Sting them once, then sting them again

I read this today which relates to the issue involving the horizontal lines on the 17" Powerbook.
http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/Apple%27s_Position

The following response taken from the article above, highlights exactly the disregard Apple has for its customers and how they rip them off.

A call to AppleCare UK on Fri 18 May 07 confirmed currently Apple’s position is as follows.

Owners of defective PowerBooks should take them to an Apple Store for repair. Since the defect typically manifests AFTER the standard Apple one year warranty expires, end-users are expected to pay for the repair at commercial rates. A visit to the Apple Store, Regent Street, London, UK on 24 Mar 07 established that if your computer is beyond Apple’s warranty period, and you haven’t bought an additional AppleCare Protection Plan, you may be quoted repair prices between UK£500+ if the display needs replacing and UK£673 if the logic board needs replacing, and would be without your computer for around three weeks.

A cynic might characterise such an expensive-to-repair defect as built-in-obsolescence par excellence – "sting ’em royally when you originally sell the machine, then sting ’em so hard for as early an out-of-warranty repair as possible that they consider buying a whole new machine!" However, if Apple let’s down its loyal customers so badly, might they not take their notebook purchasing money to a manufacturer like Dell, who deal with their defective-PC=free-repair obligations with honour?

To summarise: in addition to paying a high price premium (eg: UK£1,949) for Apple’s top-of-the-range state-of-the-art notebook computer in 2005, Apple now expect us to pay them another huge amount of money (eg: UK£500+ to UK£673) for them to repair a manufacturing defect!

Steps to remedy the situation

I took my laptop to an Apple repair store in Sarbrücken this week where to my dismay I was told that the problem could only be fixed with a totally new display unit costing 600 Euros!! You can buy a new laptop for that much today and exactly half the cost of a new Mac G4.

I was absolutely speechless as I had expected that it was just a loose or worn out cable connecting the display to the motherboard.

How on earth can a display fail after only two years with normal usage on a machine that costs so much money??!

Well, it seems I am not alone. A review of forums like this, told me that this is a common problem which only gets worse.

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/8300945231/m/529008336731

I phoned up Apple customer services in Germany, and spoke with a Frau Miko*ya.
Name obscured to protect identity) She politely informed me that:

1. Yes Apple is aware of problems relating to the displays of the Mac G4 Powerbook, but these problems do not fall under the serial number that I provided, and in any case they have all been fixed (Hmm then why so many threads retaining to it, and so many shut down by Apple?)
2. Sorry, Apple provides only one year Guarantee and you have surpassed that. I can understand that you are angry and you can let it out here if you want (how nice, I guess you can put your feet up and listen to some music while I rant, and at the end of it, it won't have cost you a penny).
   

I then asked to speak to her superior. After being put on hold for a while I was eventually put through to a Herr Lieb*g who told me in no uncertain terms that:

1. It was not unreasonable to expect this sort of problem after two years (Oh really? I think others, not just myself would have a problem having to shell out 600 euros after only two years for a well known fault which Apple should take responsibility for. My friends have also had their non mac laptops for up to 5 years without any problems)
2. This problem is not so common, I was unlucky, besides there are more people on the internet that complain about Macs when things go wrong than people who praise their machines and therefore it looks unrepresentative (Right...)
   

And my favourite line of all, when pointing out that Apple has an obligation to show some goodwill and pay some of the costs towards fixing an expensive KNOWN fault of the model that has occurred after two years.

"I am glad that you brought the subject of obligations up. It is a customers obligation not to bother the producer after the warranty has run out".


Thanks Apple! :)

Problems Part 3

A few months ago disaster struck - my screen began to go haywire, and inexplicably rows of horizontal lines began to appear across my screen up until a third of the way and then stop. The situation could only be bettered by tilting the screen an inch forward or back. Similarly however, when the screen was tilted or the computer nudged in any way, they would return.

