Michael coulda tried calling back again later and getting a different rep, or emailing Steve Jobs, or filing a dispute with the BBB or AG, or any number of different options. Instead, this seems to have been his most personally satisfying option.
Whether Apple is error, or a magic moisture cloud descended on the Macbook in the dead of the night, we’ll never know, but what’s unquestionable that once the sledgehammer came out, we gave the computer screen a little “rock on” hand sign.
— BEN POPKEN
Apple Care is Not So Nice [Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained]
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instead of smashing the laptop, then salvaging the parts, why not strip the laptop of all parts, the smash the shell? I guess I’m confused.
I’ve had decent service from apple, but I’ve also had decent service from Dell small business group. I’m equally happy with both.
But I do find the statement “I give companies one chance” to be almost dogmatic in nature. I am sure if you go back to your clients, there will be one who had issues with you, but opted to give you a second chance.
I had a client with a sick iMac (video went to hell). I called Apple, and they directed me to compusa. After a week at ChumpUSA and being told all kinds of different stories, I called Apple back. They told me to go get the machine. The next day after I brought it back, a tech came to my client’s office and swapped out the motherboard. Me = happy, client = happy.
Anyone else wishing harm to their MBP or any other unhappy Mac, please consider burning it in effigy and sending the computer to me.
all I keep thinking with this video, is that in the end he’s going to shout ” Smash my macbook .com!!”
@dulakian: I don’t get why you’re so defensive. Sure, people mocked you, but they’re hardly anything to take personally – you did something stupid, at least in the eyes of Consumerist-trained viewers, and your actions were mocked.
If anything, you’re the one making ad hominem attacks on people who call you out on your stupid stunt and labeling them fanboys.
For whatever it’s worth, Apple has received awards for its customer service – that is a fact. And from my personal experience, Apple has gone above and beyond to satisfy me -that’s also a fact. It’s not like I imagined receiving great service because I happen to be loyal to the brand. Rather, I’m loyal to the brand because I’ve received good service.
See, the problem here is that Apple has lost NOTHING. You already paid for the product.
With that product, you got a warranty as part of the price you paid. If you truly didn’t do anything to damage the laptop, then you weren’t merely not satisfied, you were ripped off. That isn’t an issue of satisfaction, that’s an issue of them not doing their duty to you under the terms of your contract.
Three possible scenarios:
1) Apple sucks and you didn’t get what you paid for, and you dropped the ball by not trying to get them to make good on their contract with you.
2) You DID damage the laptop and are doing this video as a goof. (Or some variant thereof.)
3) You’re an unreasonable, arrogant prick who is masking your childishness with feigned lack of satisfaction.
What is sort of making me sad/frustrated is that it seems dulakian did this after the first time he dealt with applecare where he was told it was water damage.
Not only are there a gazillion already mentioned ways to deal with the situation that could have been tried and may have resulted in a free repair regardless of if it was actual water damage…but also if he has that little patience with devices that break, I’m sure $1700 is a drop in the bucket :
for what it’s worth, I used to have an iBook and there was one time where the iBook stopped working and I called AppleCare, they sent a box, but the iBook started working again before I sent it off for repair. Just out of the blue, after being unplugged and off for a day or two. And I have plenty of hardware that’s that fickle about working sometimes, the latest to do that is my razr, today.
As satisfying as destroying my razr a la dulakian may have been, I needed a phone more than the satisfaction of destroying it (until I replace it with an iPhone, duh
). I’m sure destroying the MacBook felt good, but I just can’t help but think there would have been a better way to deal with the issue.
TO the person that made the cell phone comparison – I don’t think it fits. I’ve had Verizon refuse to fix my phone b/c of “water damage” when I never dropped it. Probably what happened is that when I wore my phone at a club, dancing, etc, moisture from the humid environment got in and tripped the moisture strip.
The thing is, they ADVERTISE the phones as being wearable. They DESIGN the things as being wearable. I can understand if I got the thing wet, but not either designing it better, or fixing phones that go wonky in humid environments is MUCH different than dropping it in the toilet or, say, spilling coffee on your laptop.
It’s no wonder you are getting so many negative comments. Really, just because you know you didn’t spill anything on the portable doesn’t mean that nothing was spilled on it. Unless you have your computer sealed and under 24 hour surveillance you don’t really know what happened to your computer.
