WTF Apple?!?
Wednesday June 23, 2004 – 4:17 pmI just talked to AppleCare again, they got the laptop. They’re telling me there’s been a liquid spillage inside the machine, and therefore any repairs can’t be covered by the warranty. To my knowledge there has never EVER been any liquid anywhere near this machine. So I’m completely baffled and pissed. They’re sending it back, I guess I’ll have to chuck it. What a fucking bummer! Could they be mistaken about a thing like this? I treat my stuff with great care and I reckon I would know if I’d gotten my laptop wet. I haven’t. Ugh.
June 23rd, 2004 at 5:37 pm
Don’t chuck it - sell it on Ebay, parts for machines are always getting bought and for a fair price too. Check out the recently sold iBook parts to get an idea of what the screen would go for.
June 23rd, 2004 at 8:20 pm
Wow, as a new PowerBook owner, I was actually getting pretty persuaded by your earlier posts that I should sign up for AppleCare. Now I think it’s not such a good idea. They should know that you have influence over other Mac consumers. Perhaps write them an “open letter,” sending it to them and putting it on your blog at the same time.
Liz Lawley did this recently with regard to a bad experience at a restaurant.
It might not make them change their mind regarding your laptop, but it will probably make you feel better.
Sorry to hear your ‘book is dead.
June 23rd, 2004 at 11:21 pm
Thanks George. I’m so bummed. :-( I don’t think I have enough fight left in me to argue with them on the liquid-or-no-liquid issue though. That thing’s got a looootta miles on it, it’s been with me on so many tours and trips… I can’t say I was watching it every second for two and a half years. I say I treat my machines well but the reality is, even if I do treat them well, I use the *shit* out of ‘em. Any laptop that survives more than two years with me is living on borrowed time. I was just hoping… well, it’s just a shock for them to say THAT. It’s so random, they could’ve said almost anything BUT that and I might’ve believed ‘em a lot more easily. But I guess if they saw evidence of liquid, there musta been liquid. But *when*? And how?
Heavy sigh.
June 23rd, 2004 at 11:48 pm
Oh yeah, so she ran down the list of parts that had been ruined by the liquid spillage, right? She was rattling ‘em off like an oldtime auctioneer. The LOGIC board (of course!), the hard drive, the CD player, I forget what else, all ruined. The hell!!??!! I almost started laughing, it was so wack.
Maybe I left the windows open, left the house and it rained without me knowing? The laptop was on a big bedside table I have, nearish to a window. (I used it mainly for playing sleepytime ambient music, and for storing backups of stuff on my newer iBook.) So I guess it’s possible but… if that had happened, then my bed would’ve gotten even more water on it, and I’m sure I would’ve noticed that. God… whatEVER. It’s just nature’s way of telling me I have too many GOT-damn computers around here.
June 24th, 2004 at 6:36 am
i suspect the problem is on apple’s end. working on some cases involving cell phone dealers, it’s become apparent that some technicians, when they hit something they don’t want to deal with, default to “water damage,” which is nearly impossible for the customer to argue with unless they want to go higher up. i’m one of those people who never do - i just don’t have the time to stand up for myself.
only slightly off topic, but at http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/, a politics and food blogger is trying to choose right now between laptops (and has a long excerpt from juan cole on the jack ryan fiasco). guess i should tell him to read your posts for the past week.
June 25th, 2004 at 10:38 am
I love Apple’s machines when they work. Their repair policies veer from being wonderfully helpful to openly hostile. I found my repair experiences with laptops to be universally more painful than with desktops, and they seem to try every trick in the book to keep it from being *their* problem (even in one case, where a laptop came back with more problems than it had coming in for the original repair).
Sorry they’re doing that to you. :/
June 25th, 2004 at 2:44 pm
and apple has had some rather infamous recorded calls about their Ipods…
M
June 25th, 2004 at 8:56 pm
call them again and ask to speak to a supervisor - they have more authority and may help put things right for you. it is unfortunate, but they get so many “warranty” calls from people that *do* spill their can of cola on their laptops that they get hypersensitive to anything that remotely looks like it could be related to a spill…once againj the “frauds” spoil things for the legit consumer. really…give it a little extra push - i participate on a few mac help boards and more often than not that extra push up the food chain resolves the issue.