Really bad service from Apple

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CrispinMullins

128 posts

Master Geek

#11671 5-Feb-2007 23:24

Being in a PowerPoint mood, I'll put this into bullet-point form.

19.01.2007 - New Mac arrives
26.01.2007 - Hard drive fails
26.01.2007 - Authorised Mac service provider orders replacement 80gig SATA hard drive. "A one-day turnaround," he says.
30.01.2007 - News arrives that the drive has to be sourced from Sydney. God knows why it took so long for Renaissance to come back with this information.
02.02.2007 - Apple Store offers to replace the whole unit as a DOA, but this would mean picking the unit up from the service provider, waiting for the courier to turn up and take the old machine to Sydney before the new machine can be dispatched. Estimated total turnaround: another week. Offer declined as the replacement drive is being sourced from Sydney.
05.02.2006 - News arrives that the drive has to be sourced from the United States. Estimated turnaround: 10-14 days.

Question:
Why are there no SATA drives in Auckland?

PS. Please don't troll this thread. Especially not that guy who trolled the last Mac thread.

Warmest regards
C.Mullins

Crispin Mullins
Auckland, New Zealand

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#59827 5-Feb-2007 23:37

What's so special about a SATA drive for a MAC?

Surely any SATA drive would do???

It's hard to understand why they can't just supply a generic HDD to keep a customer happy.

A Seagate 80GB SATA drive would cost all of $87.78 + GST! (and of course Apple should be paying for it).

Specs are: Seagate Single 80GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 8MB cache Barracuda 7200.9

rscole86

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#59828 5-Feb-2007 23:38

You should have taken it back to the supplier, as under the consumer gaurantees act, you are entitled to a refund or replacement, as the goods were not fit for their purpose.

Matt1

27 posts

Geek

#59831 6-Feb-2007 00:29

A few questions:

- What model Mac? If it was a laptop then maybe they could have some excuse trying to get an HD with a proprietary connector, but I thought Apple was using standard laptop HDs.

- Where did you buy it from and where did you take it for service? "Apple Store" is not very descriptive.

That is awful service though and really they shouldn't make excuses. Still would be interesting to know the what and where so they can be avoided in the future.

computeruser

32 posts

Geek

#59835 6-Feb-2007 07:13

There are SATA drives in Auckland, but probably for warranty purpose it has to go through the food chain...

CrispinMullins

128 posts

Master Geek

#59836 6-Feb-2007 09:22

Answers to your questions:

It's a Mac Mini
I bought it from apple.co.nz, which is in fact Apple's own Apple Store catering to Australia and New Zealand.
Under the Consumer Guarantees Act, customers must return faulty goods to the point of purchase for a refund or replacement. Unfortunately, I mistakenly believed that it would be quicker to have the hard drive replaced locally than to arrange for the whole machine to be shipped back to Sydney, assessed, and a replacement sent out.
I don't want to name the place I am dealing until I have my machine back. In any case, I understand that with the support chain set up the way it is, all Apple gear still enters the country either direct to the consumer (from the Apple Store, based in Sydney) or through Renaissance, which apparently normally can add a day or two to the proceedings. It also means that with a another company in control, the place I am dealing with has very little control over anything. (Almost makes me wonder why they are in the business.)
It's actually a 2.5" drive, which would add about $100.00 to the purchase price, Grant17.

Thanks for your responses.

Crispin Mullins
Auckland, New Zealand

grant_k

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#59840 6-Feb-2007 10:09

CrispinMullins: It's actually a 2.5" drive, which would add about $100.00 to the purchase price, Grant17.

Yep, I take it all back...

2.5" SATA drives are not that easy to come by, especially in 80GB which is a very small capacity these days. The smallest I could find was 120GB which is about $100 more expensive as you say.

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alasta

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#59841 6-Feb-2007 10:26

Considering that hard drive failures are not uncommon, I'm really surprised that they don't have a stock of them in New Zealand. This is very disappointing.

My own bad experience with the new Online Apple Store was somewhat different from your own, but it does highlight the problems associated with having product despatched from Australia. I ordered a Mac Mini and a keyboard last month, and both products were supposed to be shipped from Sydney to Auckland, then from Auckland to Wellington by the freight company contracted by Apple (who I would prefer not to name at this point), and finally transferred to CourierPost to be delivered to my door. Unfortunately CourierPost initially delivered the keyboard but not the Mac, and advised me that the keyboard was the only package that had been transferred to them by Apple's freight company. When I contacted Apple's freight company, they admitted that only one of the two packages had been transferred to CourierPost and it took numerous phone calls before I eventually managed to speak to someone who was genuinely helpful, and she managed to track down the missing package and kept me informed as it made its way to my door. It was a relief to finally receive it, but the delays and the frustration were totally unacceptable.

