I wanted to ask the people on this blog if they have had the same bizarre experience that I have just had with Apple. I have been a lifelong Apple user and have literally owned every major model since the first Apple computer. I also use the iPhone. That is, until this week when I encountered the imMACulate submersion defense — a claim by Apple that my dead iPhone had been submerged in water when it has never been wet, let alone submerged.
Frankly, my experience with the iPhone has been horrible. My phone has never functioned correctly since I bought it in February with the phone turning off suddenly or going into loops. Ironically, even the belt holder that I bought at the Apple store broke within two months.
However, I was able to just turn the phone on and off with its repeated malfunctions. That is until my recent speech in Houston when the phone literally died before my eyes. It went into one of its loops with a little pinwheel icon and then shut off. From that point on, it would not take a charge or stay on.
I went into the Tysons Corner Apple store and encountered a “Mac Genius” who promptly told me that I should not have submerged the phone. He said that a “submersion light” was on. I immediately told them that the phone had never been wet — let alone submerged. The manager looked at me skeptically and offered to look at the two internal submersion lights which could prove it was submerged. I encouraged him to do so. He came back and admitted that the two lights were not on and did not show submersion. However, he still refused to replace the phone because it was submerged. I told him that this was positively ridiculous. I would not fight over a lousy $200 bucks but it is entirely impossible that this phone was ever submerged. I would have had to be submerged with it because it never leaves my belt. They could have a “dingo chewing” light but it would not make it true.
The geniuses said that they believed me but if one light was on, it was technically submerged even if it wasn’t. I proceeded to call the corporate headquarters to get an idea of how this non-submersion submersion works. I have not received an explanation on the submersion of warranty policies.
The funny thing is that I do not even pay for the phone, but I hate to buy a new phone based on something that I know to be patently false.
What is interesting is that my secretary had to replace her iPhone when the charger caught on fire. When she went in, the geniuses quickly grabbed that melted charger, put it out of sight, and gave her a new one as if she had put a severed head on the counter.
Of course, I now have something to use in the Turley Trebuchet that is a modern equivalent to a diseased animal.
Has anyone else encountered Apple’s submersion mystery?
UPDATE: Thanks to Nal, it appears that this is a problem beyond my phone going out for a secret shvitz without my knowledge: here:
Apple places one sensor in the iPhone headphone jack and one adjacent to the dock connector (pictured). But according to a number of reports from news organizations and consumers, these sensors have been known to give false positives.
UPDATE: Apple has replaced my phone. I am once again in communication with the world.
Mike,
I had a surreal experience with technology while hunting this year. My brother and I were waiting for the other two hunters to return to the truck (they had taken an ATV out to get a deer one of them had bagged), and he showed me an application on his Black-berry in which you mimicked the action of loading and shooting various types of guns, and it’d make a half-way decent gunshot sound.
We had 2 nice rifles, a couple of boxes of ammo, targets, etc. and were 100 feet away from a shooting range.
LottaK, I would take a MacPro if someone gave it to me.
A comparable MacPro–if one was even available–to the Velocity Micro machine is an addtional $1200.00 and with 1/2 the memory. If I were doing video editing or GIS work, I might still get a MacPro. I have searched mac desktops specs/configs out for the past 6 months and compared Apple 9 ways to Sunday with many brands of PCs and Apple just does not offer the configuration that I want, especially in their $4500.00 desktop.
Blouise. My place of business started using Mac way back but I was always one transfer behind the organizations (branches, divisions) that converted to Mac so I had no experience with it. I did want to have some access path into Mac World because Mac handled graphics better back in the day. I have NEVER heard a bad word about Mac from people that have a lot of experience with it or that grew up with it. I kid you not. People that ‘grew up’ with Windows who are forced to switch have generally trashed Mac in conversations with me but I chalked that up to an inability to make a smooth transition. I’m having that problem myself but it’s me, not he hardware.
My Mac Book was a phenomenal gift but (dare the words leave my mouth) totally inappropriate- I am totally out-classed by it and I can’t use it for shit. It was to transform (in a good way) my computing experience but I’ve never been able to live up to that potential 🙂 I think the Mac model and code is better than the Windows model from what I have read and heard. And of course, the fact that every time I get the blue screen of death on my PC I just have to wonder why, after all these years and billions of dollars of R&D and profit, Windows’ still can’t seem to get it right.
Regarding desktops: My last (current) computer was put together with a stripped drive, two drives that act as one- makes the beast faster- and it worked great until one drive failed. Obviously if one fails both fail and ALL data is lost. There are ways to potentially rescue the data on the good drive but they are expensive unless you are capable of doing it yourself and have the hardware and software. I don’t.
