# Apple products - rant (bad service???)



## Swedishchef (Sep 15, 2013)

Hey guys

At Christmas last year I received an iPad 4th generation from my father (the one with the Retina display).

My 3 year old uses it to watch videos from time to time (tractors stuck in the mud, construction sites, etc).

2 weeks ago I was surfing this forum and I hear a SMASH upstairs (my wife was with the kids..). I knew only one thing could have made that sound. I get upstairs and sure enough, the iPad is on the floor (ceramic). My oldest knocked it off of the island while swinging a helium balloon (it was his Bday). So, it is broke.

I contact Apple and they advise me that they don't repair the digitizers. I can take it to an Apple store (nearest one is 700 KM away) which will allow for a swap out. It is obviously considered Out of Warranty (OOW) service. THe option they give me is as follows: send broken one to them and for $350 they send me a new one and transfer the remaining warranty to it. Ok. Sounds good.

Last week (Monday) I was on vacation in my hometown. I bring the iPad to a UPS store and pay $40 for overnight shipping to an Apple address in Canada. Within 2 days I get a notice that a new one has been shipped from Reno, NV. Great. However, it is sending it to an address that does not exist!

I contact UPS and they say Apple has a clause that won't allow for a change of address during transit (anti theft policy, makes sense). Apple says they can't change the address!?!?!?!?! Soooooo, the new iPad is sitting in a building somewhere, UPS sent a postcard to APple to advise the address doesn't exist, they will in 4 days return to sender. ONCE apple receives the new one back and it has been signed for, they will then try sending another one to me. SIGH. 2 weeks later.

And to top it off, APple charges $35 a service call after 90 days of purchasing your Apple product. $35 per call !!

End of rant. lol

Andrew


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## Hills Hoard (Sep 15, 2013)

where did they get this non existent address from?.....hope it goes well...


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## Mrs. Krabappel (Sep 16, 2013)

You could talk them out of the $35.  Good luck with the rest.   I had a bit of a run around over a phone.  They said they sent me a new one and just sent back the old broken one.  It worked out in the end though.


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## jharkin (Sep 16, 2013)

Apple wont repair anything... Its one of hte elements I hate of their designs, every device has a non-replaceable battery so when it wears out you have to send it in and they give you a new device which I guess they have to copy all your old data to.  

I dont use much apple stuff but now a lot of android device makers are starting to do the same.  When used hard liIon batteries start to loose life after a year so to me it looks like just another way to build in planned obsolescence and try and sell us more crap.


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## billb3 (Sep 16, 2013)

.


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## lukem (Sep 16, 2013)

My daughter smoked the screen on our iPad2 this weekend.  I'm going to try to do the repair myself.  The digitizer parts are cheap enough ($30).


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## Swedishchef (Sep 16, 2013)

Hills Hoard said:


> where did they get this non existent address from?.....hope it goes well...


 
I have no idea?!?! Weird.


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## Swedishchef (Sep 16, 2013)

Mrs. Krabappel said:


> You could talk them out of the $35.  Good luck with the rest.   I had a bit of a run around over a phone.  They said they sent me a new one and just sent back the old broken one.  It worked out in the end though.


 
Well they didn't charge me the fee since it was for a repair but I was warned at the beginning of my 15 phone calls that I could be charge $35....I simply think it is a bad policy. I am sure they have made their share of profit off of their service charges...


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## Swedishchef (Sep 16, 2013)

jharkin said:


> Apple wont repair anything... Its one of hte elements I hate of their designs, every device has a non-replaceable battery so when it wears out you have to send it in and they give you a new device which I guess they have to copy all your old data to.
> 
> I dont use much apple stuff but now a lot of android device makers are starting to do the same.  When used hard liIon batteries start to loose life after a year so to me it looks like just another way to build in planned obsolescence and try and sell us more crap.


 
ANd that is what I hate about their Apple. I have no doubt that it has to do with a marketing strategy; and it is a good one (on paper). But imagine the amount of waste going to landfills, mining operations (rare earth metals), etc. Sounds silly but imagine if every company understook that way of thinking: we won't repair your car, we will sell you a new one instead.


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## Swedishchef (Sep 16, 2013)

lukem said:


> My daughter smoked the screen on our iPad2 this weekend.  I'm going to try to do the repair myself.  The digitizer parts are cheap enough ($30).


 
It is cheap for the iPad 2. For the 4th gen iPad it is something like $70. If the break would not have been so catastrophic (shards of sharp glass the size of a grain of sand....), I would have attempted it myself. But here's the kicker. IF you try to fix it outside an Apple store and the repair doesn't work, the swap out option (replace old with new) is void.


