Apple ranks No. 18 in customer service report

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Apple's 90 days warrantee on their computers just doesn't cut it. The extended warrantee could costs an additional 15% ($300 ontop of a $2,000 notebook)!!

You either have no experience with them or had a rare bad one. The computers have a 1 year warranty (industry standard) and they actually are pretty forgiving if something happens with in a month of that. The 90 days you refer to is the totally free phone support where they will spend any time necessary to help you with ANY problems. I have many times called outside the 90 days and talked to them for quite some time and they will answer questions and try to help you, even to the point of issuing a trouble ticket without the charge. They will almost always not ask for the fee if it appears to obviously be a hardware problem. Only when it looks like it will take a lot of time due to operator error or ignorance do they make you pay.

I found their support on par with AOL as the worst I've ever delt with, ever. I still think the 1 year warranty is weak for the price they charge. If you are gonna sit there bragging about 'elite' hardware, stand behind that talk with a decent warranty, or decent priced extended one.

I have nothing but praise for Apple's support team. I had a first gen MBP fry it's logic board, I called Apple, they next-dayed the box, which was next-dayed back to their support center. The center had it fixed OVERNIGHT and back to me within two within 48 hours. Total time w/o my MBP, 5 days. I then had the dreaded "battery swelling" issue OUTSIDE the 90 day phone support period I called them anyway, amd they had me cross-ship my old battery free-of charge, and I had a new one in 3 days.

Finally my refurb iPod fried it's HD, and again Apple had it resovled in 4 days.

I've never paid them a cent (except the Applecare policy I bought for my MBP after all of this happened).

By contrast a friend of mine had a faulty xBox 360. He called MS 3 times before they even agreed to fix it (they intially claimed the problem was outside the warrenty - He had to YELL, I kid you not - to get them to even fix it). then they were going to make him ship it at HIS expense. Another few calls convinced them to send him a box (he brought my glowing Apple experience into the mix - which seemed to placate them). Naturally it took MS a MONTH and a HALF to get him the Box, and finally the pick-up date for the box (i.e. when the UPS was guy was to pick up the package at his home) was mishandled and pushed back to day he wasn't home. It took another week just to ship the thing back.

In other words, I agree w/ Businessweek.

I tried my local apple store to get new ipod video working again - dang thing wouldn't charge up - but ending up getting a brand new iPod Battery from www.ipodjuice.com instead and it's a better battery, too. So no more apple customer service for me unfortunately.

of course I will keep buying from them 'cause they make awesome products but yes, they need to work on the customer support aspects of their business.

-c

It seems the Apple stores don't have the latitude in the services that they can commit to provide. With that said, the few times that I had to deal with Apple service via phone (yeah I have a MBP too), it had been more than satisfactory. They say what they would do, and have done what they said and promptly. I guess that's good. I just wish the cost for extended Applecare would be a bit lower. So I would get it for all my machines.

I agree with exca1ibur. You pay an arm and a leg for most any apple product (could they possibly make a cheaper tower or 15" notebook???), then need to fork over another $300+ to get a 3 year warranty.

as for timtheus... I have nothing but praise for Apple's support team. I had a first gen MBP fry it's logic board, I called Apple, they next-dayed the box, which was next-dayed back to their support center. The center had it fixed OVERNIGHT and back to me within two within 48 hours. Total time w/o my MBP, 5 days. I then had the dreaded "battery swelling" issue OUTSIDE the 90 day phone support period I called them anyway, amd they had me cross-ship my old battery free-of charge, and I had a new one in 3 days.

Finally my refurb iPod fried it's HD, and again Apple had it resovled in 4 days.

I've never paid them a cent (except the Applecare policy I bought for my MBP after all of this happened).

My problem with talking of support is that you shouldn't need to call them. With Apple, it used to be the case (I never had a problem with a mac before I got my iBook G3 and its three different motherboards). You've got a new laptop, and already you've had two separate problems with it. Man, I can't decide if the UPS guys who keep stealing mine are doing me a favor or not.

I guess this is why Apple doesn't offer a better warranty. It'll cost them too much.

Apple - the king of the "extended repair program".

the question is, how does apple's warrenty compare with a comparably equipped and priced dell or hp? i don't know but would be an interesting comparison. i've read several comparisons on desktops and hi end models across the board are about the same, sometimes apple's a better deal, sometimes not, but they're all close (when comparable features, etc.). so what's the warrenty then?

is it only "elite" hardware since there's no low end model? does the fact that dell sells a $600 laptop make their hi end models just high end but not "elite"?

my experience, well, what does it matter? everybody's got a story to tell and no one person is going to summarize a whole company. now if there are post after post after post of good/bad expereinces, then...

I've been a PowerBook guy for ages, but in late 2005 I had to get some new hardware -- both Mac and PC. So, for around $2100 CDN I got a base G4 12" PowerBook. No complaints, using it today, lovely piece of hardware. Funny, though, I also bought an IBM T42 ThinkPad for very near (+/- $50) the same price. For that, I got the T42, double my memory (1gb), extra Li-on battery, extra ac adaptor, 'melvin' style carrying case and (ready?) 3 years on-site service. (I guess we know why IBM isn't around anymore, eh?)

For the record, both machines are performing super, and I have never had to call for service on any of them (yet).

The moral of the story is. though, I feel Apple charges far too much for AppleCare. My G3 Wallstreet was used for 8 years without ever requiring service and I still have a 'bought demo' PowerBook 3400c in use as we speak.

Just my 2¢ worth.