2004-07-11 Powerbook problems (the original contents of this page are about halfway down. I've updated at the top with my most recent conversation with Apple.) ### ### UPDATE, July 12th ### I spent a while on the phone to Apple this morning (the AppleStore this time), said what was happening, that I'd taken legal advice, and that I'd like a replacement and compensation. Short story: A replacement will be with me in 2-3 weeks; Compensation gets discussed at that point. Thanks all for your help! The legal points really helped, as did showing Apple this page. # Longer story on some of those: Since I posted this online I've had a bunch of advice (thanks all!). On what could be causing the problems: It could be RAM, yes. I swapped my extra chip at the shop an the symptoms didn't change. It could be the soldered-in stuff, but that's nothing I can really do anything about. The tech support guy, yesterday, said it could be a logic board. Who knows. I'm doubtful it's software. I've been running the exact same stuff on my iBook for about 2 years and it's worked fine, and during the various reinstalls I've run without user installed software (stuck with Mail and Safari) and still had problems. I've also had some legal advice--from friends, reading stuff myself, and from the CAB (the Citizens Advice Bureaux *rock*, incidentally ). The main protection is the Sales of Goods Act 1979, as amended in 1982, 1994 and 2002. I found the text online, including amendments: http://www.john.antell.name/SOGA1979.htm and some key facts: http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/facts/salegoodsact.htm It seems that the onus is on the retailer, not the manufacturer (so AppleStore not Apple in this case) to make sure the goods are okay. For the first sixth month, it's their job to prove the goods are/aren't rubbish, not mine. And "accepting" the goods (after which is becomes a warranty issue, not something that can be dealt with by this legislation) takes a "reasonable" amount of time, not 10 working days or whatever the remorse period is. It's all quite vague. But what the legislation gives me (us) is: I can require a replacement or repair. It looks like I have to accept either, but only if what I'm offered won't incur me much extra expense. In this case it has taken 6 weeks, that's clearly not reasonable. --> Now this is the important bit. This legislation is common sense. It's fairly simple to read and get the gist (I'm missing some wrinkles I'm sure). But I *didn't know* that what I demanding from Apple as reasonable, right at the beginning, was actually the law. Had I known my rights, I could have stood up for myself. As it was, I didn't know this law existed. I know the law now. I can quote it on the phone, and suddenly people are a lot friendlier. (But be careful. The strongest piece of advice I received was "Never accept a repair," you might lose rights by doing so. Although the law says you shouldn't, I've no idea what precedent says.) # On the matter of compensation: To be honest, I feel uneasy about all of this. I don't like stamping my feet and I don't like complaining. What's more, I accept that computers go wrong sometimes and quality assurance isn't perfect. Fine. What I don't accept is being treated like a cog in a machine, and poor customer service. Poor customer service - not a broken computer - has cost me time and money. If a new computer will take over a month to repair, because a keyboard isn't available, it shouldn't be on sale. I should be given time updates. I shouldn't have to chase the pick-up. I shouldn't have been told, at the beginning, that I had to go through the repair process. (I could go on a rant here about the nature of our society and people refusing to take responsibility. People high up in companies put perfectly nice people in the firing line, don't empower them, give them a rubbish process to work with, and then remove themselves so they don't witness the consequences. But that's for another time.) Apple need to know that their process is losing them good will, and it can't be dealt with on an ad hoc basis like this. And I've turned down work because I'm too busy, in part because I've been moving round computers, talking to Apple and so on. Keeping records really helps here. # So what happened when I talked to Apple? Once I said I'd taken legal advice, the same department that told me about the remorse period before were suddenly very helpful. Once they'd seen the records I'd taken, they were happier to talk about compensation. I must say, the individuals are - generally - okay to deal with on the phone. Today's was one of the better ones, mainly because she was actually allowed to do things (and her manager seems human too, apparently he was impressed by the detail of this webpage...). I'm hoping they'll be reasonable on the subject of compensation. # Lessons for us: Know your rights. Read the legislation - really, it's not hard - and get an idea of what we're entitled to (at least in the UK). If you don't get what you're entitled to, or if you're ignored, further advice I've received says go to the Small Claims Court: http://www.bbc.co.uk/crime/law/smallclaimscourt.shtml and http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews23926.html You'll be a lot stronger on the phone for it. I wish I'd known my rights to begin with. Computers go wrong from time to time, accept that. But don't accept bad service. Had Apple repaired my system promptly - oh, and actually repaired it - I'd be happy. Also, keep records. # Lessons for Apple: This is the tough one. Apple's processes seem to treat people like rubbish. I've been a Mac user for, oh, 12 years, and they've been fine all that time. My current iBook had the screen replaced, and Apple were great. But