So, I called Apple on a Monday and they were perplexed that a box had not arrived for me to send my iBook to them in. They overnight me a box. I get home the next day and I find a box that is full of water and soaked. Good job, DHL and Apple! I dry the box out and it’s workable. I pack up the iBook and drop it off at a DHL place to go to Apple.
A day passes and I get a nice e-mail telling me the iBook is at Apple’s service center and being worked on. Another day or so passes and I’m sent another e-mail letting me know it’s been repaired and is on it’s way back. Now I am starting to think that maybe Apple is really on the ball and things are working smoothly.
The last e-mail told me to wait two business days for delivery of my iBook by DHL. It’s a Friday so I figure it’ll show up on Monday. Monday comes and goes, nothing. Tuesday, same thing. I call Apple and they give me a tracking number and direct me to DHL’s “missed delivery” number. It’s a little depressing to think they have a single number for this one type of problem. I give it a call and they tell me that someone has tried to deliver it twice now. I let them know that if they did try, they didn’t leave anything to let me know. That’s pathetic. So I have to schedule to pick it up at the local dispatch center, which is luckily near where I work.
What a let-down. Apple might have had a good support system but their dependence on DHL makes it unreliable and frustrating. Many people have said that it’s DHL’s fault and not Apple’s. But Apple continue to uses a poor carrier. Overall, it makes Apple’s support feel only average between their great coverage with Applecare and their horrible support in action.