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If you’re a contact of mine on Twitter then you know that I’ve had our iMac in for service since last week — more precisely, since last Monday evening, 10/29/07. I finally got it back last night, on 11/7/07, after 10 days of in-store service with the Apple Geniuses. I thought the repair time was excessive, and I was also unhappy with the general quality of the service received at the store. Read below for the details.

Background

You may also know that I wrote about my iMac’s unstable performance in the past. This repair was undertaken to fix those problems. Did it fix them? I don’t know. After getting home with it, and pressing the Power On button, it didn’t manage to boot up the first time, even after I waited over 10 minutes. Instead, its display kept flickering in differing shades of blue. I did a hard reset and then it finally made it to the login screen. We’ll see how well it performs over time. I’ll need to use it for a few weeks in order to determine if it’s been truly fixed, since the problems I had with it were erratic, not periodic.

Back when I posted about our iMac’s problems, lots of people suggested various things, here as well as at BlogCritics. A few Apple fanboys also got worked up about it and started barking, so that provided a nice bit of entertainment. Fortunately, there were some good people who were concerned and tried to help me, and that was quite nice. I tried most of the advice that seemed appropriate to me, but it didn’t seem to help much. I ran plenty of diagnostic tests, but they couldn’t seem to find anything wrong. I installed a few pieces of software to troubleshoot things or to run various cleanup tasks, but they didn’t do much, either. Strangely enough, our iMac got a little more stable with time, so we were able to use it well for another year or so.

The drop-off

As the second year of our Apple Care contract drew to a close, we thought about our dilemma, and as much as we depended on our iMac for daily use, we decided to take it in for service. I backed up all of our documents beforehand, just to make sure I wouldn’t lose anything, and I also created a separate admin account for the technicians, so I wouldn’t have to tell them my own login. I scheduled an appointment at the Genius Bar and sure enough, a Genius was ready to help me when I showed up with the computer.

The Apple Genius was very nice and tried to help troubleshoot what was going on, but after about an hour and a half, she couldn’t figure it out. She knew something was wrong, but couldn’t put her finger on it, so she suggested that we leave it for further checkups. We expected that, and we agreed. She wrote up a repair order and told us it would likely take a couple of days for the iMac to be fixed. That was the first goof. The second goof was not writing a real repair order and assigning us a repair number. We left the store naively thinking we’d soon get it back. How wrong we were…

It gets worse from here on, so if you’d rather not grit your teeth as you read through the stuff, scroll down to the end and get the summary.

The repair

Two days later, I call the store to find out what’s going on, since I hadn’t heard from them. The Genius had promised me that someone would call me, but no one did. That was the third goof. I find out that they’re supposedly ordering some parts, which will get there the next day, and it should be ready then. They promise to call me.

I wait for a call, which doesn’t come. Fourth goof. I call again, and this time I’m told that they examined it and decided to order some parts, which would take 4-5 days to arrive at the store. Then they’d install them and the computer would be fixed. But, I say, didn’t you tell me yesterday that the parts were already ordered and they were supposed to be there today? They didn’t know anything about that promise, apparently. Double goof there. Are you keeping count? That’s six goofs already. One because they reneged on their promise to have the computer ready that day, and one because they lied or misinformed me about the parts orders. I express my concern and am promised that it probably would take more like 3-4 days, not 4-5 days. They also promise to call me later that night with a repair number (finally). They actually call. I’m in shock and start to think they might be doing their jobs after all. They promise to call and update me in a few days. I jot down the repair number and thank them for the call.

I wait five days. Meanwhile, the repair number they gave me is no good, because nothing comes up on the Apple website when I type it in. That’s the seventh goof. Also, I get no calls. Eighth goof. I call and am told they’re still working on it. Apparently they’ve already replaced a part, the Bluetooth module, but they’re doing testing to see if they need to replace another part, the logic board. It should be ready the next day. They promise to call. They don’t. Ninth goof. I call them. It’s not ready, still working on it, will be ready the next morning. They’ll call me as soon as it’s ready. Tenth goof, because they didn’t have it ready when they promised it.

I call the next afternoon, since they don’t call me. It’s not ready yet. They’ve replaced the second part, they’re doing more testing. Again, they don’t have it ready on time. Eleventh goof. I suppose I could count the twelfth goof here as well, since they didn’t call when they promised they would. I start to seriously doubt whether they’re working or just goofing off and making stuff up just to cover their behinds for not doing the work. At any rate, they promise to have it ready the next day. I call the next day, and predictably enough, it’s not ready. Twelfth goof. They’re still “testing”, should be done within an hour or two. They’ll call me as soon as it’s done. They promise they will. I wait three hours. No calls. Thirteenth goof. I call and get told it’s ready. By that time, it’s too late to pick it up. I get ready to go pick it up the next day after work.

