Main Menu

Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 29, 2024, 02:31:52 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Fucking state of Apple

Started by Cloud, November 23, 2018, 02:37:18 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Cloud

£1749 laptop ruined by a spec of dust.  Well, not ruined, but it's typing double spaces a lot and it's getting on my tits.  Here's the story: https://www.imore.com/macbook-pro-butterfly-keyboard-effect

So  yeah to repair it they have to replace the entire top case.  Groovy.  Normally something like a £900 repair, but after various lawsuits they've finally agreed to cover them outside of warranty.

"Don't worry!"  say the Apple fanboys, "you won't have to take it in anywhere, just contact them about it and they'll send a courier to pick it  up, they always bend over backwards to sort things"


Here's how I just wasted almost 74 minutes, yes I got sarcy  towards the end because I'd just wasted an hour on this

Quote
Friday, Nov 23, 2018 02:25 PM
Duration 73 minutes 48 seconds


{Apple rep}
Thanks for contacting Apple Support. My name is {Apple rep}. Please give me a moment to look over your information.

{Me}
Hi {Apple rep}, no problem.

{Apple rep}
Hi {Me}! How are you?!

{Apple rep}
I understand you're chatting in about your keys. Will you please provide me a little more information on the concerns you have and I'll be happy to help you!

{Me}
I'm good thanks  how are  you?

{Me}
The  issue I'm having  is (as  you  can possibly  see from this text) a lot of the time when I press the spacebar, I get 2 spaces

{Me}
I've read your support document  about using compressed air to blow dust out from under the keys, but unfortunately this hasn't helped.  It's most noticable when pressing the spacebar in the middle

{Apple rep}
Im wonderful! Thanks!

{Apple rep}
I will be happy to help you

{Apple rep}
When did this start happening?

{Me}
Probably about a month or two ago

{Apple rep}
Ok

{Apple rep}
What changes have you made, if any, prior to this happening? Have you upgraded, updated or downloaded any new software?

System Message
We haven't heard from you in a while. To keep your chat session active, please respond to your Apple Advisor and let us know you are still there.

{Me}
nothing special, no.  From my research and experience as an IT technician  I'd say  the  problem is dust/dirt  underneath the spacebar

{Me}
I realise this Mac  is out of warranty but had read that there's a repair program for this issue so think that might be the  way forward

{Apple rep}
I will be happy to check into that for you

{Apple rep}
What country are you located in?

{Me}
Great thanks, I'm in England, UK

{Apple rep}
Ok

{Me}
nearest Apple store is about a 200 mile round trip  so  ideally if  I'm able to get it looked at it'd be via a postal service

{Apple rep}
Have you tried any other steps beside using the air to remove dust?

{Me}
I've booted into another OS, same issue there

{Apple rep}
Ok

{Apple rep}
Do you mean that you have tried an external drive, etc to log in?

{Me}
Yes, I've used a drive via USB to boot from to confirm it's not a software issue

{Apple rep}
Ok

{Apple rep}
Thanks for your patience

{Apple rep}
Im not seeing a return/replace program, for Apple

{Me}
https://www.apple.com/uk/support/keyboard-service-program-for-macbook-and-macbook-pro/

{Apple rep}
Thanks for the link

{Apple rep}
Im trying to access it

{Apple rep}
Thanks for the link. I do see that program

{Apple rep}
I am checking now for mail in options

{Apple rep}
What is the address of where we would send it to

{Me}
Not sure where it'd be going to, I've just found your link of service centres

{Apple rep}
We would send the box out to you

{Apple rep}
Or the owner rather so they will have the device

{Me}
Ah I see, my home address is {redacted}

{Me}
That's where to collect from

{Apple rep}
Ok. Is find my iPad on right now?

{Apple rep}
Find my macbook

{Apple rep}
*Macbook

{Me}
It is, but I'd turn that off, backup the Macbook and fully erase it before it's collected

{Apple rep}
Ok. What is the password for the mac right now?

{Me}
I've just disabled Find My  Mac in any case

{Apple rep}
Thanks!

