Happiness is AppleCare, at least if they're doing it right
I've had my MacBook for about a year and a half now. I'm not big on extended warranties most of the time, but for a laptop? AppleCare. No question.
Until last week I'd used it twice.
Once a DVD (from the library, and due soon!) got stuck in the DVD drive and wouldn't eject. AppleCare phone guy talked me through coaxing it out.
Another time (just a couple weeks ago, I mentioned it here) the power adapter seemed to stop working. AppleCare phone guy had me reset the power system and all was back to normal.
Last Tuesday my MacBook abruptly froze up, and wouldn't restart from the hard drive. I rebooted from the install CD and ran Disk Utility: all signs pointed to a hard drive crash.
Wednesday morning I called AppleCare. Phone guy had me check a few things and then confirmed my diagnosis. He said to take it to the local Apple Store, have a good holiday, bye.
What he didn't do, and should have:
After the fourth or fifth time I told them the phone guy had not given me the above information which, they said, all phone support personnel are required and trained to do, the person I was talking to (who was very nice about it) got on line for a minute, checked in back, and then said they could take care of me. I signed the form, handed over the laptop, and left. They sent it off to, apparently, Tennessee.
FedEx attempted to deliver the laptop Monday, though (partly due to my own screwup) they didn't get my signature for delivery until today. Yep, dropped it off the day before Thanksgiving and it was back the Monday after. I'm letting it get up to room temp, and then I'll start restoring accounts, applications, and files.
Addendum: It says here:The following services and/or replacement parts were used to service your product.
655-1312 DA TOSH TAURUS-B SATA 60GB AH1
603-9857 ASSY, BEZEL, M42
605-0994 SVC TOP CASE M42 W
630-7690 PCB, MLB, 1.83GHZ DC, SMS/KION
815-9189 M42 Battery Transfer Board Cli
607-0199 ASSY,HEATSING,M42(1.0mmConnect
631-0275 BATT CONN ASSY
016-0028 RESTORE:MAC OS
If I'm interpreting this right, it looks like they replaced not only the hard drive but the motherboard, about half the case, and a few other assorted parts. The case does look decidedly fresher.
Also, just yesterday I found out about this. I don't know if my drive was one of the affected ones.
Until last week I'd used it twice.
Once a DVD (from the library, and due soon!) got stuck in the DVD drive and wouldn't eject. AppleCare phone guy talked me through coaxing it out.
Another time (just a couple weeks ago, I mentioned it here) the power adapter seemed to stop working. AppleCare phone guy had me reset the power system and all was back to normal.
Last Tuesday my MacBook abruptly froze up, and wouldn't restart from the hard drive. I rebooted from the install CD and ran Disk Utility: all signs pointed to a hard drive crash.
Wednesday morning I called AppleCare. Phone guy had me check a few things and then confirmed my diagnosis. He said to take it to the local Apple Store, have a good holiday, bye.
What he didn't do, and should have:
- Tell me I would need an appointment at the Apple Store
- Offer to make the appointment for me
- Give me a confirmation number
After the fourth or fifth time I told them the phone guy had not given me the above information which, they said, all phone support personnel are required and trained to do, the person I was talking to (who was very nice about it) got on line for a minute, checked in back, and then said they could take care of me. I signed the form, handed over the laptop, and left. They sent it off to, apparently, Tennessee.
FedEx attempted to deliver the laptop Monday, though (partly due to my own screwup) they didn't get my signature for delivery until today. Yep, dropped it off the day before Thanksgiving and it was back the Monday after. I'm letting it get up to room temp, and then I'll start restoring accounts, applications, and files.
Addendum: It says here:The following services and/or replacement parts were used to service your product.
655-1312 DA TOSH TAURUS-B SATA 60GB AH1
603-9857 ASSY, BEZEL, M42
605-0994 SVC TOP CASE M42 W
630-7690 PCB, MLB, 1.83GHZ DC, SMS/KION
815-9189 M42 Battery Transfer Board Cli
607-0199 ASSY,HEATSING,M42(1.0mmConnect
631-0275 BATT CONN ASSY
016-0028 RESTORE:MAC OS
If I'm interpreting this right, it looks like they replaced not only the hard drive but the motherboard, about half the case, and a few other assorted parts. The case does look decidedly fresher.
Also, just yesterday I found out about this. I don't know if my drive was one of the affected ones.