I hate Apple.

[Keitero]

So I have a second gen MBP 15". It goes in for repair because the wireless doesn't work well in OS X but works fine in Windows, (i.e. streaming files from my 2k3 box is really slow). It's not a hardware issue because after a clean install of OS X it still is broken, but works fine in Vista. I bring it in for repairs, they claim to have fixed it (by replacing the wireless card and display). It's still broken. So I have it sent to the Apple Depot in the middle of nowhere. It's been two ******* weeks and I just called them up today and they said that they are waiting on a display. WTF?!?! Two weeks for a display for a laptop that they sold millions of. Two weeks for a display that they still offer. They said that they will expedite the repair, but they will hear from me again tomorrow if I don't get a call from them. Has anyone dealt with AppleCare and gotten farther than where I have? If so, what did you do? Did you get to speak to a supervisor?

/rant.


Keitero

 

[TMoney468]

I've heard that if you send in your laptop for 3 or more times, that they will just give you a brand new one instead to replace it...it may not happen every time but there's been cases of it happening. I would just politely complain that this is the 2nd time it's been sent in and that you need your laptop back and working. You might but surprised at what Apple may do

 

[Keitero]

I know what Apple will do (for instore repairs anyway). When my iPod broke just one day out of warranty, the manager just gave me a new one and said that I can buy AppleCare for it as a safety measure (which I did). But since this is my first Mac, and frankly, my work computer, the feeling of being without it for two weeks (and when other makers such as Dell and HP can get it done faster from my experiences), it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[Kaido]

I felt the same way when I got my first Intel Mac. I got the 13" MacBook the first month it came out and BOY did it have problems. Overheating, random shutdowns, etc. etc. Finally got it fixed, for a total of $1224 in repairs (covered under warranty). No idea why they just didn't replace it straight out. By that time I was so sick of it and was mainly using Windows that I sold it. Then the guy I sold it to had problems with the hard drive that Apple wouldn't cover, so I sent him a new hard drive just to be a good seller. Kind of turned me off to Mac stuff.

But I still love Apple. They might not be the quickest but they are alright with handling problems; I've had much better experiences dealing with them than Dell. Looking forward to getting a Santa Rosa Macbook Pro this month, hopefully the 3rd-gen Intel laptop won't give me any grief :thumbsup:

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

I hope I don't have any problems with my Macbook. I love it to death.

 

[bearxor]

Originally posted by: Keitero
It's been two ******* weeks and I just called them up today and they said that they are waiting on a display. WTF?!?! Two weeks for a display for a laptop that they sold millions of. Two weeks for a display that they still offer.

Well, remember that it is a display that they don't offer anymore. Your MBP is a standard florescent based backlight and Apple currently sells LED backlit LCD screens in the 15". Even if you had a 3rd gen MBP, I've heard Apple doesn't have many of the LED backlit screens.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: bearxor

Originally posted by: Keitero
It's been two ******* weeks and I just called them up today and they said that they are waiting on a display. WTF?!?! Two weeks for a display for a laptop that they sold millions of. Two weeks for a display that they still offer.

Well, remember that it is a display that they don't offer anymore. Your MBP is a standard florescent based backlight and Apple currently sells LED backlit LCD screens in the 15". Even if you had a 3rd gen MBP, I've heard Apple doesn't have many of the LED backlit screens.

In the case of fluorescent displays, they should have tons in stock - they don't just disappear when a new technology like LED displays come out! He's been out of a computer for two weeks already and who knows when he's getting it back. I depend on my laptop for work as well as for school, so I'd really be pulling my hair out if they told me that

Also Keitero, the wireless in nearly every Intel Mac I've used has been pretty terrible. I believe it has something to do with the OS X software implementation because from what I've read, it works fine under Windows in Boot Camp. Weird huh.

 

[TheStu]

That's really weird because I have had zero problems with the wireless in my MacBook, it works just fine under both Windows and Mac. I have found that it gets a little bit better reception from Netgear routers than from D-Link, but that is about it.

 

[DnetMHZ]

The only problem I've had with my Macbook is the battery crapping out after 2 1/2 months.
Took it to the Apple store, and of course they don't have any batteries in stock. So I had to wait about 3 days for a replacement.

On the other hand I took my 3 week old 5G iPod in because it died and they replaced it on the spot, took less than 5 minutes and I had a new one.

Luckily there is an Apple store 10 minutes from my house.

 

[n0cmonkey]

I brought my powerbook to a local authorized mac work repair type place thingy. They had it back to me in like a week.