It's interesting that the so-called New Zealand Apple Online Store is based in Australia, because it makes me wonder whether they would be bound by New Zealand consumer law.

CrispinMullins

128 posts

Master Geek

#59843 6-Feb-2007 10:47

It's interesting that the so-called New Zealand Apple Online Store is based in Australia, because it makes me wonder whether they would be bound by New Zealand consumer law.

Well, a glance at The Apple Store (New Zealand)'s terms and conditions reveals that although they are based in Australia and may not in fact have staff here, they are operating as a New Zealand entity.

In these terms and conditions "we" and "us" mean Apple Sales New Zealand of PO Box 912015, Auckland Mail Centre, Auckland 1142, and "you" means you the customer.

Even so, the Consumer Guarantees Act applies to any company that advertises in New Zealand, even those with no physical presence here:

The Act applies to all traders who operate in New Zealand, including organisations based overseas that advertise here. But enforcing the Act could be difficult with a company that has no physical presence or representatives here. It can be very difficult to prosecute or get redress from rogue traders not living in New Zealand.

As far as New Zealand consumer law is concerned, that is a good thing; the bad thing is that because Apple doesn't employ anybody here, but rather has licensed its support undertakings to Renaissance, DOA replacements still have to go through Sydney.

Crispin Mullins
Auckland, New Zealand

bradstewart

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#59845 6-Feb-2007 10:50

alasta: It's interesting that the so-called New Zealand Apple Online Store is based in Australia, because it makes me wonder whether they would be bound by New Zealand consumer law.

If they are trading in New Zealand then they are.

MattD

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#60385 11-Feb-2007 10:05

Sorry to hear about the incident. After being an Apple Store Aus customer for last 3.5 years have not had an issue.

Does not instill confidence in having just moved here. I thought that once Apple NZ managed the operation and not previous reseller things would improve. Looks like resellers have done very little for apples image in previous years.

One question, does Apple Protection Plan provide onsite support in NZ?

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#60814 14-Feb-2007 20:21

Renaissance are not exactly known for going out of their way to be helpful, hence the outpourings of joy when Apple started operating semi-locally under the hope that Renaissance would lose control of the brand. As it was prices dropped significantly overnight but it would appear that service issues haven't improved a great deal. As stated above, if the product is being sold in NZ, then regardless of where their service centre etc. is based, the local point of contact are required to sort things out for you in "a reasonable period of time".

@KnightNZ

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CrispinMullins

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#61465 21-Feb-2007 17:31

Update: Today I received my replacement 80GB hard drive. (I could have picked it up yesterday, but I was busy.) All in all, it took three weeks and four days for Apple to source an 80GB 2.5" SATA hard drive and get it to me. The long timeframe is in part attributable to the service centre involved, Wired Dog in Takapuna, who I understand received the drive at least four days before bothering to tell me about it.

Hitachi are the main benefactors of the delay, as I bought a new drive at retail and had it installed about two weeks ago.

Renaissance, whose share activity today apparently represented the largest drop in price of all those listed on the SE40, had nothing to do with the delay as far as I can tell.

Crispin Mullins
Auckland, New Zealand

grant_k

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#61469 21-Feb-2007 17:42

CrispinMullins: Hitachi are the main benefactors of the delay, as I bought a new drive at retail and had it installed about two weeks ago.

So, what will you do with the replacement drive now?

Install it as a second drive? Or return it to the retailer who sold you the new drive 2 weeks ago?

Either way, this is shockingly poor service for a machine that is less than one month old

CrispinMullins

128 posts

Master Geek

#61470 21-Feb-2007 17:50

Can't decide whether to use the new drive to build myself a RAID5 array or just get a USB 2.0 enclosure for it. Should really investigate RAID I think.

Crispin Mullins
Auckland, New Zealand

grant_k

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#61471 21-Feb-2007 17:55

CrispinMullins: Can't decide whether to use the new drive to build myself a RAID5 array or just get a USB 2.0 enclosure for it. Should really investigate RAID I think.

Yes, definitely!

You can choose to either double your capacity and add some performance (RAID 0 I think it's called), or add some redundancy (RAID 1 mirroring if I remember right).

However, for RAID 5 you need more than 2 drives don't you?

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