If your the kind of person that keeps a LOT of data on your PC and like a fast machine it is a deadly trade-off even with regular backups to an external drive or drives. I replaced the defective HD and left the one good drive as a separate, partitioned drive but there is a slight and (with some apps) a noticeable difference in response speed from the dual drive configuration. Not much but there and noticeable. Not crucial either.
If you’re into apps that are memory intensive, you like going fast, and you go for a non-Mac computer, factor that trade off into your decision if you are presented with dual drive mode hardware. The bloom is off the dual drive mode for me. Losing 200+ gigs of data on a bad drive is one thing- loosing another 200+ gigs on a perfectly good drive is a whole ‘nother kinda thing. Man, when are they going to get that ‘room-temperature’ super conductivity stuff in play? 🙂
Um, that is Cnet Editor’s Choice for 2008. I was back in the Atari days at 1988.
Blouise,
This is the unit, below, among several other on the site that I am seriously looking at purchasing. I must do something soon because my high-end $3400.00 HP laptop fan quit and I am starting to experience the nVidia video crash that many hundreds of people worldwide are having (Several Class Action lawsuits are being explored and you can Google all of the information–HP Nvidia failures, et cetera).
Dell and Apple had the same nVidia problems but unlike HP, they are fixing the customers’ video systems. Did I mention to stay away for HP! My computer is just over 2 years old and most of the video failures occured at that time or sooner.
http://www.velocitymicro.com/wizard.php?iid=2
You can really configure this and other Velocity Micro’s machines. This unit was the CNET Editors Choice for Nov 1988. I have *never* purchased from them, but read the website material and visit the forum. The reviews are very good and the construction looks excellent. This desktop is about $3200.00 to about $4,000.00 with a 22″ of 26″ monitor and software, Windows 7. They have more expensive models. A big plus: there is no bundled bloatware like Dell or HP (especially)
Blouise,
I will make another post soon with the machine I am looking to purchase.
I have an HP and owned Gateways and then Dells at work. However, stay away for HP because of many problems with their laptops(nVidia video failures) and their e9150t and e9180t units. Some people are on their 3rd HP e9150/80t just since last summer. The motherboards are failing almost immediately.
Here is a link to the forum with many people with problems (2,130 posts since mid-July) and several hundred more in similar threads.
I was about 4 days away from purchasing a $3,2000 e9180t when I read this forum thread:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/message?board.id=lockups&thread.id=895
Former Federal LEO: and
Yes, please give me the name as I too am going back to a desktop. I have a Vaio 17” laptop, which is about 5 years old and still working well, but for all the reasons you mentioned, and more, I want to go back to a desktop.
lottakatz:
I will certainly factor what you wrote into my decision. My first computer was a self-contained single unit Mac with a 9” screen. I learned on that machine but switched to a PC (Windows) in the early 90’s.
I’m going to swim against the tide a bit Blouise, and give Apple a good review on the MaxBook Pro. I got the 19″ with expanded HD and fastest co-processing available as a gift and its major limitation is my skill level with it and lifestyle. With a good wi-fi connection it’s so fast it seems to break the time barrier- I’m not sure if I actually hit the enter key before the screen changes.
My skill level with it is low but I mess with it and fumble into apps that make me go ‘wow, I can do THAT!?’ regularly. My life and interests are built around things that make a PC more useful to me- I play with my MacBook primarily to marvel at it. It’s screen has a stunning image. I have never had a problem with it (2 yrs old) and every time I’ve visited the local Apple store for info or help installing something etc. I’ve gotten good treatment.
If I had a lifestyle that needed a laptop I’d live on it and be a happy camper. The drawbacks are that it’s heavy and you need to be fluent in Mac, the more fluent the better to get the most out of it. It gets hot but I’m not sure if it gets hotter than other laptops. I’ve used (gamer-speed) fast PC’s with all the hardware upgrades (and always go for a custom build) since for 20+ yrs and my now ‘old’ MacBook still blows me away every time I open it.
The big problem with it is that there is no actual document for it. I’m a reader and if you gave me a 300 page ‘how to’ document for my new computer or software I’d read it with relish and refer to it often. You can stumble into useful knowledge with books you miss with specific searches. If you’re a PC based person you will have to start from scratch with Mac-speak and all your documentation is on line. It’s hard to make the conversion if you’ve been hard-wired for or evolved with Windows based PC’s. The local Apple store has a deal that for $100.00 a year you can attend 52 once a week, 1 hour, help/learning desk classes with one on one help/teaching. Every time I’ve been in the store there are 3-4 people at the learning desk.
I’m embarrassed that I can’t really do my MacBook justice except occasionally and by accident. It’s still an awesome machine though and I don’t use the word ‘awesome’ often.
Blouise,
Are you looking for a desktop in the $3700.00 range? I know of a potential company if that is what you are looking for.
