Comments | substitute: apple blues

substitute

apple blues

Sep 13, 2006 13:31

The hard drive on my 15" Aluminum Powerbook G4 is clearly defective and has been for some time. It likes to hang and say "disk0s3: I/O error" into the logs at times when certain files are touched. The Disk Utility thinks the drive is fine and so does the "SMART" status. Maybe a cable is loose in there. The voice of authority in the form of dr_strych9, who ( Read more... )

mac, brain, hardware, apple, commerce, geek, villainy

Comments 14

magyarok_saman September 14 2006, 02:07:05 UTC

I have a Dell laptop with the "idiot protection". I managed to break my H key after my keyboard suddenly decided to start acting weird (I pried it up and a piece went flying, so I couldn't put it back). They replaced my entire keyboard without cost, aggravation, or backtalk. As far as I'm concerned, the coverage paid for itself.

Hugs,
L

eyeteeth September 14 2006, 07:40:24 UTC

My experience dealing with Apple customer service was pretty nightmarish not because they were assholes but because I happened to purchase a model of PowerBook that quickly became notorious for failing in many and spectacular ways. It got so I couldn't talk to customer service for any length of time without crying, my frustration was so severe. The people I talked to were all really nice, and I felt bad about making them feel bad, but I couldn't help myself! Eventually they gave me an all-new and more expensive PowerBook in exchange for me promising not to sue them. I don't know how much the sobbing helped, but you could try it on the guys at the Genius Bar.

museumfreak September 29 2006, 04:23:50 UTC

The last time I tried sobbing at a Genius Bar (because I had come all the way out to the store which is a long way for me with a heavy computer on mass transit, and this mall is not disability friendly, and they told me i would have to wait 5 hours and i didn't have 5 hours, and i asked if i could leave the laptop overnight and come back in the morning and they said no), they threatened to call mall security and have me forcibly ejected.

substitute September 29 2006, 19:42:58 UTC

Wow. That sounds like it would be worth a letter to Apple. I mean, in lieu of the act of domestic terrorism that leaps to mind as a first possible response.

museumfreak September 29 2006, 20:02:35 UTC

Do you really think so? It made me really upset.

cordiloquy September 14 2006, 08:08:01 UTC

DEAR GOD those adapters are total pieces of shit. (This is not really my point, it just needs to be repeated as often as possible.)

Anyway, when I was picking up my computer from the Mac Store (not an actual Apple store, but similar in its previous attempts at warranty-gouging) after they'd replaced my broken CD/DVD drive, the guy gave me a lecture about how they'd found sand inside my computer, so I shouldn't take it to the beach and should get a case for it in case I go anywhere where there might be sand. I explained that I have never once taken my computer to the beach, that I rarely even take it out of my house (which is not near the beach), and that when I do, I always use the laptop case I've had since I first bought the computer. Nonetheless, the comments on the receipt still say something about "advised customer to get laptop case ( ... )

rpkrajewski September 14 2006, 13:45:50 UTC

Our iBook's disk started dying (was under AppleCare, but I let it lapse). I ended up paying for having the data transferred to a new hard drive if possible (it all came back, including the OS !) here. My guess is that actually running the OS stressed the disk too much but when it was just asked to read data, it was OK. Try pulling the data off onto another disk using FireWire target disk mode in the meantime.

springheel_jack September 14 2006, 15:06:28 UTC

I've now had two drives go soles-up on my G4 laptop. It's depressing. They're heavy but it turns out they're not robust.

I can't afford this. I may have to quit buying Apple stuff - particularly anything portable - if the quality control continues to be poor. Nice design is great only if the product fucking works. Otherwise it's a beautiful white toilet seat.

I won't deal with the Genius Bar. I can't. Even if they were nice, I couldn't deal with a customer service organization that has ON A BIG SIGN that floats over their heads the implication that they're organically vastly more intelligent than I am. It's a license to condescend and give you the old warranty fuckaround. So I go to an 'authorized' apple dealer/fixer down the road. I think they're actually slightly more expensive, but at least I can talk directly to their repair guy ("Omar") and get answers that aren't defensive.