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Journal jawtheshark's Journal: I really think Apple just doesn't want me as a customer. 33

Journal by jawtheshark

Frankly... What does Apple have against me? Years ago, I was an Apple affectionado (but never a fanboi). I was very happy with my iBook G3, but that stopped when the machine died after just three years of usage. While only one instance, it completely refuted the "Apple Hardware is Quality Hardware" so often repeated on slashdot. I went back PC and Linux/Windows. At least I know it's crap and I pay for it crap prices.

The problem here is that my wifes computer has been dead long and the Asus EEE PC 701 which she has been using ever since her "little accident" is seriously starting to die from old age and usage. I tried convincing her that I'd build a nice new silent machine for her (Atom D510, enough RAM, nice case) and she could reuse that with her keyboard, mouse and monitor (a nice 19" LCD flatscreen...). Somehow, my convincing didn't work all that well. Let's just say that the dreaded phrase "What about an Apple Computer" came in. So, discussion after discussion, I caved in and decided to order the biggest-ass-iMac I could get.

The problems started at the online store. We get the Belgian store, but that means we don't get the choice for keyboard layout for Luxembourg. Great... I then called the Apple store. Best to have a warm body on the other side of the line and that warm body was called Stephanie. Oh, it was no problem getting that keyboard (Swiss-French) but in that case I could not customize the iMac I wanted. Yes, but I did want the Core i7 and the 2TB disk. 10 minutes on hold... No not possible. I then suggested we could just order the one with US layout (or whatever they had in stock) and additionally buy the Swiss-French one. That was possible... Well, Stephanie, don't you think you could have suggested that solution yourself? I mean, I'm about to spend over 2000€ and a keyboard more or less isn't usually going to be a dealbreaker since compared to the full price it's peanuts. Anyway, she fills in the order and she gets a message that the email bounced. Well, Stephanie, that happens when you don't listen to me spelling my name and substituting "u" for the "e". She gets it right, sends me an email and I think the order was through. Oh, yes, I did want to pay by wire transfer. No problem, dixit Stephanie.

That was Friday. Today, except for the original email from Stephanie.... Nothing. The only thing was the original (probably hand-crafted) confirmation email. It is three working days, I did expect at least a PDF with the amount to pay. So, I email Stephanie again.... Asking for the bank account information. I immediately get a reply, or better said, a "Out of Office" reply. Great.

I call Apple again and get another guy on the phone. I forgot his name, because I was getting rather pissed. Apparently, my email adress was still wrong in the system. No, Mr Willukuns doesn't exist and willukuns.lu doesn't either. Damnit, Stephanie, we worked this over the first time! Anyway, he fixed it... Not that I got any emails yet from their famous system.

When I returned to my desk, Stephanie had actually answered... Great, bank details... You know girl, it's useful to actually know how much I have to pay. Would be great. I reply again, ask the amount and I get... 2284.305€ as a reply. Eeeeuh... 3 digit decimal for an amount? Yeah, right... Confirm it to me please. That's where we're at.

I've been served better at Dell and that is not a compliment.

If I didn't knew better, I'd think the whole Apple Corporation has a "do not sell to this guy" sign with my picture above it in every office of the world.

Apple? I'm frankly pissed off and I haven't even got your product yet... If this machine doesn't at least last five years, I will never ever buy any computing equipement with you again.

I'm sure that Alternate.de will be quicker to deliver the 4x4GB RAM I ordered with them for that machine. (Apple wanted over 800€ more for that configuration)

Update 2010-07-21@14:58
I finally got a confirmation email with the amount and the required bank details. Just to piss me off, it seems they kept "Willukuns" all over the confirmation email. Been looking for a complaints email address to CC the last message to Stephanie, but she's lucky because that doesn't seem to exist.

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I really think Apple just doesn't want me as a customer. More

I really think Apple just doesn't want me as a customer.

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  • I gave up on Apple years ago. I bought an iPod with the extended warranty that was supposed to cover battery replacement. When the battery was to a point where it would no longer maintain enough charge to be useful I contacted Apple and made arrangements to have it sent in for service. It came back a few days later with a service note - "Unable to reproduce problem". They did manage to wipe the memory though.

    I don't care how "great" Apple's stuff is, I will never buy another Apple product. If they cannot ho

    • Gah... Reading this I'm already disgusted I actually too the Apple Care package. 150€ gone for nothing. How great... Sure, it's not much on the total bill, but still.

      • I hope I was just an isolated case and that you (and the rest of Apple's customer base) get better care than I did. It's possible it was just an unfortunate screw-up, but it was enough to really turn me off to their stuff regardless.

        • This plus my iBook experience makes two instances of bad customer support for me alone. I don't think it's an isolated case. I was willing to give them a second chance on this one, and I actually said so during the initial order. You'd expect that they'd be more careful if someon tells them they had been dissatisfied in the past.

          • You'd expect that they'd be more careful if someone tells them they had been dissatisfied in the past.

            Considering all of the coolness kudos they get for their products, they may have just gotten indifferent.

