Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware, Odds and ends, iMac
"Walk of shame" customer receives iMac replacement
Remember Karl, the frustrated iMac customer from Dublin who was going to prove he could walk his sick iMac 156 miles into service for replacement faster than Apple could pick it up? As it turns out, he apparently never hit the road; Infinite Loop at Ars Technica is reporting that Apple Ireland received word of this much-publicized stunt not long after it hit the media (perhaps they use the digg widget?) and promptly sent a brand new replacement straight to his door about ninety minutes later.Score one for the little guy, but I'm wondering how many more frustrated service customers are going to attempt such a stunt. Maybe, as Jeff at Infinite Loop suggests, next time Apple will have to wait for the customer to actually get a couple miles into the walk before they fire off any more replacement units.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tim said 4:39PM on 8-25-2006
ummm...my new fully loaded mac pro and dual 30" monitors are sick, and i have to walk from the north pole...but if you guys could just ship that to my 'friend' in seattle...ill stop there and pick it up...
thanks
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Neil Christie said 4:52PM on 8-25-2006
Why wouldn't it be free? His iMac was covered by the UK warranty - UK people don't pay ANYTHING to have Apple replace faulty units covered by warranty or Apple Care.
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Tom said 8:57PM on 8-25-2006
Get out an atlas ya big fool...
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Siggi said 11:34PM on 8-25-2006
Just another publicity stunt. But hey, it shows how good Apple's customer service people are!
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Andy said 4:49AM on 8-26-2006
I had a sick eMac that was returned to Apple days before the warranty expired. What with one thing and another, I was without it for over six weeks with another three weeks projected wait time for new parts. I was so dejected I wrote to the local Apple head guy. He sent me a new iMac, an extended warranty, and an iPod to appease my anguish!
Talk about a turn around. One minute I'm spitting tacks, the next I'm thrilled and delighted.
...came this close to going back to a PC. Now I'll stick with Apple no matter what.
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Liam Parkinson said 5:52AM on 8-26-2006
#3, if this guy was in northen ireland then he is covered by the UK warrenty as northan ireland is part of the united kingdom, and not part of ireland, there is a difference, try telling a irish man there isnt and you would get killed for it.
Also i had a good run in with apple care, my 17" iMac went in for repair twice, but the second time i had a deadline for college with all my work on my hard drive, so i phoned them, they put all my work onto DVD's for me, and then were kind enough to upgrade me to the 20" model because off all the inconvience.
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Matthew Waters said 6:34AM on 8-26-2006
Neil, last time I checked, Dublin isn't in the UK.
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Tom said 6:35AM on 8-26-2006
It's a Dublin man we're talking about. If people still think it's part of the UK then I weep for the geography teachers of this world.
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Ranjeet Sodhi said 12:23PM on 8-26-2006
If only Apple were as open to replacing my problem prone Macbook Pro... I have had four (4) in store and depot repairs on this 4 month old laptop already; and think I might need more as time goes by.
You can read about my Macbook Pro saga at my site:
http://www.sodhi.org/ee/index.php/v6/comment/my_sad_apple_macbook_pro_repair_saga/
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Gerry O'Sullivan said 12:53PM on 8-26-2006
When I started off in sales, I remember being told that it costs ten times more to get an ex-customer back than it does to recruit a new one. When you do something right, no-one says anything, because that is what you are expected to do. But when you do something wrong, you really have to go out of your way to put it right, or else the wronged party will tell their story (all from their perspective of course), to anyone who will listen.
So belatedly, Apple Ireland did the right thing, and I'd reckon Karl is a happy camper now.
A couple of points raised by other commenters:
Neil (#2): as far as I'm aware, the same warranty applies to all Apple customers in the territory covered by Apple's European division.
Liam (#6): No-one would "get killed" for mistaking which bit of the island of Ireland is in the Republic and which bit is in the UK. It's a common enough mistake to make. Just like Canadians get called Americans when they're away from home, or New Zealanders being mistaken for Australians. It's annoying at most, if you are confident about your own identity, it's not a big deal.
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Sbastien said 9:17PM on 8-27-2006
Talk about a poor, and sad experience with apple computer. I got a new macbook in mid-july, and 3 days later it was gone to my local apple repair guy because it was a defective unit. I took 2 week to have it back and on the same day I got it back it was even more unusable than it was before I took it in to fix it. Apple didn't want to replace my macbook (obviously it was a defective unit), and after one hour of talking with different departement of apple care service they decided to get my unit replaced. NOW the problem is that the shipping date of my new unit is constantly pushed back to later this month. The shipping date was due to the 22nd of august but have been delay to the 31st of august, and I was told that it is possible the push back the shipping even farther. I need my macbook for school and it looks like I won't have it for a while. I don't get why they have such a poor customers service. Do the math and I had my NEWLY AQUIRED macbook for just 4 day in my hand!Oh yeah and this is the first apple I bought. Maybe the last one too.
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Sad Powerbook said 12:50PM on 8-30-2006
My computer (a Powerbook G4 bought in the US) has a recalled screen and battery, but since I'm located in Poland it seems that Apple won't help me replace either; maybe when the thing explodes in my face they'll send me a new Macbook to my hospital room but I doubt it. Apple doesn't have a corporate division in Poland (and a number of other countries as well) but only an "authorized partner" who won't touch your computer from another country for fear it's 'grey market'. Grey market or not, I lived in the States a long time and bought my Powerbook there but the best response I could get from an Apple Support rep on the phone (after waiting 45 minutes) was to ship my Powerbook to the U.S. at my cost and wait and wait and wait for the repair and to have it shipped to me.
I love Macs but I wish I could get a display without giant white spots on it, and a timebomb for a battery. Maybe I should plan a meandering walk across the Atlantic?
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