Mac Upgrade Hesitations

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Mac Upgrade Hesitations

Postby josh porter » Sat Aug 14, 2010 5:27 pm

So, I bought a my first Mac about 2 months ago and I am looking at upgrading the hard drive to something bigger. The machine I bought is the iBook G4 from Munros for around 300 Dollars. I purchased the right hard drive and cloned it successfully and when I looked up the instructions to replace it, I found I was in over my head. Replacement means basically taking the whole thing apart and since I do not possess enough patience or time to do this job myself, I took it to Futureshop because they have Apple Techs that should be use to things like this. Upon talking to the techs there, I learned that they can do it for around 100 bucks. Not too bad since they are more insured then I am and if they break it, then they have to fix it.

During my research, I discovered that the power connector is very weakly soldered to the "Logic Board" as it's called and if it gets broken off its almost impossible to fix. Upon informing the tech about this issue, he stated that if they break the laptop in a fashion such as this or if it gets fried in another way, then they replace it for the next comparable model.

The next comparable model (cheapest replacement mac) is around 1100 dollars. Now keep in mind that my machine is from 2002 and is basically no longer available and if they break it, I get an 1100 dollar replacement. My machine is only worth about 300 bucks and thats a difference of 800 bucks. I have my suspicions that the tech is going to ruin my machine in the upgrade process and I have the sneaking suspicion that they are not going to give me an 1100 dollar replacement. I have a feeling I'm going to get Boned by them and then I will be out a computer and have no replacement for their screw up. I'm thinking of trying it myself and seeing how far I get by following the guides to replacing the hard drive.

Has anyone had anything replaced by the Fshop people in this fashion? Any advice? I will take anything at this point. It's a never ending headache it seems.
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Postby macrae11 » Sun Aug 15, 2010 12:05 am

I would get them to do it. If you do it yourself, you would probably have the same or greater chance of damaging the laptop. If they do it, at least you've got someone to go after. Also Apple is usually great at these types of service issues, so if there is a problem, Apple might not be able to fix it, but they might be able to apply some muscle to the local store.
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Postby josh porter » Mon Aug 16, 2010 6:30 pm

Well to conclude my long story, I went into Fshop today to talk to their "Apple Guy" who isnt really an apple guy who informed me that, if they royally screw my machine all they do is pay to have it fixed with the cheapest parts and they would never replace it. As well, if he got the whole thing apart and decided he didnt want to go any further, it was still going to be like 50 dollars and the hard drive still wouldnt be put in, after I was told that if he got in there and didnt finish it that i didnt have to pay anything and i got a full refund. So after about 30 mins of arguing back and forth over which staff member was lying to me, the guy told me he wasnt going to even look at it. So Boned again by Futureshop. The icing on the cake for me was when I left, there was a gentleman there with his desktop waiting in line and I looked at him and said "Sorry you had to witness all that sir, but keep this in mind, whatever this guy says about me after I leave, just think about what he's saying about you after you leave" to which the guy with the desktop said "You're right" and followed me out of the store, where I sent him to The Source in the Mall. Never again will i shop at a store where they ly to the customer and try to screw you at every turn like your a helpless drunk girl passed out in a back alley.

On the bright side, I took it in to the guys at Cyber solutions where they said they would do it and have it done hopefully by tomorrow. YAY good service. Way to go Steve!
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Postby gamblor » Tue Aug 17, 2010 10:58 am

Futureshop’s service is actually pretty good for returns/refunds. When it comes to anything technical though, they’re absolutely useless. I bought my laptop there a few years ago and purchased the warranty. A few months after the purchase I told them I was dissatisfied with the operating system (Vista) and wanted to downgrade to XP. Their response to that was that it was actually impossible to downgrade any computers made after a certain year. I debated this with them, but they told me that the last few computers they serviced didn’t work and they concluded that it was some Microsoft conspiracy theory to phase in Vista.

It was a bunch of BS. I’m now running XP on this computer with no issues whatsoever. So much for the warranty I paid for. Never buying a computer from them again.

Cyber Steve or Munro is where it’s at.
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Postby josh porter » Tue Aug 17, 2010 6:20 pm

YAY!!! Mac is back with new HD and no issues. The guy from Cyber Solutions called me this morning to tell me it was done, it took him one hour to install and no complications and it was $45+ tax. Way faster and Way more efficient. none of the 48 hour, 200 dollar bullspit like Fshop. All is right with the world once more. *Sigh*
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