I didn't miss it... Much.

 

[Keitero]

Well I hope they do something, having only a desktop and not being able to use Final Cut for my class is killing me.

Edit: The wireless works like a charm in Windows and even Linux.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: TheStu
That's really weird because I have had zero problems with the wireless in my MacBook, it works just fine under both Windows and Mac. I have found that it gets a little bit better reception from Netgear routers than from D-Link, but that is about it.

My last 13" MacBook was one of the few Intel Macs I've used that didn't really exhibit serious wifi problems. My wife's iMac Core Duo is definitely one of the worst though, but then I've heard that from the majority of iMac owners.

 

[randomlinh]

I've never really used the wifi on my iMac.

But back when I had an iBook... my display went wonky, next day I had a box for repairs.. and a week later I was back and running. Also got a new battery in a day as well. I love applecare. Had my iPod mini go kaput and replaced as well.

 

[Chadder007]

Its most likey your router, not the wireless card in the Mac. Some routers won't respond well at all with the wireless card in a mac with OSX booted up. Connect with the cable to your router and see if you can get the latest firmware version for it. Im betting its a Linksys??

 

[Keitero]

Yes, but the issue applies to a belkin router, a netgear router, a generic access point, and the linksys in AP mode.

Called them earlier today, they said that they can't really do anything to speed the repair up and said that two weeks is a long time, but the reason that it is taking so long is that they broke my screen while trying to fix it so they are replacing it. They are not giving me a loaner so I am stuck trying to bum a Mac from somewhere else (why did it have to go all wrong the week of Otakon?)

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

Umm not to burst your Apple hating bubble but that sluggish network traffic has more to do with the new TCP stack on Windows Vista. It more than likely works fine because the two Windows boxes are working with the same stack but when you put the Samba against your 2k3 box you're running into the many many software related networking issues everyone else is experiencing. Do some research you could have probably fixed this on your own.

I've personally had a lot of grief with Vista networking getting to play friendly with my network and other computers.

edit: PS - ethereal is your friend

 

[Keitero]

When I mean sluggish, I mean I can't even stream jpgs or mp3s without it buffering every 3 seconds (for mp3s) or waiting about 2 minutes for a folder filled with pictures to load (on just the thumbnails).

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: AWhackWhiteBoy
Umm not to burst your Apple hating bubble but that sluggish network traffic has more to do with the new TCP stack on Windows Vista. It more than likely works fine because the two Windows boxes are working with the same stack but when you put the Samba against your 2k3 box you're running into the many many software related networking issues everyone else is experiencing. Do some research you could have probably fixed this on your own.

I've personally had a lot of grief with Vista networking getting to play friendly with my network and other computers.

edit: PS - ethereal is your friend

sorry, but the IP stack was "optimized" but it's not nearly as nice as MS would like you to think. Mac is based on bsd stuff, who has, arguably, the best IP stack in the x86 world.

The stuff MS did was in the samba code, not the IP stack, and was basically put in there to try and screw the open source samba stuff (by making it slower).

If it works fine in windows, but sucks in OSX, it's NOT hardware, it's drivers. All the screens (the antenna is in the screen) in the world won't fix a craptastic driver. What card is in the MBP? Intel's Linux driver is good, so I'm guessing maybe a craptastic broadcom, who had a hard time with windows drivers, not to mention OSX/Linux

 

[coupdetat]

I've always had great service with Apple. The reps have been nice and really responsive. I had to send my 12" PB G4 in and I got it back in 3 days.. overnight shipping both ways for free! iPod service was fast too, always turned around within 4 days.

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

Originally posted by: nweaver

sorry, but the IP stack was "optimized" but it's not nearly as nice as MS would like you to think. Mac is based on bsd stuff, who has, arguably, the best IP stack in the x86 world.

The stuff MS did was in the samba code, not the IP stack, and was basically put in there to try and screw the open source samba stuff (by making it slower).

If it works fine in windows, but sucks in OSX, it's NOT hardware, it's drivers. All the screens (the antenna is in the screen) in the world won't fix a craptastic driver. What card is in the MBP? Intel's Linux driver is good, so I'm guessing maybe a craptastic broadcom, who had a hard time with windows drivers, not to mention OSX/Linux

This is an extremely ambiguous post. I can't tell if you're agreeing or disagreeing with me. As far as I know the old Windows XP stack was an open source based one that Microsoft cannibalized. People found out and got angry so they redid it for Vista with their own code. This new stack has optimizations turned on by default that cause all kinds of issues with older networking hardware as well as older machines that don't use these features.