{Me}
It'll be erased so won't have a password

System Message
Just a few more moments. Your Advisor will be right with you.

{Apple rep}
Ok

{Apple rep}
Just another moment please

{Me}
ok

{Apple rep}
Is there a back up for this mac?

{Me}
Yes I use time machine, it'll be backed up and then erased before it's collected

{Apple rep}
Ok

{Apple rep}
What is the correct spacing of your postal code please {Me}

{Me}
{redacted}

{Apple rep}
Ok. Im not seeing that we can send the box to your house.

{Apple rep}
I would have to provide you with a location that you can take it to -to be mailed in

{Me}
okay, if it's nearby

{Apple rep}
{location 45 minute drive away}

{Apple rep}
Is that near you?

{Apple rep}
{location 2 hour drive away}

{Me}
About a 45 minute drive

{Me}
I was hoping to be able to mail it in, hence contacting support in the first place as I could've booked a service centre myself

{Apple rep}
Yes, after checking to see if the mail in service is an option..it is not for your postal code

{Apple rep}
Please let me know how you'd like to proceed

{Me}
ok that's strange.  I'll just leave it for now and organise taking it in when it's convenient.  We've already  been on for an  hour so don't want to waste any more time right now

{Apple rep}
What is strange?

{Me}
not having mail in for my particular postal code.  I'm not up a mountain or anything.  It's ok, it is what it is

{Apple rep}
Yes, there are some areas that don't have the mail in option

{Apple rep}
It is like that in other countries as well

{Apple rep}
What does happen sometimes is we are given options/locations to take the device in for mail in service

System Message
We haven't heard from you in a while. To keep your chat session active, please respond to your Apple Advisor and let us know you are still there.

{Me}
ok.  Next computer will be a Lenovo anyway, as they  have mail in service and properly designed keyboards.  In the meantime I'll organise to bring this in myself when I'm able to do the journey.  Thanks for trying

{Apple rep}
You are more than welcome {Me}. I want to make sure every question, concern or issue you had was properly addressed. Have I answered all your questions today about the next steps and available options for service of the mac keyboard?

{Me}
yes

{Apple rep}
Great! If you'd like to provide feedback on the mail in service/availability I can provide a link

{Apple rep}
I can understand your concerns..but just want to be sure you are happy with the help provided on this chat

{Me}
sure, I suppose it wouldn't hurt

{Apple rep}
Sure thing!

{Apple rep}
You can submit feedback about this at {apple.com/feedback apple.com/feedback} . We have a team here at Apple, who's entire job is dedicated to reviewing this feedback, and escalating it to the proper outlets (such as the engineers for iTunes, iPhone, iPad, etc.), so you can rest assured that your voice will be heard! The more feedback we receive about products, services and features, the more likely we are to implement them! I'd be more than happy to walk you through submitting feedback today if needed!

{Me}
I'm sure you've done all that the Apple mothership will allow you to do

{Apple rep}
Thanks so much for chatting with me today, I am so glad that you are happy with the service I provided! Make it a great one! 😊

{Me}
Sure, bye for now

Shit Good Nose

Still don't get what so many people see in Apple.  Awful over-priced products.

New Jack

I've been an IT professional, and I'm struggling to name a single Apple user (leaving out iPhones here, that's different) who isn't shit at technology.

Thing is, to be good at computers you just read what the screen says. The kind of people who click past an error message like Apple.

Cloud

"But you're paying for the customer service!"

Yeah no, their  CS is about on par with Currys.

Even when you get it to one of their "Geniuses" they will advise that you should buy a new one.

Cloud

I'm fine with technology, I do it for a living and got into Macs (when they weren't  shit) because of the decent UI and software availability on top of the BSD foundations.  Much better than  Windows, and less of a hobbyist  written halfarse than Linux.

It's just a shit keyboard, it's well documented

BlodwynPig

Customer support are robots now, aren't they? literal robots.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Cloud on November 23, 2018, 02:46:35 PM
I'm fine with technology, I do it for a living and got into Macs (when they weren't  shit) because of the decent UI and software availability on top of the BSD foundations.  Much better than  Windows, and less of a hobbyist  written halfarse than Linux.

