Bite the Poison Apple

I know I promised another installment of the My Nevada series this week, but I'm so pissed off about something else, I can't even see straight.

BACK STORY:
For those of you who haven't heard me bitch endlessly about my iPod, here's the edited version. In late 2004, I finally joined the age of iPod. I was a holdout until the marketing blitz of the U2 Special Edition iPod sucked me in. I had a near religious experience at a U2 concert in Seattle's King Dome in 1997 (the year before the King Dome was imploded to make way for the new Seahawks Stadium). I was a late U2 bloomer. The Joshua Tree was really the first album of theirs I actually purchased, and over the years, I only listened to them passively. That is, until that concert I mentioned. After that, I was like a born-again Bible Thumper. I went out and bought all the old CDs and listened to them incessently. In 2001, I shelled out over $1,000 to see them at the Tacoma Dome [$530 for the tix as a going away present for myself and 3 friends when I moved away from Seattle (this is a story in itself-- remind me to tell it some time); $85 for the limo from the Marriott when the radiator in the Saab blew up; $400+ for the new radiator, but I throw it into the tally because it makes a great story]. Anyway, when the Special Edition iPod came out, I bought one without hesitation. And, as a purchaser of the U2 iPod, Apple was offering a discount on the download of the entire U2 collection, which I purchased at a reduced rate of $149. So, from jump street, I basically spent $500 for my iPod with this additional download purchase.

The damn thing hasn't worked properly since I got it. It has a really sensitive head phone jack that cuts out and re-starts songs if you so much as breathe on it the wrong way. It frequently freezes and does nothing. Sometimes, the battery holds a charge, sometimes it doesn't. It skips in the middle of songs. When updating songs to the unit, it encounters other difficulties such as incomplete downloads or telling me I need to restore the iPod to factory settings (which, for those of you that don't have one, means starting over). Sometimes, when I plug my iPod into my computer, I get an error message that says "Windows does not recognize USB device". I'm probably leaving a few off the list, but clearly, my experience has been tenuous and complicated. I've told a few people (who own their own iPods) about the problems I've had with my iPod and they have been astounded, not having experienced similar problems. I have spent more hours on the phone with Apple Tech Support than I have listening to my iPod. That's how bad it has been.

Toward the end of the first year, as the warranty was about to expire, I purchased an extended warranty because I was confident the unit would fail. And, toward the end of the extended warranty, it did. I sent the iPod in to be serviced with the following letter, hoping it would help the Uber Goobers at Apple diagnose and fix my iPod. The letter, in it's entirety is shown below:

Hi,
I think my ipod needs to be replaced. It has never worked correctly since I got it. I am finally getting around to sending it in because I have lost all patience with it. My only other alternative would be to smash it, but I paid good money for it, so I thought I’d give you a chance to correct the problems before I do that.

Here are the problems I am having with my iPod. Each of these problems has happened repeatedly since I purchased the unit, and sometimes I have more than one problem at a time. Here goes:

1) The unit has a very sensitive headset jack. I bought the iPod to take snowboarding with me, but have never been able to because the unit barely performs while resting on a bed, let alone swooshing down the slopes. Sometimes all I have to do is breathe on the headset jack and the unit will either freeze, stop a song or skip a song

2) The unit frequently stops working for no good reason… It stops in the middle of songs, skips songs or freezes.

3) The unit frequently prompts me to restore it to factory settings… which always takes me hours because either the updater doesn’t work correctly, or the unit doesn’t download songs correctly or completely after updater is used, or stays in a perpetual state of worthlessness by saying “do not disconnect”—yet nothing happens.

4) The most recent problem is that when I plug the iPod into my computer, I get an error message that says “Windows does not recognize USB device”.

5) The unit will currently not shut off and is completely frozen.

I would not be opposed to receiving a new unit if this one cannot be fixed. It has not worked correctly since I have gotten it. Other friends of mine who have iPods tell me they have never had any problems like the ones I have described.

I have spent countless hours trying to restore/fix/download with this thing. I think it finally gave up and died. Please do what you can to revive it. I was really hoping to have a positive experience with an Apple product, but to date, cannot say I’m at all satisfied with my iPod.

