09-15-2008, 12:36 PM

After years of PCs, both at home and at work, I'd had enough (at home) of viruses, fixes, problems, and constant crisis management. This roughly coincided in time with my daughter deciding to get a Macbook for college, and getting a free iPod Touch, which she gave to me. That was pretty good marketing on Apple's part; I bet they sold more than one Mac that way. Anyway, I decided to make the switch, took my wife to the Apple Store where we had an intro session, and she seemed to like it ok. I'd read on the Apple site that they would transfer files and set it up, and I definitely wanted that. I wasn't too surprised that the full set-up service wasn't free; I had to join one of the two plans for $100 (joined person-to-person or whatever). It was still worth it to me.

I'm not knocking the store totally; they seem to have their act together for the most part, the people seem knowledgeable and concerned, for the most part. And, I recognize that I did this whole deal over Labor Day weekend, in a busy urban store. The appointment system works well unless staff doesn't come in to work. I heard, on three visits to the store, "Oh, it's such a nice day, people didn't come in." Well, maybe Apple needs to instill a little more rigor into their staff (sorry, that may be an unpopular view); AND if there's not enough staff to handle the scheduled appointments, how about a call to reschedule? I know, it's too hard because everyone is trying to help customers. Anyway, I dicussed the data transfer details with the first employee, got a sheet showing what I needed to do/information to bring, along with my old computer.

Brought the PC in the next day for the actual purchase. Talked to another employee, very young and probably not too experienced. The data transfer person he was talking to in the back room was asking for email account data that I didn't have, and would have to call Verizon for. Wouldn't have been a problem, and wasn't a problem, but I couldn't believe that they couldn't get that information off of the old computer (they could have). But I kept getting this BS about "hundreds of different settings". Oh, and I was given a different form to put the information on. So I got that to them the next day and all seemed well.

It took a few days longer than predicted, no surprise. Got the iMac home and things seemed to go pretty well. But I couldn't send email. I could receive it. I finally figured it out myself and all was well. Then late last week Apple sends out the notice for OS upgrades. When I tried to download them, it asked for my admin password, and I couldn't find one that worked. I had asked them not to put a password on, that's what it said on the form. I tried the one that I had listed on the form for my PC, it didn't work. I finally found the info on Mac that explained how to change the admin password by using the Install disk. Had a few false starts with that, finally got it work. Then, I found out that I needed to change my Keychain password to match. That one stumped me and I couldn't find anything in Help on changing it without knowing the old one. Call Apple Support (Sunday morning), got through right away, and the guy was very helpful, with an easy solution (delete the login.keychain file).

So I am up and running and happy. I guess my major complaint against the Store is that they put on a password without telling me what it was. I can forgive the waits and the email runaround. I love the iMac, I've learned quite a bit about it through this. I would recommend people switching, but caveat about the data transfer issue. I'm thinking about getting the extended Apple Care for $169, what you folks think? I've got 90 days free support. Thanks for reading.

09-15-2008, 01:05 PM

Wall of text crits you for 10,000

09-15-2008, 01:26 PM

Steve A:

Highly recommend you purchase Apple Care, it's well worth the $169.00.

And for future reference - don't post so much together. Too many words grouped in one massive paragraph is going to turn most folks off. Your post might very well be ignored entirely.

Break your thoughts down into smaller paragraphs as that will be much easier to read and will get you more response.

Welcome to the forum and the world of Mac computing. Have fun.

Regards.

09-15-2008, 01:30 PM

Better?

09-15-2008, 01:34 PM

you can wait to buy the apple care warranty extension if you didnt know. I set a calendar date on my apples 10 months from now, so I can decide whether to do it or now. There is an idea for that.

I heard someone else talking about the apple employees not being top notch. Sorry for the bad experience but, yah, people are people.

Glad you like it, I would like to get my ahnds on an iMac soon

09-15-2008, 02:11 PM

Not too much to add, but I also got the "some people didn't come in today" business when I was waiting in line for my 3G iPhone. It took forever! They were taking like 1 person in at a time! I almost gave up and just stuck with the old iPhone. But as always I caved for Steve's new products!

09-15-2008, 02:29 PM

i got my iPhone 3G from AT&T a couple weeks after launch

no wait.

was worth it

09-15-2008, 04:02 PM

Steve, I bought the apple care when I first bought my iMac because the free telephone support was only for 3 months without apple care. Being I was and still is new to the Mac I felt the telephone support for the apple care extended 2 extra years with telephone support was important for me.

09-15-2008, 04:07 PM

I completely agree with you about the unprofessionalism of some Apple store employees. It is really unfortunate that when you purchase a product which costs $1,000 or more, that you may have to deal with untrained or downright rude staff members.

Definitely get the AppleCare plan. It is absolutely, 100% worth $169.

09-15-2008, 04:07 PM

telephone support?

what about us??

huh?

hahahahahaha, lol

09-16-2008, 07:48 AM

Thanks for the kind comments and suggestions. I will definitely consider the Apple Care plan. I want to say that I never encountered any rudeness at the Apple Store, just some uncertainty and miscommunication. Since I have the plan that I had to purchase, I may be going back for various training, we will see. For now, I'm just enjoying the iMac.