Beware the post Steve Jobs apple

[glennforrester]

I've been a macbook user, lover, and disciple for many years now and have converted numerous friends to apple fans. When Steve Jobs passed away I found myself wondering if the attention to detail and quality in apple products would be maintained in his absence or would corporate greed and corner cutting prevail.

13 months ago I bought my wife a brand new 2015 Macbook air. It was her first apple product and she loved it. It was simple, did what she wanted it to and looked great. 2 days ago the screen went dark and all of the various resetting protocols that I could find online couldn't bring it back to life. So this morning my wife made the hour and a half journey to our closest apple store to see what the problem was. It turns out that after only 13 months of use the screen had in fact died and to replace it was going to cost almost $700 before taxes! Yes that's right, we need to pay over half of the purchase price again to fix a premium computer that is barely a year old, no negotiation. Now I know some will say why didn't you buy the extended warranty? Simple, I believe that if I pay a premium to get a premium quality product I should expect premium quality, period. I also own four Steve Jobs era machines (one from 2005!) that all still run like tops, performing their respective tasks perfectly, and frankly I've come to expect this from Apple. Imagine buying a car that, immediately after the warranty expires, something breaks that costs over half the initial price of the vehicle to fix. I'm pretty sure that the company would have a hard time staying in business for long.

My main machine is a 2012 Macbook pro that I bought on the used market and it WILL be my last mac. I also plan to actively caution all friends, family and social media connections in an attempt to reduce the financial impact that my past recommendations may cause them in the future. I've made this decision because of the mountain of evidence I see on discussion forums about this very issue and many more that seem to confirm my suspicion about the new apple and their choice to simply drain the Jobs legacy of every last penny before the inevitable demise of the company. It was a great run and like most of us, I thank Mr Jobs for his vision and leadership, but it seems that the best days are over. It's back to PC for me (gasp!) until another visionary realizes that people reward quality with loyalty and creates the next generation of beloved tech.

Glenn Forrester,
Ontario, Canada

 

[chscag]

We appreciate and respect your opinion and are sorry to hear about your MacBook Air. Perhaps you should address a letter to Tim Cook expressing your disappointment.

Also, please do not post twice. We removed your duplicate.

 

[ferrarr]

I've been a macbook user, lover, and disciple for many years now and have converted numerous friends to apple fans. When Steve Jobs passed away I found myself wondering if the attention to detail and quality in apple products would be maintained in his absence or would corporate greed and corner cutting prevail.

13 months ago I bought my wife a brand new 2015 Macbook air. It was her first apple product and she loved it. It was simple, did what she wanted it to and looked great. 2 days ago the screen went dark and all of the various resetting protocols that I could find online couldn't bring it back to life. So this morning my wife made the hour and a half journey to our closest apple store to see what the problem was. It turns out that after only 13 months of use the screen had in fact died and to replace it was going to cost almost $700 before taxes! Yes that's right, we need to pay over half of the purchase price again to fix a premium computer that is barely a year old, no negotiation. Now I know some will say why didn't you buy the extended warranty? Simple, I believe that if I pay a premium to get a premium quality product I should expect premium quality, period. I also own four Steve Jobs era machines (one from 2005!) that all still run like tops, performing their respective tasks perfectly, and frankly I've come to expect this from Apple. Imagine buying a car that, immediately after the warranty expires, something breaks that costs over half the initial price of the vehicle to fix. I'm pretty sure that the company would have a hard time staying in business for long.

My main machine is a 2012 Macbook pro that I bought on the used market and it WILL be my last mac. I also plan to actively caution all friends, family and social media connections in an attempt to reduce the financial impact that my past recommendations may cause them in the future. I've made this decision because of the mountain of evidence I see on discussion forums about this very issue and many more that seem to confirm my suspicion about the new apple and their choice to simply drain the Jobs legacy of every last penny before the inevitable demise of the company. It was a great run and like most of us, I thank Mr Jobs for his vision and leadership, but it seems that the best days are over. It's back to PC for me (gasp!) until another visionary realizes that people reward quality with loyalty and creates the next generation of beloved tech.

Glenn Forrester,
Ontario, Canada

Really, you went there?

