An apple fanboys tale of woe [long rant and OT]

[smutek]

I am definitely losing faith in Apple's products.

How about a 15 month old, $1200 machine with a failed monitor?

My wife and I bought a 20 inch iMac in May of last year.

Just to address any responses of "that's what apple care is for" Let me state for the record that I'm big on Apple Care and usually get it with all of our purchases.

This time, to offset the computer purchase we opted to wait a bit for apple care. We figured we have a year to buy it, the computer purchase was putting us out a bit, so we would wait and get it later.

Unfortunately we forgot to get the apple care, and we only remembered just last week when the monitor on the iMac died.

The computer suddenly was booting to a white screen. I tried everything I could think of to trouble shoot; resetting the power management, resetting PRAM, etc. to no avail. Booting to safe mode or to a disk was of no help as the screen stayed white.

Next thing I did was to attempt logging into my wifes computer from my power mac using leopard screen sharing. I figured if I could log in and see her desktop this would rule out a logic board failure.

Sure enough I was able to see my wifes desktop from my power mac when in screen sharing mode so I did a permissions repair and verified the hard drive.


Still no luck.

Next we took the machine into an apple store where the tech connected a second display, which worked. The tech verified my suspicions that the iMacs monitor had indeed failed.

He then told us the the repair would cost around $800.00.

So, now we have a 15 month old, $1200.00 computer that is 3 months out of warranty and will now cost us $800 to repair.

The tech suggested we run it with an external display, which is exactly what we are going to do.

Obviously we are not going to spend over half of what we paid total for the machine, 1 year and 3 months ago, on a repair. It will be cheaper to just buy a monitor - and we'll get a better quality monitor as well.

It just makes me so angry to see my wifes little iMac sitting there on her desk with a broken display, it really does.

The tech support guy sympathized with us, and was very frank - even saying "they {iMacs} are just so cheap" at one point.

Believe me, I know we should have gotten Apple Care, I really do - unfortunately we forgot. I also know that we will be able to run it with a secondary monitor (until something else fails) - but this is not the point.

The point is, as Dwight Silverman stated in a post on TechBlog titled "[link=http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archive ... _tale.html]2 year old dead iMac[/link]", having paid $1200.00 for what is supposed to be a quality computer I expect it to last more than 15 months.

I do not think that is at all unreasonable.

To add to this tale of woe, our purchase before the iMac was a black macbook, which is now 2.5 years old. Apparently it seems that when the battery is run down to no charge it will cause the battery to fail. This is our second battery failure with this machine.

The first time it happened the person we spoke with from Apple admitted to us it was a design defect in the battery and they gave us a replacement for free.

The battery has now failed for a second time and Apple is not being so generous. I took the computer to the apple store and the tech guy tested the battery, not even a year old since the last replacement, confirmed it had indeed failed, then told me he would be unable to replace it and that I would have to buy a new one.

This, in-spite of our being told that the battery failures were due to a design flaw.

Again, I don't think that a reliable battery is too much to ask from a $1000.00 plus laptop.

So.... now, in addition to the cost of the new external display for our broken iMac, we have to pay $129 for a new battery on top of it.

Between 2 imacs, a powerbook, a power mac, a cinema display, a macbook and 2 ipods we've DEFINITELY spent close to, if not more than 10 thousand dollars on apple products over the last 8 years.

I realize for some people this may be a drop in the bucket, but for us it is a heck of a lot of money. Apple knows how much we have spent as well, all of our purchases are registered and phone support was able to read all of them back to us, but they just will not help us with either issue.

In all it's really really a drag, seriously, especially from a brand we've been so loyal to and have had so much faith in.

I've been the stereotypical apple "fanboy" since I switched 8 years ago. Never rude or cocky (usually), but always one to tout Apple's superior quality whenever I had the chance, recommending them to friends, family and acquaintances whether in person or on the net, urging people to switch where I could and even convincing quite a few of them along the way.

I simply will not be doing that any longer - after the problems with our last 2 purchases how could I in good conscience recommend an Apple computer?

And honestly, I never thought I'd say it, but I've been reading good reviews about windows 7. A custom built windows 7 machine with an Ubuntu Studio partition (and possibly even a "[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSx86]hackintosh[/link]" partition) is looking like a potentially realistic alternative for our next purchase.

I'm going to make a last ditch appeal to Apple customer relations come Monday regarding the iMac (longshot-trying to get them to grant us a late sign up to apple care) but I'm not at all hopeful.

If anything, the lesson I've learned, based on my own experience, is to definitely stay clear of Apple's "consumer level" machines. I use quotes because it's odd calling a $1200.00 machine "consumer level".

There is a distinct possibility that I will never purchase another apple product again, I'll definitely never recommend them.

This may seem like an angry rant, truth be told I'm definitely angry, but more than anything I'm disappointed.

[1.6180339887]

sux.
but you really should have gone with the extended warranty. amazingly that's not the lesson you've learned.

[smutek]

I know the post was long, but you must have missed the part where I said:

...I'm big on Apple Care and usually get it with all of our purchases....to offset the computer purchase we opted to wait a bit for apple care. We figured we have a year to buy it, the computer purchase was putting us out a bit, so we would wait and get it later.

Unfortunately we forgot to get the apple care, and we only remembered just last week when the monitor on the iMac died.....

Regardless, thanks for reading.

