Lawrence plays piano

"Your perspective is very important to Apple..."

“Work detail: I brought my MacBook in because my hard drive crashed and I couldn’t startup the machine anymore—i.e. it no longer recognized the hard disc at all. I have had this happen in the past, with older computers, and although this one is relatively new, I figured this meant I would need the hard drive replaced, so I went into the Apple Retail Store rather than calling Apple Support. I did not make an appointment in an advance and waited over two hours at the store to see a ‘Genius’ (that is not really a complaint; it was during the holidays and busy and I understand the delay—I’ve worked in retail myself—but it was still frustrating). Jake O. was the Genius who helped me (at the Galleria Store, St. Louis, MO), and he was very helpful in the beginning. He advised me to purchase “DiskWarrior,” in an effort to recover the data on my hard drive before replacement. So I did, and he helped me run the software to try to repair the disc enough to copy my data from it. The software looked like it would run for a while before finishing, so I offered to move aside so he could assist other customers while waiting for it to finish. About ten or fifteen minutes after that, Jake checked in to see how everything was going, and then I didn’t hear from him again. It turned out that at some point after that, Jake’s shift ended and not only did he not let me know he was leaving, but he didn’t tell anyone else in the store why I was there or what was going on with my machine. I waited for another hour or so while the program ran, and eventually an employee (I can’t remember who) asked me if I needed help with anything. I explained the whole situation over again, after which the employee went to try and get another Genius to help me. It took about another twenty minutes before he was able to get someone to help me, and then I had to explain the situation for the third time, and the Genius told me it looked like the “DiskWarrior” software wasn’t going to be able to repair it, so I should just leave the computer for a hard drive replacement as is.

“After about a week, I got the call from the Apple Retail Store letting me know that my computer was ready to be picked up, so I did. When I brought my MacBook back home that evening and powered it on, I quickly realized that the new hard drive was running on “Tiger,” although it clearly said on the repair invoice that I had “Leopard” installed. And even more appalling than that, my MacBook, which originally had a 160 GB hard disc, now only had 120 GB. This, I discovered, was Jake’s mistake (and mine too, I suppose, for not catching it in the beginning) because he actually wrote that it was a 120 GB disc on the work order when I originally turned it in to the store.

“So I brought the computer back to the store the following day and explained what happened to an employee, who told me I’d have to wait to see a Genius, which took over two hours *again*. I then explained again, to the Genius this time, everything that had happened. This time, the Genius (I think his name was Kit) was very nice and extremely apologetic, which I very much appreciated. He told me he’d check to see if they had the correct drive in the store and, if so, they’d replace it right away and install Leopard and I could take it home with me properly that day; otherwise, he said, he would order the correct disc drive and I could keep the computer with me as is (so I don’t have to go without a computer at all) until they got it in, and then they would replace it right away, install Leopard, etc. Kit told me that the orders like this are usually filled right away with next day shipping, so it should arrive in a couple of days, but no guarantees. They did not, as it turned out, have the correct drive in stock, so he ordered it and I took my downgraded computer home with me. A week went by and I had not heard anything from the store, so I called in and asked about the status of the order and I was simply told that it had not come in yet, with no explanation. Another week and still no word, so I called once again and this time I was informed that the drive I needed was on backorder, which was why it was so delayed.

“Finally, a few days after that, I got the call that the drive came in. I brought in my MacBook and it was replaced/fixed the same day (though it took several hours). So a repair that should have originally taken just one week ended up taking over three incredibly frustrating weeks.

“I have used Macs for years, and have been (and still am) a totally loyal Apple customer. Fortunately, this was only the first time I have ever been so frustrated/dissatisfied/had so many problems with your company, products, or customer service. I have never had any complaints, however, in the past. I love Apple products very much and, luckily, enough so that this incident hasn’t destroyed my loyalty to Apple. But I just wanted to let you know that I’m pissed and bitter at the moment. Thank you.”