Apple Frustrations

After a frustrating time recently with my Mac Book Pro's screen flickering (I believe there is a bad connection somewhere), I decided to go to the Apple Store at the local mall to take advantage of the wonderful service everyone always talks about. Well, I agree with Scoble, it must been a lot of the AppleFanBoy talk.

I get to the store (this is the store it was purchased from) thinking I'll just get them to look at it and they'll swap it out. It's not even 6 months old and the screen looks like it could go out at any point. Obvious defect.

Well, upon getting to the store at 11:30 AM, I am told that I need an appointment. Ok, that's fine, I got other things to do anyway and I fill out the little form and reserve a slot to talk to one of the "Geniuses" that seemed to be in very high demand today (if Mac's are really that much a superior machine why are these guys so busy?). My appointment slot was reserved for 12:00 PM.

I spend the next 30 minutes with my wife and daughter shopping and riding the escalators (my children love riding escalators). At 5 minutes till noon I go back to the store with my daughter and laptop in tow. After about 10 minutes someone finally asks if I need some help and after telling them that I have an appointment for someone to look at my laptop, she disappears in the back to "check on my reservation".

She returns about 10 minutes or so later (now close to 12:20PM) and tell me there is no record of my reservation being booked today and they have no more slots available today.

What great service.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Mac. I love the hardware. I love the OS. But today, being my first encounter with needing some support, was unacceptable, especially for a machine that comes with a premium price tag.