iMac repair , again.........

sham69

Hi,
I bought a 21.5" imac last summer and have to say it was the best purchase i have made in years.
Unfortunately in February the hard drive died.
I rand apple who were very helpful, sent a courier out to collect, repaired it and sent it back.
I had a few issues with the repair, i.e courier didnt turn up when expected.
when he did he put the machine under his arm (no box) and had his car keys in his hand literally touching off the screen.
When I got it back the screen was off skew to the right ( I pushed it back myself) and there were small particles of dust behind the screen.
I did nothing about it except state it on my customer support feedback.

All has been fine up to the other day.
I had some data that needed to be backed up, family photo's and movies etc.
When the disc was finished burning I had a look at it (as I always do) and it was badly scratched?
I tried a couple more and they also scratched.
I checked some of the kids original dvd's that were played earlier that week and they were also scratched.
To cut a long story short I rang apple, got on to a lovely girl that was dealing with my query, I explained about the discs and previous repair experience and she said she would put me on to her supervisor.
Not to sound racist in any way, the guy could barely string a sentence together in English and I felt that he didnt fully understand what I was saying.
He asked me to send pictures of the scratched disc (which I have) and asked me about the previous repair.
I told him I was not confident in the company that was chosen to do the repair (I would rather not say who).
He told that they were the best repair company they had in Ireland and didnt really offer an alternative even though I was not happy with them taking it again.

I suppose what I want to know is has anyone had problems with apple reapirs before and also how do I escalate this to someone higher as I am really not happy after paying nearly 1500 euro in total (apple care included).
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks
Sham.

muggyog

Sham, you can chose ANY Apple approved repair centre you like. I had issues with a laptop repair and changed to a different service provider. The call centre only look up the local dealers in each country from this list.

sham69

Cheers for the reply.
The guy kind of insisted that I use the same reapir place so I wasnt in the mood for arguing as it was a real struggle to get my point across.
I got a call this moring and they are going to replace the optical drive.
Fingers crossed this is the end of my problems.

Greentree_uk

FYI, mactivate are the only apple service provider who can arrange a mail in repair at no cost to you and yes it is no coincidence they are nicknamed craptivate. So if you had to do mail in then you have no other choice. Otherwise you can drop it into any apple service centre you wish.

sham69

Well, it was collected today and was boxed which is good.
Fingers crossed all goes well.
I love my mac but have to say I am disappointed at the 2 failures in as many months.

whiterebel

Greentree_uk wrote: »

FYI, mactivate are the only apple service provider who can arrange a mail in repair at no cost to you and yes it is no coincidence they are nicknamed craptivate. So if you had to do mail in then you have no other choice. Otherwise you can drop it into any apple service centre you wish.

I'm surprised to read that, I always found them very good to deal with, using a very good courier to collect in Cork, and their own van in Dublin. They actually used to send you out a box to pack it in.

FiFi01

Any of the Expert Stores also do a free Apple warranty repair service. They have about 70 stores nationwide

Greentree_uk

Really? I wonder who is actually doing the repairs for them.... Might want to disregard the name implying anything when it comes to macs though.

sham69

Well,
I got the mac back.
Not happy again I have to say.
Courier brought it back without a box.
Really small scratch on front of screen at very bottom and scratch on aluminium at the back.
Not hugely noticeable but enough for me to spot it.

As for the disc scratching, it does seem to be still happening.
I know there have been posts around about the actual user not putting the disc in straight and I believe thats what it is.
Because the padding stuff doesnt come to the edge of the case there is about 2mm of aluminium exposed when you eject the disc.
If you are not careful it can scratch off the very sharp edging on the way out.
They way I get around it is to eject and kind of pull the outside of the disc against the case and not the part of the disc that is read.
A bit of a pain in the hole to do and i am surprised that apple didnt cop this as it is a design flaw.
What can you do...

fasty

Mactivate, eh? My sister had a similar issue with them scratching her machine and not looking after it.

Your best best now is to get on to Apple and complain about Mactivate. They shouldn't be an authorized service provider at all.

Although CompuB aren't much better. They didn't even look at an issue with her machine that was intermittent and told her it was fixed. Applecare subsequently expired on it.

sham69

yep,
they won't be getting my machine again thats for sure.
I don't know what to do to be honest.
As I said the disc scratching thing does seem to be a design flaw and only happens on some models.
As for the scratch on the back, I think I will email them and let them know (apple)
I got a guys email address and sent him pics of my scratched discs (as I wanted compensation) , he hasnt replied.
I think I will try him again today.

Does anyone have an email address for complaints?
I sent a feedback thingy but would like to escalate the problem further as I paid a lot for the machine and this kind of service is unacceptable.
To be fair it is not apple but the company they choose to repair.

