My problems while being an Apple customer

Mac OS X is in my book the best operating sytem you can buy today for office or personal use. A lot easier to handle and understand than Windows and a lot less time consuming then any linux distribution out there. Add to that all the tiny apps that get more and more irreplacable the more you use them and you got yourself the by far best desktop system, far superior to the competition.

Even though I hold OS X in ths high regard I've felt forced to sell my Mac. Not bacause of any software incompatibilites or software bugs, but rather because my patience with Apple had run out. The MacBook Pro's that I've owned has all of them broken down in one way or another. At one point the best operating system on the market can't hold the burden of one hardware failure after another. For me the limit was when the fifth MacBook Pro broke down. Following is my story as an Apple customer.

The problems begin in june 2006

It all began with a very happy purchase of a brand new MacBook Pro, the fifteen inch model. When it arrived, it was great; snappy, powerful and the operating ssytem was just as good as I rememberd it from my previous mac experiences.

Everything continued like that for a week but then, my problems begun. The computer developed a high frequency sound from somewhere below the left part of the keyboard. I called Apples technical support about this and described the problem and that this computer is my work tool (I run a computer related website) and therefore can't be without it for longer periods of time. Pretty soon I got transferd to Tier 2 technical support, the department with more authority and better trained personell. There i got to talk with a technichan, I will call him Eric (not his real name). After explaining the situation for him he asked me to go to a local service center to get the fault confirmed. This was the ninth of june 2006. They had no problem with confirming the problem, but they were not happy about having to confirm it. After this I talked to Eric again and since I had had the computer for less then two weeks when I reported the problem I would get it replaced for a new one.

Since I've had had bad experience with Powerbooks in the past in similar situations I asked if I could wait to get this problem fixed until I knew that there were a fix for it. Next revision whatever you would call it. The reason for the fear was simple, I had read on the Internet that the problem were far from uncommon. I think Eric understood my fear after reading through my old cases and he promised to call back with an answer.

He did call back but there were unfortunally no way to handle my request. I cant say that I was suprised and there really were nothing strange with that. I would get a replacement though and asked if I could keep the one I had until the new one arrived. That was possible. I just had to fas a contract to them agreeing that they could charge me for the second one if I did fail to return the first one. I also made it clear that I didnt want any dead pixels or other small defects on the new computer and obviously, Eric agreed.

Unfortunally did the delivery of this replacement computer not go as smoothly as one could hope. TNT had offered to delier the computer to my work since I wasn't at home when they tried there. I was so suprised by this offer that I actually called TNT to confirm it and sure enough, the answer I got was that had they promised to deliver it to my work then they will keep that promise. Bot obviously that was not the case. There did not arrive any delivery to my work the next day and late that afternoon I called TNT again to ask when I could excpect it to arrive. Thats when I got to talk to the most arrogant and unpleasant person I've ever talked to. She refused to help ne completely and sat, in pure protest quiet for over half a minute after my questions and when she finally did respond the answer was mean and without any help at all. After a while I got tired of this treatment and asked to talk to her supervisor but he was offcourse not there, since I would not stand this treatment I asked to get his phone number so I could call him directly later. She actually laught derisively directly into the phone as a respone to that. Thanks for that TNT! What I actually got from here whas that the packet was at TNT's warehouse at the airport and that they had no intention to keep their promise to deliver the packet today. Directly after this I called Apple to ask them what they could to to help me and got to talk to a nice lady at the Apple After Sales department. She could unfortunally not to anything to help me but I hope my complaint about TNT got through. As it were I ended up taking the car to the airport to pick up the packet at their warehouse. That was the only way for me to get the computer within two days from that day. (Apple had to change the shipping adress and that change would delay it for an extra day.)

When I got home and and booted the computer for the first time, I immediatly realised that it sufferd from the same fault as the one I already had. Just as I had feard. Not only that but it got noticeably warmer to, not something I botherd to talk to Apple about. I found it to be within reasonable levels still. What I did talk to Apple about though was that the display had a deas pixel and the the keyboard actually was misfitted, it was skewed so that he right most keys were uncomfortable to use.