It's just a shit keyboard, it's well documented

My only issue is the down arrow key is now 'sticky', but I found a dust brush at work that cleans away most of my dead skin cells, although I spend more time doing that than working.

My main hatred of Apple is the way the product is designed. Its all gluded together or part of a single unit, so if anything goes wrong the whole lot needs replacing at great cost.

Beagle 2

Lenovo keyboards are indeed properly designed but be aware that the touchpads are AIDS.

biggytitbo

I had the same problem wth my 2 year old macbook (the 12 inch one) with the spacebar and arrow keys sticking, but after blowing it and using a bit of paper under the keys its not done it since so I think Ill' leave the repair even if its free.

Uncle TechTip

I only read the last two lines of the log but I'm glad it was resolved amicably.

magval

Quote from: BlodwynPig on November 23, 2018, 02:46:51 PM
Customer support are robots now, aren't they? literal robots.

It's reasonably advanced but I've no doubt about it, yes. The Geniuses deny it though, which makes them look stupid and like they've been advised to lie to customers.

Cloud

It's a shame as they used to be rather good at hardware IMO.  Then roughly when Steve Jobs died and Jony Ive started purring out voiceovers instead of looking after the design and engineering, it all went to shit and now it takes them 3 years of iterations to get a working keyboard.

Quote from: Beagle 2 on November 23, 2018, 03:04:32 PM
Lenovo keyboards are indeed properly designed but be aware that the touchpads are AIDS.

I thought they'd sorted them by the *60 series, but yeah worth bearing in mind.  I'll settle for not having to spend 20% extra typing time going back deleting out double spaces...

Dell XPS is another option.

Ideally  I'd like to keep the MBP for another few years but the keyboard needs to stop driving me batty one way or another, even if it means I have to bite the bullet and take that half day  off to go see an authorised repairer.  After that though unless there's a serious improvement in what they put out I'm pretty sure I'll be done with Macs.

Quote from: biggytitbo on November 23, 2018, 03:09:44 PM
I had the same problem wth my 2 year old macbook (the 12 inch one) with the spacebar and arrow keys sticking, but after blowing it and using a bit of paper under the keys its not done it since so I think Ill' leave the repair even if its free.

Sounds a bit less annoying than sending it away.  Might just give the bit of paper a shot.

I have heard that no one who's removed the spacebar has managed to get it back on again, so that's the one thing I'm avoiding

Quote from: Uncle TechTip on November 23, 2018, 03:12:59 PM
I only read the last two lines of the log but I'm glad it was resolved amicably.

As annoyed as I was, there's no point giving too much shit to the robots or getting them into trouble with poor ratings.  They're operating within the parameters Apple sets them (because they're cunts)

BlodwynPig

The paper under the key did not work for me. My supervisor was trying to explain today that to write a subscript in Maple, one had to use the down arrow key and I told her no, its shift-double underscore. She was adamant and blamed the "stickiness" of the down key, until we searched google and the new super and subscripting operations  for Maple in 2017 were made evident (this all, despite me blatantly demonstrating the correct updated method).


mobias

I used to be an Apple devotee. Well, certainly as far as their desktop computers go. I think Windows is such a load of shite. OS X is far nicer to use on an every day basis. I switched back to having a PC at the start of this year because I needed a new computer and really sat down and looked at what I use a computer for these days and what you get for your money. It was a no brainer to get a PC. You can get a monster of a PC for the price of a low end iMac. PC's are just so much more versatile and the modular aspect of them means you can upgrade bits as you need. Not something you can do with an iMac. Plus I really have got bored of Jony Ive's conservative design. It was fantastically cool in the late 90's and early 00's but I prefer the more is more approach of some PC designs. My PC looks shit hot sitting on my desk.

But yeah, I fucking hate Windows.

