The Clash of the Titans
It’s about 10:30 now and I’ve just got off the phone. My Powerbook has
dodgy marks on the screen. They were there when I first got it but I tried to
ignore them. They’re white clouds one either side in the middle of the screen,
they’re not dead pixels as I have some of those and they are very different. At
first I thought it was my eyes and as they were only very small I ignored them,
then they got bigger. So I asked Jo if she could see anything odd on my screen
and she noticed it straight away.
This morning I rang Apple and spoke
to their technical support people. They told me that they would repair my
Powerbook for me. I explained that I didn’t want it repaired as it cost nigh-on
£2000 and it’s only five weeks old! I told them that I expected it
to be replaced with a whole new model. The tech support guy said that he could
understand but Apple’s policy is to try to repair things first and then, if they
have to, to replace the item.
So I rang PC World. First of all I
followed the phone trail to the tech support team. I spoke to a guy in tech
support there who told me that they couldn’t authorise replacements as they are
- sort of - a separate company. He told me that I should ring the store direct,
and he told me how to do it. You have to ignore what the menu says and choose
unnumbered options (P433R /\/\1 1337 P433|<1|\|G 5k1LL2!). He told me not to
bother with one of the “Minions” but to speak straight to the manager. So I
“phreaked” my way through the menu and got to this guy that wouldn’t put me
through to the store! Dammit! I explained the problem to him and he told me to
talk to tech support, I didn’t get angry, I just explained that I had and they
had told me to speak to the manager of the store. He disappeared for a while
and when he came back he said he had spoken to the manager and that if I took it
back to the store they “might” replace it, “no promises
though”.
That’s the end of the story at the moment, I shall, as ever,
update you with whatever happens next.