As a previous Mac tech, obviously your sister has had a run of bad luck
where service providers are concerned. Poor service seems to be the norm
rather than the exception for most if not all computer service companies.  I
wonder what they'll be doing after the Y2K hype has fizzled out. I got out
of the service biz but while there I made sure the customer was satisfied.
After i left I had most of the larger clients ask me to support them nights
and weekends. As an IS Manager, I warn my vendors right upfront that I give
only "2 strikes and your out" when it comes to poor customer service. There
are just too many companies out there to put up with poor service from a
vendor.

What does everyone else think about the level of customer service in the
industry. What have been your experiences?

 As for the third place that stated they only service what they sell, that
is in direct violation with the extremely hard to receive Apple service
authorization. All Apple authorized service centers are required to handle
all warranty repairs referred to them by Apple or they will lose the
authorization. In fact most of the major companies have that same policy. I
would tell her to call apple and complain about all 4 sights. They are paid
by apple for their services and for non-warranty items, it is a very
lucrative service industry due to the high end graphics arts companies that
utilize them and associated peripherals/software. When she goes to pick it
up, have her lay into the guy at the forth place for blaming her when he has
replaced most of the hardware. And for the record, I'm not completely aware
of the problem with her specific iMac but it has been my experience that it
is VERY rare that you would have to replace most or all of the parts in a
Mac to fix a problem such as unable to mount a drive. Not unheard of... just
very rare.

Just my $.02 cents FWIW.

Jeff




Mark Wonsil <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message
news:F4B1826B1A21D211AEC5006008207AF40302DA9C@dogbert.csillc.com...
> Before this thread gets too far out of hand (too late?), I want to make
> clear the purpose of my post.  I knew that there are many satisfied Mac
> users on this list.  They tend to be some of the more knowledgeable people
I
> see on news groups.  I could not believe that these folks would put up
with
> the kind of service my sister experienced.  In hind-sight, my subject line
> might have been a little bit inflammatory and I apologize for that.  I do
> not want to imply that Apple does not have a warranty or they don't stand
by
> their product.
>
> BTW, here's an update.  Apple gave my sister three authorized repair shops
> close to Champaign/Urbana, IL - the birth-place of NCSA Mosaic.  One was
out
> of business, the second's Apple tech had just quit and the third would
only
> service what they sell.  She called back and found another in Decatur,
IL -
> about 45 minutes away.  She brought it in and got a lecture about how it
had
> to be her fault.  He left it at the shop.  He replaced everything except
the
> CD and video.  She will pick it up some time Wednesday.  During the
lecture,
> the grumpy repair person said that it takes an act from God to return a
unit
> to Apple.
>
> Like Patrick Santucci said, Apple does stand by their product.  Although
it
> does appear that there is some friction between Apple and their line of
> support and this may prove to be harmful to the consumer.  The purpose of
my
> original post was to either get helpful tips or to warn others just in
case
> they wanted to order from MacZone.  If enough folks complain to Apple or
> MacZone, they will change their practices or suffer the consequences.  But
> the facts must be clear and I hope I have done so.  Since this is
off-topic,
> anyone can reply using email and we can kill this thread.
>