A quick look on the internet shows that I am not alone in this problem. Apparently the PowerBooks have tremendous quality issues which Apple are seeking to ignore by closing and locking threads relating to defective powerbook displays.

Take a look at this site:

http://www.appledefects.com/?p=291

"The nasty screen lines issue is still appearing on PowerBook 17″ models. We have covered this several times before and it just won’t die."

Numerous forum postings pertain to screen defect problems with both the 15" and 17" PowerBook Models with Apple refusing to acknowledge it. Putting profit before it's customers...where have we heard that before.

Problems Part 2

A month goes by and everything was good with the world. True, i was frustrated by the lack of software available for Mac but it felt cool to have a Mac and the Operating system was great.

One day, however, my bubble burst for a second time. It was while watching a film that I realised that my mac was burning a hole in my trousers...is this normal I asked myself as I surveyed my red skin on my thigh ?

No, of course not. A little research on the net revealed that this was a known issue with this model of laptop.

http://www.apple.com/la/support/powerbook/batteryexchange/index.lae.html

I contacted Apple and waited another week while I sent off my defective battery and waited for a new one.

Eventually a replacement arrived. The problem was fixed. So far I was willing to forgive Mac for their incompetence (twice) as although both issues were annoying, I was at least financially not harmed...

Problems Part 1

Imagine the scene if you will...It was a chilly December day in 2005, when I stumbled excitedly like a child in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, into an Apple store in Köln Germany.

Although I had more or less made up my mind to buy a Mac beforehand, it still took some deliberation and persuasion due to the price and the uncertainty of buying a machine.

Luckily for Apple the somewhat smarmy and über cool rhetoric and demeanor of the typical Apple store employee did the trick (if you've been in an Apple Store you will know what I'm talking about) and, after half an hour I was walking home the proud owner of a shiny Mac Powerbook G4 15" 1.67 Ghz with a big smile on my face.

Oh the excitement as I unwrapped it, and began immediately experimenting with my first new MAC. Christmas had indeed come early!

Little did I know that Santa Claus had been a bastard and left me coal in my stocking.

Yes, my excitement faded and was alas replaced with puzzlement as within minutes I realised that the PowerBook wasn't charging up properly. For example, within 30 seconds, the LED display would turn green (indicating it was fully charged) despite the the battery being almost empty! In fact it took two days of straight charging for it to be even half full. "Odd" I thought...

So, I took it back to the apple shop which was all the way across town, (no mean feat as I didn't have a car at the time) and sought after my friendly Mac employee who had been so attentive gushed such lavish praise on my choice of purchase.

As soon as the words left my mouth, his smile evaporated and was replaced with a look of intense annoyance and bemusement. Funny, he was happy and all smiles selling me a 1800 Euro (1,150 pounds) Laptop but as soon as it went wrong, I was clearly a "nuisance". First warning sign.

No matter, I was assured it was easily fixable. I couldn't receive a replacement there and then, but I had to wait a week and was given a new PowerBook as a replacement.

Greetings and welcome to Rip-Off-Mac

First of all, I would like to give you an introduction to my blog.

I begin this blog with a heavy heart, as far from being an avid PC fan, I have for the best part of two years been a happy Mac user. I revelled in the fact that I was saying no to Microsoft, learning a new system, and could boast to my friends of the relative stability that a Mac brought.

Sadly must I now say, that I will never EVER purchase a another Mac again, and will warn others not to do so, simply due to the appalling lack of customer care and disregard for after sales service and the arrogance that Apple shows to their customers. Even if I can make a few hundred, or thousand people think twice about buying a Mac I will be satisfied.

To learn more about my problems with Apple please read on. If you too have, or had similar experiences, particularly in regards to display issues with a 15" PowerBook please contact me using the following address:

apple.problems@googlemail.com

Details of my Mac:

Mac Powerbook G4 15" 1.67Ghz
Serial no: W8541N6HSWZ