Wow. Unfortunately, like Steve Jobs and all things, they die. I'm sorry for your wife's loss of her MBA. But, it happens, don't dwell on it, learn from this and move along.

 

[glennforrester]

I didn't realize that I had posted twice, sorry.

 

[glennforrester]

I understand that they die and I am moving on as stated. But I feel that it's in the public's interest to know about issues like this. It's actually one of the reasons forums exist.

 

[dtravis7]

Since you are moving back to the PC, not to be mean, but I hope you enjoy Windows 10. Be sure and install Virus and malware programs the day you get it. PC hardware dies also. Some quite fast in fact. I am a computer tech and see it all the time.

 

[glennforrester]

Thanks Dennis. I have to use Windows 10 for some things at work and I get the reference, not my favorite OS. I will install virus and malware programs, any suggestions about which are best? I'm truly not looking forward to this.

 

[harryb2448]

Was this an Apple Store your Wife took the Air to, or an Apple Reseller? I would do as suggested and write to Tim Cooke expressing your disappointment as a two Mac family and ask what Apple can do for you. If you decide to continue into the Windows world may I suggest avoiding anything Dell?

 

[glennforrester]

She took it to the Apple store in a mall and spoke to 2 geniuses and the store manager in the end. I've submitted the issue to Apple support and there hasn't been a response but it hasn't even been 24 hours yet but I think that I will also write to Tim Cooke. I wasn't aware that that was a reasonable or even possible course of action but two people suggesting it means it must be so. I'm going to start searching for a replacement for her computer tonight so thanks for the suggestion about Dell.

 

[S.SubZero]

Steve-era recall for Mac problems: http://www.macworld.com/article/1154456/laptop-computers/nvidiagpu-macbookpro.html

Near-Steve-era "Quality Program": https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

We don't need to talk about the initial cloud services that failed miserably or AntennaGate.

Don't blame lack-of-Steve. Computers are complex devices. They are only getting more complex. That said, it's interesting they wouldn't help you out over a one month warranty expiration. They've always been loose with the warranty, at the discretion of the person at the store they can initiate warranty repairs for "just out of warranty" stuff. If you were aggressive with them, or "WELL THIS NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF STEVE WERE HERE" with them, then this is to be expected.

Heck, they swapped out a failed iPad Mini for me that was six months out of warranty, free, just cuz I was cool about it.

 

[ferrarr]

Don't blame lack-of-Steve. Computers are complex devices. They are only getting more complex. That said, it's interesting they wouldn't help you out over a one month warranty expiration. They've always been loose with the warranty, at the discretion of the person at the store they can initiate warranty repairs for "just out of warranty" stuff. If you were aggressive with them, or "WELL THIS NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF STEVE WERE HERE" with them, then this is to be expected.

Heck, they swapped out a failed iPad Mini for me that was six months out of warranty, free, just cuz I was cool about it.

This is how I feel also.

The Apple Store I went to replaced my 2011 MBP with a brand new 2015 model back in August. I feel they go out of their way to help customers, maybe not all of them though.

 

[dtravis7]

Thanks Dennis. I have to use Windows 10 for some things at work and I get the reference, not my favorite OS. I will install virus and malware programs, any suggestions about which are best? I'm truly not looking forward to this.

I really am impressed by anything from Malware Bytes. They make both AV and Malware apps.

I agree with others here though, you should pursue this farther and get a hold of apple directly. I have seen lemons from every brand of computer out there. Also I have seen Apple bend over backwards to help customers in so many cases.

 

[glennforrester]

My wife is a pretty gentle soul and was not aggressive with them at all. They were actually VERY helpful with her and gave her a thunderbolt to VGA cable for use with an external screen. She even spoke with store manager and apparently they were both shedding tears when she left (I'm not even kidding) because he felt so bad for her. Maybe there's been a policy change. They did express frustration because their hands were tied. I personally have had nothing but good experiences with this store and its staff.

 

[dtravis7]

One of our Moderaters here recently had his late 2011 15" MBP die due to the Nvidia Video issue. Even though it was way out of warrantee and the repair program, they fixed it for free and gave him a new Logicboard.

 

[pigoo3]

When Steve Jobs passed away I found myself wondering if the attention to detail and quality in apple products would be maintained in his absence or would corporate greed and corner cutting prevail.

