Worst Tech support ever by Apple

[JohnnyCNote]

I have to agree with the others who advised you to return it. A company that treats you like this doesn't deserve your business....

 

[Xionide]

Isnt the ram for those powerbooks a glowing hovering custom colored orb that silently fly's into its expansion slot ten time faster than any pc?

-Xionide

 

[AsiLuc]

Originally posted by: Gholam
Eh, from what I figure, they are thinking you're trying to screw *them* - receive an SO-DIMM module, send back a regular DIMM module that costs half as much, and claim mistake was on their end. The person who receives the DIMM looks into database, sees that a SO-DIMM module was sent (after all, the package label was for SO-DIMM, and that's most likely how it went into database) and arrives to conclusions. Considering your case has been handled by a dozen different people, who most likely don't even know of each other's existence, and are connected only through company database, the results are predictable...

Gholam's words make sense to me, and that sounds bad for you. Get someone smart at Apple...
Good luck!

 

[Margalus]

return the powerbook and never even consider buying an apple again. Then write a letter to apple politely telling them of this experience, and informing them that you will never buy an apple product as long as service is like this. You are paying twice as much as you should for the hardware just because it is apple, so their support should be second to none

 

[Acanthus]

I think ECS has better support than that, hahaha

 

[boomerang]

If you bought it with a Credit Card, dispute the charge with them. The CC companies are surprisingly cooperative in these matters.

Dispute the charge and sit back and watch the sh*t hit the fan. This will get someone interested in "helping" you real quick.

 

[Deadtrees]

Originally posted by: br0wn
no scoop from me.........i have to sign NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) to work there. It means that they can sue me if I say anything related to their projects.
I can tell you about the working situation there though. Its probably the best company to work for. They really care about their employees. They have kitchens everywhere in the building (a room containing fridge filled with milks, breads, sodas, cereals, coffees, fruits, ...) They are all free. The complex has a theatre swimming pool, gym, massage therapy, soccer field, basketball court, volleyball court. Each department in pixar redecorates their spaces into their unique tastes. The animation department has an open bar. Free beer every Friday. Free bagel every Monday. Free cookies at 4pm. Free lunches sometime (they have a cafe in their building). Everyone is genuinely very happy working there. You can take classes in pixar university (drawing, directing, sculpturing). All of these are free except massage ($9 for 20 mins). Free movies almost every week.

I wish Karl Marx were alive.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

most honorable vendors have a 3shot rule after the 3rd try you get a whole unit replacement. I'd be going for a whole unit by now.

 

[TheAudit]

iCare.

 

[Creig]

I wince every time I need to contact "Customer Service" at any of the big manufacturers (Dell, Gateway, etc..) The only thing the people on the other end know about computers is how to use the one sitting in front of them.

 

[SunnyD]

June 30th: complained again to the tech support, ask to talk to a manager, he won't let me (because it is not in the standard procedure).

Seeing as I used to work at a call center, one rule of thumb for any knowledgable client calling for support - if you WANT to talk to a manager/supervisor, there is always one to talk to.

There are two tricks to this. First, some companies will transfer you to another peon rep in the guise of transferring you to a supervisor. Always ASK, because if you catch them in a lie, well, somebody is going to get fired.

Secondly, when they say "it's not policy" or "our supervisors do not deal with the customers directly" - that's your cue to say "well it is now" or "they do now". Do NOT attempt to work with an agent that is trying to shaft you or work you down if you feel they aren't going to help you.

Remember - for every call center facility, you're talking to the lowest level person. In the one I worked at - after me upwards there were the Senior Reps, then the Team Supervisor, then the Group Manager, then the Division Manager, and finally the Site Operations Director. The last three don't take calls, but if you really wanted to you could MAKE them talk to you. But they don't know squat about the contracts and products.

 

[Creig]

http://www.infopackets.com/dloads/using_a_mac.wmv

warning: 47mb (but funny)

 

[RocketChild]

Br0wn,

Someone suggested that this is third strike and they are right. I also have worked in a call center and this is where ?Customer Satisfaction? starts to take place. You should not continue with the tech support avenue and go for the sale rep route. You need to act fast because you are nearing that 30 day marker too. Most companies will exchange/refund the whole machine within 30 days for ANY reason.

If you do take the support route, ask for a manager, right off the bat. Tell them to look at the case history and then bring a manager on the phone. Tell the support manager that you are requesting a ?customer sat? on three failed service calls. But really, if you do that, they may just send you a whole new machine (which will be refurbished). If you go the Sales Rep route, you should get a whole new machine, no cost to you and if you play your cards right, they will give you a SERIOUS token?maybe comp you the cost of the machine.

