Saturday Editorial

    This week has been a long and quite frustrating one for me. First the C.C.D. in my J.V.C. mini went out. Then part of my MacBook’s case popped open because the support people didn’t screw it in enough. Needless to say that earned Apple a call that I’m sure the support rep wasn’t thrilled with.The camera problem was nothing I expected JVC to fix as my camera was three months out of warranty. Of course I was correct. I did however get help on the phone to figure out what the problem was. This was encouraging because I thought at least I could send it to a camera shop. Nope. The problem would cost as much to fix as a new camera would so it was out of the question. The key thing in this whole story is the fact that I did get the tech support for FREE from JVC.

    I also had the trouble with my MacBook case looming. This was a problem I was not looking forward to addressing. I quit telling the Apple people my age when they ask simply because they then talk down tome for the rest of the call. I don’t need treated like a baby I need my dang computer fixed! So I call them up and give them my serial number. They respond with, “I’m sorry sir. Your MacBook is out of the warranty.” I told them I knew and I was calling regarding a previous repair. He told me that he couldn’t help me because my warranty was out. I was getting really tired of this crap but kept on trying. Finally he said he would help but this was only a special occasion. I just said thanks and got right back to the point. I told him that after my previous repair the case on my computer had popped open to the left of the keyboard. (I just needed them to tell me what to do so I didn’t destroy anything.) His response was, “Oh, you should have told me.” “I tried.” I responded somewhat frustrated.

    We got back to the question at hand. He just told me i needed to make sure the screw set in correctly and put a LOT of pressure on the case and screw the screw back in. At this point I was of course feeling extremely stupid. Oh, and the whole time he kept trying to force the Apple Care Protection plan down my throat. The key thing I was getting at above was that Apple is trying to get you o spend a little here and there constantly. Apple Care, converters, and battery replacements are just a few of the things. The battery thing really irks me. You pay two or three-hundred dollars for an iPod and then later on have to pay $100 more to replace the stupid battery. And then there is the fact that Apple basically tells you to fry ice if you need help but have no Apple Care Protection plan. Then the really annoying one is the stupid iPhone earphone converter.

    Why? I know Apple is “Thinking Different” but it shouldn’t cost that much. Ever since I got my Mac that has been my only problem with Apple. I’d like tech support for free like with Windows computers. They are clearly making more than just enough in profits each year. how about they show that in their support?