            The only way I would buy an Apple system right now is if I needed it to create cross-platform applications for Windows, Linux and OS X. I just don't feel a desire to support the platform. And, you know, in my Linux travels I uncovered a distro called MoonOS that was an Ubuntu derivative with some of the

            • ...Oh, the only reason I considered a Mac is because I wanted my wife to shut up. ;-) I must have missed the MoonOS journal entry, I need to look into that one.

              • I didn't mention MoonOS in my journal as I was researching and found it as a result. I tried it for a couple of hours, then moved on. That said, it had the most attractive desktop I have ever seen.

                • Yes, and it delivers an .exe when downloading the iso via http, which I find suspicious. Also, they thank LUGs in Phnom Penh and Beijing for hosting and support. Well, call me a racist, just as I don't run software from unknown Russian sources I won't run software from unknown Chinese and Cambodian sources. I'll give it a try in an isolated VM though, the style looks awesome.

                  • It's most likely easier to install Debian-Base, Enlightenment and a theme you like.

                    • Yeah, I'll try that, but I'll try installing E on my Lucid VM first. That spares me finding out how those newfangled graphical login screens work or which packets those are after all. ;-)

                    • I LOLed when I tried this. Installed vanilla debian (minimal), and then:

                      Dr. O: aptitude install enlightenment
                      Debian: "Dude WTF I have no earthly idea what you mean."
                      Dr. O: aptitude install e17
                      Debian: "What's wrong with you? I've never heard of e17."
                      Dr. O: (googles packages on debian.org)
                      Dr. O: aptitude install e16
                      Debian: (workity workity work work work)
                      Dr. O: startx
                      Debian: "LOL, nice try. I can't connect to your DISPLAY environment variable's display."
                      Dr. O: (stumped, checks install log, finds that e16 does

                    • Hehehe.... Seems they fucked up one major dependency. Most desktop these days do use GDM or KDM for "starting" X these days though. On the EEE, I use GDM with LXDE. That one did include XFree though :-)

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gmhowell ( 26755 )

          I've had much better service than this. This past December, I powered on my MacBook Pro. The screen flashed and nothing came up on it. I got an appointment early in the morning the next day (December 26th). They looked at it in the store, figured it was the video board. Would be $700. Well, that was far less than a new one, so I said go for it. Got it back five business days later, fedexed to my house. With a new, free video board. It didn't jibe with the timeframe for a parts supply problem they had had, b

          • I'm glad that you had good service. I've heard of Mac customer support experiences, all anecdotal true, from about a dozen different people; friends, co-workers, and family. You and my folks are the only ones who didn't come away from it frustrated with Apple. I accepted JTS account so readily because it comports with most of the accounts that I've heard.

            Reverse fanboism? Meh, possibly. As I detailed above I have certainly never been a fan, and they do have a rather vociferous following that sees no
  • There core user base has been rapid fanoi's for so long they don't know how to treat customers who aren't going to filter everything back to how great Apple is. Let's face it, if 1 out of every 100 iPhones exploded, the fanboi answer would be that 99% of the customers haven't had any problems, and they certainly haven't.

    Good luck, and I hope your wife is doing better, too.

    • Good theory... Then I'd like to know why Dell isn't an ounce better. I've had my share with them and I was ordering for a friggin company. No personal stuff at all, with a real account manager, etc...

      The iBook I got back in the day, died of a known logic board failure. Three days AFTER their "extended warranty" expired. Having no Apple store here, I needed to go to an Apple partner... Which charged me 170€ just to identify the problem and then telling me it would at least be 700€ for repairs.

      • My frustration with Apple hardware dates back to yon college days. I had an Amiga A1200 with a 68020 processor running at 14Mhz and 2 MB of RAM. The Apple computers in the lab were 68040's running at, IIRC, around 60Mhz with 8 MB of RAM (maybe even more). My Amiga was much faster and snappier than the Apples, even though the hardware was basically the same family, and my Amiga was woefully underpowered in comparison. The summer between my junior and Senior year I bought an accelerator card for the Amiga

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gmhowell ( 26755 )

        To misquote Disraeli, there are three types of lies: lies, damned lies, and benchmarks.

    • if 1 out of every 100 iPhones exploded, the fanboi answer would be that 99% of the customers haven't had any problems, and they certainly haven't.

      It depends - if they exploded :

      Next of kin: "Your laptop killed my brother!"
      AppleCare: "So have him return it."
      Next of kin: "He can't - he's dead!"
      AppleCare: "Sorry, but unless you have proof he transferred the warranty to you, there's nothing we can do - he has to return it."
      Next of kin: "Even if he weren't dead, he couldn't return it! It %^%@# EXPLO

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gmhowell ( 26755 )

      Or, instead of lame trolling and name calling you could read about my contradictory experience. Both are anecdotal, yet you accept JTS' encounter as the norm. Reverse fanboi-ism much?

