I will NEVER buy another product made by Apple computer regardless of how magnificent it may be.

[SickBeast]

Well, my less than 6 month old ipod died the other day. It had been acting up, crashing and such, since I had performed the latest firmware upgrade. Then all of a sudden the hold switch stopped working and it was always locked making it unusable.

So, I contacted apple of course, and I was told that it was under warranty and a "shipping package" would arrive at my door within a few days. Then, today, I get an email from them stating that I have to PAY $40US for shipping!!! IT'S CRIMINAL!!! I could ship the thing myself for $5 each direction!!! Not only that, but their literature clearly states that within the first 6 months they pay the shipping.

I purchased the thing on apple's own website...would they not have record of when I purchased it? And why would they promise me free shipping only to revoke it? Grrrrrr....never again will I buy anything made by apple.

/rant over.

 

[MrChad]

Why don't you call them back and ask about the shipping charge?

 

[SickBeast]

Because they charge $49US per tech support incident!!! And their sales lines (which are probably useless and won't be able to tell me anything seeing as I'm not 'buying' anything) are only open while I'm at work. Useless. I'm surprised they even have a 1-800 number. :roll:

 

[imported_Aelius]

You tell them this?

That is what I would do.

Some low paid CSR answers the phone and babbles on just ask for the supervisor.

Supervisor gives you BS ask for the Call Centre manager.

You just gota know who to talk to. That is the reality of dealing the customer support regardless of whom they belong to.

In fact many companies outsource Customer Support to some random company that picks up 6 or 8 month contracts. It is very common.

This also means that CS is low quality compared to internal CS.

However it largely rests with management be it internal or outsourced. If you hire or keep on hired crap you will get crap.

I should know. I'm in the same boat right now. Waiting for the crap to get fired but many buddies with managers.

I hate that crap.

 

[MDE]

Is there an Apple store near you? You could probably take it in there and get it fixed. CompUSA or Circuit City may also be able to do it being Apple certified retailers.

 

[imported_Aelius]

Lol

Sorry but they charge $49 per call?

They are making millions just on CS.

Either that or that would explain why Apple has crappy sales.

Perhaps they need to stop acting like their big brother Microcrack.

 

[SickBeast]

There's an "apple authorized retailler" in downtown Toronto, 20 minutes from my house. That's a good idea, thanks, I'll probably try that. I'm still iritated with this whole situation though. I should have had my "shipping package" today, but instead I have an email saying that I have to pay $40US to ship something that costs $5 or less to ship. Never again, apple, never again. They can't even write firmware...I have yet to see my Sony PS2 crash, or my discman, or any other MP3 player that I've pwned.'

Ok ok sorry guys seriously /rant over now.

 

[SickBeast]

And yes the $49 per call is especially outrageous considering they are paying the CSR probably $1/hour in India somewhere. The call would take 5 minutes if that. The icing on the cake is that the ipod cost me over $400CDN. I guess apple just doesn't know how to manufacture moving parts. The single moving part on the whole freakin' ipod breaks. Go figure.

 

[jdogg707]

I have never had a problem with their service, my iPod died within the time period they specified in the warranty and the guy said they would send a UPS Ground Pre-Paid box to me in order to ship it back in. I told him that I was going out of town and was wondering if he could upgrade the shipping and I would pay the difference, which he did to FedEx Priority Overnight at no charge to me. I got the box the following morning, put the iPod in it, and three days later had my new one sitting at my door. On another occassion I just bought a new Powerbook, shipping date ended up being longer than they thought, so they upgraded me to faster 2 Day shipping and took $50 off the price.

To sum it up, call them back, raise some hell. If it's in their warranty agreement that they pay shipping, they have to, period. And instead of paying $49 bucks a call, go buy the AppleCare for the iPod which is around the same price and get two years for free. Don't trust e-mails, they are stupid, real people tend to work better. Also, if you have an Apple store, they will take care of it as well even though you didn't purchase it from them.

Good Luck!

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
And yes the $49 per call is especially outrageous considering they are paying the CSR probably $1/hour in India somewhere. The call would take 5 minutes if that. The icing on the cake is that the ipod cost me over $400CDN. I guess apple just doesn't know how to manufacture moving parts. The single moving part on the whole freakin' ipod breaks. Go figure.

Apple doesn't manufacture the moving part on your iPod is actually manufactured by another company, like Hitachi I believe.

 

[SickBeast]

Thanks jdogg. If I take it to the apple store will they ship it back to me or will I have to go pick it up? And I don't think I have my receipt because I purchased it online and I can't find my hard copy. Shouldn't they have record of when I purchased it? Or should I just pull up my credit card history?

 

[VisableAssassin]

sorry to hear bout your ordeal man
this is why I went with my nomad jukebox zen xtra.... ive heard too much about apple to even feel comfortable buying from them

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: jdogg707
Apple doesn't manufacture the moving part on your iPod is actually manufactured by another company, like Hitachi I believe.

Yeah I forgot about the hard drive.

The hold switch IS a moving part tho.

 

[DotheDamnTHing]

doesnt ecs manufacture apples notebooks?

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
Thanks jdogg. If I take it to the apple store will they ship it back to me or will I have to go pick it up? And I don't think I have my receipt because I purchased it online and I can't find my hard copy. Shouldn't they have record of when I purchased it? Or should I just pull up my credit card history?

