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Yet Another Apple Tech Support Tale |
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 We here at 2 Guys like to tell it how it is. Whether Apple does good or messes up, we point it out. I'm also typing this up in my underwear. You didn't need to know that, but I wanted to let you know the level of journalistic integrity that we hold dear. And yes, that is a smiley face on them, but how did you know that!?!?? Oh, wait - my iSight is on...DOH! (Ok, I don't own an iSight, but I AM wearing smiley face underwear!)
Now getting to the point, back in April we exchanged some tech support ghost stories around the fire, some scary, some not so scary, but all had pretty good endings. Well I have another one for ya that has an interesting little twist.
It started as soon as I got to Buffalo last week. I popped open my iBook to look for hotels and the screen went weird. Not Carrot Top weird, it was just that the display had these horizontal lines and the computer seemed to be frozen up. I didn't have time to mess with it all weekend, but on the trip home I discovered that if any pressure was put on the underneath of the iBook it would freeze up. Seeing as it needs to be on my lap to use it, I was forced to play solitaire on my iPod the entire trip home thus making me horribly addicted to the damn game. I was barely able to pull myself away from it to write this.
Anyhooski, when I got home I called Apple Tech Support. The person I got on the other end (I'll call her Hookafrookastan to conceal her identity) was first-class as to be expected with Apple. However, there was one problem. With any Apple computer you buy you get 1 year of hardware support and 90-days of phone support. My iBook is roughly 9 months old so no phone support for me. Kind of an interesting situation as the nearest Apple authorized repair shop is more than an hour away.
The options given to me by Hookafrookastan were this. 1 - I could pay $49 for a one-time incident covering up to 5 days. Or 2 - pay $249 for three years of AppleCare.
After I was given the options all I said was, "but I have one year of hardware support". Hookafrookastan then said that she could support me via the phone and if it turned out to be hardware, then Apple would waive the $49 fee. She needed a credit card to secure the $49 first though. This wasn't much of a risk for me, as I was quite sure hardware was the problem, so I gave my credit card number.
We ran through a few troubleshooting steps and shortly thereafter I got a free fix. Apple sent a box via Airborne Express which I got on Tuesday. The box is really cool by the way - Apple thinks of EVERYTHING. I know it's just a box, but it comes with a cover to wrap your laptop up in, you can remove pieces of foam to accomodate a larger laptop, and even comes with a cool little packet of tape strips. So I pack it up in like 5 minutes and have it sent back (all of this at no charge to me by the way).
Again, the iBook was sent to Apple on Tuesday. I had it back in my hands on THURSDAY. Even if it was an easy fix for Apple's technicians, I didn't think they'd have it back to me that soon. Of course, it works great now and that's what I'm typing on. How I missed you iBook.
So for me it's story that ends well and I was very pleased with Apple's Tech Support. If only the company I work for did tech support so smoothly.
However, I couldn't help thinking about the options that tech support gave me, or rather, DIDN'T give me. If I hadn't said something about having a year of hardware support, would Apple still have charged me the $49 even though hardware was at fault? I know one person that Apple did this to and the person didn't know any better so they got AppleCare. How many people has Apple screwed like this?
Having worked in tech support for a few years, one of the many things I learned is that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. When it comes to tech support or pretty much any type of customer service issues, you have to be demanding and insistent (but not necessarily loud or mean) to get what you want. Otherwise you just might get blown to the curb or end up paying more than you really should.
So take that for what it's worth, and remember to make sure your iSight isn't on when you're looking for porn late at night!
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July 5 2003, 6:30 PM EDT, by
 |
Comments:
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| wragrep |
7/5/03, 11:55 PM EDT |
On of the great reasons to buy and Mac is their Tech support - When ever I had a problem, they always spent enough time to rule out all issues to avoid having to send it in for repair. Apple care is the best investment once you buy a computer. Remember "sh-t happens, so be prepared
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| Zack |
7/6/03, 2:06 PM EDT |
Yeah, imagine if you hadn't gotten that issue foxed. Weird horizontal lines across your pr0n boobiez.
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| Zack |
7/6/03, 2:07 PM EDT |
Fixed, not foxed.
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| Jonahan |
7/7/03, 8:42 AM EDT |
Heh...I like foxing my computers ;)
And yeah, I should've bought AppleCare in the beginning, but I've always had good luck with my Macs and had nary a hardware problem until recently.
On an odd side note, some of my purchased music from the Music Store won't play. It says I have to deactivate one other computer, but I only have 3. So they must have changed the motherboard or something, as it's not recognizing my iBook as being the same mahcine. And I CAN'T deactivate the old one because I don't have it. LOL
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| Scott-o-rama |
7/10/03, 9:31 AM EDT |
Apple Care has saved my butt more than once. I had one of those newfangled 17 inch multimedia monitors when they first came out. It worked great. For 2 1/2 years. Then -poof-. Dead. Apple sent a new one. Extended the Apple Care for it and everything. Then 2 years later... -poof-. Apple sent a new one. That one lasted until I sold the whole setup. I never paid for shipping. It only took ONE phone call, maybe 15 minutes, each time. And -poof- I had a new monitor via FedEx. Gotta like that. Try that with a PC for only $249 for three years! Hah!
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| Jonahan |
7/11/03, 3:56 PM EDT |
That's cool Scott!
I saw this article over at Low End Mac earlier today, it's another happy tech support story :)
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This article is archived, so you may not comment on it.
(The good news is there's always the shoutbox, the forums or the contact form if you're socially-inclined at the moment!)
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Deep Thoughts |
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Instead of studying for finals, what about just going to the Bahamas and catching some rays? Maybe you'll flunk, but you might have flunked anyway; that's my point.
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