Sad Professor

Better to ring them.

sham69

I hate ringing apple.
always get put on to someone with Pidgeon English who keeps referring to me as "Sir" but never deals with any of the queries I have.

I will give them a shout later.
Cheers for the replies folks.

FiFi01

Sounds like your drive is out of allignment on it's chassis. Pm me and I'll help you out. Leave contact number. Rgds

muggyog

sham69 wrote: »

I hate ringing apple.
always get put on to someone with Pidgeon English who keeps referring to me as "Sir" but never deals with any of the queries I have.

Maybe because you are connected to a call centre in India. Call centres are the same for all manufacturers. They take your details and ask you questions off a list ('Is it plugged in').

I was Mactivated and now send my laptops to Galmac in Galway (They now come back not looking like they have been through a washing machine)

FiFi01

I assume when you say that they have been through a washing machine that they look like a machine that has been soaked in water then spun vigourously for 20 mins. Nice....

muggyog

.... just the drying cycle.

sham69

kind of getting the hang of getting discs in and out now without scratching.
As I said previously just by pulling it out towards the labeled side of the disc and not the data side.
I think I will leave it at that.
I might send apple an email about the repair and the scratching etc.
I sent the person who took the call an email about my scratched discs and still havent heard anything.
Not acceptable as my kids dvd's got scratched to bits.

Thanks all for the advice and offers of fixing etc.
Sham.

FiFi01

If youregoing to leave it as is I'd suggest do a Jim 'll fix it by placing a slim cut of clear selotape over the edge to protect your discs

best of Luck

Greentree_uk

I know it's hassle but it's time to make a complaint to Apple Customer relations. Perhaps even a letter to a newspaper about your poor experience.

Remember you consumer rights.


you are entitled to a repair, replacement or a refund. if the product is not repaired to your satisfaction you are eligible for either of the other two...where did you buy the machine?

sham69

It was bought online for 1229 and then throw another few hundred on for apple care.
I think I will ring them again on Monday as I am not happy at all.
Thanks for all the advice.

jdee99

I had an issue with my 27" imac where the screen developed a mask on it in a couple of places, couple that with an optical drive that wouldnt burn I arranged for it to go in a an Apple repair centre. Three screens (dead pixel on one new screen, a damaged screen and the final replacement) later and a replacement optical drive I got it home only for it to develop a low rumbling noise from the fan.

Was without the iMac for two weeks while all this was going on - spoke to one of the senior tech advisors at Apple and he stated anymore problems he would arrange a replacement - after the rumbling noise (and a couple of other little niggles) spoke the gentleman concerned and he arranged a replacement iMac.

From what I can gather three repairs and a total of two weeks without computer seems to be swap out time. Get back onto Apple Care and talk to one of their senior advisors and tell them the grief that you have been going through.

regards

JD

sham69

Thanks JD

whiterebel

jdee99 wrote: »

I had an issue with my 27" imac where the screen developed a mask on it in a couple of places, couple that with an optical drive that wouldnt burn I arranged for it to go in a an Apple repair centre. Three screens (dead pixel on one new screen, a damaged screen and the final replacement) later and a replacement optical drive I got it home only for it to develop a low rumbling noise from the fan.

Was without the iMac for two weeks while all this was going on - spoke to one of the senior tech advisors at Apple and he stated anymore problems he would arrange a replacement - after the rumbling noise (and a couple of other little niggles) spoke the gentleman concerned and he arranged a replacement iMac.

From what I can gather three repairs and a total of two weeks without computer seems to be swap out time. Get back onto Apple Care and talk to one of their senior advisors and tell them the grief that you have been going through.

regards

JD

You're lucky they replaced the screen for a dead pixel. Normally they won't unless there are a specified number with a specified area.

muggyog

Ditto.

Surprisingly Apple dont seem to specify the number of defective pixels required for replacement.

sham69

Right,
got sorted.
I rang apple yesterday and told them the whole story.
I told them I was not happy with the repair, and also not happy with the scratched discs.
It got quite heated at one point but I managed to calm it back down.
Rep rang the repair company, rang me back and told me they would replace my machine.
I am getting one of the new iMacs (thunderbolt) so am quite happy.
The guy ended up being really nice so just have to package the old one up , get it collected and then the new one will ship.
Hopefully I will have more luck with this one.
Thanks for all the advice here, I am glad I rang now

Greentree_uk

Great news.

jdee99

Nice result sham69

regards

JD

sham69

thanks guys.
I probably wouldnt have bothered if it wasnt for the replies.
I can be quite fussy with scratches and dirt etc to the smallest degree, my other half slags me about it but i like to look after my stuff.

Cheers again.

fasty

Good on ya! Glad you didn't let them away with it and pleased Apple sorted it for you.