The really bad news is that I'd half-expected a problem!
Experience.
If I'd trusted Apple, I wouldn't have set up the machine, but let Marianne do it by herself.
When it's your own, you have to learn the chores, the maintenance routines, installation, putting most things where a rather demanding OS X wants them to go.
But I had to be sure that the bloody thing worked.
Apple is pocketing another 1,800 euros (a bit more than 2,000 dollars), but the policy is to repair, rather than replace, even new faulty machines. And "bugger off till it's done". Summer in Paris? Oh well, you won't mind if it takes a bit longer.
It's not the money. I wasn't going to say how much it cost, but the Wildcat told me that Apple's approach was "scandalous at that price! It's not a bad cabbage from the supermarket."
What if I'd bought the Mac for a sudden reporting assignment abroad? What if I were a designer with a project to complete? If I weren't in a big town?
Last year, it was software. I foolishly ordered Jaguar by 'phone. Instead, they sent me Mac OS X 10.2 Server. A shipper in Rotterdam said they wanted it back before they'd give me what I paid for.
When I told him that this was out of the question and was between me and Apple, he understood. The Server ended up given to an African university's computer sciences department, where I hope it's proving useful.
I'd leave out the business with the 2001 iMac's busted video card if it hadn't been related to a shoddy stunt pulled by Apple on its second-class customers outside North America.
French magazine SVMMac reported this in April 2001. They also took issue with the new iMac's memory cache as sold in Europe:
"The surprise turns into downright disgust when you compare the American iMac 500 MHz with the model sold in the Hexagon (France). On the model sold in the States, the level 2 memory cache changes. This buffer memory, partially but directly responsible for the performance of the machine, totals 256 Ko running at 500 MHz on the New Continent, as against 512 Ko but at a cadence of 200 MHz in France.
"What's one to make of such a choice, when you know that it's better to have a cache which is smaller but runs at the processor's speed, rather than a slower memory? Could it be that we're being dumped with the end of the production line that was used in previous models? No, impossible!
"Let's add that the same models, the other side of the Atlantic, have a video card with 16 Mo of memory, while everywhere else, they've got 8 Mo. This is a difference gamers will notice, because it will force them to compromise with regard to resolution and will be a drawback when it comes to finer details. These kinds of 'novelties' do rather leave a bitter taste."*
As it was, I ended up still with an 8 Mo card, but it worked — not well enough for Jag.
It's not special treatment I want, unless Apple starts treating all its clients like VIPs again, but proper answers. Anyone else badly burned is welcome to help obtain them.
Article comments
1 - Jim Carruthers
I've not lived in the Europe. However, I do live in the Canadian protectorate where Apple is in name only. I've owned nine Macs and never had a serious problem. And this is coming from dealing with buying a Plus at $5K with a hard drive which arrived a couple of weeks later.
I had friends of mine who lived in the UK who were told modems were business tools, so I can conjecture your problems are the result of the business you are dealing with, not Apple.
Since they only got flush toilets in Europe a couple of years ago, this might be just a side-effect.
2 - Mac Diva
I haven't been as lucky as Jim. However, out of the more than a dozen Macs I've owned, I've had significant problems with only two. Apple was kind enough to replace one of my PowerBook G4s after a negligent Airborne delivery man left it out in the pouring rain so it was soaked through. They sent me a new TiBook which was an upgrade from the damaged one.
Sometimes I've had to ask to speak with a supervisor to get real action, but eventually Apple usually comes through. I have never received an Apple product that was dead on delivery.
As for the stuck disc, I've heard you can get them out by hitting the eject key (on F12) while starting up from scratch. If that doesn't work, send the computer in for service. In my experience, a repair by Apple is often back in less than a week of being sent.
Though my experiences with PowerBooks has not been absolutely perfect, I endorse them without reservation. They are the best laptops I've ever owned.
3 - taliesin
The bad Macs came from the same (small specialist) place, but the dealer's not at fault here, Jim.
Regarding very flash toilets, I'd not have known what you meant before that fuss over the iLoo (which, as we know, was not a hoax but saw the plug pulled after Rebecca B. called it the "WWW.C"). Also I have a friend who has a friend who collects/takes photos of lavatories around the globe. This is true. So if you know of any particularly striking ones in that small plot of yours squeezed in between America and Alaska...
But I digress. My piece was a rant and should be read as such, though my intent is perfectly serious. People at (Mac free help site) TechSurvivors get tetchy if I don't get out the AK-47 from time to time.
What really pisses us off in old Europe is being treated, in more respects than I care to detail, as second-class customers; furthermore Macs are damned expensive, though the high VAT is not Apple's fault.
As to the Diva, such service would almost incline me to want to live in the US. I wouldn't quarrel with anybody who says a good Mac is like a Rolls-Royce, once it's working.
There's good comment on the secrecy that irritates we hacks in this
'Why I Have to Write about Apple column in a special report. Does Stevie have any scatological schemes?
Bottom line: being an multi-billion dollar empire I love to hate doesn't exempt Apple from an obligation to explain itself sometimes.