Because of the high frequency sound Apple once more asked me to go to the service center and have the fault confirmed. Not a problem this time either but I was also told that the problem was not uncommon and most MacBook Pros had that problem. The service technichan himself had the problem on his private MacBook Pro and he wold have it fixed as soon as he heard of a solution. I uinfortunally did not have that option. The sound gave me a headache in quiet rooms. When I called Apple after they got the confirmation from the service center i talked to another guy at apple who tried to play a trick. He said that some MacBook Pro's sound like that and thats it. Unfortunally it's not uncommom that companies try to get away with problem in this manner but I stayed calm and just said that ”That it is common does not make it correct. It only makes it a systemetic fault.” Which in my book is alot worse then a singe pruduction error. He got the hint and quickly abandoned that track.

Eric was back the following Monday and I could talk to him again, the first call was at around 12. He had no more information at that time but he would get mack to me as soon as he got more information trom the technicians he had contacted. He promised he would get mack to me before the week end and he did, wit a margin. He called back that same afternoon to report that there were no solution to the problem. All i could do was to talk with Customer Relations about some kind of reimbursement. They had closed about fifteen minutes before I got the call from Eric so he promised to call me back the following day.

As promised I got a call from him before lunch and he had good news! The technicians had contacted him again and told him that they had a brand new version of the logic board. (Where the problem is located.) This new revision will reduce the sound, but not eliminate it. Both Eric and I thought that could be the solution I had been waiting for and we decided that I should test it. Because this is a brand new logic board there were no way to know if I got it without getting a build-to-order computer which mine was not so we had to wait a week for the old stock to get replaced with new ones.

Two days later I had to call back, the computer had become dignifalcantly worse. The high frequency sound had gotten alot louder. Very high frequency with the AC-adapter plugged in and with a lower tone but just as intense on battery. It was enough to get people in the other end of a fairly big room to comment on it. Not only that but there were a sparkling sound from the area arund the MagSafe. Very uncomfortable. When I called Apple about this Eric sounded worried and said that he would do what he could to speed the proces up. He ended up changing one parameter in the replacement computers specification so that it would have to be specially built. He called back the next day to confirm the last details. He had changed the memory configuration from 512 MB to 1 GB. It would take five to seven days tor the computer to be manufactured and a few more days for it to be delivered.

I get a call from Apple the following day (june 30) and they ask me to sign a paper and in which I agree to the changes made to the configuration. There were a few problems here as their database of serial numbers show my MacBook Pro as one with a glossy display, while it in fact has a matte display. After a few emails the problem is sorted and I print, sign and fax back the paper to Apple. That meant that the new computer was on order and I got it at the end of the following week. I got to keep the defective computer until the new one arrived this time around too.

You would hope that the history should come to an and at this point. I got a computer with the new logic board and everything should be fine. No such luch though. After booting it I get same well known high frequency sound again and not only that, the computer get burningly hot. I cant put my hand on the metal on the left side of the computer after it had been running for an hour.

I called Apple again and had to expian my case one more for someone at technical support even though they should transfer me to tier 2 as soon as I give them the case number. Ths usually takes abut five minutes ans have by this become a frustrating routine.

At this time it begun to turn to the worse. Eric begin takling about that the sound problem probably is within specification and that the heat ir produces is normal. (Even though it is 20 to 30 degrees centigrade warmer then the first one.) Not only that but he want to bring in another service center to get the faout confirmed. This sound to me like he want to find a service technician that does a worse job and concludes that there is no problem. This is offcouse not something I will tolerate, for two reasons. First of all I cant be away fron work that long and all other serice centers are further away and second, I dont want to risk finding a technician that has a higher tolerance level than I do.

I call my normal service center but since it is summer they have special opening hours which unfortunally is at times when I have no way to get to them so I ende up calling other service centers anyway. The results were less then satisfying, closed for summer or without technicians. This forced me to call Apple again and ask if it really is nececary for me to have the fault confirmed by a third party, there were none that I could get hold of that could help me with it. But no, there was no way to get around this. The problem had to be confirmed by a service center. Really, really bad Apple! I had had the same problem confirmed before and not only that but the computer is acutally bought directly from Apple Store not from any third party reseller.