Secondly, Apple doesn’t care about losing 700 dollars to fix a computer, they will gladly do it as long as you, or someone else hasn’t done anything to the computer. They aren’t going to lie about spill damage in a computer because it’s really not going to benefit them that much, especially considering how jacked up on customer service they are. If you took time to talk to a genius, or someone who works for Apple, you would find that Customer Service is considered priority.
If you had asked for it, they would have an engineer physically examine the computer to determine whether that was heat damage or spill damage. Not that it’s really necessary, since they have ways of checking for spill damage and know it when they see it since they are trained professionals that do nothing other than repair computers day in and day out.
You further damage yourself by only giving them one chance, which is childish and a bit naive. There is no such thing as a company that will always meet your demands, because 9 times out of 10 what you want isn’t feasible. If you think you’re going to find a company like that, you’re dreaming and might as well live in a cave.
I also see a lot of people who believe that only Apple fans would perceive this as an injustice to Apple, but the truth is any competent service tech would read your blog and laugh.
Sorry, but smashing a portable computer over spill damage doesn’t really make any of us see you as anything but childish.
This is sort of related, but not exactly…. I own an Appple G4 desktop with a nice Apple monitor. About 3 years ago, one of the lights in my monitor went out or something so the whole top of the monitor went dim and the power button constantly flashed in it’s little distress mode. Anyway, i brought it into the Apple store to be looked at and they took it in to see what needed to be done. They told me that it would cost over $500 to be repaired. I decided to take it home with me to see if I wanted to purchase a new monitor of another brand or have them fix it… Now I get home and the monitor works and has been working ever since . So I guess when they opened it up they knocked something back into place inadvertently…. I don’t know if they were trying to rip me off or whatever, but clearly something shady was going on there.
@dulakian: It isn’t really about being an Apple fanboi or not. I’m a dual user and I recognize the falws in both OSes. I’m sure many of the “personal attacks” come from the Cult of Mac, but many more of them are relating to the totally spastic way you reacted. Theta’s what got my goat.
Remember, most of the people commenting here are avid Consumerist readers. Everyday we come to this site and read stories of people who go the extra step (elevate) and wind up with good Customer Service experiences. Or they try to elevate the issue, and end up with sucky experiences. This information helps us all.
The issue I have with your “video statement,” and with what you’ve told us here, is not that you smashed a MacBook, but that you didn’t really try to have it fixed. You spent more than a $1000 to smash some plastic with a sledgehammer. It was a waste. People who are reacting to you are probably among the more thrifty (read: miserly) of the bunch. I’m cheap as dirt, and so I’m bothered that you smashed expensive equipment based on what someone told you over the phone. Just didn’t seem to doggone smart to me.
That’s funny. If I were him, I would pack up the smashed notebook and mail it to Apple. No note, no explanation, nothing. They open up the box and there’s a MacBook all smashed to pieces.
I’m going to post this final comment in response to the overwhelming negative feedback. The personal attacks I have gotten here are amusing. I’m retarded, stupid, an idiot, and a liar. Did I cover all the major bases? Those are personal attacks. For such “reasonable” people you stoop to name-calling awfully quick.
My handling of the situation was uniquely my own. It wasn’t what you would have done, that’s fine. Name-calling got me mad, and I went on the defensive. I did attempt to defend myself at first, because I felt I was being personally attacked, rather than “enlightened.” I have since come to the conclusion that I was right, Apple was wrong, who cares what you think of what I did? I will no longer attempt to defend myself or my video for any reason. It stands on it’s own merit. I will continue to read comments, both here and on digg, but I will no longer reply in a public forum. I have the moral high ground, and I will not be drawn into petty arguing over details or semantics. Thanks to all those that didn’t personally attack me, screw the rest of you.
“The moral high ground, in ethical or political parlance, refers to the status of being respected for being in the right and adhering to and upholding a universally recognized standard of justice or goodness.”
Moral high ground? Dude, there’s a reason you’re being ridiculed on here and on digg and it’s not just comming from angry mac fanboys. You got angry and smashed a laptop with a sledgehammer after being “stonewalled,” which apparently means having one phone call that didn’t go the way you wanted it to. That’s not exactly a rational approach. Somehow, in this instance, I doubt that’s having the moral high ground.
