lemon

Please help! I am stuck with a lemon imac, now up to my 5th warranty claim in 4 1/2 months. How do I get apple to honour its warranty???

It will take me 12 months to save up again and buy a reliable computer. How do I get apple to honour its warranty so this imac works for 12 months???

I am at the stage where apple won't even believe their own authorised service agent and won't communicate with them.
It is all little problems but it so constant it's made my apple experience a total nightmare.
I was very impressed with the O/S when I switched to mac, but I never get more than 2 weeks without the hardware causing dramas.

how do I get apple to be nice???

I thought they replaced the system altogether after the 3rd or 4th warranty fix.

If I was in your shoes, I'd write a detailed professional letter to Apple Customer Care and explain your problems, the fact the system cost you a lot of money and you are disappointed with it's quality.

They may then offer a new system, or an exchange.

Have you ever dealt with Apple directly, and not a reseller/AASP?

I kown several guys who walked into an Apple store with the 'Bad' and came out with new machines...your talking with the wrong people.

Curious, what model is it and what is wrong with it?

Chris_B said:

If I was in your shoes, I'd write a detailed professional letter to Apple Customer Care and explain your problems, the fact the system cost you a lot of money and you are disappointed with it's quality.

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Worth repeating, with emphasis.

Let us know how you get on!

well old 'faithful' goes in to apple tomorrow to see if they will honour the warranty and fix the latest batch of problems or if they just feed me a bunch of lies again.

this time around -
1) the screen cover has discoloured for the second time, apple made it clear last time that this part is NOT covered by warranty, it was only fixed the first time as a gesture of good will - after I called in Consumer affairs

2) DVD burner - will usually only burn one disc successfully, the second attempt rarely works and the 3rd time its guaranteed to fail

3) battery life for the cordless mouse - clearly the apple person who told me the batteries would last 12 months before i accepted the cordless mouse LIED to me, but a battery life of 12-18 days is an environment nightmare. the battery life on my 2004 microsoft cordless mouse was 8-12 weeks, can't apple even match that in 2010?

I written to apple, still waiting for a reply.......
it seems cheaper for them to ignore me than fix my lemon imac, when i call them I often get the line - we have no record of your warranty claim - yeah right they're that inefficient

Interesting. I've never had a problem with Apple on the phone or in person at an Apple store - even when they doubted my claim (faulty SuperDrive that would burn, but not verify certain discs).

Perhaps it has something to do with my years of experience in dealing with Dell tech support in my professional life.

One thing I've learned is that kindness and a respectful tone will get you everywhere. I only ever use threats as a last resort (the BBB, Consumer Affairs, Attorney General, etc). The best thing to do is maintain an even tone, explain the problem well and take the issues one at a time. Bear in mind that these folks have routines they must go through, these include going through steps that you might have already done (countless times), but you will need to go through them again to satisfy their requirements. The last thing the tech wants to hear is "I did that already". If you're on the phone, you don't necessarily need to do it again, but tell them you are and dutifully follow their lead politely and without argument.

Another problem I've seen people have is throwing out their own diagnosis - don't do that. You wouldn't tell your mechanic that you think your alternator is bad, when it could just be the battery. Let them make that call, otherwise you'll probably end up buying an alternator whether you need one or not.

And lastly, be prepared to repeat your story endlessly. It might even help to write a brief outline of the problem so that you'll be sure to hit on the important points each time you are transferred or have to speak with someone different. It's frustrating, but it's difficult to get all the relevant details on a complex problem in a call log. Even the best phone techs sometimes struggle with this. Remember, it's your primary job to accurately report the problem. That's the first step in resolution and the most important one.

I'm always courteous to the apple staff, it's not their fault they are employed by a bad company that sold me a faulty lemon.
The biggest problems seem to come from the fact that apple won't believe their own service agent.
I only called Consumer Affairs after I was told by the agent that apple rejected the 3rd warranty claim, apple had refused to tell me the outcome and claimed - we do not have that information,
apple then tried to tell me that not all of my computer was covered by their warranty, Consumer Affairs disagreed with them.

and I'm used to repeating my story at least 6 times to apple, that just 'normal' service for them.