recently the quality of the machines has been slipping and their customer service too (anecdotally). Apple: Your process means customers get ignored and kept in the dark. You're sacrificing good will from your key market, the people who will tell others to buy your machines. This, for example, is terrible: http://www.sidhe.org/~dan/blog/archives/000359.html Dan Sugalski is designing Parrot, the core of Perl 6. People like that are who one part of Apple are trying to woo, primarily with Unix support and reliable machines. That's a dangerous game. These people are high profile and respected. It isn't good to have their computer break 4 times in a month. It puts my trouble to shame! Hell, it isn't good for anyone's computer to break 4 times in a month! At this point the person on the end of the phone should be able to say: There's clearly something wrong here, we'll ship a new machine out to you immediately, and figure out what's wrong with this lemon in our own time. It's not rude people on the phone, it's an inability for them to do anything about clearly bad situations. They don't follow up situations. You're kept waiting for 40 minutes in a phone queue--when you've already been accepted as a repair. # I'll update when the machine's on its way. Thanks all for your help. ### ### The following is what was originally on this page. ### (running up to 11 July 2004, today. This is the story of how Apple have been treating me during my ongoing Powerbook problems.) April 30th It arrives! Brand new Apple Powerbook 12" (1.3GHz, 80Gb hard drive, Airport Extreme). I fit 1Gb of RAM myself. # [time passes, during which I slowly move my stuff from my iBook] # May 12th Something... something goes wrong. Not quite sure what, but often the Powerbook crashes shortly after waking, especially if there are a lot of Safari windows open. Plus, weirdly, mutt can't create tmp files to view emails. Being a good Apple user, I try to diagnose the problem myself, doing all the usual thing: Fix permissions, reinstall. That was my big mistake. I won't be a goody-goody Apple user again. # May 19th Okay, it looked like it was working. I replaced the RAM. I bought DiskWarrior. I fixed, reinstalled. It died anyway. It died *bad*. It died so bad it wouldn't boot. At this point I've had persistent problems for a week, it looks like hard drive problems (I've seen a few now) but really it could be anything: I want a new computer. It's a brand new computer, it's plainly been broken since it was shipped, and the problem only exhibited once it was given a fair amount of use. So I phone support. Can I have a new computer? Can you, at the very least, fix it? Nope. No, because I'm 2 days outside my "remorse period." The remorse period is the time during which I can say I've changed my mind, send the computer back and get it replaced or have my money back. But, say I, I haven't changed my mind. I like my Powerbook! But I was shipped a broken one. Surely that's what the remorse period is meant to cover, computers broken as shipped? If the problem didn't show till a couple of days later then isn't that the same? Not our problem, say the AppleStore. Oh, so it's my fault for trying to help out and do all the same tests I would've been asked to do. Okay. So no replacement computer, I've had a week and a half use from my computer and I'm on the phone to tech support. It's the system, I have to do it this way. No repair unless I run all the tests first. Mostly tests I've already done, incidentally. Over the next few days I do zero-the-bits formats, reinstalls, move my files back from backups, run without the extra RAM... it still breaks. Have I said I freelance, by the way? I freelance, by the way. Half the week I work on my own projects and this is costing me a lot of time. Setting up a laptop takes over a day (software updates, fink, mutt, my random backup and publishing scripts, calendars, etc). Sitting on the phone to Apple takes up to an hour. Working from a temporary computer is slow. Running those tests is slow. # May 21st My credit card company can't help. They say I should be covered fine by the normal policies, because it looks like the computer was bust when it arrived. Apple say they'll come and pick up my Powerbook, finally. This involves shipping an empty cardboard box to me, and me shipping the computer back. I should be able to see the tracking number of the empty box on their website when it's on its way. It's very zen. # May 26th No tracking number yet. I call. Wait 24 hours they say, then phone back (Apple, it turns out, are really good at saying "call back in 24 hours." Sometimes, for variety, when I object, they say "call back in 2 or 3 days." If I object again I expect they'll tell me to take and aspirin and call again in the morning.) # May 27th Oh, the dispatch got stopped for some reason. They'll try again, I should get it soon. # June 1st No. There's an "internal issue," the dispatch was cancelled again, they'll phone me back tomorrow morning. # June 2nd No call back, but there's a shipping number. (I have the first name and department of the person who said they'd call me back.) # June 3rd My empty box arrives, and I dispatch my Powerbook. I'm not going to say what the delivery guy said about Apples and how many he sees. That might get him in trouble. Just for reference, it's now 12 days since my Powerbook last even booted. That's the same time it took from arriving to going wrong the first time. # June 5th The online repair status says my repair is "On hold." Finding out why takes me 50 minutes on the phone to Apple. They don't know. I'll be called back. # June 7th (Monday) No call back (I have the name of the person who said they'd call me back), so I call, at 11.58. Status: The hard drive and drive cable