 Poster: A snowHead
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This week in Covent Garden Apple store, after my MacBook air refused to charge from the mains charger - and I needed to get the files off for the next meeting in town:
Me to a gaggle of three huddled store staff: er...anyone serving?
Two scurry off...
Staff member: I can...
Me: right, can we please just plug this into a charger and see if its the charger which has broken or the computer?
Staff: ah....you'll have to book in for an appointment...join the (extremely long) queue over there.
Me: no I'm not doing that you just need to plug it into a spare charger so we can see which has broken - if I need a new charger you'll make 80 gbp.
Staff: I'm not trained to do that.
Me: not trained to plug in a computer...
Staff: that's right
Me: what do you do in your kitchen when you want to use a toaster?
Staff: (looks confused)
Me: do you book the toaster into the Genius Bar?
Staff: (panic stricken) er...I'll call the manager....
Me: thank you, that will be very helpful.
Five minutes later, after the manager spend 10 secs connecting the computer to a different charger, I left the store with a new charger, a lower bank balance and a need to tell someone about corporate idiocy.
A different experience:
My niece trashes her headset doing downhill at Crans.
She phones me as to what to do.
I say drop into a specific guide office in town.
Ten minutes later she phones me to say she's got a 3000gbp carbon bike as a loaner - no charge.
Back on the hill with only a twenty minute break.
New headset fitted by close of play the following day.
So two free days on a top carbon rig.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Fri 30-06-17 8:33; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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80 quid for a charger 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I have a Macbook- my second in 8 years. I use it for work. The new one was bought as a gift. They are now sold without an Ethernet connection, so I had to buy a twiddly plug in for £25 to use it to connect to the work system. I lost the first one within a week ( easy to leave it somewhere or for it to fall out of bag). Another £25 to apple. And of course the charger connection is a different shape to the last one.
Apple's enthusiasm for building in obsolescence and making you buy extras at great expense makes me very cross. 
(...but yes, I have an iPhone, iPad and MacBook.....grrrrrr)
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hmm I have an HP Elitebook, Quad core with multiple USB ports, 1394 port, HDMI and ethernet ports plus a simple round easy to find power port bit it doesn't have an apple on it ..... On the other hand I upgraded the RAM bought from my local PC shop, can buy non branded accessories and do't have to deal with Apple Shop staff 
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@D G Orf, You're suggesting that you get better value computer hardware with non Apple branded products. FWIW I agree.
(Ducks for cover) 
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| valais2 wrote: |
This week in Covent Garden Apple store, after my MacBook air refused to charge from the mains charger - and I needed to get the files off for the next meeting in town:
A different experience:
My niece trashes her headset doing downhill at Crans.
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Have to admit that you led me astray with the first part. I spent a while thinking that it was particularly ambitious multitasking to be taking conference calls while downhill MTBing.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Not being a Londoner I had you pictured in some sort of fruit and veg market stall/cafe until I got to line 6!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Ha, I had same problem, local independent Apple shop £30.00 I guess thats a £50.00 Covent Garden premium. By the by how much is a pint of beer in Covent these days?
Its £2.99 in the pub near the Apple shop 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I'm a big fan of Apple products (I spent 15 years in IT support using Windows, and would be quite happy to never use it again), however Apple's sales model is appalling. I've walked out of Apple stores on more than one occasion because I was unable to physically buy an item. This is mainly due to the lack of tills, and the fact that Apple seems to be quite happy to let its stores be used as creches on Saturdays.
Also never ever buy the 1st or 2nd versions of any Apple product. It took them 4 versions to get the iPhone right, and 3 for the iPad.
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Apple are very flashy and do some things very well, but they really test the limits of what people will put up with. Think my iPhone 5s is great, really miss my classic iPod since it stopped taking a charge, but other than that I won't touch anything else they do. It's overpriced and they treat you like crap. Take the lightning cable, was in a store earlier and noticed they were £10 for an 'aftermarket' one. The micro USB that most other phone companies use (and which is effective) were £3. That's bulls**t.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Dave of the Marmottes, hah. Indeed. As if convergence was S Jobs idea. Palm nearly got it. I had an early Pilot in 1996 and OF COURSE (even though the internet was running a 9,600bd dialup and a T3 was a thing of wonder) everyone was saying, "if you could just get the internet on this..."
Funnily tho', I also recall an interview with someone who should know but was actually too young to have experienced it about why Blackberry became so successful. He missed entirely the main points/reasons. Sad endightment, etc. youth, eh? Lessons of history, etc.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| under a new name wrote: |
@Dave of the Marmottes, hah. Indeed. As if convergence was S Jobs idea. Palm nearly got it. I had an early Pilot in 1996 and OF COURSE (even though the internet was running a 9,600bd dialup and a T3 was a thing of wonder) everyone was saying, "if you could just get the internet on this..."
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I used to write Palm database apps. I wrote some of the text for my PhD on a m505, then I had a m515 (an amazing machine) then the wonderful T3. That and my PSION series 5 was probably the perfect mobile for years.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| boredsurfin wrote: |
Ha, I had same problem, local independent Apple shop £30.00 I guess thats a £50.00 Covent Garden premium. By the by how much is a pint of beer in Covent these days?
Its £2.99 in the pub near the Apple shop |
I would guess that's not an official Apple charger, but at that price and from a reputable it shop should be fine. You do need to be very wary of really cheap ebay chargers - there are some horror stories out there.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| valais2 wrote: |
This week in Covent Garden Apple store, after my MacBook air refused to charge from the mains charger - and I needed to get the files off for the next meeting in town:
Me to a gaggle of three huddled store staff: er...anyone serving?
Two scurry off... |
Must be a London thing then.
I had reasonable service at New York (long wait but no staff gaggle/huddle unless you count the one-on-one huddle with customer)
I had excellent service at Shanghai. No wait. Each staff helping multiple customer on several different tasks.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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How do you milk sheep?
Release a new iPhone! Boom Boom!
I have had iPhones and will never buy one again- it might be me, but I like to be the one in charge of a bit of kit meant to help me... However, I have a 5 year old Macbook Air which I love. I'm never going windows again, it's carp by comparison in my view. Cost is an issue, but hey, if it lasts 5 years...
CG
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@SnoodlesMcFlude, www.ipodrepairs.co.uk will do you a new battery, I used them some years ago when my ipod nano stopped taking charge and it's been fine since.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| abc wrote: |
| valais2 wrote: |
This week in Covent Garden Apple store, after my MacBook air refused to charge from the mains charger - and I needed to get the files off for the next meeting in town:
Me to a gaggle of three huddled store staff: er...anyone serving?
Two scurry off... |
Must be a London thing then.
I had reasonable service at New York (long wait but no staff gaggle/huddle unless you count the one-on-one huddle with customer)
I had excellent service at Shanghai. No wait. Each staff helping multiple customer on several different tasks. |
+1 I've always had great service in the apple stores I've visited, both in the UK as well as US.
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