Tired of being treated like an idiot!!!

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
This post is my first ever about Apple. It was removed by Apple before being allowed onto their forum.



I bought my first Apple product in 1984 and have been a loyal customer since. I have bought at least 100,000 dollars worth of Apple products as I own and run edit and recording studios. In the rare cases we've had hardware failures, Apple insists we bring our systems to a store where we're treated like crap and it is always assumed that we know nothing. I'm willing to bet that I know at least as much as their "Genius's" and often have to hold back laughter when they attempt to explain how we need to do our job better, it is INSULTING!! We just had an optical drive failure in one of our Mac Pros and Apple is demanding that we take the computer out of the rack, cart it to an Apple store in a mall and have them diagnose it. For Pete's sake, we KNOW what's wrong. WHY MUST we be treated like this?? Our Dell towers rarely have failures but when they do, Dell doesn't ever ask questions and gets us up and running asap. No wonder they are the largest computer company in the world.



Apple is really testing the limits of my loyality!!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe the Geniuses you dealt with are the dumb ones. Do you have a question? Oh by the way Apple is worth more than Dell.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,016member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cut2muz View Post


    This post is my first ever about Apple. It was removed by Apple before being allowed onto their forum.



    I bought my first Apple product in 1984 and have been a loyal customer since. I have bought at least 100,000 dollars worth of Apple products as I own and run edit and recording studios. In the rare cases we've had hardware failures, Apple insists we bring our systems to a store where we're treated like crap and it is always assumed that we know nothing. I'm willing to bet that I know at least as much as their "Genius's" and often have to hold back laughter when they attempt to explain how we need to do our job better, it is INSULTING!! We just had an optical drive failure in one of our Mac Pros and Apple is demanding that we take the computer out of the rack, cart it to an Apple store in a mall and have them diagnose it. For Pete's sake, we KNOW what's wrong. WHY MUST we be treated like this?? Our Dell towers rarely have failures but when they do, Dell doesn't ever ask questions and gets us up and running asap. No wonder they are the largest computer company in the world.



    Apple is really testing the limits of my loyality!!



    If you're that level of user, I can't imagine you going into a retail store. Are you a Pro Care member? I've had my run-ins with Apple service and their store policies, but you have to understand that they are used to dealing with routine consumer issues...and regular consumers in general. What about phone tech support, mail support, etc?
  • Reply 3 of 9
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SDW2001 View Post


    If you're that level of user, I can't imagine you going into a retail store. Are you a Pro Care member? I've had my run-ins with Apple service and their store policies, but you have to understand that they are used to dealing with routine consumer issues...and regular consumers in general. What about phone tech support, mail support, etc?



    I started with phone support and that was itself frustrating. I hate to sound like a complainer but truthfully, I design and build HD edit facilities and Pro Tools rooms for a living. We once ponied up and paid the ridiculous over-priced fee for Pro support and never really used it and when we did were almost equally as frustrated. So we, like many other smaller companies, have many better ways to spend 2500 dollars. After all this frustration this morning with Apple, a local Apple retailer agreed to order the replacement optical drive for us without us having to dis-assemble our rack and shut down the Pro Tools bay. I really am an Apple believer as obvious with the amount of money I've spent over the years, but jeez, they always treat me like I'm a fifth grader and its getting old.



    I will own 2 iPhones asap I might add.



    Don Wilson
  • Reply 4 of 9
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    I agree with you here. I know you have to take a test and stuff to work at the genius bar, but some of these things don't need a 10 step instruction manual. A DVD drive is one of those. My dad and brother both had problems with their Dell computers and the guy came over to our house, spare parts in hand. Gotta hand it to Dell, that is a BIG plus. I had something happen with my G5 and sat in front of an Apple store for an hour to make an appointment so I could be seen. After that, they did their best to blame the problem on me (darn me for upgrading a hard drive on my own) and wanted to charge me for the fried part, an ENTIRE NEW CASE which he admitted was not necessary but was how Apple shipped parts, labor, and calibration of new sensors which is some sort of burn-in process. The total price was 1/4 what I paid in the first place. That shouldn't happen.



    BTW: I fixed the problem with like a $4 toenail clipper set.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    One thing you may be able to do is work with that retailer a bit more closely - see if you can't swing an on-site repair contract, or heck, even a spare parts kit for you to keep around the studio.
  • Reply 6 of 9
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kickaha View Post


    One thing you may be able to do is work with that retailer a bit more closely - see if you can't swing an on-site repair contract, or heck, even a spare parts kit for you to keep around the studio.



    We do work with one or two retailers and they usually bend over backwards. Both told me earlier today that Apple has really tightened up on everything with them, including margins on their stock. They both sent me to the Apple support route first, but after venting here (thank-you), the first one I called back was willing to be creative. We too have had Dell issues and we too had a guy at the front door in 24 hours, very cool. I realize you could only do that with the massive cash flow they must have and they do carry and maintain several lines of Enterprise servers and the like, so they have to be on it or drop out of the game. Truthfully, Apple opened the door for guys like me on the creative side of my life and I don't forget that. I can see you Insiders here know your stuff, glad to find you. Any Final Cut issues, maybe I can help.



    Best,



    Don Wilson
  • Reply 7 of 9
    slewisslewis Posts: 2,081member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe the Geniuses you dealt with are the dumb ones. Do you have a question? Oh by the way Apple is worth more than Dell.



    In Brand



    Sebastian
  • Reply 8 of 9
    I've had horror stories with Apple 'geniuses' too, to the point where they wouldn't try to repair my Rev A iMac G5 for a 3rd time because the problem must've been the 'low quality electricity in your home'. I had to buy AppleCare in order to get a repair guy to come to my house and replace the power supply. Funny thing is, the power supply was the original diagnosis of my problem, but on the first repair, the Apple genius only replaced a fan and on the 2nd repair, the genius replaced the logic board. Seems like going with the original diagnosis would've been more cost efficient for Apple.



    Oh yeah, the Apple store screwed up the light filter cone during the logic board replacement as well. I will never ever use the genius system again, what a joke that was.
  • Reply 9 of 9
    Weird, when I called in one of my mac pros in for service Apple actually sent in a guy from apple to check it out, now I bought 6 mac pros after switching from dells and they have been good. I pay for the higher end support though. If you have a recording studio and you are using macs why would you not pay for that service?

    VS the everyday schmuch on the street bring your box in service level



    I would like to add, switching from PC to macs was a godsend.. I wish I knew how stable these guys are for audio work, PCs always have some kind of glitch that will happen at the moment you really need them to get the job done. It is a night and day difference I might add.
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