Bagel Belly Blog

Unhappy Mac

Pop quiz, hotshot. Your Mac's combo drive has just broken. You're frustrated, and want to speak to someone at Apple right away to find out what your options are. You need the Mac fixed with a minimum of downtime. What do you do, what do you do?

You could spend 15 futile minutes searching on the Apple web site, to try and find a contact telephone number or email address, or any details at all about starting the repair process. I wouldn't bother. (I only found the details there afterwards.)

Or, you could spend 10 minutes searching through the documentation that came with the Mac, and try to find a telephone number in there. At first, you'll discard the glossy sales materials promoting AppleCare - after all, it's just trying to get you to buy extended warranty, right? Then you'll go back to it after the limited warranty brochure, quickstart guide and getting started documentation have been thoroughly searched. There, on the back in small print, is the number you need.

Next, you call the number. After listening to an apparently suicidal Irish guy reading out your options, you'll spend 5 minutes on hold trying not to listen to barely audible music that sounds distorted and like it's playing from the bottom of the ocean. Finally, an operator picks up the call!

At this point, you discover the crackling noise is not just a fault with the hold music, but with the line itself. And, you've guessed it, you're talking to a guy in India. (I guess the lines to India are overloaded, hence the distortion.) There's some confusion while you try and establish what your "Customer Number" is. On the invoice in front of you is printed: Customer No: (number). Apparently that number is not the right one, you need an Apple Support Customer Number. Silly you.

After 10 minutes of giving them your name, full address (longitude AND latitude), laptop serial number, your age, weight, what you had for breakfast and the colour of your eyes, you'll be given the mystical Apple Support Customer Number. Guard it with your life, as it will save you pain in the future.

Phew. So, what do Apple have to say about my knackered combo drive? (Broken, no less, by the foolish playing of a classical music CD borrowed from the UEA CD Library. Turns out the sticky plastic holding the RFID tags on have warped the CD, making it concave and eminently mechanism-knackering.)

I was told that my problem required a repair under warranty. Before letting them book a pick-up and repair, I asked if there were any service centres nearby. Great news! There's one in Ipswich, Getech. That's just down the road (or train track). Hurrah! Rejoice! All is not lost, perhaps.

So I called Getech, to see if I could drop by with my unhappy Mac and get it fixed. Unfortunately, they don't offer a "while you wait" repair service. I'd have to drop my laptop off and it would enter a service queue. It may get seen that day if I'm lucky, but more likely the following day. When the fault is diagnosed, they then have to order parts from Apple - because Apple don't let them carry parts in stock - which usually takes a couple of days. The part would then be fitted, and the laptop shipped back to me.

So it's looking like at least a week for a simple "replace the combo drive" task. Suddenly this overpriced shiny lump of metal is looking like less of a luxury and more of a liability.

Oh, and when I was dealing with the Apple support line, I was asked "How's the experience been with working with the Apple computer?". My answer was a taciturn "Fine". After this experience, I'd like to qualify it: "Fine, until I needed to get it fixed. Can I have a commodity Intel box now?".

Posted by savs at April 6, 2004 12:02 PM