I recently bought a 17″ MacBook Pro to use a primary workstation for audio, programming etc. Soon after I completely abandoned any plans for releasing iPhone or iPad software because of Apple’s completely unacceptable TOS for iPhone developers. A few months later the shiny new Mac completely stopped functioning.
So there I was with a completely busted laptop. I wasn’t too worried, I had bought an Apple Care plan and figured the repair would be covered. I made my first appointment with their “Geniuses” (another example of Apple totally over-selling themselves) over the phone and took my machine in a few days later. According to online reviews not all Apple stores are good for repairs, some such as the Irvine Spectrum look down on broken machines and don’t provide good service. I took mine to South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. After waiting in line for fifteen minutes for an appointment I booked days in advance they prepare the bad news for me. After touching the power button to no avail my friendly “Genius” tells me that it’s being shipped off for repair, that my data is probably not going to make it. Fortunately I can get my data off the machine but it will be “VERY” expensive and Apple wont’ do it. Thanks dude, I tell him to screw it, I’m prepared to lose 6 months of music, my code is backed up in source control – I’m an idiot for not taking better backups.
So a week later my laptop is back in the Apple store good as new, or so they tell me. Guy hands me my laptop and prepares to send me off but I insist on testing it first. Sure enough the bottom part of the screen is covered in a tiger stripe pattern. Lovely quality control guys. “Oh you can fix that by resetting the PRAM” says the Genius. Mmmhmm. No that’s not going to work, at all. “Well you’re going to have to make another appointment to get a repair” he tells me. I’m certainly not happy by this point. I have two small children with me and am not looking forward to spending 3 hours in a mall just to talk to another Genius so they can take back the laptop that they couldn’t fix right the first time.
Next meeting with a Genius 3 hours later. I’m told that the laptop will be on rush that I should get it back in days because they are fixing it in-house. That promise came and went a few times as the rush repair stretched out to another 5 days. I drive back in to get my laptop and everything looks good. So I take it home. Big mistake, I really should have learned the first time that Apple repair has little to no quality control. The optical drive is not functioning and I have one functioning speaker.
So here I am finally mad enough to write a post about it. I used to be a fan, I spent a lot of time as a kid cutting my programming teeth on the Apple Classic, IIgs and IIci but I think Apple has really lost it. Not only have they lost my heart as a developer they’ve now lost my confidence as a consumer.
Apple I’m over you.