@cheviot:
I used to work at an Apple certified tech shop and I had to tell some people some pretty bad news, that would usually cause someone to get fairly mad. Oddly enough, 90% of the Apple customers just said “ok” and never got mad. It’s weird, but it seems like they just can’t get mad at Apple, like they can do no wrong. Honestly, it still boggles my mind how people will put up with poor customer service, as long as it’s with a company they really like.
I am in 100% agreement with the poster, and had a similar experience with Apple warranty. Apple warranty service is a scam. I asked them to replace a weak battery on a Nano, and they denied repair. They said the unit had mechanical damage, despite the fact it still worked, and had no obvious damage! That was my first and last apple product since my apple //e!
@spinachdip: Agreed.
I had a fault iPod Shuffle (1st gen) that I sent back. I had about three replacements that kept breaking down, and Apple always send me a new one.
Also, my 1st gen iMac had electrical issues, and Apple fixed it no questions asked. Three times. When the replacement computer started to shut down on its own, Apple was kind enough to replace that, too. When that computer started to shut down on its own, Apple gave me a next gen iMac with faster CPU, bigger hard drive, and more RAM.
I love Apple’s customer service–it’s easily the best in the business. Its just a shame their hardware is so defective…
I understand your frustration, I had the same thing happen to me only with Hewlet Packard. I purchased a computer in January and in June it needed the whole motherboard replaced. I went back and forth with HP for 3 weeks and finally when I sent my unit back in for repairs, the one I got back was more damaged than it was when i sent it to then and the cooling fan wasnt even attached. Then another 2 weeks of arguing back and forth until a case manager called me and tried resolution. I ended up having a tech come to my home and fix the computer. HP gave me an extra year in-home warranty, but I will never spend another dollar on them or their shitty products. Now, the CD drive is making this god awful noise. And rather than argue with them, i will let it stay broken. In January, I plan on buying another computer and making a video similar to this and sending it to HP. Maybe then, they will quit arguing with their customers. Whatever happened to the phrase ” THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT’?
I might be tempted to doubt his side of the story if I hadn’t just gotten the same story in regards to my Compaq laptop. I sent it in while still under warranty because the USB ports were malfunctioning, and when contacted was told that there was spill damage and it would cost seven hundred bucks to fix. I told them to send it back as-is since I could work around that and found when I received it that they had never bothered to reconnect the keyboard, touchpad and speakers to the motherboard, nor was there any visible spill damage in the laptop. (Which I didn’t expect to find, either — I’ve never spilled anything on or near the laptop.) They proceeded to give me a hassle about fixing it due to the warranty expiring in transit on the way back to me and it took bothering them for the entire month of August before I finally got the problem resolved.
Granted, it’s an entirely different company, but the similarities are close enough where I’m certainly not about to knock that part of the story. On the other hand, I just managed to beat them into submission and get them to fix what they screwed up and give me an extended warranty just by being persistent with phone calls, letters, and filings with the BBB. Why didn’t I think of hacking it to bits with an ax or dumping it into a woodchipper?
@kalisboss1227:
Oh, man, weren’t the HP customer service people the worst? They never reattached the keyboard, touchpad, and speakers in my laptop and then proceeded to tell me over and over again that there was nothing they could do because it was out of warranty now, even though it was in warranty when THEY broke it. Buy an HP? Never again, seriously.
I think the reason everyone is so hyped-up about this is that for many, their laptop is a very personal belonging. I use my ibook for work, for study, for writing, for creating artwork, for keeping in touch with my friends. It’s the best computer I’ve ever had and it’s an integral part of my life. I think a lot of Mac Users have this kind of personal relationship with their machines.
The whole sledgehammer thing… is just distasteful. I was wincing. I understand your anger, but it’s such a destructive and unproductive way to express it. Maybe the frenzy of criticism is related to one thing that Apple does really well – make us CARE about their product. I just see a guy hurting my baby. And, kind of setting fire to a big pile of cash and smoking it, which yeah is cool but in a real stupid kind of way.
Are all Mac users this emotional?