[hurlingdervish]

$800 for a broken display? are you kidding? get a new PC laptop with 2X the specs for that price

[1.6180339887]

Ya, I read it all. Right to the end where you say:

If anything, the lesson I've learned, based on my own experience, is to definitely stay clear of Apple's "consumer level" machines. I use quotes because it's odd calling a $1200.00 machine "consumer level".

There is a distinct possibility that I will never purchase another apple product again, I'll definitely never recommend them.

Ya, you mentioned you should have got the warranty extension - but it doesn't seem to be the main thing that's pissing you off. and it should be.

Anything you buy - get the extended warranty. Now you know I guess. Hey, I learned this lesson with a vaio. Shit happens.

[smutek]

Yup, $800 - and that's w/o charging for labor.

That's on the iMac mind you.

It's uncharted territory, but I'm thinking I could probably custom build something pretty smoking for half of what I'd pay for a new mac pro (which would be my next apple purchase, if I stay with them).

I've been reading good stuff about windows 7, as long as I could build something that would reliably run with an OSX86 partition (to avoid having to repurchase all of my adobe licenses) I would seriously consider it.

[1.6180339887]

Not looking for a threadjack here, but I always assumed that if you go the hackintosh route you're pretty much going the warez route. Cracked OS, and cracked apps to run on the cracked OS. . ... ...

Or do people actually buy software to run on their cracked OS's ?

[smutek]

Ya, I read it all. Right to the end where you say:

If anything, the lesson I've learned, based on my own experience, is to definitely stay clear of Apple's "consumer level" machines. I use quotes because it's odd calling a $1200.00 machine "consumer level".

There is a distinct possibility that I will never purchase another apple product again, I'll definitely never recommend them.

Ya, you mentioned you should have got the warranty extension - but it doesn't seem to be the main thing that's pissing you off. and it should be.

Anything you buy - get the extended warranty. Now you know I guess. Hey, I learned this lesson with a vaio. Shit happens.

Ok, I feel what you are saying, and don't get me wrong - I am upset that we did not get the extended warranty right there on the spot - so while the experience certainly reinforces the extended warranty bit it doesn't change the way I feel.

I'm only going to blame myself so much for a 15 month computer that craps out 3 months out of warranty. I feel like the extended warranty should be seen as additional coverage, not a necessity.

I've had good luck with the powerbook and the powermac, but I will never buy one of the consumer level machines again.

[smutek]

Not looking for a threadjack here, but I always assumed that if you go the hackintosh route you're pretty much going the warez route. Cracked OS, and cracked apps to run on the cracked OS. . ... ...

Or do people actually buy software to run on their cracked OS's ?

I'm not sure, but I would. Actually, I already own everything I need.

[dazzer]

Did you get AppleCare on the MacBook? Doesn't it cover the battery or have I misread?

In the 3 years my PowerBook was covered, they had to replace the AC adaptor 3 times and I never had to pay.

Sucks about the iMac but yea, I don't have more faith in Apple than any other manufacturer. I stopped being a fanboy after buying a ridiculously expensive MBP only to discover that the internal soundcard was a POS. You live and learn.

[1.6180339887]

well, my vaio crapped out two weeks - yes - two weeks after it's 1yr warranty expired. I called, explained the problem (faulty dvd drive needed replacing) and then they said it would cost me something like 80 euro to 'sort the problem out', which involved having DHL pick the unit up and bring it to their repair centre. Apparently 'sorting the problem out' means telling me what I already told them...that the dvd drive was fried. To fix it will be an additional 400 euro please. Oh no thanks, that's crazy, I'll get a better external one for that price. Nooo problem sir. Just pay us the 80 euro and we'll release your laptop. Ya, they held my laptop with a faulty dvd drive hostage till I paid them 80euro for absolutely nothing.

moral of the story
a] not getting the extended warranty is a rookie mistake
b] *corporation-of-your-choice* are assholes

[smutek]

@ dazzer - my wife purchased the macbook, she did not get applecare. The computer was out of warranty the first time the battery failed and they still replaced it free of charge, citing a manufacturers defect. The second time it happened, about a year later, they declined to replace it.

@ 1.6180339887 - wow, that's insane.

Yes, you do live and learn.

[gjm]

Did you get AppleCare on the MacBook? Doesn't it cover the battery or have I misread?

I will recheck, but I am sure I read when I recently got my Macbook that the battery was only covered for 1 year.

[v00d00ppl]

Why should you be paying for Apple's poor manufacturing by using the extended warranty plan??? Go save up like 1100 dollars and get an i7 system and u should be good for quite a while.

[woodie]

sorry....haven't read the whole thread, but you could always tell Apple folks when they tell you it will cost THAT much...."no kidding...I could buy a new PC for that! Not to mention...I would never shop Apple again!!"....and see what they say. Even Apple folks need to play that game. Let's face it folks...with Windows 7 getting rave reviews....we'll all benefit. Competition is good for all of us!

I cannot believe they don't offer "accident protection" even. I have a new Macbook...but I'm a diehard Lenovo fan....the only thing preventing me from saying "I want to go 100% Mac!!" is the fact they don't have accident protections and liquid sensors in the laptop...which I understand if set off...will void any kind of warranty. Even a drinking a cold drink that condensation happens to fall on the keyboard and set off that sensor? Come on....that's ridiculous.....not to mention the amount of money they COULD be making if they offered accident protection! Yes...I'm clumsy. ...and the fact I'm spoiled by the onsite service I get (pay for) from Lenovo.