Site Links
Home
MacDiscussion Forum
Search
Contact Us
Columns
Darkside Tales
MacLinux
Pierce Perspective
Powerful Simplicity
Tech Tips
Well-Tempered Mac
Features
Quick Search
Up-to-Date Customers Getting Poorer Service?
Gonna tell you all a story about a man named Mark
He bought a new computer, and boy was that a lark
He was told he would be updated with the latest greatest stuff
But they took his money, and they told him "tough"
Sorry for the bad singing everyone, but I couldn't resist.
Apple seems to have taken a bit of a strange route with their "up-to-date" customers. For everyone who ordered Tiger as a stand alone product, they were guaranteed delivery dates, and when those delivery dates were not met Apple made good and even gave them credits, free software, and other tasty tidbits to keep them happy. Then there are the up-to-date customers.
For those that don't know what the "up-to-date" program is, it's something that Apple offers customers of their hardware, who purchased a new machine after the announcement of a ship date of a new version of their operating system, but get the computer just before it is released and without the new OS. They offer you the new updated operating system at the cost of shipping and handling. In the case of Canadian customers (like myself), it is $11.99 plus applicable taxes. This is a great idea, but there's one big thing wrong with it . . .
They made very a poor choice for shipping in this case. And apparently it's just in the case of up-to-date cusomters. They chose a shipping company (DHL) that doesn't support tracking numbers at all. They initially missed the ship date (they shipped on the 30th instead of the 29th), but their web system seems to have been backdated to show that they all shipped on the 29th, contrary to the shipping confirmation emails received. The orders are all seemingly in limbo at this point in time. On the forums at ehmac.ca there is a very long thread about this series of events and almost none of the up-to-date users have received their copies as of yet. After over an hour on the phone with the Apple store, no one could even track down the order and sent me to another phone number to get the information. The second number they had me phone, in fact, were convinced that my order didn't even exist, as they couldn't find the order number in their system, they couldn't find any record with my name or even to my postal code and sent me back phoning the store support number again.
This leaves quite a bad taste in my mouth, and I'm sure in the mouths of other up-to-date users. Apple decided to ship with a carrier that can't track orders but only for their up-to-date customers in this instance, the same customers that have spent their hard earned dollars on brand new hardware within the last 2 weeks. This is a pretty poor way to support your customer base Apple.
The last annoying bit about this whole situation, is that many of the customers who ordered the "full" version of Tiger have been offered store credits, free software and all sorts of other (small) goodies to make them happy. After inquiring about this with the last Apple store representative I spoke with today, she informed me that because I had not purchased my hardware through the online store directly, that she wasn't able to offer me anything in this regard, and that my order would "arrive when it gets there".
Thanks to everyone for listening to this rant, and hopefully Apple may take this to heart and treat their customers that spend their hard earned money on brand new Apple hardware a little bit better in the future, and don't leave them hanging on a limb and feeling used, abused and second rate.
| Discussions? --- Interact with the writers and other readers... |
| Is this only in Canada? | Curtis |