Later that same evning I get a call from Eric and he tells me that he has found a solution. He found a company in a nearby town that could do replace the logic board and I only had to be without the computer for 24 hours. I was a bit suspicous about this bacause the previous times I've had my Powerbook in for repairs I got it back in worse shape then when I handed it in, this happened several times. Anyway, since it was another service center I agreed and he calle dthe company to set up the repair. Later the same day the technician from the service center calls me and confirms everything and promises to call me when the logic board arrives. It could take up to two days bacuse of the time when the order was placed. Two days later he called me and said that the logic bard had arrived and that I should come in with the computer the next day. I get there about at about 11 and four hours later he called me and asked if he could run a few tests before I pick it up which offcouse were fine. An hour later he called again and said that I could pick it up and half an hour after that I have got it back. With out a doubt the best service experience I have ever seen! Far superior to Apples normal routines.

The problems did unfortunaly not go away, not entirely anyway. The computer became cooler but the fan run constantly, it never turns off and the space key begun to squeak.

After this did Apple not even recognise the problem. They said that the sound problem is ”within specifications” and thats the end of it. This without even listening at the computer and even though the problem has been confirmed at two separete times by a trained technician.

All that is left to do now is to talk with Customer Relations about some kind of reimbursement. I do not get why, there obviously was a fault the first times I had the problem and nothing has changed. The same problem did till exist. Just because the problem is systematic does not make it right!

I still like Apple products but my confidence in the MacBook Pro 15 is zero and Eric, who had been a great help up until recently had given up. The problem still exists and hiding behind ”It's within specifications” is low.

It turns out that when I talk to Customer Relations, their view of the problem was different from Tier 2 technical support. The problem was very much real for them. Their idea of an aproperiate compensation was an iPod Nano or a printer but this doesnt even add upp to my phone bill while talking to Apple. I declined and told them that that was not acceptable. I decided it was thme to get everything sorted out once and for all so I demanded to get all their documentation about all my cases at Apple. To do this I had to find all my old case numbers which in it self was a project but, with the help of Customer Relations and Tier 2 technical support, I finally got hold of them, beginning with a PowerBook 12”. With those numbers at hand I faxed in a written request to get the documentation. This started the process at Apple and at the same time, my contact att Customer Relations, would think of a better way to compensate me.

This was a friday and I called back the following tuesday to get a status update but it turned out that they had not finnished collecting all data from the cases and neither had they decided on the compensation. But my contact promised to call me the following day.

I got that call at lunch time but could not speak at that moment so she (my contact) promised to call back later the same day. Which she also did. She had at that time talked with a technician that about something a technician had mentioned to me, that the 17 inch version of the MacBook Pro was free of this problem. The result was that I was offered that version as a erplacement for my 15 inch model. I was not entirely happy about this solution, I found the 17 inch model to big for me but if it would eliminate my problems, then it would be worth it. I told her i could not decide right now and asked to call back with an answer within the hour. I finally decided to accept the offer, after a discussion at home. It was a very generous solution I had been offered and the few centimeters that differd would be compensated with the better performace and most of all that the noise would go away.

MacBook Pro 17

The computer I accepted was a MacBook Pro 17” with 2 GB of RAM, a 100 GB 7200 RPM harddrive and a matte display. This was definatly something that had me reconsider Apple, this was a great gesture and something that made me very happy.

The deliverey was not problem free. After tracking the delivery with TNT:s tracking system I saw that the comupter was uot on a truck for delivery. TNT usually deliver the packages before 11 to my adress and I awited for a few hours after that but then called TNT to chech what was going on. At that time they said that they indeed had tried to deliver the package to me but that I had not answerd the phonecall. But since my mobile phone had been turned on and within coverage I knew that I had not got any phonecalls at all the day. I even stayed at home the whole day to be sure that I would not miss the delivery.

I could not accept that they shoud do the delivery some other day. It was they that had been lazy not me. It was today I had stayed at home to wait for the delivery. Somehow the message got through and some time later the driver called me and said that he would go as far as 3 km from my house but he would not drive off his return route to deliver the package. I had to get to him to get my computer today. Ths was obviously not something i would accept. They are paid to deliver the package to my adress and thats what they should do. I called TNT's customer serivce instead of taking the fight with the driver but I hit a stone wall. Ther aguments were that they had already trid to deliver the package one time today (which they in fact had not) and that they had other packages that had to be delivered. After yelling in the phone for fifteen minutes and laying out my arguments very clearly several times I finally got them to promise to call back. Sure enough, the driver called me a few hours later and I described how he would find my house and I finally got my computer. Yet another worthelss service from TNT!