Mango Chimes

I was in an Apple shop the other day, and what they've done with the laptop lineup is very odd – they've got three sub-brands going, but they look identical. The only way I could tell if I was looking at a Pro or and Air or a Macbook regular was by reading the label. And they all have the same physical weaknesses – quite cramped, keys and trackpad with no travel, and no ports other than a headphone jack and USB-C. They've got one old model Air still available, with magsafe, SD, USB, a proper keyboard etc. etc. which just highlights what's been lost.

biggytitbo

I have to say I have gone massively off apple too, they're a company that are really losing their way. Look at their laptops now, there's no product differentiation at all, there's barely a £100 between a macbook, an air and a pro, and they all appear to be alarmingly similar, what kind of pricing strategy is that? And the prices themselves are taking the piss more than ever before.

biggytitbo


BlodwynPig

I won't go back to Windows, but I think Apple are cunts too. Linux is good, but I find it a bit too clunky, or at least the OS's I've used.

Blumf

Sounds like they're missing a trick. Release a Macbook Pro 'Classic' - bit chunkier, proper keyboard and lots of ports. Bet they'd sell like hot cakes.

chveik

linux is free and a lot more practical, and the fact that they're not greedy capitalists is nice

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Cloud on November 23, 2018, 02:46:35 PM
I'm fine with technology, I do it for a living and got into Macs (when they weren't  shit) because of the decent UI and software availability on top of the BSD foundations.  Much better than  Windows, and less of a hobbyist  written halfarse than Linux.

It's just a shit keyboard, it's well documented

apt-get is about a million times better than brew. Lots of common BSD/UNIX tools on OSX are incomplete/broken (e.g. Python).

I use a mac at work for developing, although our runtimes are either docker containers or vagrant vm's running ubuntu server. There's no reason we couldn't use linux in its entirety and I'd probably do so reasonably happily.

At home I've got a thinkpad running osx and a couple of debian vm's running on a microserver with vsphere as the host. However I think if I was going to start contracting/freelancing/working mostly from home and using my own/supplied gear I'd probably want a macbook as they're reasonably well built and easy to work on. And that's the thing when you look at £2k for a laptop, it sounds a lot if you're just using it for netflix, dicking about on forums and wanking at, but when it's your main workhorse for your source of income it isn't a lot of money, it's basically your main environment and will impact how you work.

I'd rather shit in my hands and clap than go back to development on windows machines (which i did for nearly a decade), they're fine for basic home use and office administrative work, but making certain industries use them (such as developers) is a complete false economy. Although a lot of that isn't necessarily the fault of Microsoft or Windows itself, because nearly every piece of third-party corporate software installed makes life in Windows significantly less bearable but everyone associates it with the Windows experience.

Those small wireless keyboards that have no delete key and are slightly undersized so make you feel like you've got big clobber hands can get right to fuck though.

Cloud

Quote from: mobias on November 23, 2018, 06:34:11 PM
I used to be an Apple devotee. Well, certainly as far as their desktop computers go. I think Windows is such a load of shite.

Same and same.  Heck, I've even done the "queue for an iPhone as soon as it's released" thing (wanted to experience that level of nerddom once in my life).  I think it's more in recent years they've lost the plot.  I share your distaste for boring designs (largely unchanged from 2005) and for Windows as well. 
Very  very nearly  went to Windows late last year, I was a gnat's hair away from pulling the trigger on a HP Spectre X360.  But I seem to recall Microsoft did one of their trademark update release balls-ups (like how they're struggling to get 1809 out the door still) and also  I'd made the  made the mistake of daring to leave something important open overnight only to be greeted with the cheerful "we've restarted your PC for  you!" next morning and I just thought, fuck it I'm going all-in on Apple, splashing out bigtime on one and putting my  faith in them for another 5 or 6 years.  Regretted it since.