My last warranty claim was the silliest and showed me just what a stupid company I was trying to deal with.
Before I bought the lemon iMac the guy in the appleshop assured my if I spent the $268 on applecare(less) they ‘come out to your home to fix any problems’
Yeah right!
When the 3rd mouse failed I called applecare(less) only to get told they had changed the rules and wouldn’t swap it by mail, I had to take it to a service agent.
Ok, not a big drama I live very close to the service agent, I called the agent to set it up and get told they will not even look at the mouse unless I bring in the computer too and they’ll probably have it for 4 days from when they see it until the part arrives, I tried to explain it was the 3rd reoccurrence of the same problem but they just didn’t care. I called applecare(less) back asked for the in-home service I’d paid for only to be told – No, the mouse is an accessory NOT hardware and not covered by the in home warranty. When I complained about their poor service for a reoccurring problem they finally agreed to have the agent just swap the mouse over.
It took 3 hours and 6 phone calls to get this far.
The part should have arrived on Thursday, they didn’t phone me, still didn’t hear from them on Friday, on Monday I called the agent only to be told there is no record of your warranty claim.
I called applecare(less) and got told they had no record of my warranty claim and I would have to start all over again.
I then spoke to a supervisor, I explained that I just can’t afford a new computer now but if they would make my iMac last for 12 months I would save up for a new PC then I could throw out the iMac and I would not bother them anymore.
He seemed sincere and surprised applecare could treat their customers so badly when I explain the previously problems and the latest ‘lost’ warranty claim.
He offered to upgrade me to the new cordless mouse, I asked about the battery life I could expect, concerned about the environment impact of wasted batteries in landfill. He assured me he had one and was a heavy used and I could expect 12 months battery life, I believed him.
The mouse arrived in a few days and I installed the supplied energiser batteries, they died after 18 days, now on my 4th set the longest they’ve lasted is 20 days.
My Microsoft branded cordless mouse from 2004 had a battery life of 8-12 weeks, why in 2010 can’t apple even come close to matching that?
Why would the apple person waste my time by lying to me about the battery life?
Apple claims it is an environmentally friendly company, they lie.
But then they also claim to care about their customers……..

I'm sorry you're having a bad experience, but you surely can't be seriously suggesting that your experience is anything like what anyone else is experiencing??

You seriously need to manager your anger and your issues (which are ALL OVER these ranty, unhinged posts of yours), and start over.

Forget the local dealer, whoever they are, they're not doing the job. Deal with Apple directly.

Locate, organise and print ALL correspondence and documentation of the issues, what repairs were done, receipts and so forth.

Find out where the nearest CORPORATE Apple Store is to you. If there isn't one within hundreds of miles of you, you're going to have to learn how to politely deal with a new phone service agent. Start fresh, explain the problems, remember he or she has NEVER dealt with any of this before, and DEFINITELY don't call until you can speak more like the way cwa107 writes than the way you've posted in this thread thus far.

Once you have had a calm chat with a good phone rep or Apple Genius showing them the documentation of the history, they will give you a path to fixing the problems. You may have to be without the machine for a while, but that's okay.

PS. I don't know if you've heard, but they've invented rechargeable batteries. You might want to look into them. While BT wireless devices do tend to use more energy than IR wireless devices, assuming you are using these devices correctly (ie turning them off when not in use, not using them on a mirrored surface etc) you should be getting better life out of them. I find that using 2250maH or better batteries makes a big difference.

Good luck!

Why would anyone want to help you with that attitude! Sheesh....

I use a Logitech Bluetooth Mouse and the batteries last months so buy one of those and be done with it.

Small tip... Tearing down a company that someone works for is the same as tearing them down. Consumer Reports is also a joke and I don't know of any company that would be concerned about their ratings.

Here is what you need to do...

Put your IMac up on EBay, take the money and go by a Dell. I just hope the support you get with them meets your expectations.

chas_m said:

I'm sorry you're having a bad experience, but you surely can't be seriously suggesting that your experience is anything like what anyone else is experiencing??