I had to turn off a few features to get Vista to actually work satisfactory with the other computers on my network which consist of OSX, Windows XP, and other Vista computers.

"The stuff MS did was in the samba code"
What are you talking about the Samba code for? It's open source how did they do anything to it?

Samba has, in my experience, always worked better than Windows in network sharing. This was in Linux though, however I can't see much changing in a unix based OS. I bet if you tried setting up a transfer between your Mac and a Windows XP based desktop it would work perfectly. If it doesn't employ the use of ethereal to see exactly what is taking place.

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: AWhackWhiteBoy

Originally posted by: nweaver

sorry, but the IP stack was "optimized" but it's not nearly as nice as MS would like you to think. Mac is based on bsd stuff, who has, arguably, the best IP stack in the x86 world.

The stuff MS did was in the samba code, not the IP stack, and was basically put in there to try and screw the open source samba stuff (by making it slower).

If it works fine in windows, but sucks in OSX, it's NOT hardware, it's drivers. All the screens (the antenna is in the screen) in the world won't fix a craptastic driver. What card is in the MBP? Intel's Linux driver is good, so I'm guessing maybe a craptastic broadcom, who had a hard time with windows drivers, not to mention OSX/Linux

This is an extremely ambiguous post. I can't tell if you're agreeing or disagreeing with me. As far as I know the old Windows XP stack was an open source based one that Microsoft cannibalized. People found out and got angry so they redid it for Vista with their own code. This new stack has optimizations turned on by default that cause all kinds of issues with older networking hardware as well as older machines that don't use these features.

I had to turn off a few features to get Vista to actually work satisfactory with the other computers on my network which consist of OSX, Windows XP, and other Vista computers.

"The stuff MS did was in the samba code"
What are you talking about the Samba code for? It's open source how did they do anything to it?

Samba has, in my experience, always worked better than Windows in network sharing. This was in Linux though, however I can't see much changing in a unix based OS. I bet if you tried setting up a transfer between your Mac and a Windows XP based desktop it would work perfectly. If it doesn't employ the use of ethereal to see exactly what is taking place.

Microsoft leveraged some BSD code long ago for their IP stack. BSD is beer licensed, so it doesn't matter (and I doubt anyone got mad). For Vista, from everything I have heard, they went and grabbed the newer BSD stack, and tweaked that. Again, no problem (it's truely free, not GNU free).

When I say "Samba" I don't mean the open source software package, I mean the file sharing protocol as a generic thing, i.e. you have a "Samba" server on windows, it's just MS provided. Same thing, it uses the SMB protocol to share files on a network. They tweaked it to get "better" performance, and broke lots. Part of that was a direct attempt to slow down/reduce the GNU Samba team from working as well with Vista, so that they could say "see, open source stuff is slower".

What I disagreed with was that the "Optimized" stack was really that optimized. They had some HUGE numbers out there for a while that were not realistic (150% increase in throughput...psshh, whatever) and much of that was really SMB client/server code that makes it faster when using 2 vista machines. I wouldn't call tweaking the SMB stuff "optimizing the IP stack" but they did.

 

[Keitero]

Well I got my machine back yesterday and it still doesn't work. At least the screen is better (no dead pixels vs. one dead pixel). It's going back to the store on Monday and this time, I am going to see if I can just get a new unit under a lemon law.

 

[Keitero]

Update: So I went down to the Apple store today and the lead Genius said that there is nothing else that they can do for me and suggested that I get a new wireless card, nevermind the fact that I have a warranty for something that needs to be fixed or at least offered a workaround to get it working again and nevermind that I paid $2800 for it and I am now tethered to a desk if I want to get any work done (video editing and whatnot).

I'll see if I can call AppleCare and if they can do anything else for me cause frankly this is unacceptable.

 

[Turkish]

IBM Customer Service > *

In the last 6 years, my laptop was fixed and shipped back the next day.

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: Keitero
Update: So I went down to the Apple store today and the lead Genius said that there is nothing else that they can do for me and suggested that I get a new wireless card, nevermind the fact that I have a warranty for something that needs to be fixed or at least offered a workaround to get it working again and nevermind that I paid $2800 for it and I am now tethered to a desk if I want to get any work done (video editing and whatnot).

I'll see if I can call AppleCare and if they can do anything else for me cause frankly this is unacceptable.

I appreciate your time, but I'm sure you can understand why I feel that this is not resolved. May I please speak with your manager?