But had I gone the PC route,  I probably would be cursing Windows constantly.  I really hate that it babysits you into reboots without  any  hidden registry  tweak to stop it.  HighDPI support is still yuck in some cases.  Linux... I was a bit scathing and unfair calling it a half arsed hobbyist OS (mood)  and know it has some big fans desktop wise, but it always seems to be in a perpetual state of "almost desktop ready, but not quite".  Classic example being I like GNOME but hate things like how  you still can't  have a thumbnail view when using a file picker dialog (e.g. when uploading images in a web browser).  A bug report has existed for it for something like 11 years now.

macOS remains my favourite OS.  If I could use it on my PC as well, without spending about 50 hours wrestling with hackintosh tools (Clover and the like) every time there's a new release, even better.  I genuinely think the software arm of Apple really has things nailed.  It's just a shame the only official way to have it is via what has become godawful hardware :(

Quote from: Mango Chimes on November 23, 2018, 06:47:08 PM
I was in an Apple shop the other day, and what they've done with the laptop lineup is very odd – they've got three sub-brands going, but they look identical. The only way I could tell if I was looking at a Pro or and Air or a Macbook regular was by reading the label. And they all have the same physical weaknesses – quite cramped, keys and trackpad with no travel, and no ports other than a headphone jack and USB-C. They've got one old model Air still available, with magsafe, SD, USB, a proper keyboard etc. etc. which just highlights what's been lost.

Yeah  it's weird.  The replacement to the MacBook Air was the new MacBook, it sat in between size wise, at a not too awful price point and showcased the new tech.  The Air remained for long enough for people who wanted the old stuff to still have it until they got the message that they were doubling down on USB-C etc.  Then they decided "huh,  you know, MacBook Air is a popular brand" and that they'd update that too, and now it's a mess of too-similar laptops.

One massive problem with Apple is they  won't ever admit when  they've made a stupid decision, whether it's dropping  USB-A altogether, dropping  headphone jack, dropping TouchID on mobile stuff, the shitty new butterfly switch keyboards etc.   Rather than say  "okay we fucked up, the new keyboards are back and now we have TouchID as well as FaceID" they just double and  triple down  on  the shitty decisions.

Cloud

Quote from: Blumf on November 23, 2018, 08:10:32 PM
Sounds like they're missing a trick. Release a Macbook Pro 'Classic' - bit chunkier, proper keyboard and lots of ports. Bet they'd sell like hot cakes.

Definitely.   But that would require them to admit that they fucked up in some people's eyes, so never happening - they make too much money  for it to be worth the company's ego

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on November 23, 2018, 08:24:56 PM
apt-get is about a million times better than brew. Lots of common BSD/UNIX tools on OSX are incomplete/broken (e.g. Python).

Fair.  I think if I was a developer I'd be happiest with Linux as well.  Plus I'd possibly have if not the time then at least the skills and inclination to fix some of the endlessly unfixed "if you don't like it fix it yourself!" stuff (like the GTK file picker) myself.

As a power user but not much of a programmer, OSX sits quite nicely for me.

It pains me that the only way to run it now (without a fight, i.e. hackintosh) is badly designed overpriced hardware.  And I was going to give it the benefit of the doubt if/when they sort this keyboard out, but spending 73 minutes getting slow responses from India  (this is the "great customer service we pay a premium for"?) only to be told to do the thing I could've done myself already..... that annoyed me.  I'm also expecting because the screen has been replaced by a third party they'll play the "oh, well we don't know if this third party screen replacement has affected the keyboard somehow, so no repair for  you" bollocks.

Zetetic

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on November 23, 2018, 08:24:56 PM
apt-get is about a million times better than brew.
Right, but you've got other options if you did want actual dependency management of *nix stuff under macOS.

Still using my ten-year-old MBP (replaced fans, replaced battery - both extremely easy). It's fine.


mobias

Quote from: Cloud on November 23, 2018, 08:33:05 PM


macOS remains my favourite OS.  If I could use it on my PC as well, without spending about 50 hours wrestling with hackintosh tools (Clover and the like) every time there's a new release, even better.  I genuinely think the software arm of Apple really has things nailed.  It's just a shame the only official way to have it is via what has become godawful hardware :(



You've really no idea who clunky and awful windows is until you go back to using it after 15 years of using OS X. Having to mess around with incompatible drivers, blue tooth dropping in and out plus just the round about way to doing everything. Its an awful OS. But its the price you pay for having a modular interchangeable hardware system. These days I'm more into gaming that anything else, particularly mucking about editing games and Apple just can't hold anything to Windows in that department.

