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In Chapter One of the Mac Power Book Book Pro tech support nightmare began on Friday, my friend got a new Mac and asked me to help him hook it up to the Internet. This involved a total of almost five hours on the phone with RCN, his cable provider, and Mac tech support. And still, we couldn’t get online.
Saturday morning: My friend went back to J&R, where he bought the Mac Book Pro. They connect it to the Internet with no problem, tell him the computer is fine, and send him home.
I call Apple tech support and request immediate escalation. I get an actual English speaking person who has no idea what the problem is, but suspects it is hardware, and says he’ll escalate to his engineers and get back to us next Wednesday. Swell.
We call RCN and tell them that the computer connected in the store. They talk us through the steps we know by heart, and of course, it won’t connect. They suggest it is is network card in the computer.
Since both Apple and RCN think we have a hardware problem, I call J&R and ask for returns. Hector, in returns, says that since the computer worked fine at his store, there is nothing wrong with it.
I ask to speak to J&R’s tech, who goes through all the same steps we know by heart now. Nada. So he gets his Mac specialist who concludes that we must be having a hardware problem. He gives me back to Hector who says to come back and they’ll check it out. I tell Hector that if they don’t replace the computer, I plan to make his life miserable. After all, if the computer is fine, they should have no problem selling it to someone else after they give my friend a new one.
We spend $20 on a cab to J&R and tell the store manager that we demand an exchange. But before I open my mouth, I get his name, his card, and the name of the person to whom he reports. We decided later that he must have thought we were consumer reporters from a TV show or something.
So we get a brand new Mac Book Pro, bring it home, plug it in, and it won’t connect to the Internet. Hello RCN, it’s not the computer. Why can’t we connect? “Sorry, we don’t support connectivity problems.” WTF? Long story short, this is a known issue. We look it up on Google and find we’re not alone.
So now we’ve blown two days and my friend is out $3600 for hardware and software. His PC gets online without a problem. But the Mac Book Pro sure as hell won’t make an IP address.
This morning, my friend goes to the gorgeous, sparkling Apple store on 5th Avenue. And while the geniuses are sympathetic, they have no clue what to do. So they tell him to buy a router and try that because that might solve the problem.
He has a bit of a screaming meltdown, ever so briefly, about which the geniuses are of course sympathetic but impotent.
Of course we might as well teach Benny Bix to skateboard as try to hook up a router. So we call a $90 an hour consultant who knows both Macs and PCs, and he’s on his way over.
Stay tuned……