They should have record of it. I know online that you can only view the past 90 days, but if you call them up they can mail or fax you a copy of any order you made. As far as shipping, they may replace it for you on spot, one of the "Geniuses" mgiht be able to fix it, who knows. It might be worth the trip. Just have acopy of your order before you go.

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: SickBeast

Originally posted by: jdogg707
Apple doesn't manufacture the moving part on your iPod is actually manufactured by another company, like Hitachi I believe.

Yeah I forgot about the hard drive.

The hold switch IS a moving part tho.

haha, I wasn't even thinking about that.

 

[Addikt]

What I find to be the largest injustice is not how Apple charges for customer service and such, but moreso how they exploit their small loyal fan-base. I mean I told someone who was an Apple fanatic, the large expenses that they would have to pay if their (in this case) powerbook broke and all they told me was that "yeah but how often do apple products require service compared to regular PCs?" Well perhaps they are a little more stable, I mean only one company manufactures all the parts so you are sure to have compatible parts, but with standards in the IBM clone world...well...PC maintenance isn't as high as you think it would be. Now with Apple tripping all over themselves manufacturing poor quality product at cheaper prices, they cannot backup their "high quality" motto and thier product line and repuatation are going down the tubes. Personally, I have nothing against Mac, I like some of their products and recognize how they are better suited for certain task. In general however, I am happy because finally these loyal Apple slaves will have nothing to get up in your face about. They always seem like they have to back up the reasoning for thier $7000 purchase, and then again for $7000 I would probably feel the same way...

Just my opinion.

 

[prism]

If you do decide to say screw Apple and the iPod, I highly recommend Creative Labs' Nomad Muvo NX. Barely bigger than a 5 stick pack of gum, 128MB, USB, and it accidentally went through the washing machine (I guess a possible downside of being so tiny ) but it keeps on workin like a champ!

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: Addikt
What I find to be the largest injustice is not how Apple charges for customer service and such, but moreso how they exploit their small loyal fan-base. I mean I told someone who was an Apple fanatic, the large expenses that they would have to pay if their (in this case) powerbook broke and all they told me was that "yeah but how often do apple products require service compared to regular PCs?" Well perhaps they are a little more stable, I mean only one company manufactures all the parts so you are sure to have compatible parts, but with standards in the IBM clone world...well...PC maintenance isn't as high as you think it would be. Now with Apple tripping all over themselves manufacturing poor quality product at cheaper prices, they cannot backup their "high quality" motto and thier product line and repuatation are going down the tubes. Personally, I have nothing against Mac, I like some of their products and recognize how they are better suited for certain task. In general however, I am happy because finally these loyal Apple slaves will have nothing to get up in your face about. They always seem like they have to back up the reasoning for thier $7000 purchase, and then again for $7000 I would probably feel the same way...

Just my opinion.

Apple computers break just like anything else, and in the case of a laptops especially, they will charge you a fortune to repair something. Dell charged a friend of mine $1,000 to replace the 15.4" screen on his 8600, Apple charged the same amount to replace the broken screen on another friend's powerbook. As far as laptops go, I will always buy an extended warranty, because repairs are just way to expensive. On the desktop side, I have never owned a PowerMac or iMac, so I have no idea how much they cost to fix. But I worked at Circuit City for three years, and HP charged an outrageous amount of money to fix a DVD-ROM drive on one customers computer, almost $300 bucks (Newegg had them for $40), not including shipping charges that the customer had to pay because she wasn't close to a HP Repair facility or authorized repair location. She had to bring it to us, pay us the money, and we sent it to HP. That is why I build my own desktops, it ends up being much cheaper in the long run...especially if there is a problem. For consumers, the best thing to do is buy an extended warranty, that is why repairs are so expensive, they want you to either buy a warranty or get another computer. It's that way using any computer. It's like Dell using proprietary boards and PSU's, so if something goes wrong, you can't replace it on your own, you have to send it to them and pay them for it. It's all about making money, no matter where you turn.

 

[DotheDamnTHing]

can any one confirm if ecs makes apples notebooks please? i thought i read this somewhere

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: DotheDamnTHing
can any one confirm if ecs makes apples notebooks please? i thought i read this somewhere

May be a bit dated, but here is probably what you saw

 

[addragyn]

It's clearly a mistake mistake/misunderstanding. Just contact them again and get it taken care of. You can even do it all online.

http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/

AFAIK all Apple's US c support call centers are in the US.

You pay for phone support when your initial support period is over.

 

[SickBeast]

Well, yes it was a mistake on my part unfortunately. I bought the iPod exactly 187 days ago, which puts me 7 days out of warranty coverage for shipping.

I just wish they hadn't promised me free shipping only to take it away later.

I ended up paying $89CDN for 1 year of applecare warranty, which included free shipping. Thanks to everyone who posted. My opinion of apple computers remains unchanged however; it's criminal to charge someone $40 to ship something when in reality you could do it for $5. When I RMA'ed my Asus motherboard, they let me ship it myself and it only cost me $5.

The good news is that they guy at apple told me that I would be getting a brand new iPod which is very nice. I guess I shouldn't really complain about getting a new iPod for $89. Free would have been much nicer, considering it was under warranty.