Apple – The Shine has Worn Off

When I switched to Apple a few months ago, I went through that period when everything was rosy. I had left behind the hassles and pains of Windows and had gone forward to a better place. And then my second MacBook Pro started acting up.

In Apple’s defense, the problems with the first were all my fault. Trying to avoid getting hit, I stepped off on a low shoulder, fell, and dropped my poor laptop. It is getting fixed, but in the meantime the department needed another laptop so I went ahead and got a second MacBook Pro. Only this one has a bad display. It keeps flickering and going fuzzy and changing into interesting colors. Again, not Apples fault. Hardware glitches do happen sometimes. Bad service, however, should never happen.

I checked with our local Apple sales rep to see what to do with a repair problem, and the trouble started. Apple restructured their sales force in Western NY and we lost our excellent rep (We miss you, Angela!). The second rep in two months is still coming up to speed and so doesn’t know where to turn. His suggestion is to head to the local Apple Store for repairs. It’s a 50 minute drive, but I have to be in Buffalo twice a week for class, so it isn’t much out of my way. Still, this doesn’t seem like the best solution for education.

My worries were confirmed as I stood and waited for about 40 minutes of delay despite my having an appointment. As the horde of dead iPod holding masses streamed past for service, I couldn’t help but think that this is not the way to win over new Apple education customers. Our organization is covered by the sales reps who work with non-Apple customers. You know, the ones that need extra help with their problems so they can be convinced to become Apple customers. Having me stand in line at the mall for 40 minutes is not helping. Having a stressed out tech who is 40 minutes behind and running a bit rude certainly doesn’t make things better.

So I guess this was the first fight. I still love my Mac, and plan on buying more, but I also realize that we need to find a new way to handle repairs.

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