Gentlemen,
I would like to discuss the problems I’ve had with my iMac (Serial: XXXXXXX2DB6, W/O XXX48, Case ID: XXXXXX30) and duration of time required to fix an issue. My initial contact with this case was a call to AppleCare on October 18th (Case ID: XXXXXX004) reporting the problems that I was having with noise caused by sleeping my display. Its issue generally appeared when the Power Supply was over 50 degrees. AppleCare’s suggested course of action was to take it to a local Apple repair shop to have it serviced. I enquired about a replacement since it had only been 45 days since purchase and that this was an issue that had appeared ever since purchase. It was suggested that repair should be the first step. On October 19th the machine was received and initially the complaint was not documented correctly. As stated on the repair documentation, the employee incorrectly recorded the complaint leaving out important information that the issue was triggered by sleeping the display. I received a call from the technician two or three days from initial delivery stating that the issue couldn’t be replicated and this was when I clarified what caused the issue. The technician said he would try to replicate the problem with this new knowledge and would return any new information to me. I was contacted on Monday, October 25th and it was again reported that the noise issue could not be replicated though it was had found the HDD fan had failed. It’s noted in the Repair information that the HDD fan required replacement on October 26th but no other action was documented for a full week after that until the HDD fan was documented as replaced. After the HDD fan was replaced there was a delay that was cause by ordering a HDD sensor cable which I requested, so the wait from November 2 to 6 was by accepted.
I received my machine on Saturday, November 6, 14 + 4 days after initial delivery. This two weeks wait seemed to be much longer than necessary, especially since there was almost a week before any issues were confirmed, and an entire week with my machine sitting on the bench waiting for parts. I will give Simply the benefit of the doubt on this seeing 2 weeks is longer than both parties would hope, but is still not ridiculous for a repair.
This issue only got worse when upon return of my machine, it failed within 2 hours of use. The machine shut down completely and would not return any signs of life. On Monday November 8, I reached out to AppleCare with my concerns about previous length of repair and the necessity that my machine needed to be repaired again due to a failure mere hours after having received it. I was swiftly connected to Robert Wilson and we had a discussion about possible courses of action. He suggested that I return the machine to the repair outlet or send it to Apple for repair. So that day, almost 3 weeks from initial drop-off, my dead iMac was returned to Simply Computer being told that since it was a return-on-repair it would jump the the front of the line of repairs. I was also told by the technician that he was in discussion with Jeff Schaffner, Manager of Simply Computing Kelowna, and Kyle Bennett, Director of Technical Services of Simply Computing about what course of action to take regarding the issues and the return of my computer and whether a replacement was an option. I was told I would hear by the end of the day the issues that are currently present with my machine.
My concern grew as the week led on as I had not heard details about the necessary repair or possibility of replacement. I reached out by making phone calls to Simply on both November 10th and 12th. Both times I was told that the technician was busy or out on a repair call and that a message would be left and my call returned. Neither times did I hear a response. Now, by looking at the work order I see that a new power supply was ordered the day I dropped it off but not being notified of the issue and the course of action is not acceptable. The first time there was a response to the return of my machine was on November 16, 8 days after the second drop off. I was notified that a Power Supply was received and installed but the machine continued to be non-fuctional as the Logic Board was damaged. A new logic board was ordered on the November 16 and received and installed on the 19th. It is also noted that the old power supply, which was presumably broken, was tested with the new Logic Board and confirmed functional. This means that an entire week was wasted from the diagnostic on November 8th to installation on November 16th due to a false diagnostic. I received a call shortly before closing on Friday November 19th, 31 days after the initial repair delivery, that my machine was ready to be picked up.
At this point, my iMac which was 45 days from purchase at time, spent 31 days in repair, 17 which of where while waiting for parts deliveries, 7 which were days wasted upon a false diagnostic. Within the final round of repair there was a week in which I was not contacted by technicians or support staff on the status of my repair.This issue only gets worse when upon return of my computer 31 days later, the issue caused by sleeping my display is still happening, and the HDD fan that was installed is creating noise that was not occurring with the previous fan.
To state the obvious, I am very disappointed with the duration of my repair, the lack of communication on repair status during portions of the repair, and the status of the issues not being repaired after the length of time I waited. I remained very calm and patient with the technicians during the extended repairs as they weren’t the ones to get angry at. But at this junction, I’m demanding recourse and that above and beyond receiving a machine that’s in a state I’m happy with I am properly compensated for the lost productivity that occurred in the 31 days that my machine was improperly repaired. As a longstanding lover and consumer of Apple machines and devices I know that the company and it’s resellers stand by their beautiful and innovative products and strive to provide respectable customer service and I expect that to happen even through this disappointing, frustrating, a productivity-losing circumstance.
I appreciate your responses and look forward to having this issue solved.
Regards,
Nick Wynja
An email sent to Simply Computing.