Dear Apple, You're Pretty, But Defective
By leelefever on August 3, 2007 - 3:24pm.
Looking back over my posts recently, I might call the theme "Off-topic and Rant-y". This being the case, I'll continue the theme for one more post.
In listening to my friends who have Macs, I was under the impression that they heal the sick, feed the poor, turn water to wine and help you get laid all at once. The truth is I tire so quickly of all the Apple adoration. I love their designs, I want an iPhone, I own a Mac, love Final Cut, I respect Steve Jobs and know that OS X is better than Windows. But c'mon, it's a closed, highly secretive, for-profit company run by a dictator with good taste. It's not a religion.
The reason I'm upset right now is because our two-month old Macbook is broken - and apparently came that way. The superdrive (DVD reader, etc), is sucking right now. Actually, it's the opposite of sucking - it's blowing - as in not accepting blank DVDs. Insert a blank DVD and it blows it right back at you.
We went to the Genius bar at the Apple store and found that it will require a new superdrive (3-5 days for parts) and then repair (1-3 days). We'll only have to give up the machine for installation - which is good. What is bad, is that we were shipped a defective product. If we can't trust a Mac to be a reliable centerpiece of our creative business, then what can we trust?
Apparently we should feel lucky that our battery still works, unlike everyone else filling the queue at the Genius bar.
All the lickable icons, wet floor effects, cute commericals and iPhones in the world aren't gonna make me switch if a plain old Macbook won't accept a blank DVD. I've had 4 previous laptops and have never been shipped a defect - and to have my first be a Mac? Not so good.
Meanwhile, I'll keep typing on a Sony that survived a solid year of international backpack travel without a single stutter.
Thanks Apple!
PS - You want to know what else? I challenge Apple to respond to this post. In my business we talk so much about the power of blogs and the "conversation" - we all see how the business world is changing and how it's all about being honest and working on relationships. Yet, I would never expect Apple to succumb to speaking with a lowly blogger such as myself. Why do I matter anyway? Have you seen the iPhone?
/rant
Good rant, but is there a point?
I've had numerous faulty PCs, and seen uncoutntably many others among friends, family and the workplace. What you're hitting against is not a bug, but a feature of the whole computer industry.
All name-brand computers are crappy buckets filled with components designed to be cheap-ass and last no longer than a year or three. In terms of reliability, all computers are Yugos and Trabants!
But, let's face it: a Trabant is way cooler than a Yugo. . .
A point
Yes, manufacturing is manufacturing and there are defects all the time. I realize that mine is actually not a huge one. I think some of this is from a perception that Apple is supposed to be better than that. Apple is supposed to be the exception, or at least that was my expectation.
Of course, this is all just a reaction to being tired of hearing about Apple so much.
Apple doesn't need to respond to your post
Ok... now that I've gotten your attention, I'm only somewhat serious.
See, the thing is, Apple has lots of nutjobs like me that wax poetic about lickable icons and the like. I give you three days before other folks come to their defense on your blog.
Is it ok not to do customer service on an unhappy blogger's post if someone else does it for you? I'm not sure, but if I had legions of folks sticking their neck out for my company, I might get a little complacent too.
In any case, I've owned Macs of all varieties since 1990. I've never had a defect. (I should be knocking on something). That said, I've seen my fair share of defects (other people's Macs and PCs alike) and the difference between Apple and the rest is the people who do customer service face to face. The Genius Bar has saved me so much time and effort, I can't even begin to tell you.
That said, defects suck and I'm sorry you got a dud. I've got the "dirty" Macbook problem with my latest and haven't taken it to get fixed because it's 1-3 business days to get it fixed. Kinda hard to go that long without it.
As a long time Mac fan, I get sick of hearing about the Mac, too. We shouldn't love the tools we use, but rather the things we make them But every time I use Windows (and man.... Vista.... don't get me started), it just feels all backwards to me.
I hope your experience with the Mac gets better.... see you at Gnomedex?
Cheers,
Randy Stewart
No response needed
What concerns me about some of this is that I feel like Apple gets a free pass. I know they don't have to respond because they aren't in the same position as the Dells and Microsofts of the world. Apple earned it and I respect them for it. I love Apple products. It just bugs me that I never hear anything balanced about Apple - just drool.
If something really bad happens....
I don't classify your problem Macbook as an issue worth Apple coming out of the woodwork for. I'd be shocked if Apple noticed your post. Sounds like they are dealing with it in a professional, speedy fashion.