When I got the computer I was hopeful, this was a different model and the problem should not exist in this one. But, it did, but it was only when the AC-adapter was plugged in that the sound was annoying. This was unfortunally not the only problem, the display's backlight was uneven even after the 7 to 8 minutes of warm up that Apple specifies. Add to this a squeaky space key and I'm back to square one again, Apples goodwill was worth nothing but I was so tired of it all that I just reported the problems this time and then decided to use this computer until a permanent solution was found.

There were more problems coming though. The computer decided at one point to not go to sleep as it should (or woke up during sleep) the result was the the computer was running at full speed inside a padded sleeve and got way to hot. It smelled of burnt electronics when I took it out of the sleeve. I offcourse got worried and called Apple about it and while having them on the phone I took the opportunity to check if they had found a solution to the other problems and it turns out that they had. I happned to call just around an hour after the release of an updated version of the MacBook Pro's. They offered me this one, as both me and the person I talked to agreed that the problems would probably have been fixed at that time.

There was a delay in the delivery because it was such a new model and it could not be delivered October 25, the tey all the paperwork was done but it was scheduled for delivery November 7th. I called Apple the 7th to get a status update and were told that the computer had been delayed and would not be deliverd until the 14th. I was disapointed but I could understand that new models can be delayed so I accepted that without any hard feelings. But when I called them the 14th I got really dissapointed, it had been delayed once more, only two days this time but still. I was recommended to call back again the 17th to get the tracking number.

When I called the 17th i was put on hold and after several minutes they told me that ”the computer is scheduled for delivery late november”. After nagging the person I talked to for a few minutes I got transferd to Customer Relations which was what I asked for from the beginning. It's them that handle my case, no one else. When I talked to them I got told that my CTO-computer for some reason had not been built. I was told that there were a few other customers that were affected by the same misstake and that the case had been escalated to the highest authority. The new date for delivery was November 30th. I was not very happy abut that but what could I do? I got the person I talked to to call me back the following Monday no matter if he had something to tell me or not.

I finally got the MacBook Pro without any more problems and for the first time since this begun I had a completely problem free computer! No high frequency sound, no squeaky keyboard, no uneven backlight. Everything just worked!

I was told to stay in touch for some kind if compensation for all my problems and I did. I was offered a iPod Nano, the 8 GB version. I got it around christmas and that was the last of it. At least thats what I thought.

New problems

In March I got a phone call from someone at Apples Customer Relations department an asked how many MacBook Pro's I have. It tuned out that one of the computers I had sent in had gone missing. When I asked which one he was not sure but thought it was the one from June. I was very suprised about this but but since I had sent all fo them back to Apple whithin the time limits I was not worried. I scanned the the receipt I got from TNT and mailed it to him. That was the last I heard form him so I figured everything was fine.

One month later I got a similar phonecall from Apple again, this time from one of the persons I had talked to before. He asked me the same thing, if I had sent all the defective computer back, which I obviously had. He knew which one that had gone missing this time. It was the 17” I sent back in early December so I mailed a scanned version of the receipt for that one and asked him to get back to me to tell me what happened. A few days later he called me and told me that the computer had been found. I have to say that four month to realise that one of the computers are missing is a long time.

My MacBook Pro begun to show some worrying symptoms not long after that. The hige had become so loose that it could not hold the display at quite normal angles and and the keyboard had been worn out. I sometimes had to press space several times to get a reaction. Tired as I was of all the problems I decided to wait and see if they got worse but on the evening of june 4 2007 someone from Apple called me and said that my warranty was almost out and tried to sell me Apple Care. I was not very interested in buying any kind of extra warranty from Apple and declined. This however got me thinking and I called Custoper Relations the following day to get the problems fixeed before the warranty ran out.

I was then told that I had a new warranty until November and that the person that told me that my warranty was running out had old information. That made me calm and I did not bother fixing the problems at that time but to decided to wait and see. At the end of june the problems had become worse and I had to get it fixed so I called Apple again the 29th and found out that my contad was on vacation and I would get transsferd to someone else at Executive Relations. A person from that departmed called me the same afternoon and told me that I should do a troubleshoot by phone with a technician which I did the same evning, as soon as I got home. The tecnician concluded that the problem affected the display and the keyboad. No suprise there. The person at Executive Relations would talk to his superior in the case ans then call me on the following Monday.

