apple support fails to impress, as usual
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
We have a Macbook Air. It's an excellent laptop, but I won't be buying any more Apple equipment. After a long string of disappointments with Apple's support, the latest issue today really just underscores how little Apple cares about its traditional computer business.
The final straw came when I hauled the laptop downtown to the store where we bought it. I walked in, expecting that I'd be able to leave the system with Apple as one does with laptops. Nope. I was told to come back when I had an appointment. Apple's "process" trumps a five-time-repeat-customer with a problem standing in front of them.
This follows episodes such as Apple failing to honor a discount they offered on a major purchase. Apple refusing to support the third party equipment their sales literature swears their system supports (e.g. an external monitor, a bog-standard Logitech mouse, a USB keyboard, etc, etc). Apple refusing to recognize that their Mac Mini is prone to overheating; instead, they quietly roll out a completely different form factor, and leave it for the users to discover that they have to run the things without the body shell in place. Apple refusing to recognize that there are problems with the Wifi in their systems. Apple refusing to even respond when a failed OS "upgrade" refused to roll back cleanly, leaving me with a degraded service. Airport Express just refuses to work with a laptop after the latest OS upgrade? Don't call the manufacturer.
I have quite literally had better service from everybody else I've dealt with in computers over the past decade or more. Sketchy no-name hole-in-the-wall shops run by people who can barely speak any English do a better job than Apple.
And the kicker is that I expect to go back tomorrow and be charged a lot for replacement hardware. Charging at every turn is the hallmark of fixes for Apple equipment. Your Mac Mini doesn't really support external USB equipment? Buy this third-party software widget. Ditto that USB mouse. Ditto the monitor.
These are supposed to be premium systems. What's the problem, Apple?