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## lukem (Sep 16, 2013)

Swedishchef said:


> It is cheap for the iPad 2. For the 4th gen iPad it is something like $70. If the break would not have been so catastrophic (shards of sharp glass the size of a grain of sand....), I would have attempted it myself. But here's the kicker. IF you try to fix it outside an Apple store and the repair doesn't work, the swap out option (replace old with new) is void.



I like my chances.  It is spiderwebbed pretty good, but mostly large pieces.


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## Swedishchef (Sep 16, 2013)

That is lucky. Mine had glass pixy dust for Pete's sake. I took a shop vac AND compressor to it in order to remove as much as possible. I still had slight glimmer shards on my work gloves.

A


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## Mrs. Krabappel (Sep 16, 2013)

I fixed the back glass on my phone for $7.


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## Swedishchef (Sep 17, 2013)

i wish i would have tried...


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## webbie (Sep 17, 2013)

Well, as my Dad used to say "They are the Best, but they still suck":
http://247wallst.com/consumer-products/2013/09/17/apple-crushes-pc-in-customer-satisfaction/

Apple has the highest satisfaction ratings by far in the tech world, but that's still 87%, leaving 13% less than satisfied.
"ACSI reported that Apple’s overall satisfaction score was 87%, which was an improvement of 1% and tied Apple’s best score, which was posted in 2011. The score was *also the third highest for any product of any kind measured by ACSI*. Apple’s score was up 13% from the base year of 1995. ACSI does consumer satisfaction surveys across dozens of categories that cover hundreds of companies.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) finished a distant second in the poll with a score of 80, followed by embattled Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) at 79. Toshiba and Acer followed behind. The average score across all PC companies was 79.'


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## billb3 (Sep 17, 2013)

Let's not be ruining this thread's denigrations and logical fallacies with facts, Mr Killjoy.


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## billb3 (Sep 17, 2013)

^^^^insert sarcasm


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## Delta-T (Sep 17, 2013)

Bummer. UPS did not give you the option to redirect to a local UPS pick-up location instead of home delivery? I've had my Apple products shipped by FEDEX and they changed from home delivery to pick-up at a Kincos while en route because I was not to be home on the delivery day they estimated.


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## Swedishchef (Sep 17, 2013)

Unfortunately no. Only Apple could change the shipping address for some reason. It is a bummer indeed. The kicker is that they sent it airmail to me but when returned to sender, it is being shipped ground. Ha ha. Atleast it is going to their Canadian site....


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## lukem (Sep 18, 2013)

Swedishchef said:


> i wish i would have tried...



 I'm sure you'll get another opportunity.  My BIL's kids have smoked 3 iPad screens in as many months.  If repairing mine goes well I'll try to do theirs too.  Parts should be here Monday, but I'll be travelling.  Looks like a project for the later part of next week.


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## Swedishchef (Sep 18, 2013)

Keep me posted I hope it works out for ya.

Andrew


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## Hearth Mistress (Sep 21, 2013)

My company issues iPads and iPhones, to all agile employees as well as using them for prizes for all sorts of things in USA and Canada.  We never go back to Apple for anything after the warranty expires, we use this company

http://www.digiexpress.us/

They will send you the parts if your up for the challenge or will do it for you.

Bookmark them if you own apple products


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## Todd 2 (Sep 21, 2013)

Hearth Mistress said:


> My company issues iPads and iPhones, to all agile employees as well as using them for prizes for all sorts of things in USA and Canada.  We never go back to Apple for anything after the warranty expires, we use this company
> 
> http://www.digiexpress.us/
> 
> ...


+1 
I ordered the parts to replace ipad2 glass from them and messed up some more stuff (the wifi part) trying to get the slivers glass off. I have fixed alot of things before even things that I dident think could be fixed, but me and the iPad clashed...
I sent them everything in pcs in a box and they returned it as good as new less the scratch and pings I did and that was 2 yrs ago and it still works great. Other family members have used them to and no complaints. It will cost you some $ but way cheeper than a new one.

Good luck lukem, I do hope you win,  let us know.

Todd


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## Swedishchef (Sep 21, 2013)

Thanks for the information Jeni I have bookmarked them

Well, now I gotta update the story!! So, Apple put the wrong address on my package. I requested that the package be returned to sender (the package can't be sent to a different address when the new address is in a different province). Well, UPS really messed it up. It has bounced between 2 destinations for an entire week: back and forth and back and forth.