Steve Jobs unfortunately passed away a little over 5 years ago (October, 2011). Did you REALLY find yourself wondering about Apple quality 5 years ago...or did you just bring this up in October, 2016 because of this recent MacBook Air issue to over dramatize things??

13 months ago I bought my wife a brand new 2015 Macbook air. It was her first apple product and she loved it. It was simple, did what she wanted it to and looked great. 2 days ago the screen went dark and all of the various resetting protocols that I could find online couldn't bring it back to life. So this morning my wife made the hour and a half journey to our closest apple store to see what the problem was. It turns out that after only 13 months of use the screen had in fact died and to replace it was going to cost almost $700 before taxes! Yes that's right, we need to pay over half of the purchase price again to fix a premium computer that is barely a year old, no negotiation.

This of course is very unfortunate...probably very unusual...and probably very rare.

Now I know some will say why didn't you buy the extended warranty? Simple, I believe that if I pay a premium to get a premium quality product I should expect premium quality, period. I also own four Steve Jobs era machines (one from 2005!) that all still run like tops, performing their respective tasks perfectly, and frankly I've come to expect this from Apple.

Again. Very unfortunate that this happened. And obviously you have history owning a number of Apple computers. So why not also consider that "stuff happens" sometimes?? You've had great experience with the other Apple computers you've owned. No company is perfect...and no manufacturing process is perfect. Sometimes things happen.

Imagine buying a car that, immediately after the warranty expires, something breaks that costs over half the initial price of the vehicle to fix. I'm pretty sure that the company would have a hard time staying in business for long.

Automobiles and portable computers are VERY different things. There are MANY more parts in an automobile. If one part breaks...it's a discrete part. With an Apple portable computer...there really aren't very many "discrete" parts. Two of the more expensive parts that are really more like an assembly than a discrete part...are the display and the logic board. The repair cost of these two parts alone would more than likely exceed the cost of a brand new computer.

Same thing with automobiles. If you went to a parts store or dealer...and totaled up the cost for each individual part + the cost of labor to assemble the whole car by hand...it would probably cost 2x, 3x, etc. the cost of a brand new car.

My main machine is a 2012 Macbook pro that I bought on the used market and it WILL be my last mac. I also plan to actively caution all friends, family and social media connections in an attempt to reduce the financial impact that my past recommendations may cause them in the future. I've made this decision because of the mountain of evidence I see on discussion forums about this very issue and many more that seem to confirm my suspicion about the new apple and their choice to simply drain the Jobs legacy of every last penny before the inevitable demise of the company. It was a great run and like most of us, I thank Mr Jobs for his vision and leadership, but it seems that the best days are over. It's back to PC for me (gasp!) until another visionary realizes that people reward quality with loyalty and creates the next generation of beloved tech.

You know what Glenn?? If you never had this MacBook Air problem...your opinion of Apple as being a great company with great products would remain in tact. You're only going off the deep end now...because of the MacBook Air problem. You're completely negating all of the positive experiences you've had in the past...with many Apple products you've owned. And now you're letting this one negative experience wipe out all of the previous positive experiences!

You got 12 months of Applecare with this MacBook Air...and you had the option of extended the Applecare warranty to 3 years (but chose not to). VERY VERY unfortunately the MacBook Air had a problem shortly after the Applecare expired (very unfortunate). But the facts are...Apple lived up to their end of the transaction. Also consider that there are MANY MANY other folks that purchased the exact same model 2015 MacBook Air...and their MacBook Airs are running fine. It's just very unfortunate that your 2015 MacBook Air developed an issue.

As already mentioned in the thread. Keep pursuing things via other avenues. It is not unheard of for Apple to do free repairs or reduced cost repairs on out of warranty units. Please keep trying...and hopefully things will work out.

HTH,

- Nick

p.s. By the way. It could be argued that your 2012 MacBook Pro was a "post Steve Jobs" computer. Thus the "poor quality" post Steve Jobs argument is really very not sound. And of course...there are millions & millions of post Steve Jobs that have been sold...and are still running great. AND...there were various WELL KNOWN issues with some Apple models WELL BEFORE Steve Jobs passed away. Which go back as far as the early 2000's.

