Bully pulpit. We interrupt your regular blog-reading pleasure for this special announcement. My iBook2, which I spent thousands of dollars on less than two months ago, died on August 8th. Apple no longer permits their service-centers to repair notebook computers, so I had to sent it to Texas, where it has languished, ever since. The part required (a new logic-board) is back-ordered from their supplier with no ETA. On Tuesday, I spoke to a customer-care rep at Apple who told me that if my machine wasn’t repaired by today, they would replace the machine, transfer my drive, and send it back to me. I just got off the phone with Apple. The customer-care rep has changed his mind. They want me to wait until the 31st — twenty four days after the machine went in for service — before they’re willing to replace it.
I’m afraid I went a little postal. The rep I spoke to said he’d do what he can, and to contact him at noon, Pacific Time, to find out if they’ll replace it after all. Meanwhile, I’m using a stand-in unit, and 90% of my data, everything I’ve ever written, programmed or downloaded since 1979, when I bought my first Apple ][+, is sitting in Texas. The machine I’m using doesn’t have a FireWire interface, so I can’t recover my files off my backup drive. I am: so screwed. I can’t believe that Apple is being this rotten — especially since I paid an additional $275 for the extended, premium-care warranty (for $8 more per year, Dell’s extended-care warranty includes on-site, next day service).
Watch this space: I’ll post the deathwatch updates. God, I hope Apple does the right thing here. I really, really need my machine back. Discuss