I am moving away from laptops/notebooks given the small cooling fans, their higher internal temps–partly because everything is cramped–and they are harder to clean the dust, et cetera out of the case.
Well this was an extremely informative and entertaining thread to read.
Out here on the wilds of the Lake Erie shoreline, not many natives have iPhones and those that did returned them due mainly to coverage issues.
I, however, am starting the process of purchasing a new computer and after reading these comments and going to some of the other sites suggested; I won’t be buying an Apple product, which is the computer I was seriously considering. A smart shopper pays attention to word of mouth (word of blog) especially concerning customer service issues.
Comment, for what it’s worth: I have had LG phones for years and never experienced a single problem. I switched from Sprint to Verizon many years ago and have enjoyed excellent coverage even when traveling through remote areas out West. Verizon’s customer service is on target and they always find some way to save me a few dollars.
mespo,
I have not seen Buddha around, no pun intended, do you have any ideal what is up? The only other one have you heard from them and do you know if they intend to post any remarks on the Blawg? I hope that they do.
AY:
“I may not agree with what everyone says and may not even read all the way though, but I do not have the right to attack anyone personally about personal things. Would you not agree?”
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Indeed, I do. Who wouldn’t agree with that?
Two months ago I bought my wife and daughter IPhones and I’ve regretted it ever since. My wife is so into it that occasionally I’ll wake in the early morning to find her in bed twittering away. While I can also surf the net on my cell phone, I never have. There is something about being too in touch with the world that disturbs me. I’m not a luddite, but I remember when we got our first video camera and I would be the one to dutifully record my kids plays and music solos. I stopped doing it when I realized that taping a child’s performance interfered with the pleasure of enjoying it. I have the same feeling about IPhones, Blackberry’s, etc. I know how busy you are Professor, but give it up and smell the roses.
I like to play music in my clay studio so I got one of those ipod music players. when it gets warm the thing goes into a strange sequence and then won’t play or shut off. I can restart it — but each time it gets harder and harder. the people at the apple store can’t explain it and tell me that it should not be getting warm at all.
the thing to consider is not that one gets bad customer service… and btw, just for laughs maybe you could try another Apple store…. see what happens when you get a second opinion. I did this with my IMac when it was doing odd things to my email.
the thing to consider is this… who makes your stuff? your gizmos and gadgets and electronics? It isn’t made here. It’s manufactured by a large Chinese contract manufacturer who when faced with quality problems just throws more people at the problem. the people are often abused by their managers are neither encouraged or rewarded for showing any initiative. All Apple products, most HP products are made by this one company based in Taiwan.
sometime i’ll tell you how I know this.
I guess I’m a Luddite, as I’m still happily limping along with a Blackberry Curve (used for data only) and a Motorola cell phone. I even still like email and detest the concept of Twitter, though I am LinkedIn. Worst of all, I confess I’m a PC. So I went in to Verizon to get the periodic new phone and felt mildly seduced by convergence and touch screens and all, and the iPhone clones (they don’t provide the Apple version of the fruit). After a brief trip down Demo Lane, I just kept it simple and got a new Motorola. Neither it nor its predecessors have ever finked out on me. I can actually talk to people, from practically anywhere, and it doesn’t drop calls. It goes on, and off, when I tell it to. They have significantly improved battery life, another low-tech attraction to Old School guys like me. I guess we all like a little positive reinforcement on occasion and this string gives me a lot. Many thanks.
mespo727272 1, October 23, 2009 at 1:14 am
“We have had an abundance of new posters/commenters and the blawg is running along like a well-oiled machine.”
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Now we need Patty C and Buddha to chime in to finish the table setting. Where are those two?
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I agree, I do think it is nice that everyone seems to be playing nice and if one have reinvented themselves and is here I hope that they continue to play well with others.
The comments mespo have all been to forward the site which I think is good. So long as personal attacks stay at bey, then everyone should have a right to play.
I may not agree with what everyone says and may not even read all the way though, but I do not have the right to attack anyone personally about personal things. Would you not agree?
I may not agree with Jill but she has not caused me any grief. Nor has anyone gone out of the way to tell her how wrong she is and it is a pleasure to hear her views on other subjects. I think you know what I mean.
CEJ 1, October 23, 2009 at 12:29 am
AY @ 9:26pm “It is nice to hear all of the new voices.”
🙂 Yes indeed; but where is our good buddy BIL? 🙁
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It would be nice to hear Buddha’s Chants and incantations of witticism, especially of late.
If it’s any reference, George Bush used the same kind of sensors to detect WMD.
“We have had an abundance of new posters/commenters and the blawg is running along like a well-oiled machine.”
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Now we need Patty C and Buddha to chime in to finish the table setting. Where are those two?
AY @ 9:26pm “It is nice to hear all of the new voices.”
:)Yes indeed; but where is our good buddy BIL? 🙁