One well known widepsread issue were leaking capacitors on MANY iMac G5's in the 2003/2004 timeframe. Various other models that had graphics hardware issues. Etc. The quality issue you may have run into is not an isolated post Steve Jobs phenomenon.

Again. Very unfortunate this happened. None of us want to spend a lot of money on a brand new computer...and have it fail after 13 months!

 

[glennforrester]

First off, thanks for taking the time to reply so thoroughly to my post. Yesterday I was quite shocked and disappointed with the outcome of my wife's visit to the apple store and for that reason I wrote down what was on my mind in as much detail as possible and tried to be fair and objective. If parts of that offended anyone I'm sorry, it wasn't my intent.

I REALLY did find myself thinking about the fate of Apple's products when Mr Jobs died 5 years ago as I'm sure many others did. I am, just like most of you, passionate about Apple's products. I am so not because of the fashion of it, but because of the superiority of the products. Two years ago when I was shopping for a replacement for my 2009 macbook I actually bought a 2012 MBP because that model would have been the last one released mostly under Mr Jobs' watch. I also bought the same model shortly after for my son and both machines are still running perfectly. At the time my motivation was to see what would transpire with the latest macbook models before making the plunge. I made that plunge last year with my wife's air and the result is the issue I originally posted about yesterday. So maybe this is just a perfect storm but at the time what happened, right or wrong, seemed to confirm my worst fears about the company.

I wrote an email to Tim Cook yesterday as well as support and I'll update here with the results. Thanks again for all the help and understanding.

 

[pigoo3]

So maybe this is just a perfect storm but at the time what happened, right or wrong, seemed to confirm my worst fears about the company.

Glenn. When something like this hits us...of course it REALLY hurts...of course we get angry...and of course it's VERY personal. But if you look at this situation in the big picture (ignore the personal part of this for the moment)...there have been millions & millions & millions of Apple computers sold since Steve Jobs passed away. From what I've seen...I really don't think that the failure rate of Apple computers is any worse then when Steve Jobs was in charge.

Every product...and every manufacturing situtation does not produce 100% error free products. Yes the QC/QA process it supposed to catch problem units before they leave the factory. Also...I know that you said that your wife is very very careful with her computers. But maybe something unusual happened to it. It got bumped, dropped, etc. I'm not saying your wife is at fault...just saying we don't know 100% for certain a user situation isn't involved here.

Just within the last 2 weeks we had someone post a thread about how a perfectly running 2012 MacBook Pro suddenly stopped working. We discussed what the problem could be...and what could be tried to investigate. Then later in the thread the person that started the thread told us that their son "came clean"...and admitted that they had spilled some liquid on the MacBook Pro.

Thus with forum threads like this we always like to consider all options.

I wrote an email to Tim Cook yesterday as well as support and I'll update here with the results.

Good deal Glenn...keep at it.

It is very very possible that 2015 MacBook Air's do have a problem that only starts showing up 13 months or more after purchase...and no user error is involved. As you can imagine...enough data needs to be collected from consumers to determine if something is an isolated incident...or a widespreaed issue. But this takes lots & lots of time.

Off the top of my head...I can think of possibly 5-10 of these sort of issues over the past 12-15 years. Where there was a widespread hardware issue that Apple resolved with special repair programs. But it takes time to gather data...and make a decision. These special repair programs occurred both before & after Steve Jobs was running the company...thus no real change in quality post Steve Jobs.

It is very unfortunate that this occured...and only 1 month after the 12 months of Applecare expired. But I seriously doubt if you would have been any happier if it had happened at 18 months, 24 months, 36 months...etc. It just so happens in this case it was 13 months.

Again. Apple many times goes "above & beyond" to solve issues like this. This is why Apple is #1 in customer service in the electronics industry. Even when things happen outside of warranty. Please stay calm...keep pressing with the folks at Apple. Don't get angry with them because that never helps if you're speaking with someone & get angry. Especially if this person has the authority to decide on a gray-area situation to either repair/replace a unit...or stick to the rules.

Hopefully Apple will either repair the computer, replace it, or come up with a reduced price to make things right.

Again good luck...and please keep us up to date with what happens!

- Nick