I had another wonderful go-round with Applecare this morning and just thought I would share.
I installed the Battery Update for my macbook last month, even though I wasn't having problems with it. I guess that was my mistake, because since then, it's been shutting down at around 30% charge capacity with no low battery warning. Not going to sleep, just shutting down with no warning. I called applecare today, because I had purchased the extended coverage for my just over a year old macbook. I was also aware of the battery extension program. First person, no help. battery doesn't meet requirements under the recall. says that she will transfer me to someone who should replace the battery under my applecare warranty. fine. second guy, informs me that the battery doesn't meet the specifications for a replacement, and it's over a year old (by about 2 weeks) so they wouldn't replace it anyway, because it's not covered under applecare. and that batteries are only slated to last one year. fine and fine, except when I purchased applecare i was specifically told that it would extend the coverage of the battery to the full three years. Technician acknowledges that people have been told that before, but it's not true and there is nothing he can do. I point out that on Apple's support page it states that affected batteries warranty is extended to two years, and that affected batteries exhibit one of the following symptoms: Identifying an affected battery Affected batteries will have one or more of the following symptoms: Battery is not recognized causing an ?X? to appear in the battery icon in the Finder menu bar. Battery will not charge when computer is plugged into AC power. Battery exhibits low charge capacity/runtime when using a fully charged battery with a battery cycle count (as shown in System Profiler) of less than 300. Battery pack is visibly deformed. Under my understanding, with my current battery cycle count of 253, I fall under item #3. He says there is nothing he can do and have a nice day. So, I have to pull the old "can I speak to a supervisor please" routine. Third person gets on the phone and says that the second person was given orders by corporate to only replace batteries with a certain remaining capacity, that my battery doesn't meet. But he's going to replace it for me anyways, as an exception. Then he says, oh sorry, the battery is over a year old. no go. I point out the misinformation I was given regarding apple care and the support document with the cycle count listing. He then begrudgingly agrees to replace the battery, but lets it be known that he's not happy about it and that he's doing me a really huge favor by making this one exception... So, here is what i've deduced after almost an hour on the phone (sorry for the long rant): 1.) yet again, dealing with applecare has proven to be a pain because none of the level one support people know anything. 2.) they don't listen to you when you explain your problems (this didn't happen until after the battery update, my battery has less than the 300 cycle count maximum for the extended battery recall, etc.) 3.) apple doesn't stand behind what its employees say about applecare, and those designated to sell the plan are either misinformed (which the 2nd rep admitted to me) or are intentionally giving incorrect information to boost sales 4.) if a machine costs $1400, and one of the components is only slated to last one year (i understand that battery life diminishes over time, that i'm not arguing about) then there needs to be a note on the product page stating such. thanks for the listening/reading/whatever. I love my Apple products, but i've had more trouble with the support and quality control of the company than i care too. I long for the days of my iBook with it's faulty logic board. after only 3 attempts at repair and a lot of bickering, they replaced it with an ibook that has been problem free for years. My friend is still using it today. r. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.math.louisville.edu/pipermail/macgroup/attachments/20070604/ded0d248/attachment.html
