Well to continue my saga of the bad display, things got ugly. The local company did send it off to Apple, who looked inside the computer, concluded it had been abused, and then asked the local company to contact me to find out how I would finance the $500+ repair bill.

I write that they looked inside to find the abuse becuase there was no abuse outside. Somehow, we must have reached inside the display, snapped the brace, and severed the power chord to the display's backlight.

Needless to say I was miffed.

So I called 800 800 APPL again. I waited 20 minutes to get to the first (non)help person. He told me that we must have abused the iBook (after all, Apple's notes about the iBook said as much). I asked him if he could see signs of abuse on the computer. He said the computer wasn't physically proximate to his venue (well, not in so many words, but the computer was probably on a different continent from his). He told me he would transfer me to customer assistance, and that I should hold on until they pick up.

I endured 10 minutes of "please wait" messages played every 30 seconds or so, and was connected to the next help person. She reviewed the notes on my case, assured me it was my fault, and said she tries to see my side on the issue here.

I asked her how she could be sure the unit wasn't shipped defective since it broke so soon. But it was shipped on May 26, she tells me. I got it June xth, and we pressed it into service mid-June. It broke around July 18th while we were on our RV trip. She asked why I didn't phone in then. I told her the batteries in my cell phone weren't up to the 45 minute wait necessary to deal with Apple on what should be warranty repair. She started to soften, but wanted to consult with the technical people to see if my explanation (shipped defective) could hold water.

While I waited another 10 minutes on hold, I started writing a much meatier and malicious missive than the one before you now. She evidently couldn't get through to them. She returned after the obligatory 10-minute wait, and told me she will consider the unit defectively shipped, making this one-time exception on the warranty for me. She went on to say that if I were to ship it back with liquid spilled on it, she could do nothing for me.

How insulting. So she still didn't really believe me, in spite of not being able to see the unit or ask a technician about it, but she is thoroughly convinced that I must have abused this thing for it to be in its broken state.

Thank you, thank you, Apple, for this one time making an exception and honoring the manufacturer's warranty. I can see why you have such a devoted following.

Posted by: david at August 26, 2004 9:31 AM

Posted by: rkc at August 28, 2004 5:19 PM

Posted by: Chris2 at September 29, 2004 2:07 PM