> I buy dozens (and some times dozens of dozens) of Apple units each year. I > guess I just have to disagree that Apple's service and support are > suffering,
Well, that's odd considering Steve Jobs even admitted they had a problem and would be trying to do better. :/ Others I think highly of, steve wozniak, etc have said the same thing. I'm not discounting your good experiences, they just don't jive with a lot of mine. > and I'll have to disagree that they charge a premium for out of > warranty repairs. Check out Dell's out-of-warranty service pricing > sometime, or Gateway's (horrendous!). HP and Compaq aren't cheap either. > > This is a different industry, and the retail price of the goods involved > has nothing to do with the cost of repairs. Apple's competing with other > computer manufacturers, not with amateur radio manufacturers. If Tentec > can afford to offer out-of-warranty repairs to their customers for that > price, good for them. I'd be willing to be that their competitors have to > offer similar pricing to stay competitive. > > Apple has to compete with Gateway, Dell, and HP/Compaq. Rather than > comparing (or trying to compare) Apple's repair pricing with Tentec, check > out these companies' repair pricing policies sometime. You'll find that, > should you decide to take your business elsewhere, you'll be paying about > the same, and sometimes more, for out-of-warranty repairs.... That's fine jeremy, but the things you're objecting to aren't the point at all. She wasn't complaining that apple didn't charge her $30 to fix her laptop. The point isn't that apple computers cost more money, or their pricing, or what dell or compaq cost. The point is that apple has known problems with machines that fail- and then charges an arm and a leg to get them fixed. That is the "gotcha" pricing. It didn't use to be that way. Because of what I do, I know 6 people alone (besides myself) that bought tibooks over the last year and a half. 4 of them have had major problems, requiring them to be sent back. Two had hinge problems as well as firewire problems, one had a screen problem and battery and the other had the battery problem and CD grinding issue. Getting them through and fixed was hell, except for one which was peachy keen. Two had to be sent back twice. In two out of the four cases apple said it wasn't covered by warranty as it normally shouldn't fail, and wanted major money to fix them... It's like this- if you drop your computer 3 days out of warranty and it breaks and apple charges a lot... That's the way it goes. You roll the dice if you don't get a warranty. But if your tibook's hinges fail after owning it for a year and you have applecare, apple should not be charging you $1k to get them fixed. Even if you don't have applecare and your firewire port dies after a year, you should not be paying $650 to get it fixed as it is a known problem with the quality of the product. Sure, apple can say "tough, you should have gotten our warranty" but that isn't the way to build customer loyalty. > (fwiw, Dell > is so touchy about the expense of their out-of-warranty pricing that you > have to provide a valid serial number to get that deep on their website, > if it's there at all). I can't speak to that, because ei've never had to deal with them out of warranty. But I can say that I have dealt with them with a laptop that had hardware problems (the latch snapped, seemed pretty cheap) which would have been a pain in the ass to get taken care of with apple and dell had no problems taking care of it. That is cool. Michael Bryan Bell ------------------ ICQ: 16106263 Yahoo: mhbell1 No Link for you! AIM: drunkenbatman -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