The pickup

I get there around 4:45 pm. The store is in chaos. There are Geniuses and attendants running around, but no one bothers to even give me a look. I wait patiently by the Genius bar while they brush past me. Finally, after 15 minutes, one of them looks at me, even though he’s been right in front of me for all that time, and I get to tell him what I’m there for. He points me to the checkout counter. So I’ve just wasted 15 minutes. I go wait in line at the other counter while the cashiers shuffle back and forth, literally dragging their feet on the floor. They must think it’s cool or something. They’re not tired, they’re doing it on purpose. Not only that, but one of them has his pants so low that they’re almost falling off. The entire back of his boxers is showing. If those things would be any lower, he could use the toilet for a #2 without needing to undress. He’s at the checkout counter, and keeps turning around and bending over to get stuff from the counters. Disgusting and unacceptable. Doesn’t the store have a dress policy?

After another 10-15 minutes, I get to speak to one of them. I hand him my repair slip, and he goes in the back to look for the iMac. He returns after 5 minutes or so, shrugs his shoulders and tells me he can’t find it, then he goes to ask one of the Geniuses where it is. I wait again. They explain to him where it is. He goes back and comes out after another 5 minutes and shrugs his shoulders again. Apparently, there’s no label on the computer, so he doesn’t know which one it is. This time one of them accompanies him to the back. They come out after another 5 minutes, and he apologizes to me. They’re still “testing” it. So almost 24 hours after they tell me it’s ready, they’re still “testing”. A likely story… At this point, I dig into him, clearly pissed off. I tell him to get me my computer, that it’s been at the store for 10 days and they’ve had plenty of time to repair and “test” it. I ask him to point me to the manager. He does, and he goes back to get the iMac.

I go to the manager and ask to speak to him. He looks at me for a moment but doesn’t budge. He’s too busy fiddling with an iPod to speak to a lowly customer. Finally, after a few minutes, he deigns to speak with me. I explain what’s going on, mention the dude with the falling pants as well, and he makes no apologies. He acts surprised, and decides to go back and investigate what’s going on. While he’s back there, my iMac has materialized on the checkout counter, so I go and stick it in the box I took from home. I pack it up, sign the repair order and, not bothering to wait for the manager who’s apparently going to take his time to “investigate”, I leave, fuming. It took me a couple of hours to calm down.

Let’s review

Here’s why I got upset:

• The Apple Store broke promise after promise about when our iMac would be ready and fixed. They came up with all sorts of excuses. I lost count of the goofs, but there were definitely more than thirteen of them.
• The total time they kept the iMac at the store was excessive. Ten days is MUCH TOO LONG. It was our primary computer, and we found ourselves hamstrung for that time. We couldn’t do most things we needed or wanted to do when it came to our home computing. It was VERY inconsiderate of them to keep it for so long.
• They did not keep us informed of their progress during the repairs, and did not call like they should have or like they promised they would.
• They did not fill out a proper repair order or issue a correct repair number, so I couldn’t keep track of the repairs on the Apple website.
• Their customer service was terrible. No one offered to help me when I walked in, and when I finally got someone’s attention, he was so clueless he kept needing to ask others for assistance. In the end, I wasted about 45 minutes just to pick up a computer which was supposed to be ready to go the day before.
• The store managers clearly don’t care about their employees’ appearance. To allow someone to show their underwear in front of the customers is not only disgusting but highly inappropriate.
• The store manager I spoke with just didn’t seem to care much about solving my problem. Even though I’d left without finishing our conversation, I was clearly upset. If he truly “investigated” the situation, then he could have easily looked up my phone number and called to apologize. No such thing happened, but it would have been the appropriate thing to do.
• No one bothered to do a proper hand-off when I signed the repair order. What I mean by that is that a Genius or someone knowledgeable should have explained to me what they fixed, and why it took so long. That DID NOT happen. I still don’t know exactly what they did to my computer, and it’s disconcerting to say the least.

My overall grade to Apple for this repair experience is a D. If it turns out that they haven’t fixed our iMac’s problems, then it’s definitely an F. The store I used for this repair service was located in Montgomery Mall, Bethesda, MD. If you’re in the area, you might want to be cautious and expect similar service when you use them, or possibly use another store.

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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