He called me as he promised and told me thet they could do a priority repair but since I use it daily work I asked if they could not replace it like before and let me keep the defective one until the new one had arrived. He was very helpful and promised to do it that way without hesitation. This was all to well known at this point and I did not really want to go through it again but I still thought that everything should work out for the best.

He should had called back before lunch but did not and since I was busy later that afternoon I called Apple after lunch and they told me that he was working on it and would call back later the same day. A few hours later I got the call, just in time for me as I was on my way to the appointment. I was then told that I could not keep the old computer liek before and that I had to be without a computer for what he thought should be less then a week. At that point I questioned the reason to replace the computer and why not do a priority repair of it then. In my mind that would go faster but that was not the case, he said that replacing the computer would still be the fastest way for me to get the problem fixed so I agreed with this arrangement, tired of it all.

He told me several times that this would be the last time Apple did something like this for me and that if I had any more problems I would get a refund, no matter what I wanted. It all sounded like Apple had decided that all the problems was my fault even though all computers except this last one had been defective from factory. Their arguments was that the computer was not suitable for my kind of work. I use it in my univeristy studies and to run a larger computer related site. Not the most demanding stuff for a 2,33 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo based computer.

The old computer got picked up the July 9th and even though he thought I would get the new computer within a week I had to wait over a week, to the 18th before I got the new one. During this time I hade come to a conclusion. If Apple says that they only will give me a refund the next time I get a problem, then I can't stay as their customer anymore. I can't risk having the computer refunded during a busy work week so I decided to sell the replacement computer without even opening it.

Mac OS X is the best operating system I have ever used for my work, but there was nothing that could make me stay with Apples hardware anymore.

I sold the computer the same day as it arrived to me and orderd a Lenovo ThinkPad T61P the following day. Hopefully this will end all my computer hardware related problems. It will definalty end my problems with Apple as it will take alot for me to buy something from them again.

Prevouis problems

The previous bad experiences I talked about has to do with the PowerBooks I have owned in the past. The first one was a 1 Ghz PowerBook 12” with a broken logic board already from factory. I bought that one in December 2003. The computer was in effect useless. Its performance was that bad. Since I had reported the problem within two weeks I got the entire computer replaced and the new one did not have that problem. It did however have a broken touchpad. It became unresponsieve sometimes and let the pointer drift to the wrong direction other times. As this was my first experince with Apple and I didnt know what to except I asked for a refund and got it.

It turned out that I liked the operating system so much that I bought a PowerBook 15” not long after that. It worked great for about a month but the display began developing bright spots after that. The backight was very uneven and had bright spots with a diamater of about 5 cm where the backlight was much more intense than on the surrounding areas.

I talked to Apples technical support and they regarded this as a obvious fault and told me to go to a service center and get it repaird. I did and about three weeks later I got it back, without the bright spots but it seems like MacForum that repaied the computer did not check it at all, because when I got it back the magnetic switch that put the computer to sleep when you close the lid was missing. This made it neccesary to call Apple again and I had to go to MacForum again to get the display replaced once more, as the magnetic switch can't be replaced separatly. After another few weeks I got it back and it was obvious that they had not checked their work this time either. The display had 15 to 20 dead pixels and very uneven backlight.

At that point I had had enough of MacForum's so called service and demaned that I should get a replacement computer from apple and some kind of compensation for my problems. It turned out to be a problem to prove that the computer had infact been repaired as many times as it had. MacForum had not reported the repairs back to Apple.

When I finally got the proof that it had been serviced that many times I was promised a replacement computer. Since there had been an upgrade of the Powerbooks since I bought mine I got faster model which I was happy about but then history began repeating itself. The bright spots appeared on the new computer too and by then, I've had it! I called Apple and demanded a refund and some compenstation for all my phonecalls and all the problem. But all I got from Apple was a refund, noting more than that. Swedish law dictates that I should get a a compensation for what all the problems had costed me but that did not bother Apple. I was so tired of it that I just accepted the money with the decision that I never should buy something form Apple ever again.