Thank you,

Cory Freeman

Apple has a repair policy that basically will replace your iPod if there are any difficulties. That's why I paid for the extended warranty. The agent who sold it to me assured me there would be no problem in replacing my unit if I had any problems. Well, Apple sent my iPod back to me with a letter that stated my iPod had suffered damage to the case and could not be repaired or replaced. Basically, they said I was screwed. Keep in mind, I had so many problems with the iPod to begin with, that it spent most of its days either in a drawer of a desk or in the back pocket of my backpack. When I got the iPod back, I could not find any damage to the case. There was a tiny little dimple on the back that might have been caused by resting against a key or a AAA battery, but nothing major.

One of the other problems with my iPod, is that sometimes it actually works. This happens often enough that I had become complacent and didn't pursue remedies to fix it in the most expedient manner possible. Also, in the past 2 years, I have sold a home, moved out of state, started essentially 2 new jobs and tried to start my own business, met the woman of my dreams, moved her to Portland, got her pregnant, endured the most grueling of pregnancies with her, and had a baby... just a little too busy to make returning an iPod my top priority.

Well, for Father's Day, Stephanie and Elliott bought me the Bose speaker unit that you hook an iPod into. It's sleek, compact and discreet. It sits on the mantel and you barely notice it is there until the harmonic sounds bellow around you. The day I got the new Bose, I dug my iPod out of the coffee table drawer and plugged it into the Bose. It charged and worked perfectly. For two days, I thought all my problems were over. I thought it was great. I wouldn't have to baby my iPod any longer. It could just sit on the mantel in it's protective Bose cradle, and I wouldn't have to worry about not being able to take it snowboarding again.

But on the 3rd day, it died again.

Feeling pissed of and indignant, I decided to take it to the top. No more middle men. No more tech support. No more pnone calls. I sent my iPod and the following letter to Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple:

To: Steve Jobs, CEO
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014

Dear Mr. Jobs,
I am writing to you because I have been unsuccessful at solving my problem using other outlets within your organization, and feel like writing you is my last resort.
I am an extremely dissatisfied customer.
In 2004, I got very excited about Apple products, namely the iPod. When your company came out with the U2 special edition of the iPod, I purchased one immediately after seeing the commercial for it. My friends had raved for some time about how great iPod was, and I finally decided it was time to jump on board with the iPod revolution.
From the time my iPod arrived, however, I have had problems with the unit. I spent countless hours on the phone with your tech support team trying to fix the problems I was having. The short version of the story is that my iPod has never worked properly, yet worked often enough that I never got serious about sending it in for repair. At some point, I purchased an extended warranty because I knew eventually the unit would fail… and it DID.
This past fall, I sent my iPod in for repair under the extended warranty I purchased, only to have it sent back to me with a letter saying it was not covered under the warranty and could not be repaired. The letter that accompanied my iPod when your company returned it, stated it could not be repaired due to damage sustained by the case. After receiving my iPod back, I called to dispute this claim because since I purchased my iPod, it has either been in a desk or a backpack due to its poor performance and has sustained no such damage. I was told at the time, that there was nothing that could be done, or at least nothing Apple could or would do to help me fix my problem. My friends, who also own iPod products, have not experienced the type of problems I have had with my iPod. The have all been shocked not only with the stories I have told them about my difficulties, but also the level of apathy on the part of Apple in helping me.
To add insult to injury, for my first Father’s Day (I have a 4-month old newborn, or I would have written sooner), my wife just purchased a Bose SoundDock to accompany my iPod, but I cannot use it because my iPod does not work properly.
I feel extremely ripped off by your company. In the 2½ years since I bought my iPod, I have only been able to listen to it, without malfunctions, for a total of about 20 hours. I have spent more time on the phone with tech support and customer service than listening to my music. I also feel like I was lulled into a false sense of security when I was sold an extended warranty that turned out to be worthless. I basically feel like I own the world’s most expensive paper weight-- $350 for the iPod, $150 for the entire U2 library I downloaded, the $60 I spent on an extended warranty, and now the $300 my wife just spent on a fantastic sound system that I cannot use because my iPod is dead.

