surfmonkey Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Welcome to my nightmare... If you've read my other thread, you'll know that about a month ago I bought a refurbished dual 2gig G5 directly from Apple. Big Mistake The first one they sent me wouldn't recognize the mouse or the keyboard upon booting up. DOA. They made jump through a few hoops, including making me wait 48 hours for authorization to send it back. (why??) Finally, they agreed to send me another one. G5 #2 had a fan problem. All the fans came on full blast upon start-up. I mean it was really loud. Lawn mower loud. I tried firmware updates, fan fixes, nothing worked. The tech support guys couldn't figure it out. This time they made me jump through even more hoops, getting transferred back and forth between various tech support and customer service/sales guys, each asking the same questions over and over. Finally, they agreed to re-send me yet another G5. G5 #3 had the exact same problem as the first refurb I got. Sounds pretty fishy right? Just to make sure I wasn't crazy I took it to an Apple repair center and they verified the problem as being something wrong with the computer and not user error. Even they couldn't figure it out. What I'm guessing happened (and what Apple very vaguely hinted at) is that computer #1 was sent back, Apple replaced the logic board, slapped a new serial # on it, and sent it back to me. Obvioulsly the problem is something other than the board, and obviously they didn't bother to test it. This is all my theory anyway, but what are the chances of having two computers with the exact same problem? So here I am, 30 days later (and $$ poorer) and no computer to show for it. Again I had to wade through a ton of bullshit, yell a few Apple minions, and try to speak to someone with actual authority. Apple's saving grace is that I did finally get to speak to some senior supervisor who was extremely apologetic and agreed to send me a brand new G5. No more refurb's. Done. The moral of this story is: never ever buy refurbished products (from Apple anyway). They claim that each refurb is thorougly tested before shipping. I find that hard to believe. Obviously, I found their quality control to be extremely poor. As an aside, all three refurbs they sent me had OSX 10.2.7 installed, even though (and apple verified this) they were supposed to have 10.3 Panther. And no restoration disks. Not a big oversite, but hey, it adds up. Anyway, I'll let you guys know how the new G5 works out. Hopefully it will be clear skies from here on out....let's hope. I have no homepage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salyphus Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Wow, sorry to hear that, that's a lot to go thru. I bought a refurbished iPod and had no problems at all, it seemed like it was brand new. I'm really hoping this one is going to end 'happily ever after' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phait Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I contemplated buying refurb'd Powerbook last September cause I'd save money but I'm glad I went with a new Ti-Book then. It was the last one in the store, so $200 off since the Al-Books were coming soon, so I got it for $1800. High price, but was my educated choice. I was pretty skeptical of refurbs anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Botch. Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I've bought two factory refurbs over the years (neither from Apple) and they were both problems, I just won't go that route any more. Glad to hear you got a new one for your troubles. Botch "Eccentric language often is symptomatic of peculiar thinking" - George Will www.puddlestone.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanmass Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I have purchased tons of apple refurb stuff. Very few issues overall. I would tend to avoid refurbs of first run products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Klopmeyer Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Yeah, it would seem that if they even have refurbs of something as relatively new as a G5, it probably had some serious problems in the first place to have been returned. I've never bought a refurb, though I've bought new and used Macs and never had any serious problems with them. I'm sure the same is true (refurb issues) in PC land as well. - jeff Marketing Communications for MI/Pro Audio My solo music and stuff They Stole My Crayon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mats Olsson. Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I am having a refurb problem right now. I bought a new computer & flatscreen display from Dell last november. New as in non-refurb. 2 weeks ago the display died, after not taking care of the problem fast enough (I've got a 3-day collect & return guarantee), they came here on business day 5 and swapped my monitor for something identical (just that it was not new, it had been serviced by Dell - a repair unit.). Yesterday this display started to show signs of illness, today it got worse - it's so bad I can't use it at all. New call to Dell support: "duh, we will replace it" Fine, will I get a new monitor this time? "um, no, it doesn't work like that. You will get a refurb" Like I did last week? "Yes" That is totally unacceptable, I don't want a frigging refurb one more time! "Uh, what do you want me to do, sir" I want you to replace this dead monitor with a brand spanking new monitor manufactured no earlier than march 2004, and I want it to come in a factory sealed box that smells like new when I open it! "no can do, do you want us to change it