The time went by and I begun to forget all the problems Apple had given me så I bought an iPod in January 2005. It worked great for about half a year but after that it began skipping tracks at random and just play half a second of other. It froze and behaved very unreliable. I called Apple again, no need to look it up anymore. I know it. I was then asked to get it repaird at a service center which meant that I once again had to go to MacForum to have one of my Apple products repaired. I got it back after several weeks and in worse shape then when I handed it in. It had an ink stain on the click wheel that I noticed as soon as i got it unpacked at home so I had to go back to MacForum again and demand that they shoud fix that. There I got to talk to someone very unpleasant that stated that it was the shape it was in when they got it from me and that he ”rememberd that”. He could not have remembered that because the stain was not there when I handed it in, it did however have several scratches but thats anothe story. They finally tried to clean it with some solvant and got rid of the stain while I watched. Why did they not do that before?

The problem was unfortunally not solved after this, the iPod behaved exactly like it did before so I called Apple again and they said that I should go back to MacForum and have it repaired once more but there i hit a wall. They do not handle engraved iPods anymore. That would be something I would expect Apple to know. They should not send me to a service center that do not handle the product.

I had to send it directly to apple this time and got it back after about two weeks. Same problem as before so I called and had to send it in for rapairs again. Third time is the charm they say but not in this case. The problem remained.

I called Apple and demanded a new iPod, the old one was obviuosly not repariable. But no. Apple said that they only had repaired it once even though they had had it in for repairs three times. The first two times did not count because they could not find the fault. Because of this apple said that I was not entitled to a replacement. I did agree with their reasoning and told them that they've had the iPod in for repairs serveral times and that there was a fault. They did repair it the last time, remember.

The law in Sweden states the a company has the right to repair a product twice before replacing it or giving a refund and since I had handed it in for rapairs three times I figures that I had the law on my side so I called the department that handles this kind of cases and they adviced me to report Apple. I called Apple again to give them notice of that and then they got alot more helpful. They promised to call me back later and they did a few hours alter and said that I could get a new iPod. Is it really reasonable that I should have to threaten with the autorities to get what I am entitled to? Really bad form Apples part!

To summarise

• December '03 & Jan -04
  
  
  
  • PB12" (#1): Really bad performance, was a defective logic board. Got computer replaced.
  
  
  • PB12" (#2): A touch pad that works only occationally. Returned for refund.
  
  
  • Spring '04: Bought a PB15" (#3)
  
  
  
  


• Summer/Autumn -04
  
  
  
  • PB15" (#3): Bright spots appear get screen replaced
  
  
  • PB15" (#3 display 2): Display does not have magnetic switch, has to be replaced.
  
  
  • PB15" (#3 display 3): 15+ dead pixels and uneven backlight. Got computer replaced as swedish law states. Apple were nice and updated it to he current top of the line, a 1,5 GHz.
  
  
  • PB15" (#4): Bright spots appear again. I've had it and got a refund.
  
  
  
  


• Winter/Spring -05
  
  
  
  • iPod (#1): Bought 20 GB iPod
  
  
  
  


• Autumn -05
  
  
  
  • iPod (#1): In for repairs for 3 weeks without results. Returned with ink stain.
  
  
  • iPod (#1): In for repairs for 2 weeks without results.
  
  
  • iPod (#1): In for repairs for 2 weeks without results.
  
  
  • iPod (#2): Got it as a replacement for iPod (#1)
  
  
  
  


• Spring/Summer -06
  
  
  
  • MBP15" (#5): CPU-whine. Got computer replaced as apples sale agreement allows within 14 days.
    
  • MBP15" (#6): This one has even worse whine than the previous one, a misaligned keyboard and a sparkeling sound from the magsafe area.
    
  • MBP15" (#7): Got a new one again with the latest logic board. Whine still present and the computer get burning hot.
    
  • MBP15" (#7 logic board 2): Whine still present and the fans run all the time.
    
  
  


• Winter -06, Spring, summer -07
  
  
  
  • MBP17" (#8): Got this one as a sort of compensation and hopefully a solution. Whine present when charger conncted. Uneven backlight on the keyboard even after the initial 7 minutes when it is acceptable.
    
  • MBP17" (#9): Works fine for 6 month. Then the hinge wore too loose and the space key begun to wear out.
    
  • MBP17" (#10): Getting this one as "their last try"