It's far too late. If they would have told me tht prior to the experation I might care to spend $$4 with tem.

They can burn in hell over their $mugness. F. O.A.D!

How should they have told you?

I think it's probably a good buy, actually. Whatever they are going to launch to the public is two years ahead of where we are today. They have a very paced pipeline of new products that won't be affected by Jobs' health. What *will* be affected are the actual product launches though. They need a new guy that can generate (almost as much) buzz like Jobs did.

@Jim Bremmer: As others have stated, you just hop online and book an appointment. They should have told you that the first time you showed up. It's a small price to pay for actually being able to walk into a store and (hopefully) walk out with a resolved problem, as opposed to having to ship it somewhere. Sorry you had a bad experience with them...they've been fantastic to me over the years.

Completely understandable. The same thing happened to me. Went to the mall with a malfunctioning laptop only to be asked if I made an appointment. I said no. To that, I was told no one could help me. I had to make an appointment. 12 hrs. in advance.

Apple's customer service is indeed garbage. The Genius Bar thing is a total joke. I know more about Macs than those...kids.

Apple's actually rated at the top of all computer companies re customer service.

You make an appointment, walk right in and see your person. You can make appts. online.

I bought my Daughter a new MacBook and we were having some trouble with it. Made the appointment, took in the machine in and within 10-15 minutes we were walking out with new machine.

You will find stories like this are beyond anecdotal.

You may not like Apple and you also may have had a truly bad experience, but overall they do pretty darn good for most folks. It also helps to know how their customer service works.

Right. I don't doubt they're rated at the top.

But not with me. Why?

Because of exactly what you stated. I don't want to go to the mall with the computer, peripherals, power cord, etc., and get turned back because I didn't make an appointment, particularly when it wasn't apparent to me that an appointment has to first be made. If I'm paying $500-$600 premium over Dell for an Apple, I want the damned thing fixed then and there when I walk in.

So, as a calmer consequence, I buy my Apple products out of state - no Genius Bar needed - or any of the other stuff involved with those overrated stores.

I also learned OSX and everything else involved with it backwards and forward. I want it so I never have to step into an Apple store again unless it's to just look around.

Whatever works, of course.

For me, I figure I have two options; take my machine somewhere or ship it somewhere. My preference is the quicker fix, i.e. taking it in. In the few times I've used the appointment system, I was able to get a next-day appointment or one later in the evening on the same day.

This works for me and has been relatively painless.

Congratulations on mastering OS X. I've been using it daily since 2001 and still learn new tricks every now and then.

But those kids know that you need an appointment to have an Apple product service.

Jeremy is right, to the youth of today, electronic gizmos fall closer to the "need" category than the "want". At least half of my buddies have iphones. Practically everyone has an iPod. Personally I went with the cheapest cell phone out there, since I don't need all the fluff, but to each his/her own.

While I've never owned a mac, because I'm a cheap bastard, I have noticed one thing. Whenever people complain about a mac, they never say things like "I hated the OS, it crashed all the time", they always say "not enough programs/games are made for it." Pro-mac people tend to say things like "it doesn't crash nearly as often as windows, it's a lot more reliable, etc." So it seems for the money you get reliability. Just an observation.

And hey, good idea on the stock pick, Wayne! I'm going to steal your idea and pick some up myself.

Just as an aside . . .

The Apple retail presence is very slick. We are becoming an Apple online/store vendor or more correctly a vendor who will sell to a vendor who sells them a product.

They won't deal directly with any vendor who does not sell them $1M +.

Inventory is supplied to their warehouses & only billed when sold.

As with most slick retailers, turns (and fast ones at that) count.

They have a complete store mock-up in Cupertino where they test every new product, every new display - basically every new idea. This is a science to them.

They can give stats about # of store visitors, # of those who bought & average sale. Now those are standard store specs but they can also tell you which displays are under-achievers by the amount of face time each display has seen.

So when you are in a store, just remember The Big Apple is watching . . .

Ian

Should have waited to buy stocks, the market dropped another 300 points yesterday, we're just a tick under 8000.

That is a really dangerous and not well thought through interpretation of GAAP. Sale of a device, which is a one-time recognition in a single quarter if there ever was one, characterized as a two-year "subscription?" I would not at all be surprised to see a restatement at some point.

I'll give you another example. I bought an iphone - actually my company did for me to be more specific. I was going to buy a Gtech - those retail for $150 or so - instead bought the dynolicious application for $19.99 - so saved some money there. Was going to buy a GPS for the car (or a car with GPS - I travel quite a bit) well the iphone GPS works just fine for my needs.

I'm helping my stepfather move his boat - his GPS is on the fritz - So I was going to buy a marine GPS with charts - actually went an bought a lowrance H20 gps - $269.00 and returned it - because guess what - iphone has an application I can download for $49.99. does the same thing - and the screen on the iphone is better.

I can even download movies and TV shows to it for the plane. Portable DVD player - who needs one?

I'm starting to sound like my wife - but I'm saving money... :)

True, having to make an appointment to have a face-to-face with an Apple tech is a bit of a hassle.

But with a Dell, there's not even that option. You get to talk to "Jeffrey" in India and then rummage around the basement looking for a box to ship it in.

At least with Apple you can bring the product in, have a reasonably capable tech work on it right then and there, if it needs major repairs they take it from you and send it back to you, if it qualifies for replacement they hand you a new one on the spot. (If there is an Apple store nearby, that is.)

Rarely do I need Apple's service. Granted, it's a hassle in itself to go online to Mac forums, read up on an issue, then expedite a solution, particularly on one's own time. And I wouldn't expect every owner to do that. But I like to know I can fix a problem immediately, instead of making an appointment, wait a few hours, drive to the mall, wait another few hours (or a day or two), etc.

Actually I have two years on site service from Dell. They come to me within 24 hours and fix it on site.

And you got that service because you're such a nice guy? :)

One year is included/free the second year was additional, I don't recall how much.

For buying one computer?

If so, that's a heckuva good deal.

It's on my business account but it was just one computer I believe...maybe two. I'll check.