for you or do you want us to do nothing, sir" Can I please talk to a manager? "No, this is a call center, there are no Dell managers here" Can a manager call me? "It is not normal procedure, sir." What do I care what's normal procedure, I think I'm perfectly entitled to talk to someone who can answer all of my questions promptly and who is authorised to make decisions! "Do you want us Dell to call you, sir?" Yes, today! "I will send a PM to Dell" Last week, after they managed to not deliver service on time, I spoke to someone higher up in the Dell organisation. He listened to what I had to say and then said "we did not handle your problem as good as we should have done". I then asked him if, as a compensation for their failure, I could have my guarantee upgraded to "same day on-site service", just in case I would ever have any problem with this display or computer again. He said that even though it was very unlikely that my new monitor should need servicing, what I asked for seemed reasonable and that he would make a note in my service record. Today when I called them, there were no such note. I hate people who fail to stand up for their word. http://www.lexam.net/peter/carnut/man.gif What do we want? Procrastination! When do we want it? Later! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Folkson Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I've bought several refurbed Apples over the years and I've never had trouble with any of them. The reason that I go with them is because I take the guts out of the plastic case and into a Marathon rack, thus voiding the warranty anyway. Hopefully you'll get it all worked out. - Jan Folkson http://www.janfolkson.com "How do you know when it's music and not just a bunch of noise" - Dennis the Menace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeronyne Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Small Dog is the best place for refurbed Macs. Their service is top notch. "For instance" is not proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Botch. Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Wow Mats, I thought Dell was supposed to be well-known for their customer service, you got quite the run-around too. Sounds like their warrantee is like that on a car battery; if your 48-month battery goes bad at 47 months, they'll only credit you 1/48 of the cost of a new battery, not quite right in my opinion. Botch "Eccentric language often is symptomatic of peculiar thinking" - George Will www.puddlestone.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mats Olsson. Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Just wait, I'm not finished with Dell just yet. If they want to play dirty, so can I. I will give them this week to do what's right. Thing can break down, I have no problem with that, but the manufacturer has to act responsibly and treat customers fair. Pissing of a customer is not the right thing to do. My adress book is thick, including people who has a lot of pulling power at several potential Dell volume clients, I'm prepared to mail each and every one and tell them how Dell has treated me. http://www.lexam.net/peter/carnut/man.gif What do we want? Procrastination! When do we want it? Later! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super 8 Posted April 28, 2004 Share Posted April 28, 2004 Mac sucks....shoulda gotten a PC! I think that often 'refurbs' are actually NEW equipment that, for some reason, didn't make it out of the factory. I don't know this for certain, but when I used to manage a computer store, we bought refurbished bulk stuff all the time, and it was just like new, except the box said "refurb" on it. It taught me that buying refurbs is a great way to save a buck. By the way, we NEVER had reliability problems with refurbs. In fact, we probably had more 'new' stuff come back than the 'refurbished' stuff. Just food for thought. Super 8 Hear my stuff here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfmonkey Posted May 5, 2004 Author Share Posted May 5, 2004 Well my story seems to have a happy ending. My new G5 came a few days ago and it works like a dream. Yeah!! Apple is still not out of my doghouse, but at least I have a working G5! I have no homepage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
not coaster MODERATOR Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 dude u got a new one out of the deal! you'll be grinning ear to ear because the new ones come with stickers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Klopmeyer Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 That rocks, Surfmonkey. How ya like Panther 10.3.3? - Jeff Marketing Communications for MI/Pro Audio My solo music and stuff They Stole My Crayon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfmonkey Posted May 5, 2004 Author Share Posted May 5, 2004 Uh, I like it, I think. I am a totally new Mac user, so I can't compare it to older Mac OS's. i'm still feeling my way around. I have no homepage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfmonkey Posted May 5, 2004 Author Share Posted May 5, 2004 Originally posted by Cereal: you'll be grinning ear to ear because the new ones come with stickers.refurbies come with stickers too. I have no homepage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovepusher Sly Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 Glad to hear that. So are you now browsing using Safari? And if you think you like it, wait till you start getting into iTunes & Music Store... and Address Book.... and Mail....and iPhoto..... and..... Sly Whasineva ehaiz, ehissgot ta be Funky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.