Apple Store, what is the point of giving me an estimate of when you will fix my computer if you have no intention of staying anywhere near the date? My MacBook Pro’s video card burned out on Monday night and I took it in on Tuesday to the only Apple Store that had an available Genius Bar appointment that day. So, after driving 40 minutes to have them check out my computer, I was told that they just needed to replace the video card and that they had one in the back. Since they’d already dismantled the thing, I really thought it would be a matter of them going to the back, taking out the old one, popping the new one in, and then letting me go on my merry way.
Well, I was a little surprised when they told me that it should be done by Wednesday afternoon, or Thursday morning at the latest. But, I saw they had a lot of people in the store, and they might be understaffed in the back or whatnot, so I acquiesced and made the trek back home, calling my boss to let her know that the laptop (with all my work on it) would be out of commission for a day, but I could pull the latest saved version of my work off of the company’s server and proceed to use my older Dell desktop (which might as well have a hand crank and a gas motor on it). It seemed a little futile, since what was on the server was four days old, and I’d essentially be “re-doing” work that I would have access to in a day. Luckily, I found some new stuff I could work on, and then just mesh it with what I’ve saved on my laptop.
Wednesday night rolls around and some huge storms move in. The mall where the Apple Store was located loses power, along with many other homes and businesses and when I call on Thursday morning, I’m told that due to the power outage, they had to delay my repair and I could expect it at the end of the day on Thursday or Friday morning at the latest. I tell my boss this and while she is not angry about this, it is definitely not news she would want to hear.
That brings us to Friday afternoon. I call the Apple Store again, asking for a status update on the computer, thinking that maybe they just hadn’t gotten around to notifying me that the repair is complete. The latest estimate? By 9 pm Saturday. At this point, I’m upset, not at the repair itself, but the fact that I’d been planning my entire work schedule around being able to have access to my laptop by Thursday. I explain the situation to the employee on the other end of the phone, and ask what could take so long, and he says that they have 18 other units ahead of mine, relaying that information from the head of the repair department. I tell him the entire story of dropping the computer off, the estimated repair time, and the delays and he is unable to explain why it has taken so long to repair the computer. (I would like to add that the entire time, I remained very polite, letting him know that I was not angry with him, but instead just at the fact that I was under the impression that I would have my computer by the end of the work week, at the very latest) I ask if I can speak to the person from whom he’d been getting the information, and I proceed to wait on hold for 15 minutes. To the initial employee’s credit, he did pop back on the line a few times to make sure I was still there - letting me know that the manager was still with a customer (no doubt hoping in part that I would give up and end the phone call).
The manager finally picks up the phone and I explain the situation to him - stressing that I am not upset with him, but instead upset with how the goalposts keep getting moved back in this game of “keep the computer from Calatin.” I tell him how I need that computer for work, how I have to keep giving vague estimates to my boss as to when I will have it back, etc., and he seems very understanding. Miraculously, someone has just started working on it right now! What are the odds!??!?! He tells me that they will have to replace the logic board since it is integrated with my video card and that it looks like it will need a massive internal rehaul, and then they’ll be intensive diagnostics and testing to make sure that it is working properly. If he had to estimate when I would get it back, it should be by the end of the day, but I will receive a phone call if they finish any sooner (meaning I’ll end up spending about 1.5 hours in rush hour traffic when I have to go pick it up).
But seriously, this entire fucking ordeal could have been avoided if workers wouldn’t just pick dates and times out of the air when telling me when something will be ready. I wouldn’t have to keep calling my boss and letting her know that it would be another day or so, and she could have given me something else to work on from the get-go. Also, I hate that the old “squeaky wheel gets the grease” saying is true. Had I not continually called to check in, and ask to speak with a manager, who knows when they would’ve worked on it? (That being said, there’s no way to be sure that the manager wasn’t just feeding me bullshit when he said someone was working on it now, but at least it makes me feel better)