You can use this forum to outline your grievance to Apple Inc. One bad customer experience nets a loss of 10 possible customers. I own an iPod and have really been thinking about moving to a powerbook for Linux and OS X. I am sorry about your ordeal. I hope you work all this out, and act fast!

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: Creig
I wince every time I need to contact "Customer Service" at any of the big manufacturers (Dell, Gateway, etc..) The only thing the people on the other end know about computers is how to use the one sitting in front of them.

so true

 

[dannybin1742]

register a complaint to your credit card company, that way they can block payment and then its up to apple to fix the problem, except this time they will motivated by money

 

[imported_LuckyBob]

It's surprising how attention grabbing sending a Registered snail mail letter to the head of a company can be.

 

[Netopia]

Does anyone else find it ironic that Steve Jobs is the Top Man at both Pixar and Apple and yet last year replaced all of Pixar's SGI machines with PC's RUNNING LINUX instead of Mac's running OS-X? I've got to think that he could have gotten the Macs WAY cheaper than the PC's, but the company said that PC's and Linux gave the most bang for the buck.

One Artice Is Here, there are ton's out there... just google Pixar AND Linux.

Joe

 

[welst10]

email steve and get all those retards fired.

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: Netopia
Does anyone else find it ironic that Steve Jobs is the Top Man at both Pixar and Apple and yet last year replaced all of Pixar's SGI machines with PC's RUNNING LINUX instead of Mac's running OS-X? I've got to think that he could have gotten the Macs WAY cheaper than the PC's, but the company said that PC's and Linux gave the most bang for the buck.

One Artice Is Here, there are ton's out there... just google Pixar AND Linux.

Joe

I don't see how it's analogous. My mom uses 98 on a 450 with 96MB RAM and doesn't have any complaints. I couldn't possibly do my job on it, but it works for her. Use the right tool for the job, after all.

 

[CRXican]

in late but that's what you get for buying a Mac

 

[Netopia]

I don't see how it's analogous. My mom uses 98 on a 450 with 96MB RAM and doesn't have any complaints. I couldn't possibly do my job on it, but it works for her. Use the right tool for the job, after all.

I'm surprized you don't see it. OS-X's structure should have made it easy to port whatever they had to from Solaris (I'm guessing that is what's on SGI's). They had to port it from Solaris to Linux, so that work had to be done no matter what.

As far as power, Mac's running as SuperComputers hold two top 10 ranks of the world's 500 fastest.... one (currently off the list for upgrades) is at Virginia Tech (Link) and the other was just purchase by the Army (Link)

So... the Operating system was viable and the hardware is plenty fast... but he still went with PC's and Linux or Macs!

Joe

 

[Runamile]

Originally posted by: br0wn
no scoop from me.........i have to sign NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) to work there. It means that they can sue me if I say anything related to their projects.
I can tell you about the working situation there though. Its probably the best company to work for. They really care about their employees. They have kitchens everywhere in the building (a room containing fridge filled with milks, breads, sodas, cereals, coffees, fruits, ...) They are all free. The complex has a theatre swimming pool, gym, massage therapy, soccer field, basketball court, volleyball court. Each department in pixar redecorates their spaces into their unique tastes. The animation department has an open bar. Free beer every Friday. Free bagel every Monday. Free cookies at 4pm. Free lunches sometime (they have a cafe in their building). Everyone is genuinely very happy working there. You can take classes in pixar university (drawing, directing, sculpturing). All of these are free except massage ($9 for 20 mins). Free movies almost every week.

HOLY COW!!!! And you still find time to work?

Anyways. Even if you get your situation resolved. I think Mr. Jobs should get notification about it. Don't ask for help, but just inform him of what the situation was. CEO's need to know the condition of their own company. I really do think you are in a really good position here to make a difference(well, at least make Jobs make a difference).

 

[Mandos]

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: AzNmAnJLH
macs are nice, just not worth the money though

Sweet non-related comment...

10/10

 

Never buy RAM from Apple. They will pwn your wallet. When you buy a Powerbook just get the installed RAM and buy the rest from Crucial. I paid like 1/4 of what I would have when I bought my new PB by going to Crucial over Apple.

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: Netopia
Does anyone else find it ironic that Steve Jobs is the Top Man at both Pixar and Apple and yet last year replaced all of Pixar's SGI machines with PC's RUNNING LINUX instead of Mac's running OS-X? I've got to think that he could have gotten the Macs WAY cheaper than the PC's, but the company said that PC's and Linux gave the most bang for the buck.

One Artice Is Here, there are ton's out there... just google Pixar AND Linux.

Joe

Well you haven't been paying close enough attention. They switched the render farm to Intel servers, because at the time Xserve G4 was not competitive enough.

They are now buying Power Mac G5s for the workstations and would no doubt strongly consider Xserve G5 if they needed to build a render farm today.