In the past there used to be this sense that Microsoft were the ultimate evil in the world of computing and Apple were the ultra cool good guys. For many years people bought into that, including me. What gang were you in? Its so different these days. For a whole load of largely known reasons Apple have lost their cool aura and Microsoft, now very much in the shadow of Google, Facebook and indeed Apple, have become almost the unfashionably cool outsider.

New Jack

I've got a refurbed ThinkPad t420 with a new IPS screen! It's brill.

Why am I mentioning this? Put Linux Mint on it, part of the Ts and Cs is to do so

Cloud

I have an X220 which  I fitted an IPS screen and SSD to and it's been fantastic.  I just wanted a premium "high DPI and last me for the next 5-6 years" kind  of machine, and made the mistake of picking a MacBook Pro.  Which has  had a screen replacement  (because  if you look at it it cracks) and now needs a keyboard/upper case replacement because of dust :/

Quote from: mobias on November 23, 2018, 10:34:32 PM
You've really no idea who clunky and awful windows is until you go back to using it after 15 years of using OS X. Having to mess around with incompatible drivers, blue tooth dropping in and out plus just the round about way to doing everything. Its an awful OS. But its the price you pay for having a modular interchangeable hardware system. These days I'm more into gaming that anything else, particularly mucking about editing games and Apple just can't hold anything to Windows in that department.

In the past there used to be this sense that Microsoft were the ultimate evil in the world of computing and Apple were the ultra cool good guys. For many years people bought into that, including me. What gang were you in? Its so different these days. For a whole load of largely known reasons Apple have lost their cool aura and Microsoft, now very much in the shadow of Google, Facebook and indeed Apple, have become almost the unfashionably cool outsider.

Oh  I  do,  I support it at work.  It's why  I  went with  a Mac in the first place, as there's nothing worse than wrestling with Windows issues all day only to do the same at home!

I was definitely in the "Microsoft evil,  Apple cool" camp from about 2003 to about 2013.  Then it started falling off...
Oddly enough I think  Microsoft are quite non-evil these days,  it's just that their devs don't know what they fuck they're doing

a duncandisorderly

I've got 5 macbook pros going back to the first intel one, a week-11 machine that still works fine. it's on its third battery (the ones that unclip from the bottom, so you don't have to take the thing completely apart & break loads of glue) & its fourth HD upgrade, & it's clearly been knocked about... but it still goes, & I can get enough grunt out of it to leave it digitising audio or video for hours quite happily. that's a 15". I have a 17" from a year later.. 2007? a 2010 unibody, probably my favourite of the bunch. 2013 13" retina, 2013 15" retina.
I also have a 1997 imac, a 2010 imac, a 2010 mac pro, two 2010 minis & a 2013 mini.

most of them dual boot into OS-X & one or another windows.. XP, mostly, since it was the least annoying iteration of windows. the imac triple-boots- windows 7 on that too. I thought about linux, but I actually want to do stuff with these machines, not dick about with code.

all of them apart from the 15" retina have been in bits for various reasons. the 17" had a new keyboard, which cost £100 iirc. I changed the GPU in the 2010 imac, despite this being 'impossible' according to apple. the 13" has just had new batteries- it rattles now because I wasn't going to glue them in like an idiot- eventually I'll pack them with something now I know they work properly.

but yeah so anyway the point of all this is I'm well-positioned to say that, along with the OS itself, apple has gradually gone to shit. I'd still rather shit in my hands & clap too than go back to using windows to actually get anything done, but I'm increasingly reluctant to keep the mac OS up to date, as everytime I let the things talk to the mothership & suckle some new code down, something stops working & I have to find a workaround.
& the hardware... why are the fucking cases welded shut? why are the batteries glued in? why is the fucking RAM soldered to the mobo? I'm an avid follower of louis rossmann's repair-rants on youtube.... I think my next laptop investment will have to be a lenovo that I can dual-boot.