      • I think he was pulling out a hyperbole ;-P Look, I did give Apple a new chance. You can't accuse me of reverse fanboi-ism. Sure, I am not happy with what happened, but they can still redeem themselves if this machine does what I expect it from it: Shut up my wife and work for at least 5 years without a single problem. Preferably more. It's what I expect from my new PCs and they seem to be up to the challenge.

        Besides, I was still planning on getting an iPad for my wife so she can surf on the couch. Sh

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by arb ( 452787 )

        Add me to the list of non-negative experiences: Half a dozen iPods, four iPod Shuffles, an iPhone, Mac mini, iBook G4, MacBook pro, iMac and I've had no real problems with any of these. The iPods still work fine with no battery issues, even the second oldest (the oldest I sold, so I don't know how that one is going) at just over five years old is still working fine and holds its charge well. My MBP does need a new battery, but it does get a helluva lot of work, so I'm not too worried about that...

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gmhowell ( 26755 )

          The only thing keeping me from having a laundry list of Apple products like that is that, with the exception of the Mac Mini, I've bought near the top of the line stuff, and it has lasted, in direct contrast to Jorg's experience.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by arb ( 452787 )

            And the reason for my "laundry list" is that they just work so darned well I upgraded reasonably often! (Okay, the multiple shuffles were just a vanity/convenience thing - one for audiobooks, one for music and a couple of different colours just because. ;^) )

  • Okay, it sounds like a nice machine and all, but ... why?

    [_] It's really a secret project to create ram-sucking Apple malware
    [_] Because when it's replaced in a few years, it will still be a nice machine
    [_] Because it's NEVER getting replaced. Same as the couch :-)
    [_] Two words - streaming video.
    [_] Because the next version of openoffice is going to suck up 8 gigs all by itself.
    [_] Because if I don't buy the biggest, most bad-assed, I'll never hear the end of it from her.
    [_] Because even if if

    • [_] It's really a secret project to create ram-sucking Apple malware
      [X] Because when it's replaced in a few years, it will still be a nice machine
      [X] Because it's NEVER getting replaced. Same as the couch :-)
      [X] Two words - streaming video.
      [_] Because the next version of openoffice is going to suck up 8 gigs all by itself.
      [_] Because if I don't buy the biggest, most bad-assed, I'll never hear the end of it from her.
      [_] Because even if if I buy the biggest, most bad-assed, I'll never hear the end of it from

      • It's more fun to "do it yourself." It's like cooking - it just tastes better, and you can always add your own special touches.

        The machine I'm typing this on is a perfect example - an old amd 2600, upgraded to a full complement of what used to be decent-sized hard disks (320 gig each, up from 256 each - I have to rma the 4th one - again! - damn you seagate!!! - though the other 3 have held up decently - they hopefully fixed their problem), and 2 gigs (up from half a gig) and 2x26" lcds (up from a pair of 1

        • Oh, I can completely relate to that. My personal laptop? Upgraded from 1GB (2x512MB) to 2GB, original 120GB disk replaced by a 250GB disk. I still is slow, but that's mainly because the Turion X2 TL-50 is extremely cache starved. I would have gone 4GB if the damned motherboard would have taken it. I tested, it doesn't. :-)

          The desktop of my wife (which basically was my primary machine, before the September 2009 events) has been torougly upgraded. Nice passively cooled NVidia FX5500, 4x512MB RAM (maxium

      • I need something to control my dumpster-sourced supercomputing cluster

        Dude, this machine *is* the fucking supercomputing cluster! I have a dual-core with 2 GB RAM and haven't yet managed to run into swapping (save for running multiple VM's at the same time). Your wife's Mac is going to be able to render 3-D HD animations while she's using it without her even noticing. ;-)

        That said, it's sad you are having such a bad time with Apple's support. I was the CTO in a company with 80+ Macs and can only say that their support was *much* better than that of HP or Dell. But I wasn't de

        • We have Lineheart [lineheart.lu]. I should have gone there. Somehow, I expected that dealing with Apple directly would be the correct and easiest way to go. Cut out the middle-man you know.

          Back when I had the iBook problem I was dealing with an authorized partner. As I said in other post, they asked 170€ for a quote to know what was to be repaired. That was Telindus [telindus.com]. Basically, that was what drove me away from authorized partners.

          My dealing with Dell aren't rosy either... but you actually expect Dell support to

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by gmhowell ( 26755 )

            A problem is that I have no idea what, if any, requirements are placed on Apple authorized partners. Do they just need a single tech on site who passed a single bogus test? Probably. Nothing about customer service quality or anything like that. It's one reason they created their Apple Stores in lieu of going to Sears and Circuit City.

            • I can't say what the general rules are, but my Apple Service Provider consisted exclusively of Apple Certified Systems Engineers, and they had to renew their qualification annually. Having been an ACSE myself, I can say that it's on a much higher level than e.g. the MCSE because you really learn the underlying tech and protocols and not just which buttons to press. Of course it's not even in the same ballpark as e.g. the Cisco or Oracle certifications, but it's pretty hands-on and you also get (IMO) great s

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