Well, my less-than three month old Apple MacBook is playing up – black screen, flickering screen – not happy. And I’m not the only one who is not happy. I took into the Apple store, and after one week, they informed me that the problem was related to the dreaded Random Shut Down. This problem is affecting loads of other people to the point where there is a web site dedicated to afflicted, disgruntled users.
Apple has acknowledged that there is a problem, and the Apple store told me that the logic board would need replacing…. but that there is a 4 week backlog in getting the (now updated) part! I didn’t buy the laptop form this store, but form another reseller, otherwise, the Manager would have happily given me a replacement. So now I’m fighting with the company I did buy it from, GBM Digital Technologies. Aside from the fact that they are no longer open weekends, and hence impossible to get to without taking time off work, they have a policy of offering repairs only to products over 14 days old. And though they get the parts form the same supplier as the Apple store (i.e. Apple), they don’t think there will be a backlog.
I’m not risking it. I’m not even convinced my issues are the same as others. I’ve spoken to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (very helpful) and I’m perfectly within my right to request an exchange or a refund. Might go for the latter, then buy a new one from Apple or John Lewis. Of course, it could all get a bit messy, and I could end up taking them to court.
I love my Apple. The Operating System, Mac OSX is amazing, and the new Intel laptops are quick and look great. But the hardware is frankly, rubbish. Apple just can’t produce decent hardware. The iPod is plagued with issues, and sadly, I’ve been through this whole, sorry saga before when I purchased an iBook several years ago.
After 3 months I started to get the horizontal lines so I took it back to the Apple reseller. They ran diagnostics, and 3 weeks later replaced the logic board. 3 months later, same thing happened. Told the store I wanted a replacement, not another repair. They refused so I got in touch with Apple and finally agreed to a repair if they extended the warranty. So, they ran diagnostics, replaced everything but couldn’t fix it. Ended up offering me a replacement… but there were none in Australia for another 3 weeks. So after 7 weeks, got my replacement. 3 months later.. horizontal lines again!
This time I decided I wanted a refund. I found a heap of people with the same problem on the forums on the apple web site, but neither the store, nor Apple would admit that it was a design fault. I ended up taking the reseller (and Apple) to the small-claims court and one day before the hearing, the reseller refunded me in full. Frustrating and unnecessary.
Six weeks after the refund, Apple admitted it was a design fault and offered free repairs. I lost my faith in Apple for a long time, but recently decided to give them another chance.
My patience is wearing very thin.
Well, my macbook is running pretty good at the moment. How did we ever live without dual core? Yes it did moo (http://www.moobook.com/) but the firmware update fixed that. Only problem I have had with my previous powerbook was a faulty hard drive after 2 years, which was fixed without problem under warranty (and not really an apple hardware problem). I did take it to the apple store and they said it would take 4 weeks (this was over Christmas), so instead I went to a small reseller and they ordered the part in and called me when it was ready to be installed (the drive wasn’t totally dead so I did keep using the machine for a while). Same day drop off and pickup.
My iPod’s centre button stopped clicking properly (still worked but the tactile response wasn’t there) so I dropped into the Apple Store in Ginza (http://www.apple.com/retail/jp/ginza/) and they replaced it on the spot. You can’t beat international warranties.
I’d rather have beautifully designed machines from a company trying to do something interesting in industrial design than a knobbly, bulky dell laptop any day (though my work Inspiron 9200 is the best I’ve seen yet from Dell).
Anyway, I appreciate that your experience has been less than fantastic but hang in there!
I also use a macbook myself and I can assure the fact that these are not really important problems.Those will be solved by apple technical team within days.