Why I hate the Apple Store and so can you!

2008-02-23T00:00:00-08:00

So if you remember, I went to the apple store over a week ago to learn that Apple gave me a goofy battery and it needed replacing. Here's what happened:

I waited over the 72 hours maximum I was told I'd wait for a phone call.
I went to the store today and was told that I should have made yet another appointment just to pick up a battery. They could have told me that on the phone.
Instead of getting a new battery right away, I was told it would take an hour. Good god, Apple... this is ridiculous.
I spent a nasty rainy day at a mall trying to blow away gift cards. California malls are outdoor ones mostly.
I came in after an hour and was told to wait even longer.
Finally someone came out with an invoice for $110? Wait, I thought you were replacing a defective battery. Here's a hint. If a customer has been waiting for a week, and then comes in and is told to wait an hour, read your notes that say, this is a replacement for a battery recall.
The guy went back and got new and improved paperwork that says the battery is free.

Seriously.. I wasted a lot of time today. In the future I will resign to calling Apple Care, because at least I can work while on speakerphone. It does suck that all these batteries are proprietary so there's generally one place to get them taken care of.

I'm going to see how long I can hold off on buying any new apple stuff. I'd rather not shell out $50 to apple for a keyboard, but it's been the most comfortable keyboard I've used (I have one at work).

Update: There's a lot of fanboys out there, so I guess I need to break it down. For a process that should take 5 minutes (me bringing in a battery and getting a replacement) it took over a week of waiting and additionally 2 hours on two separate days to actually assess that I need a new battery and to finally get it in my hand. This is incompetence on Apple's part. This post serves as an alert for people who actually value their time.

iPhone and MacBook Air

2008-02-13T00:00:00-08:00

I had to wait quite some time at the Apple Store only to find out my MacBook Pro had a battery that had been recalled.

So while Apple was wasting my time, I looked at the Macbook Air and iPhone. Yes, this is my blog where I'll give my un-expert opinion on gadgets that people have already written about at length.

iPhone

First the bad news. I think I have fat fingers. I finally "got" how it's supposed to work, but keyboard interface and the gesturing was not to my liking.

If someone gave me an iPhone, I definitely wouldn't mind, and I'd probably grow to like it. But at the moment... It really doesn't do much for me. I like that I could access the web, and play with Google Maps, but the interface just doesn't click for me.

I do want a smart phone, I think there's a few nice alternatives out there. I think I can wait on the iPhone. But then again, maybe I don't really need a new toy.

Macbook Air

So here's the good news. Despite it's lack of things, it really seems appealing. My biggest problem with my laptop is when I take it somewhere. Granted I bike with my Y! laptop short distances almost daily, but every now and then, I am toting my personal laptop, and the weight starts to drag me down.

It seemed reasonably fast, although with little effort I can bring any machine to a grinding halt. I think if one of our laptops go out, we might replace it with a MacBook Air. Although... both my MacBook Pro, and Katie's Powerbook are pretty sturdy.

Dave Dash

Why I hate the Apple Store and so can you!

iPhone and MacBook Air

iPhone

Macbook Air