It's been five weeks since I emailed Apple Corporate Customer Service (Tcook@apple.com) and I've received NO response....

Not as much as an acknowledgment of my email.  So what is my beef with Apple?  Well, for starters I paid over $2,000 for a refurbished Macbook Pro w/ Retina Display + AppleCare and I have received NO care and NO love from Apple but my refurbished Macbook has all kinds of issues from wifi connectivity to the fact that when I reboot, I get an iconless, navbarless desktop and the only way to restart my computer is to force it to shut down by holding down the on/off button for 30 seconds which I've been told is bad for the life of the computer. 

Looks like this:

When I restart my machine, the apple screen is all pixelated.  From what I've been told this is a HARDWARE issue.  I called AppleCare, was on hold for nearly a half hour to get some rep that sounded like he'd been with Apple five minutes.  After 15 minutes and no resolution,  I asked to speak to a second tier rep.  I was on hold for another half hour and got some mega-asshole supervisor who told me it sounded like a bad logic board and to take it to the apple store.  He made no steps to troubleshoot my problem.  I could "take it to the apple store for an analysis".  I explained that i use my $2k macbook for my day job and my labor of love job (audiobook narration) and I would need to get a timeline as to how long I'd be without my computer.  He couldn't give me that.  I asked if I could get a loaner then (see previous post about my experience that made me fall in love with AppleCare).  He said no.  I explained that I couldn't be without my computer for an extended period since I'm on deadline.  I explained that i didn't want to drop my computer off at the Apple store with no idea when I'd get it back.  He could do nothing for me.  He was a real dick about it and told me that "it wouldn't be fair" to have my computer fixed before other people who were waiting.  Huh?  Did I ask him to bypass other people?  I asked for a timeline before I drove an hour to drop my computer off.  Is that too much to ask? 

And since he played the fair card....

What's not fair, asshole Apple rep is selling a $2k lemon, making a customer hold for over an hour and expect them to blindly drop off their $2k which they rely on with no idea as to when they can expect it back.  He told me that since my macbook functions, I should keep using the on/off button to force it to shut down.  I asked him if it was bad for the life of the computer and he said it was.  So this is what Apple suggests?  Instead of working with me on getting this to work properly, they suggest I do something to shut it down that is bad for the life of the computer but I guess they don't care how long this computer lasts. 

I was pretty blown away when the guy just seemed to not care about my $2,000 lemon macbook pro.  After all, my experience with Apple this far had been nothing but positive.  I was always super impressed with their stellar customer service and their devotion to quality and customer satisfaction.  This seemed like a blatant contradiction so I did some research and got the TCook@apple email address to escalate my issue to the next level.  That was December 13th.  Unlucky 13.  Could it have not gone through?  So I resent it 3 weeks later and then again last week.  Nothing. 

Everytime my computer crashes, every time my wifi doesn't connect, every time I have to hold that damn on/off button to force my computer to shut off (so I can start it again), the anger in me is stirred for being taken a sucker my Apple.   All these years I was mistaken.  Apple is not worthy of my enthusiasm or loyalty.  I didn't buy my Macbook at Best Buy.  I bought it directly from Apple as I have nearly every single Apple product that I own and they have completely refused to help me.

My next step is taking it to the Apple store and dropping it off but I am on back to back deadline until March 3rd and cannot afford to be without my computer and then I basically get to put my career on hold until Apple gets around to fixing my computer.

Incidentally, Tim Cook decided to change the hold music at Apple simply based on an email that a customer sent complaining about the music!  Wow.  He's really got his priorities straight.

Did anyone read my email?  Just on the fact that I was on the phone with Apple care for an hour and a half with no resolution should be enough to warrant any response but nothing.

Former Apple enthusiasts who have their own rotten Apple experiences are invited to comment.

