A Few Bad Apples?

For several years now, I have been running a PC as well as a Mac; being unable to part with the capabilities of each system, I've hauled each laptop around the world in order to enjoy the benefits of both. Finally, I decided that it was time to consolidate. Erik has had a MacBook Air for a while now and loves it, and I knew that I could run MacOS as well as windows on it. So, way back in March, I purchased a MacBook Air. Less than 10 days after my purchase, the computer wouldn't turn on. So, I drove up to the Apple store in Paris to have it repaired. Logic board failure. 10 days later it was ready, so I drove up to Paris again to pick it up. Once I got home, I discovered that I could not install any programs on it, so, I drove back to Paris to rectify the situation. 

Logic board again? They offered to 'repair' it again, but I requested a replacement. Unfortunately, replacement would require me surrendering my computer, having it shipped somewhere and then having a new one shipped to me. The process would take a couple of weeks. Except that someone forgot to actually order it…which wasn't discovered until two weeks later. I'll skip along here a bit because the memories of this process are so frustrating. 

Finally, almost two months after purchasing my MacBook Air, I finally have one that works. I have spent more than $400 on phone calls (long distance, roaming, extra air time), easily 30+ hours trouble shooting and on hold, plus another 12 hours in transit to and from the Apple Store, plus a tank and a half of fuel to make that happen. 

Getting my new Mac didn't exactly make my life easier, as I had hoped. But it is a beautiful machine. Perhaps Apple has been a victim of its own success - not able to maintain quality standards and not yet ready to provide the customer service needed to deal with the consequences of that.