I had a problem with my ethernet port for a few weeks, so I finally broke down and called AppleCare last weekend.
This experience can easily be broken into two parts. The first was the phone call(s) to AppleCare describing the problem. The second: the repair process. Let's just say one outshined the other in excellence like nothing before, and it's not the one you may think.
Stage one: the phone calls. I called up AppleCare and waited 15 minutes to talk to a representative. I forget her name, but she was very nice. I described the problem: I could connect to my router and the internet via the wireless card (AirPort), but not via ethernet. She ended up having me go through the same procedure which I had done a few times on my own, which was to unplug everything, including the router and cable modem. Well, as I was unplugging it, I remembered that the cable modem also powered the phones...
Fifteen minutes later I had another representative on the phone, named Barry. After describing the problem, Barry told me he was going to transfer me over to the "Multimedia" department. I thought that sounded bogus, and asked Barry point-blank: "Are you sure that's the right department?" Barry paused, then muttered "Yeah," then 15 minutes later I was on the phone with Matthew in that department. After describing the problem, Matthew told me that his department dealt with wireless issues, and that the group from which I had been transferred was the right one. I was pissed, and conveyed that to Matthew, who was exceedingly helpful despite it not being his expertise.
After some time, I was transferred to a hardware specialist. We tried a bunch of stuff (outside of just unplugging everything), and he eventually told me (as I had long expected to be told) that my Macbook would need to be repaired. He then set me up with the mail-in repair service, and told me it would take a day or two for the box to arrive.
That was Sunday night at ~9:00PM. On Tuesday morning, the box arrived. I got home from work later in the afternoon to happily see it on the doorstep. It contained everything I needed, which was mostly packaging material to send my Macbook in. No cost to me.
Stage Two: I mailed the box via DHL, which was interesting because apparently the only DHL shipping centers in my area are at Walgreen's. I took Wednesday afternoon off, and ran a couple errands before starting the mini-vacation. The first stop was at the Walgreen's down the street from my office. It only took a few minutes, and the box was off. That was Wednesday at 1:30PM.
Thursday at 12:00N I received an e-mail saying the box had arrived at the repair center in Memphis, TN. My guess is, like UPS, DHL has a contract with Apple to do repairs at their facilities. I was happy to see that it had arrived so quickly.
Thursday at 11:15PM I received an e-mail saying that the repair was finished and that the box was being shipped out. I was quite impressed.
Not as impressed as when I saw the FedEx (yes, FedEx this time) truck arrive at 10:30AM on Friday morning with my repaired Macbook. I ran in and plugged it in to test the ethernet. No problem. I am writing this post whilst connected to the internet solely via ethernet.
Overall, if I were to grade this experience, I'd have to give two separate grades. I'll give a B- to the phone calls, mostly because of Barry. Lying to the customer is lame, Barry. But I'll give the repair service a solid A. It was blazingly fast and got the job done. Well done, AppleCare.
This experience can easily be broken into two parts. The first was the phone call(s) to AppleCare describing the problem. The second: the repair process. Let's just say one outshined the other in excellence like nothing before, and it's not the one you may think.
Stage one: the phone calls. I called up AppleCare and waited 15 minutes to talk to a representative. I forget her name, but she was very nice. I described the problem: I could connect to my router and the internet via the wireless card (AirPort), but not via ethernet. She ended up having me go through the same procedure which I had done a few times on my own, which was to unplug everything, including the router and cable modem. Well, as I was unplugging it, I remembered that the cable modem also powered the phones...
Fifteen minutes later I had another representative on the phone, named Barry. After describing the problem, Barry told me he was going to transfer me over to the "Multimedia" department. I thought that sounded bogus, and asked Barry point-blank: "Are you sure that's the right department?" Barry paused, then muttered "Yeah," then 15 minutes later I was on the phone with Matthew in that department. After describing the problem, Matthew told me that his department dealt with wireless issues, and that the group from which I had been transferred was the right one. I was pissed, and conveyed that to Matthew, who was exceedingly helpful despite it not being his expertise.
After some time, I was transferred to a hardware specialist. We tried a bunch of stuff (outside of just unplugging everything), and he eventually told me (as I had long expected to be told) that my Macbook would need to be repaired. He then set me up with the mail-in repair service, and told me it would take a day or two for the box to arrive.
That was Sunday night at ~9:00PM. On Tuesday morning, the box arrived. I got home from work later in the afternoon to happily see it on the doorstep. It contained everything I needed, which was mostly packaging material to send my Macbook in. No cost to me.
Stage Two: I mailed the box via DHL, which was interesting because apparently the only DHL shipping centers in my area are at Walgreen's. I took Wednesday afternoon off, and ran a couple errands before starting the mini-vacation. The first stop was at the Walgreen's down the street from my office. It only took a few minutes, and the box was off. That was Wednesday at 1:30PM.
Thursday at 12:00N I received an e-mail saying the box had arrived at the repair center in Memphis, TN. My guess is, like UPS, DHL has a contract with Apple to do repairs at their facilities. I was happy to see that it had arrived so quickly.
Thursday at 11:15PM I received an e-mail saying that the repair was finished and that the box was being shipped out. I was quite impressed.
Not as impressed as when I saw the FedEx (yes, FedEx this time) truck arrive at 10:30AM on Friday morning with my repaired Macbook. I ran in and plugged it in to test the ethernet. No problem. I am writing this post whilst connected to the internet solely via ethernet.
Overall, if I were to grade this experience, I'd have to give two separate grades. I'll give a B- to the phone calls, mostly because of Barry. Lying to the customer is lame, Barry. But I'll give the repair service a solid A. It was blazingly fast and got the job done. Well done, AppleCare.
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