Once upon a time I was a major Apple enthusiast... NOT ANYMORE

Anybody who walks into my apartment would immediately sense that the person who lives here is an Apple loyalist..  I'm one person and I own an imac, a macbook pro, an Apple TV, iPhone, iPod Shuffle and iPad.  Apple could do no wrong in my eyes once upon a time but I'm really pissed at them.  Actually, my feelings have surpassed pissed and are more along the lines of "disgusted".  It truly pains me to have to start this blog but everywhere I look I am reminded of how Apple done me wrong.... and I want to shout it from the rooftops.  But this blog will suffice....

I guess I will start at the beginning.  My first Apple was a blue and white tower known as the "Smurf".  I got it used to replace a compaq presario (my first computer) that was falling apart, ridden with viruses and just not cutting it anymore.  I fell in love with my Smurf and I never looked back.

It was in 2006 that Apple really won me over.  I had bought an emac... some of you might remember this short-lived model that was a futuristic egg-shaped all-in-one computer.  I had it maybe a year when it started producing these weird horizontal lines so I took it to the genius bar over at the Apple Store in LA's The Grove to have some smug Apple "genius" tell me that my logic board was shot as were thousands of other emacs.  It would take 6 to 8 weeks to replace it, maybe longer....  I told him that I needed my computer as I was a freelance copywriter and was on deadline.  Genius man wasn't very sympathetic.  I went home livid and called Apple Care to tell them just how unacceptable this is.

I got some first level guy who wasn't much help at all.  It wasn't until I insisted on speaking with a supervisor that I made progress.   The supervisor understood my plight and agreed that 6 to 8 weeks was unacceptable.  He told me to rent an apple laptop so that I could make my deadline and they would reimburse me.  He also said he would get back to me within the week with an update.  He would do everything he can to make sure that I had a working mac as soon as possible.  This man was everything a customer service rep should be and more.   I was seriously grateful for the way he handled the situation.

Long story shorter.  I rented a macbook, made my deadline, got reimbursed by Apple.  The supervisor called me and told me that they had thousands of emacs recalled and they've decided to replace the emac with a brand new imac.  I could pic up my replacement at the Apple Store in The Grove.  While some could argue that a $1200 computer breaking in under a year was inexcusable and the fact that they initially expected me to wait 6 to 8 weeks was ridiculous, I forgave that because of the way the supervisor handled my dilemma and in the end I was much happier with the replacement iMac.  Since then I've always bought Apple Care to protect myself.

My most recent Apple purchase was a 15" Macbook Pro with retina display.  I got it in July as a present to myself.  I was going to embark on a side business producing audiobooks and needed a quiet machine.  I had read that the fans on these babies were silent.  With Apple Care, it cost me about $2,000.  And this was for an Apple Refurbished machine which I've heard are QC'd repeatedly and more than "new" machines.  Apparently, on the day my machine was going through QC, the crew was not paying attention.  I've had problems galore since buying this machine:

Some of the issues I've had:

• Wifi connectivity issues
• Desktop freezes when I'm restarting and I am unable to force quit.  The only way to turn off is to do a hard turnoff (pressing down the power button until it turns off) which is actually not good for the life of the computer.
• When I do get it to restart, the startup screen is pixelated and has lines.

After my 90 day complimentary phone service expired, I got AppleCare hoping that they would help me.  I expected the same type of stellar service I had been accustomed to receiving but instead it was a disaster (I will devote a future post to that debacle).  Following that exchange, I emailed Tim Cook.  Now I know Tim won't personally read my email but I fully expected it to be routed to someone in a senior customer service role.  That was over 3 weeks ago and I have received no response.  I resent it about a week ago.  Still no response.

It has become evident that Apple just doesn't care about the fact that I spent over $2,000 on a computer that doesn't work right and that my experience with AppleCare was less than stellar.

I never thought I'd even consider switching to another platform but after this debacle, you bet I am.  It seems like I'm often having issues with Apple products.   I tried updating to Yosemite which would not work with my audio interface so I had to revert back to Mavericks (what my computer shipped with).  Do you have a beef with Apple?  Post about it in the comments section.