So now,a fter calling Apple for a 6th time and speaking with a tier 2 supervisor (at my request), they offered to reimburse me the $350 for the replacement cost. However there's a catch: my "new" iPad (that I have not been able to get) must be returned to Apple before they send me a new one. So if UPS keep messing it up, I keep waiting.

It has been 2 weeks, what's another 1-2 weeks if it saves me $350.

Andrew


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## lukem (Sep 22, 2013)

Got the old screen off without too much trouble.  Waiting on new parts.  So far so good.


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## begreen (Sep 22, 2013)

Good for you for going with the repair instead of the trash can.


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## webbie (Sep 22, 2013)

A bit off-topic, but noticed this tweet from a guy who runs one of the top "drone" manufacturing companies - and was also a top editor at Wired.....

"*Chris Anderson* ‏@chr1sa20 Sep
In airport w/out a single non-Apple computer in sight, I'm going to call this rock bottom for MSFT. Time for liberation of disintegration?"


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## lukem (Sep 22, 2013)

I'm in an airport right now and can second that.  I'm the only Android user in sight too!!


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## begreen (Sep 22, 2013)

On my ferry commute you see lots of laptops. I would guess that the split is about 50/50 Apple/Microsoft. But I do see tablets taking over at least 25%. Of those most are iPads. This is in Seattle, msft territory.


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## begreen (Sep 22, 2013)

This sums up the Apple experience in a pretty funny way.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apple


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## earl764 (Sep 24, 2013)

Those PC laptops could be running Linux, too. At least they do in this house.


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## NortheastAl (Sep 24, 2013)

Apple works. They last too. I don't know many who've gone back to MSFT based products. Some android, though. Simplicity and reliability of the OS is probably why we like it. You don't have to be a comp whiz to use them either.


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## Treacherous (Sep 24, 2013)

A far cry from the dark days of the mid 90's with lots of speculation about Apple going under.  I remember carrying around probably the only PowerBook 540c in most of Central America.  Microsoft seemingly had purchased every billboard to tout Windows 95 at the time down there.  I now use whatever suits the application but my general purpose web surfer is a Mac.  I admin most of my Windows or Linux servers from my Mac via shell, rdp or vnc.


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## lukem (Sep 26, 2013)

Well, I got back into town yesterday after being away for work and a box with a shiny new digitizer was waiting on me.  After making sure I got all the old glass and adhesive off the frame I removed the 4 screws holding the LCD in place and moved the LCD out of the way.  Two VERY small clips held the digitizer cable/ribbon in place...flipped them up and removed...installed the new one and reset the clips.  Reinstalled the LCD screen next. 

I figured before I got past the point of no return (installing the new digitizer and letting the new adhesive take hold) I would test everything.  I pressed the power button and the screen turned on but was extremely dark...like so dark you could barely tell it was on.  Oh chit.  My google-fu revealed that this is common and a hard reset (hold down power and home keys for 30 seconds) should clear it up...and it did.

With that out of the way I dry-fit the new glass and revealed that the corner was slightly bent in and I wasn't getting a good fit.  The case is soft enough I was able to easily bend it back in shape.

Now that I was confident that it would fit together properly I removed the backing to the pre-applied double-stick tape, placed the left corners of the digitizer in place, and closed it like a book.  Press firmly everywhere to seat the glass.

Bingo.  Good as new iPad...for about $170 less dollars.

I would do the job again without hesitation.  Total time about 2 hours...most of which was removing the old glass...and I REALLY took my time on everything, much more so than usual.


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## Swedishchef (Sep 26, 2013)

That is awesome Lukem! Next time (which I hope doesn't happen) I will do it myself. WHere's ya get the digitizer from?

At least they are replacing my iPad for free. It has been going back and forth between 2 towns FOR 2 WEEKS because of a bad shipping label on it (Apple's mistake).

A


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## lukem (Sep 26, 2013)

Amazon

EDIT:  This one in particular, although I only paid $24.99 for it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B0FYHUI/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


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## Swedishchef (Sep 26, 2013)

Ha. I was expecting something different. Good to know!


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## Paulywalnut (Sep 27, 2013)

I do have an otter cover on mine. Don't know if it works though. I'm not dropping it to find out either


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## Swedishchef (Sep 27, 2013)

Ha ha. I will certainly be buying something. I am just not sure what yet. The iPad I was supposed to receive finally arrived at it's destination. It only took 2.5 weeks to go 1000 miles.

I could have walked it there faster.

Waiting for Apple to send me the replacement and refund my $350.

Andrew


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