Worse than anything, however, is feeling like I don’t matter to your company as a consumer of its products. I am an extremely loyal customer when I like a company’s products I will return over and over and over to buy them. For example, I am driving my 3rd Saab. I love them so much, I can’t imagine driving anything else, and I am looking forward to my 4th. I am a big fan of the Bose Corporation. I love my music and I love hearing it out of top quality speakers. I once had a set of $300 Bose headphones that broke. Bose sent me a replacement set within week—completely free. I go to Starbucks at least 3 times a week. Starbucks goes above and beyond to keep its customers happy and will make you a new drink on the spot if they make a mistake, heck, sometimes they will even give you a voucher for a free drink in the future if you’re really unhappy.
I am writing you this letter on a Fujitsu Lifebook computer. I have been very happy with my Fujitsu as well. They treat their customers like they matter. The funny thing is, when I was shopping for a new computer, I considered buying a new PowerBook or G5.At the time, however, I didn’t buy either because of the problems I have had with my iPod.
Apple’s new iPhone looks REALLY great, but I think I’ll be sticking with my Treo because of the problems I have had with my iPod as well.
I want desperately to believe in the Apple Corporation, but so far, your company has been rotten to the core. Perhaps you should change the name to the Lemon Corporation. I think that would be much more suitable.

Your company does quite well. I wonder how well it could do if you took better care of your customers.

Sincerely,

Cory Freeman
[address omitted]

P.S. I have included my iPod along with the letter I sent with the unit when I tried to have it fixed. I don’t know how else to rectify my situation. If you can’t help me by getting my iPod satisfactorily fixed or replaced as promised to me by the person who sold me the extended warranty, then you can keep it on your desktop as a reminder of how NOT to treat your customers in the future. If this letter prevents one other customer from feeling how I feel, that will be good enough for me.


About a week later (this past Tuesday) I got a phone call from a representative from the Apple Executive offices. He told me that they had received my letter, but regretted to inform me that it was Apple's position that my iPod was damaged and there was nothing further that Apple could do for me. After about 10 minutes of shouting obscenities at him, he agreed to look further into my service record and call me back.

That afternoon, just before the end of the business day, he called me back and basically stated the same thing to me, that Apple could not do anything to help me. I'll spare you most of the details, but I spent an hour on the phone with this pimple-faced bastard who was so condescending and rude to me that if I had met him in person, I might have acted on my impulse to rip his face off. After forcing him to stop interrupting me and actually listen to me plead my case, he stood firm and said he "represented the executives at Apple" and "Apple's stand" on the situation was that there was nothing they could do for me. I explained to him that I was not looking to scam Apple. I wasn't looking for freebies. I wasn't looking for a new iPod. I simply wanted the one I purchased to work properly. I also explained that I had other priorities in my life and therefore was not as expedient in pursuing the matter quickly. He basically criticized me and that it "wasn't Apple's fault" that my life was so busy and that it "wasn't Apple's responsibility" to repair a unit that was so clearly defective. I should have "sent it in sooner". Needless to say, this got me fired up. I insisted he connect me to his supbervisor... not only did he refuse, he told me that he "spoke on behalf of the executives at Apple" and there was nobody higher up the food chain that I could talk to. He refused to give me the name of his supervisor or manager, and reluctantly gave me his name. I further tried to explain to him that I wanted to believe in the Apple Corporation, and that they had a wonderful opportunity here to provide excellent customer service and perhaps one day I would buy a new PowerBook or iPhone.

He held firm, and basically I got nowhere.

Here's the rub. My wife spent $270 on a nice little Bose sound system that I am really happy with and want to use, but I can't use it without an iPod.

So, I bought another one, through Amazon.com this time, hoping that if I have problems with it, they will do something with it. My confidence in Apple at this point is ZERO.

I intend to keep sending the dead iPod and complaint letters to Apple until they cave and decide to do something about it. Then, I'll unload it on ebay or craigslist. And, if I continue to get nowhere, I'm going to send it to U2. Bono is enough of an activist, he may do something about it.

I know that Steve Jobs and the members of U2 are busy folks, and I'll probably get nowhere. But it's kind of fun trying. Who knows, maybe somebody will actually reach out and help the little guy.

At any rate, if you don't have to buy Apple products, don't... at least not if you expect any back end customer service.