pudge's Journal: Apple "Service"

So we have a five-year-old dying iBook. It has the right serial number, and symptoms listed there (black screen on startup), but apparently this computer model has recently gone from "Supported" to "Vintage" so they won't touch it without us paying the "preferred customer" fee of over $300.

I don't even want to know what the normal fee is.

What really kills me is that the guy on the phone tells us that three years is really old for a computer anyway, so why not just buy a new one? Besides, he goes on, $1100 for a new MacBook is not that much (um ... it's a lot more than zero, which is what I would have to pay if you covered the logic board under the repair extension program [which I know expired over a year ago]), and if you want to buy one, here's my direct phone number and I can process that for you! Yeah, pull the other one.

I haven't been impressed.

[dexterpexter]

Given the unusually short shelf-life of my friends' machines, and the type and quality of service AppleCare seems to provide, Apple will have to do something very impressive to prompt me to make the switch.

I have previously been tempted to buy Apple products because they are aesthetically pleasing and the GUIs are incredible. Things seem to indeed "just work." I would also like to learn my way around a Mac just for the experience; it is my responsibility to be properly informed in the ways of technology, afterall.
However, every. time. my mere interest has increased to intention to purchase one, a friend's machine sees an early end, and it becomes a source of frustration and financial burden for them. Again and again, they find themselves shelling out $1000 (or, in your case $300) for repairs on silly things like hard drives, after spending no less than an hour on the phone with Customer Care. With the initial price of their system (for "similar" specs as my PC) being nearly double of my own, it doesn't seem a good proposition for me to purchase anything from Apple just to get something pretty. Which will, no doubt, scratch incredibly easily (as I understand the iBooks and iPods do) and be not-so-pretty in short order.

When my machines fail, it is simply a matter of ordering a reasonably-priced, new part and replacing it myself. My machines are rugged and usually dependable. I can't tell you how many times my laptop has been dropped, banged, sat on, etc. and forgiving its noisy fan and less-than-adequate heatsink, it has remained a good machine that has cost me little. In the case where warranty necessitates that my machine be sent off for repairs, the repairs have been at no cost to myself or reasonable, and were prompt.

I really would love to learn the ways of the Mac, but so far no one has been able to convince me it is worth it. That said, despite their troubles, every one of my frustrated friends loves their Apple products fanatically. And buys new one every...oh...three years or so. ;)

Maybe I will make the change over one day. But I fear that in saying that, I just doomed another friends' iBook to fail.

my reply

[NeMon'ess]

If I'd been told $1100 is not that much, then I'd have asked him to be nice guy and buy one for me. I mean hey, that's lunch money right?

I cannot think of any consumer electronics I'd pay hundreds of dollars for knowing it has a decent probability of dying within three to five years. The closest I might come to doing that is a $200 digital camera. If it's more than that, no way. I expect my hardware to last.

repair

[John M W 321]

They do say: "Apple will continue to evaluate the repair data and will provide further repair extensions as needed. ", so why not bump it up the line and see what happens? Getting a free repair after 5 years would be a pretty damn good warranty, but what do you have to lose?

Re:

[pudge]

Bump it up the line? As in, ask to talk to the next person in charge? Actually, this person was the third person in charge. The first two people thought they might be able to repair it, third said no.