Last week, I had an issue with my MacBook Pro--the backlight went out. The machine is about 110 days old, so it's just over Apple's 90-day limit for phone tech support. I think it's pretty outrageous that a $2,500+ machine comes with only 90-days of phone support for hardware issues, and I shared my thoughts on the subject in an opinion piece for Macworld on Friday.
I really think that Apple is lagging with their policies, but some of the feedback to the opinion piece has prompted me to look into it further. I'm not sure if anything will become of it, but it's my plan to look into the bigger names in the PC world and compare their policies with Apple's for similar gear. Just for fun, I'm also planning to look at the major home electronics manufacturers, at least those who sell gear in a similar price range as something like the MacBook Pro.
If anything like an article comes of my great plans, I'll post a follow-up...
I don't think Apple is doing anything wrong with how they handle issues outside of the 90 day phone support. As having worked tech support a few years ago for Best Buy, I wish we had these policies. It's amazing what people will try to get help with, without being charged.
And as much as most people think they know what their problem is with their computer, they usually don't. If your car had an issue and you brought it into your mechanic and told him that the johnson rod was bad. Do you think he's going to instantly replace that? Most likely not, he's going to hook it up to the diagnostic machine and see what it says. Which is why I don't see the problem with them getting your credit card information. And from what I've been told by some people, typically the agent will not even charge your card if they find that it's an hardware issue. From what it sounds like and I've seen this same situation blogged about before, is that agents are not explaining the policy well enough.
Btw, I believe you will find that most of the major PC companies have the same or very similar policies to Apple.
Please note, I would have *no* issues if they had asked for the credit card first, and agreed to charge it only if it turned out to be a hardware issue. I was told explicitly, however, that the call could not continue unless I had a paid support plan in place--not just an authorization, but an actual paid-for plan.
This is sort-of explained on Apple's AppleCare page, but not very clearly. It statest that AppleCare extends phone support from 90 days to three years for "technical support." But I wasn't calling with a technical support issue; I was calling with a defective computer.
-rob.
Rob i fully agree with You and i don't use Apple's laptops i had Toshiba for more then 1 year and it works really good (i transport it alot). I only use mp3 players from Apple they are really good :)
An year ago, I spilt coffee on my Powerbook's keyboard and several keys started misbehaving. I was also worried that the internals were spoilt. I took it to the local Apple store. I had no support plan. The laptop was just about 1 year old. I was pleasantly surprised at the wonderful treatment I got. Not only did they check everything, but they replaced my keyboard for "free" when I was expecting a 200$ charge plus labor. I don't know if I simply got lucky or going to the store Vs online help is different.
Sorry, I had not read your article on MacWorld. So it was indeed fixed at the local Apple store... but that is not a convenience many folks can afford.
I had a similar experience a few years ago with Apple phone support. My power cord (this was one of the old black ones that were later recalled due to exactly these sorts of issues) had been beaten a little too far and started literally shooting sparks. Fortunately, there was no damage, but the insulation was clearly broken and it would need to be replaced. Everyone I talked to indicated that I would first need to pay $99 by credit card in order for someone to tell me that my power cord was, in fact, broken because sparks were coming out of it. They were shocked, shocked, to hear that all I wanted to do was order a part (and I was happy to purchase one), and claimed this was impossible without first paying the $99. After much ado, I was finally transfered to the parts department. This was a good 7 years ago, and clearly not much has changed.
The problem is that Apple are starting to take back a lot of the lead that they enjoyed earlier, and when this happens, mostly customer service is reduced. As a company gets bigger and profits are boosted, there is always someone higher up trying to reduce costs, and sometimes this comes at a cost to the consumer.
Having said that the money they have put into R & D outweighs this by the fantastic advances they have made in most of their products.
It is a two way street.
I don't get how they only offer 90 days of support. If you're going to spend $2,500, they need to help you out for longer than that. At least six months.
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