have been replaced, they're now waiting for a keyboard. A keyboard? What was even wrong with the keyboard? I should call back on Wednesday. Just remember this date, incidentally. # June 9th (Wednesday) Talked to customer services, waited on hold while they found out of the status of the repair. Still waiting for the keyboard, they're hoping it'll arrive by the end of the week. Then they tried to hang up very quickly. I managed to ask whether I should call back at the end of the week: "that'd be perfect sir", click. # June 14th (Monday) Customer services say there's no way of knowing when the keyboard's going to come in, call again at the end of the week. # June 17th (Thursday) Called Customer Services at 14.30. My Powerbook has now been in repair for 2 weeks. They first said they'd pick it up 4 weeks ago, and it took 3 attempts and 3 phone calls from me to make it happen. It's been unusable for 5 weeks. I had it in my hand for basically a week and a half before it started breaking. I've had no time estimates whatsoever for the last 2 weeks. They've had my computer for a month, I can't trust them to fix it without me phoning them, I'm in the dark. They've logged it as an official complaint. We shall never hear of this complaint again. I don't know what Apple do with official complaints, maybe they have a pipeline direct to the bottom of the Atlantic as a filing system. # June 22nd (Tuesday) Tried to call Customer Services at 11.20. But Tech Support (who you have to ask to be put through) won't let me talk to them. Apparently "the system" will send me a new system once they've been waiting for a part till the 2nd of July. That's their 28 day thing. If they fix it before then, I get my old computer back. I've been waiting for 28 days already, it's not my fault they didn't pick it up for 2 weeks. I should phone back in 3 days, they say, and ask again. # June 29th (Tuesday) I've almost given up hope. But when I call I'm told my computer is on the repair line and being fixed. Crikey! # July 1st (Thursday) Fixed Powerbook arrives! Now, to be honest, I'm a little suspicious about the date. All this time they've been saying there are no keyboards in, they don't know when they'll arrive, and my laptop has to wait until one comes in. Then, at the very date they'd have to ship out a new system, my computer gets shipped out. Okay, so I can live with some creative logistics, even though it does mean I've had a working computer for around 10 days out of over 2 months (2 months!). I've spent, I estimate, about 5-6 cumulative hours on the phone to Apple, and about 4 days installing, reinstalling, and doing the tests they ask for. This doesn't include the time it takes to sort my own files out, moving around backups and so on. So I can live with that. I've got my computer back. But this isn't the end of the story. (Incidentally, I had another interesting conversation with the delivery chap this time. Absolutely stunning.) # July 11th (Sunday, today) It's happened again. Same problems as last time. mutt can't make temporary files, the computer won't shut down cleanly, then it won't boot (stays at the grey Apple screen) DiskWarrior can't repair it (and it freezes in Target Disk mode). If I go into verbose mode on book, the errors are: Load of /sbin/mach_init, errno 2, trying /etc/mach_init Load of /etc/mach_init failed, errno 2 The hardware check, on the original CDs, comes back fine. Coincidentally, it's after about 11 days of usage (again), and after the hard drive has got 45Gb of data on it (again). I called tech support. Very helpful guy in the Danish tech support call centre. He says the next thing they'll ask me to do is reinstall. Hang on, I've been here before. I'm not going through this again. I know this story. This is the one where I spend days doing what tech support ask, send my computer off, Apple hang onto it for months and send it back, still broken. No. I've had people not call me back, an official complaint ignored, kept in the dark about time estimates, my machine sitting in a repair center for a month and not even picked up for 2 weeks. I'm not going through that again. Customer services open at 9am Monday morning. I've talked with them before, they obey The System. They can't do anything. In fact there's no-one who can. If I don't do what The System says, there's nothing they can do. Enough. I've dealt with a broken product, tried to be a good Apple user and done what they asked. Enough. I've been writing down the time and length of phone calls to Apple, and what they've said, for the last month and a half. I've got the names of the people who haven't called me back. Enough with official channels. I want a new computer, one that works, and I want it not in a month, but now, as it should have been to begin with. I want an apology. If it were possible, I'd want the days I've spent on this back, because the time this has cost me, on the phone to Apple, doing tests, moving things around, is now worth more than the machine itself. And I'm not going back into The System. I understand computers go wrong from time to time, that's the nature of the game. But surely it now must be costing Apple more to deal with my constant phone calls than it would've cost to ship me a new unit, almost two months ago when I first requested it, and to bend their "remorse period" by a couple of days? To have pickup delayed, my computer sit on a shelf for a month for whatever reason, and all the rest--that's worthy of an apology on its own, I'm sure. To be honest, I'm not feeling terribly reasonable right now. I've spent a good deal of money on a computer I can't use, and it feels like I've spent that money for the privilege of Apple making me jump through hoops. What do I get out of this? Maybe I'm wrong.