You seriously need to manager your anger and your issues (which are ALL OVER these ranty, unhinged posts of yours), and start over.


Locate, organise and print ALL correspondence and documentation of the issues, what repairs were done, receipts and so forth.

Find out where the nearest CORPORATE Apple Store is to you. If there isn't one within hundreds of miles of you, you're going to have to learn how to politely deal with a new phone service agent. Start fresh, explain the problems, remember he or she has NEVER dealt with any of this before, and DEFINITELY don't call until you can speak more like the way cwa107 writes than the way you've posted in this thread thus far.

Once you have had a calm chat with a good phone rep or Apple Genius showing them the documentation of the history, they will give you a path to fixing the problems. You may have to be without the machine for a while, but that's okay.

PS. I don't know if you've heard, but they've invented rechargeable batteries. You might want to look into them. While BT wireless devices do tend to use more energy than IR wireless devices, assuming you are using these devices correctly (ie turning them off when not in use, not using them on a mirrored surface etc) you should be getting better life out of them. I find that using 2250maH or better batteries makes a big difference.

Good luck!

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'ranty, unhinged posts'
thank for your opinion, it is sooooo helpful - NOT.

All of my dealings with apple staff have been courteous and personally respectful to the individuals I spoke to.

Obviously you are one of the apple brainwashed masses that believe their product are always perfect - that was before - this is now, faulty lemons seem fairly common now. google it and you will see.

If you spent more time reading the facts in my post and less time judging my 'attitude' you would have see I am more than used to repeating (courteously) my story over and over and over again to apple.
And where I live for apple to claim not all of their computer is covered by warranty breaches the consumer LAWS.

PS I don't know if you've heard but rechargeable batteries cause 9 times the pollution of alkaline batteries. I trialled them years ago but as they only lasted 6 months they where more environmentally damaging than using the alkaline batteries. Just because a company says it is 'green' doesn't mean its true, check the facts for yourself.

I may finally be getting somewhere with my lemon imac
apple have agreed to replace

1) faulty power source
2) faulty DVD drive
3) discoloured screen
4) bluetooth

It's nice that they are finally repairing my machine but it would have been nicer if they had done it in Oct 09 when I first reported all the issues.

hey i have seen the macbook be advertised for 7 hours, not like I get anywhere near it. I cannot blame them for this because I know how to get it to last 7 hours. Just like the motto for g.i. joe states "knowing is half the battle."
*I hope your repair goes good this time. but you do sound like your having windows withdrawals. good luck

badimac said:

'ranty, unhinged posts'
thank for your opinion, it is sooooo helpful - NOT.

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More of the same.
Maybe Apple can fix your attitude as well.

badimac said:

I may finally be getting somewhere with my lemon imac
apple have agreed to replace

1) faulty power source
2) faulty DVD drive
3) discoloured screen
4) bluetooth

It's nice that they are finally repairing my machine but it would have been nicer if they had done it in Oct 09 when I first reported all the issues.

Click to expand...

Personally, I'd move for it to be swapped out entirely. Considering all of the aggravation you've experienced and also considering the extent of the repairs they'll need to make, I'm not sure why they wouldn't do this. How old is the machine now?

toMACsh said:

More of the same.
Maybe Apple can fix your attitude as well.

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I hope they can,
if they honour their warranty it will fix my 'attitude',
it was their problems that caused this alleged 'attitude' in the first place.

If the machine had been fixed properly in november there would have been nothing for me to have an 'attitude' about

cwa107 said:

Personally, I'd move for it to be swapped out entirely. Considering all of the aggravation you've experienced and also considering the extent of the repairs they'll need to make, I'm not sure why they wouldn't do this. How old is the machine now?

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just over 6 months now

Thank for your help.

badimac said:

just over 6 months now

Thank for your help.

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I'm shocked they're not swapping that machine out. If it's only 6 months old, they should have identical new machines in stock. It would be a lot less time and money (and also more pleasing to the customer) to just do a direct swap. Has that been mentioned at all in any of your conversations?