So, there we were. Not more than 2 minutes into the trial, and Apple conceded to trying to hoodwink the judge.
Taking on Apple in court: the little guy can win
So, there we were. Not more than 2 minutes into the trial, and Apple conceded to trying to hoodwink the judge.
Somehow I think this is the product of tiny minds lower in the hierarchy than the people at the top.
Wow. Talk about a totally slanted ‘article’. I mean I expected as much given that it was written by ‘the little guy’ but really I thought he might control himself a little. Or at least be smart enough to know that when you file in small claims court you don’t get to make claims like punitive damages, which what his ‘loss of use’ cries basically were.
My guess is that such outlandish screaming is part of why Apple kept saying no. It sounds like he had the machine for a while, read about the replacement program and went straight to “give me a whole new computer”. At least that’s how he words it to sound. Which isn’t part of the terms of purchase. If a part fails they replace the part, not the whole computer. At least not in round 1.
Also, despite his opening comment in his blog, his later ones dispel the notion that the GPU and the logic board are the same piece in his computer. Which means it is possible that perhaps there was a faulty logic board causing the powering on issue. He screams impossible rather than conceding that it might be possible and he was open to Apple replacing the board at his cost if it wasn’t under warranty along with replacing the GPU. But if the logic board didn’t fix the issue he would get his money back. Perhaps even asking for a longer than the typical 90 day repair coverage.
This guy just comes off like a total douche which makes me happy it was just small claims court so the best he got was what $5k.
“Screaming”? Please.
I disagree. I wish the guy had gotten compensation for the time he spent trying to get that computer fixed in addition to the hardware itself. The faulty component was a known issue, and Apple simply didn’t show itself in the best light on this one.
and you sound like you work for apple. You might even be the one who makes the kool-aid.
You don’t have to work for Apple to use your brain and actually do a little thinking.
But perhaps you have been so busy mixing up your hater-aid that you haven’t had time to actually worry yourself with such pointless activities.
Who’s “hating” here, apart from you? This was a personal account by a guy who tried to get recompense for a faulty product and got stonewalled by a few overzealous employees of a company that otherwise — generally — gets customer service right.
Realistically though, what did Apple gain in this whole exchange? Nothing except a bunch of bad publicity and the loss of a customer. And for what? Nothing except possibly trying to teach a customer a “lesson”.
A loyal customer pays off over and over; Apple has made a significant amount of money from me because there are several former Windows users that have recently purchased Apple systems because they’ve heard me telling somebody about the cool stuff I can do with GarageBand on my iMac, or playing guitar through my iPhone, or getting by with nothing but an iPad for a week on vacation. I’ve never had to use AppleCare, but the stories that I’ve heard about it – people walk into an Apple store with a malfunctioning computer and walk out with a brand new computer via AppleCare – are a powerful selling point to AppleCare specifically and Apple hardware in general.
Sounds to me like it was a close enough fit to the known problems that Apple should have just replaced the suspect boards, no hassle. Then Seattle Rex might be posting about how Apple took care of him and he’s looking forward to his next Apple purchase…
Methinks the only person here who looks like a douche is you.
Weird. I had a 2.5 year old MBP replaced a few years ago, with a brand new model just released that day. Still don’t know what the problem was (as far as I know not related to this one), but logic board replacements didn’t fix it. Of course it was under AppleCare. I guess his experience balances mine….
Although we also had a dozen or more iMac G5s, all of which failed with a known faulty component, mostly at around 4 years old which is past what the repair extension program they had for this problem or AppleCare (which they didn’t have) would cover. So that was lame, nothing they would do for those, which should all still be working today.
I’m not saying I agree with his argument, but
“you must work for ” is as preposterous and invalid as the “fanboy” argument. If you have an actual reason why you disagree with him, then say so. Otherwise, your comment is pointless.
It is odd that with all the stories of stellar service that this simple product defect would ever have gone to court in the first place. But it is a reminder that despite what we would like to believe, Apple is still and always has been a corporation that plays by the same cut throat rules as all the other corporations. And sometimes those rules don’t seem to take into account the optics of a situation such as this. Someone in the food chain had convinced themselves that Apple was not at fault and owed nothing to the customers affected by these defective products, believing themselves to be covered by the letter of the customer agreements in play.
Where you’re from, maybe not. But in Ontario my ex was able to recoup lost wages and recreational time from a landlord after their loose pit bull charged her and she fell backwards over a fence, damaging a disc.
Really? REALLY?
First, how is anyone but a lawyer supposed to know you cannot get punitive damages in small claims court?
Second, he is not screaming, he is asking (in a professional manner) for fair and just treatment.
You sound like one of those people who thinks anyone who stands up for themselves is a “whiner”. How about you go back to rolling over for the man and let us adults fight the good fights, hmmm?
We too had a lot of iMac G5’s replaced by Apple due to those bad capacitors. And they did, like in your case, continue to fix them for a year after warranty. I do not know what led to them acting the polar opposite in this case. But even if the author was somehow acting douchey (and I’ve no evidence that he was), he’s right–Apple was in the wrong from the outset. He deserved a new Mac, period. It would have been cheaper, easier, faster, and smarter for EVERYONE involved. It is bizarre that Apple elected to fight this. I’d really like to hear from the person at Cupertino who made that decision, but of course we never will.
If there’re more positive experiences in the comments, maybe people will forget about the negative experiences!