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My (New) Baby Went Back

2006.11.07 @ 22:53:53 -0600 under  Life, Mac

I am quite sure that you know by now that I received my MacBook Pro (affectionately called My (New) Baby a while ago. I couldn’t be any happier as it was making my life lot more simpler and easier - effortlessly running Photoshop, Firefox, Terminals, Nikon Capture NX, … at the same time (thanks to Chong’s inspriations, I had upgraded the RAM to a maximum allowable 2GB).

Just when it was starting to look/feel like a fairy tale, I realized that Apple hadn’t yet sent the shipping carton (with return shipping label, RMA #, etc) even after 10+ days. So, I call them and after about 6 hours of non-responsive waiting and 30 minutes of communication with a homo-sapien on the other end, I had the following realization:

  1. The Technical Support Person (Chris by name, who handled my call on 12th October) did not make proper/complete notes of the problem and the solution he recommended (that my old Powerbook G4 would be taken back by Apple, in exchange for a MacBook Pro)
  2. Apple’s Customer Relations Supervisor had no way of connecting me back to this Chris named person - which I believe, for a company like Apple, is a true lie. If it actually is truly true, then, shame on them.
  3. I had to return the MacBook Pro at my personal expense back to Apple.
  4. Only good thing being that I wouldn’t be charged the usual 10% re-stocking fee for having opened the box.

So, with a heavy heart (and due to the fact that I cannot keep two computers), I sent my new baby back to Apple today. In the meanwhile, I have also been talking to some of my legally inclined friends for some useful information. I feel it’s a shame because such poor customer service puts a blame on Steve Jobs & Co. (hundreds of programmers/developers who work really hard to make this product what it is). And in passing, if any of you know that Chris guy who handled my call, please shield him. If he meets me, … you know the rest.

PS: I would greatly appreciate your calls or comments to console me :(

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7 Responses to “My (New) Baby Went Back”

chong
2006.11.08 @ 19:20:56

Are you kidding me? Wow, there’s no way I would ship that back. Apple customer service sucks. I had an iBook that had the same problem over and over again and they finally said that they wouldn’t fix it for me unless I paid a lot of money (even though it was covered under a warrenty). Didn’t you tell me that you paid a bit more for the difference between the powerbook and the macbook? If thats the case then you made a new contract to end the original one, a contract that you should be able to enforce against them if you choose to. Honestly what are they going to say? They shipped it to you out of mistake? I think not. I refer you to my friend 2 years ago that was accidently shipped 2 ipod shuffles from one of those free ipod things. My buddy told them to piss off, even when they threatened legal action. Turns out there is some statute in Michigan where if someone ships you something by mistake then you are under no obligation to return it (might want to research that on your own though). Under no circumstances would I part with that computer. It’s not like you didn’t pay for it. I certainly wouldn’t pay to ship it back. Don’t let them get the best of you. The law is on your side here.

Kyle Schneider
2006.11.08 @ 19:33:23

Call me Gowtham, I’ve got a suggestion as to what you can do. At the very least, you can expect to recover the shipping costs and perhaps get the Mac Pro back. (Without the hassle of going to court.)

Gowtham
2006.11.08 @ 23:15:23

@Chong,
Thanks for the info dude - keeping my fingers crossed and hopefully I will get it back soon….

Gowtham
2006.11.08 @ 23:20:48

@Kyle,
Thanks for the tip and the very useful information - will bring over my version of the letter to the LUG meeting tomorrow…

Sreenivas
2006.11.09 @ 02:06:21

Question: Why did you decide on buying a MAC??!??!!!!????? Why do you want to be one of those SMUG mac users? Every mac user I met can’t help being evangelistic about MACs. According to them, anything bad that happens to my PC is purely because I am not using a MAC.

I have a friend who bought a MAC a month ago because, he said, he wanted to fit in with the “intellectuals”. He is sick of it and the customer service. He returned it for a loss and got a Windows PC, partitioned it, installed Linux, and now he is happy, like all other sane people out there.

Sorry for venting my anger on you man but I get upset when I see someone getting ripped off by Apple/MAC. I am just trying to be a Microsoft Evangelist :)

Good Luck with your (New) Baby

Gowtham
2006.11.09 @ 20:34:06

@Sreenivas,
It has been a while (over six months) since I moved the *Darker* side of computers. It is something in MAC that makes every MAC user become an evangelist, and I am no exception. As far as buying a PC and using it as a dual boot machine, I have done enough of that (for over two years) and it’s a very painful job to maintain two Operating Systems. I can’t use Windows for any of research work and with some of the enterprise editions of Linux, I can’t use them for presentation. So, doing research and preparing graphics in one (linux) and presenting them in the other (windows) and swapping between them to do things that they can’t do on their own…. guess I am done with it.

I have pure Linux box too - which doubles as my desktop as well as server (from where this website gets served) along with many other research related activities. Nothing to rub in or no offense intended, but Windows is just a poor pirated version of MAC. Sony, DELL, HP, PC Connection, … all have crappy customer service. When customer service is the same crap everywhere, at least I have the satisfaction of using a stable, sturdy, reliable Operating System that lets me do everything in one. It’s cooler, makes me look geekier, gives people something (a glowing apple in darkness) when I am giving a presentation and they are not interested to listen :D

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