I do agree with you, that most iFans only tell the positives, but not everything out of Cupertino is perfect.
There have been rumors that poor service or products have been remedied in the past with an email to steve@apple.com. I'd like to think that's a "break glass in case of emergency" type of email, but you'll find a few stories around the web about cool things happening with a note to that address.
Hopefully your experience won't require such drastic measures.
Peace out...
apple rant
You know I'm not a big fruit fan:)
good luck, hope this passes. Don't hold your breath on a response from apple as community doesn't exists from a corp standpoint...you may hear from plenty of apple fans (something worth envying) but alas, fans can't fix hardware failure.
If you're unlucky enough to have this get a lot a visibility on Digg, you'll then learn from commenters that somehow this is all your fault :)
Sean
When does "conversation" really matter?
Maybe this is something to discuss elsewhere, as it's tangential to the problem with your Apple's DVD drive:
What's more important: a company that listens to its customers or a company that spends time talking to its customers?
I wonder how much the company reps who show up and comment on blogs are just doing the web 2.0 version of one way communication. They are using the "conversation" to do marketing and PR--albeit, in a conversational tone.
The prominent big companies that have embraced "conversation" and seemed to do OK are the ones that reached a pain point after upsetting or alienating customers. They are using conversation to get out of the mess they got themselves into. Better than crashing and burning, but still, not the same as having a real dialog.
But, is a company like Apple, that has an incredibly good reputation (e.g., better than they deserve), in the same position with its customers?
I think one of Apple's appeals is that they talk less than they deliver. They need to make things right when they don't deliver, but talking a lot about it might be the strategy of a company that's struggling to make things right, not one that can do it confidently.
(And, yeah, a confident acting company that really doesn't deliver = an arrogant one = the worst. So, Apple's is a risky strategy that could blow-up on them at any time.)
The Cult of Apple and their "Customer Care"
Great article. I think some of the previous comments are missing it's main point. As I read it... you're not bashing Apple or Apple products per se - you're criticising the CULT of Apple.
Personally, I would want to go further about Apple and have put "But c'mon, it's a closed, highly secretive, for-profit company run by a dictator with good taste who promotes his products as if they were a religion."
Also, for the record I've had two Macs and four Sonys over the last decade - the macs died after 2-3 years but ALL my Sony laptops are still going strong - the oldest of which an FX103 that I bought about eight years ago.
In fact, the only reason I ever bought a new Sony is because I wanted a faster machine (thanks Moore's law)... unlike some of my Mac'ed up friends who have been forced to buy again (and on more than one occasion) due to lack of backwards compatibility with their Mac platform and software.
Doesn't sound like great customer care to me!
iCult
The iCult is definitely unique with the passion fanboys have for all things Apple...at least in the tech sector.
I know a lot of my friends consider me to be a fanboy because I own a lot of Apple products, recommend them to everyone that asks me for an opinion on which computer/phone/mp3 player/etc to buy and happen to be wearing an Apple shirt at the moment ;) I also happen to own a number of PC's and more than a fair share of Microsoft products (not just xboxes). These things are just tools after all.
For me, when I get asked what someone should buy, I also try to take the Mac vs PC, Apple vs Creative, etc part out of the equation and ask what they want to do with said device. I usually end up getting to something Apple for one reason or another because the whole experience is generally better in Apple land from my experience.
But it's not all perfect as previous commentors have said....Apple still makes physical stuff that can break, wear out, not compatible, etc. like any other company does....even if some people think it's all magic or alien technology.
They are also a company out to make money so there is a limit to what they will do in response to issues or feature requests, etc.
So while the fanboys tend to aggressively pass over the bad stuff, generally the rest of the experience IS pretty good. As long as you can get most of the way toward a perfect product (which is different for everyone and most likely doesn't really exist), the little hiccups won't matter in the long run.
It's disappointing that you couldn't just get a new unit (with a hard drive swap) instead of having to get yours fixed since it was so new.
The Apple Saga Continues
I just want to say, too, that the defective superdrive was supposed to be in in 3-5 days. It's been 17 and not a word from Apple. I called the store and they said it's back ordered. Sounds like I'm not the only one with a defective superdrive.
I come to expect this from any hardware maker, like everyone has said, but I can't help but feel some of the slick Apple varnish wearing thin.
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