fasheezy said:
i doubt they'd give you a 4G ipod if that's what you're wondering.
Read this, and give me an honest opinion (I was going to hold this off until the saga had reached its end, but I believe it is called for)...it's a summary of what I've been through during the past 7 weeks now:
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I bought my iPod almost a year ago, and after a few niggles (had to return it one week after purchase because it stopped mounting on my PC, was replaced) managed to have a pretty good relationship with it. That is, up until this February, when it started resetting randomly during playback, and by the beginning of March was useless. So, once again, I sent my iPod away and, not suprisingly, it was replaced.
I then received “that” phone call, telling me my unit was ready for pickup *cue excitment* but things took a turn for the worse when the Apple rep decided to turn the unit on, which brought about a grim look on his face and an "uh-oh"..."uh-oh?" I repeated, "what's the problem NOW?!". "It's just the battery" the rep replied, "recharge it, update its software and you should be right"...how wrong he was!
I’d spend the next 24hrs recharging, mounting and unmounting, reformatting, updating/resetting my new unit, but to no avail. My BRAND NEW iPod refused to boot up, suffering from “iPod shows a folder icon with exclamation point when you turn it on”-itis, as described here
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61003 . Doing some research over at Apple's support forums, it seemed I was not alone (as was the case when my first iPod refused to mount) and, unfortunately, all the suggestions that Apple pose on the issue didn’t help. But, thank god for my warranty one would say! So I promptly returned the unit once more (3rd iPod returned now). That’s when it really got sticky…
That was 17th of March, almost a month ago, and I am still without an iPod. Why, you ask? Well, it seems I’m the victim of a “catastrophic failure” (I’ll go into more detail). After chasing up Apple Centre reps one too many times on the phone (and once in person), I decided it was time for action! I’d been told that, on the 18th of March, my iPod had been deemed faulty by a technician, and it was approved for replacement. An order was placed, and I was awaiting the arrival of the new unit. I asked that this be chased up, because it was extremely irregular for delivery to take this long (being 12th April, it should have arrived no later than the 01st). After a few mintues, the Apple Centre rep. called back, “do you want the good news first, or the bad news?”
“Well, actually, there is no good news – turns out in the process of Apple upgrading their systems, your order was lost. So, effectively, Apple never received your order! But, don’t worry, I’ve taken the liberty of ordering your new unit, and we’ll make sure it’s given priority.” I thanked the lad for his good work, and proceeding to contact Apple Customer Care. “I feel I’m in line to receive an upgrade to my unit due to the circumstances that have seen me without a functioning iPod unit for 6 weeks now” I stated. “Only in cases of catastrophic failure are upgrades considered” one customer relations rep. told me, “And what do you define as a catastrophic failure” I asked him. “Well, I don’t know…” I cut him off , “Well, put me through to someone who does, please”. After being on hold for what seemed 10 minutes, another customer relations rep. answered, and I proceeded to explain the situation (again). Although, this time she claimed “we don’t do upgrades”. “Well, actually, one of your collegues told me you did, in cases of catastrophic failure”. She asked for his name, then put me on hold. Another 5 minutes, and I was greeted once more by the first rep. (who’d obviously said more than he should have). “Fax through a copy of your original receipt” he asked. I obliged.
The following day, I rang Customer Care to chase up the progress of my case. I spoke to someone who seemed to be of higher rank than the customer relations reps I spoke to the day before. “We make decisions on a case by case basis, and in your particular case, we don’t believe there is sufficient evidence to warrant an upgrade. If your replacement unit shows signs of fault within the next 6 months, we’re willing to review. That’s all I’m prepared to offer”. I told her “so what do you define as catastrophic failure, because from what I understand, this is the criteria to warrant an upgrade”. “We don’t have a clear cut definition, as I said, we decide on a case by case basis”. I brought up the fact that I’ve had 3 iPod units fail on me in the past year, not to mention the debarcle by Apple in losing my order in the process of upgrading their systems. “We’d like something in writing from Apple to prove this”. We bid each other a pleasant weekend, and I promised to contact her first thing Monday morning.
In the meantime, I contacted the service centre that I had dealt with, seeking some documentation stating what had occurred in the process of my order being lost. After a few calls, one rep. told me “I’ve actually received an email from (the person from customer care I had dealt with) asking what had happened. I replied to her that, before the system changeover, your order was present, and after the changeover, it wasn’t.” So, effectively, the customer care rep. had answered her own question! She had received a statement, in writing, validating my argument.
Come Monday 18th, I tried to contact this customer care rep. with no success - “please leave us your number, and she’ll get back to you”. This is where the story ends, for now. In the meantime I’ve managed to come up with a definition for “catastrophic failure”, since no one else was able to provide me with one:
Catastrophic failure - having been told my iPod is ready for pick-up, only to be greeted by a unit that was dead on arrival. After having tried all suggestions from Apple Support, I returned it once again, only to be without an iPod for another 4 weeks and counting (6 weeks without a functioning unit), all because Apple lost my order in the process of upgrading systems. Finally, to be treated with such contempt as to not receive any phone calls in regards to the matter.