 rolls past 2:40 arrives and a genius says "are you ok??" i replied i was waiting for my apt that was 20 mins earlier, found out the genius that was supposed to serv me was on his lunch for some reason... anyway guy comes out...

does tests cant work out exactly whats wrong, he thinks its the battery or the logic board but cant be sure which, so will replace the battery, but.... they dont have one in stock so i have to f**k off back home (this is a 120 mile round trip!) they will call me in a couple days if or when the battery comes in... then they will run more tests... at which point they might have to order another part and replace that at another time... so they expecting me to possibly drive another 240 miles all in to sort this issue!!

get home seriously pissed off call apple care guy on the phone says he can send me a battery but wants to charge me for it then when i send mine back they will test it... if the battery isnt faulty i will have to pay for the new one as it wont be a warrantee issue... i asked to speak to someone higher up, he comes on the phone appologises says he doesnt understand why i went to a apple store when an apple service centre would of been better and there is one nearer me...

the apple care guy i had spoken to on the first day said i had to go to an apple store not a service location... this new guy then says he can wave the fee for the battery... but he thinks its still a logic board issue... so i should go to the service centre which means another day off work, a 60 mile round trip and they wont have the parts in stock to fix it so i will have to go back once they have ordered and received them....

as a good will gesture they gave me a discount on the online apple store... however i have to spend a minimum of 100 quid to get 27 quid off....

up until now my service with them has been spot on... but after today im just pissed off... and there is no UK customer service number for me to call and have a b**ch at lol!

 

[jenic]

If you go to a service location you will leave it with them, and they will diagnose and fix the problem if its a warranty issue then you have to pick it up.

Its a bummer not living close to any apple shops though, i agree.

And about your comment that there is no uk number, i haven't been able to find one either. And considering they advertise the extended telephone support as part of apple care it really should be a UK or even US call centre and not some idiots running 10 phone lines for 20 different companies reading from a script in india. This is the worst thing about apple products, the telephone support.

 

[Revels]

When my original iPhone broke, I called some sexy leprechaun and she guided me through a load of things, that didn't work, so they collected it and replaced it. I had a new one with 3 days.

Surely they can do that for you? Get a courier. Be far easier than driving all that way every time.

 

[MaLicE]

well some french dude gave me an email addy to try which i will do later...

problem is, i cant leave it with them, i use it daily for work, i took a day off today to go sort it and it wasnt! i cant go another couple days without it not being with me lol! i would honestly rather take my hard drive out and they give me a new one but chances are slim lol!

will compose my email and kick up... if that dont work i shall get my mum to call lol, in the past if i had trouble with companies i put her on the phone and she sorts it and makes them cry lol!

 

[Moz168]

What's actually wrong with it?

 

[MaLicE]

if you leave it unplugged from the mains after about 3 mins it will just turn off, no warning, go completely black screen and no noise or lights or fans.... just dead... then you turn it back on, some times it will boot others it will start to then turn off again, soon as its plugged in to the mains it works fine...

 

[cava83]

Most likely your your battery is buggered.

Try this to see if your battery is having issues http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/

 

[MaLicE]

issue sorted, tomorrow (aslong as im not snowed in) apple are giving me a brand new macbook pro free of charge on exchange

 

[MaLicE]

just an update

apple were pretty good they sorted it all out and i went in the store to collect, my old mbp was spec'd as follows
2.66 intel core duo
4gb ram
350gb hdd
it was a late 2008 mbp...

anyway they replaced it, but had to match the spec or give the closest better performing macbook...

i walked out with a 2.8ghz i7, 4gb ram, 500gb hdd, antireflective hi def screen

so i think i came out pretty well, only things i will do is prob upgrade to 8gb ram and get a ssd for it as i was surprised how much faster they are!

 

[Revels]

Lol. Not bad!

Did you email Crispin or did they do that of their own accord?

 

[MaLicE]

i mailed crispin then he got the manager of the southwest to call me, i told him how s**t the cribbs store was and how everything had gone wrong and they swapped it out lol... could of done with some freebies lol i tried to swing a free mini display port to hdmi or a case and they werent having any of it lol

 

[Revels]

Good good. You haven't done toooo bad to get that new spec.

Obviously in 30months time my iMac needs to have some unrepairable faults.

 

[Rob]

Knowsit on the faults in a long time. Sounds like you did rather well out of it mate.