There is a new game in town over at Apple. I’ve been a customer of theirs since the 1980s. A loyal customer. I advised everyone I knew, in fact, to buy Apple. I bought or buy a new Macbook every other year or so. I have an iMac, two Macbook pros and one for my daughter. But they have lost me as a customer and I’ll tell you why.
1. They used to care more about customer service and loyalty.
When I went into the Apple store to complain about how Macbook Pro retina display had been damaged — while doing nothing more than sitting in my backpack in an overhead container on the airplane, not having been dropped nor kicked nor had water spilled on it, bought just three weeks ago – their comment to me was “this is accidental damage and we don’t cover it.” It would cost around $500 to repair it. This was THEIR fault, not mine. I’ll explain in the next part.
2. They used to build better products
The MacBooks I’ve had for years, under the Apple that Steve Jobs ran, were built a lot better. I’ve dropped mine before and they still worked fine. My daughter has dropped hers and she’s never seen the kind of screen damage this macbook has after simply sitting in my backpack in an overheard compartment on an airplane ride. This computer, a 13 inch macbook pro, is so cheaply made it might as well be a disposable computer, used for a couple of weeks and then discarded.
3. There are better products/companies on the market who DO believe in customer loyalty.
I am now going to investigate other computer companies to see what they have to offer, this after twenty years of loyal support to Apple. I am angry dissatisfied customer who should not have to pay for cheap products Apple does not accept responsibility for. Any other product if you bring it back for its flaws, as in, its cheaply made design, will be returnable. But this computer and this company has its customers by the balls.
I will recommend to anyone I meet from now on, anyone I talk to that Apple computers are not worth buying. They are cheaply made and their customer service sucks. How disappointed I am. I plan to bash Apple whenever I have the opportunity, something people I know have been doing for years.
This could not have been a more disappointing realization. I always believed in Apple but now I have to say I only believe in Apple under Steve Jobs.
I don’t know Sasha, you’re going to have to make a stronger case than an unsubstantiated case that Apple’s manufacturing has dropped in quality based on a single cracked screen from one unfortunate experience.
I’ve taken my late-model 15″ Retina MacBook Pro on multiple transcontinental and short airline flights in a variety of laptop carry bags and backpacks and it regularly commutes to work and back in a pannier on the back of my bike.
In all that time I have had no problem and both this 15″ MacBook and my prior 13″ MacBook Pro showed no indication of inferior construction or tendency to crack. In fact, after hundreds of rides in the panniers on my bike and me mishandling them a bit at times, the Aluminium frames around the edge of my MacBooks have even suffered compression injuries in the corners of the screens due to impacts and yet have amazingly resisted cracking across the rest of the screens.
I see no evidence of low quality construction in Apple’s amazing machined aluminium unibody construction. On the contrary, I see vastly superior construction compared to the shoddy plastic shells of competing laptops, tablets and smartphones at work.
I’m sorry your Mac has cracked, but unfortunately accidents do happen and it sounds like your device suffered just the wrong combination of impact(s) in what can be the un-forgiving environment of airline travel. Crying fowl at Apple may make you feel better, but I’m afraid the slim evidence you have provided to direct your angst at Apple perhaps in an attempt at shaming them into giving you a freebie seems to smack of opportunism, not an underlying problem on Apple’s part.
I guess I didn’t make it clear that it didn’t crack. If only. What happened was the retina display showed lines vertically and horizontally. A crack I could easily repair. I’ve had macs for years as I said that cracked. This was a problem with the screen. They should have offered to replace it.
Ah, more detail as to exactly what the problem is with the screen is indeed useful. Did Apple indicate there was internal impact damage to any of the components that could have caused this effect?
I’ve previously seen laptops with horizontal and vertical lines appear on the screen caused by a damaged ribbon cable connecting the screen to the motherboard through the hinge.
That’s the thing. I told them that there had been no dropping or major impact, just that the backpack had been placed in the overhead bin. I had a macbook once drop completely from the overhead bin onto the floor, dent, and still work. But they discovered a tiny dent in the side which they called a “point of impact.” No amount of debating with them could shake their resolve. They were determined to stick to their policy, no matter that I was a faithful Mac customer who regularly bought their products. If I bought a dress and while I was wearing it the zipper broke and I took it back to say it was cheaply made the store would take it back no problem. I believe, and maybe I’m crazy, that the Apple under Steve Jobs was better. The products were made better and the customer service was better.
Hmm, I’ve also got several dents in the sides of my MacBook Pros – in fact one of the MacBook pros had the screen bent backwards further than it should have after being knocked face-down while open onto the ground off a table which resulted in the ethernet port distorting like a trapezoid and the top surface of the laptop near the speaker suffering a raised sort of crease/dent.
Thankfully none of this caused any functional ill affects on either laptop amazingly, but I have realised that it would all make Apple more suspicious of mishandling on my part for future warranty repairs. In my case, I guess they’d be right though it is a testament to the durability of Apple’s construction that they’ve just kept on keeping on.
Unfortunately, it looks like you aren’t so lucky.
That’s the thing. I’ve had so many MacBooks and every kind of Mac you could imagine from the early Mac Plus to the LC to the Power Mac to the Ibooks – on through. For years and years I’ve never once turned away from Mac but this experience has soured me on them. The damage on my computer should have not caused the screen to become so damaged. If it hadn’t been done in the backpack it would be done at another time – can you imagine? If it’s that delicate? They should have said, “yes, this seems like an extreme amount of damage for such a small point of impact so we’re going to replace this in good faith to keep our customers happy.” That is just good business. They sent me the message that they did not care whether or not I was their customer anymore – thousands and thousands of dollars later.
I’ll be interested to see if you approve my comment above… ciao