"I would expect better service from a no-name startup company, let alone Apple Computer. My credit card was charged three times for the same order, wiping out my credit limit. Apple customer service would not admit fault, and blamed my bank for their mistake. It took repreated calls and endless waiting on hold to get anything done. Finally they were able to drop the extra charges, after two hours of phone calls."

"I ordered a refurbished ipod 5GB windows on 06/07. All seemed well - the ipod was scheduled to ship on 06/11. After 2 delays that were 2-4 days apiece, I received a phone message from Apple stating that there would be one last delay and that they needed my confirmation to continue with the order. The caller also stated that with my confirmation my order would ship the next day. After giving my confirmation I was treated to an e-mail later that afternoon that said my order would ship on or before 07/09/03! A full 3 week delay! I called Apple and asked for the woman who left the message thinking she could straighten it out and make things right. Unfortunately she gave me confirmation that the correct date was 07/09/03 and offered no apology. I was tempted to cancel my order when she offered but decided against it for now. She said that all refurbished products go through rigorous tests so that could be the cause of the delay - maybe they should think about that fact before they give mutliple unrealistic estimates. Being a lifetime Windows user but hearing positive things about the "new" Apple I had hoped that things would go smoothly. Guess again. I will be surprised if my ipod ships 1 day earlier than 07/09/03. By then I'll hardly remember ordering it. Thumbs down :(

update: Apple shipped my ipod yesterday - the 24th. They also upgraded me to 10GB and 2 day air shipping at no cost. Looks we're ending on a much more positive note :)"

"Here is the invoice from Apple: (for a G4 17” powerbook)

Buyers Name: My name was here
Web Order Number: some numbers were here
Apple Sales Order Number: ***-***-****
Apple Delivery Number: numbers went here
Apple Customer Number: and again numbers
PO Number: last set of numbers


Dear Apple Customer,

The following products shipped on 05/30/2003. Transit time will depend upon whether you have chosen standard or premium freight options. If your order is shipping standard freight, it should arrive within 2 - 5 business days of shipment.

Product # Product Description Qty Ext Price
________________________________________

_________________________________________________
Z05M01M9W PBG4 17.0/1GHZ/1024/60G/SD/AP/BT/LL 1 3,599.00
With the following configuration:

Z05M_B_PROC 065-3719 1GHz PowerPC G4
Z05M_C_MEM 065-3723 1GB DDR RAM - 2 DIMMs
Z05M_D_HD 065-3716 60GB Hard Drive
Z05M_E_OD 065-3718 Super Drive
Z05M_F_KIT 065-3713 Country Kit/Airport
Z05M_G_OS 065-3712 Keyboard/Mac OS
_________________________________________________

The above products have been shipped to:

My address was here


Carrier Name: FEDERAL EXPRESS
Carrier Tracking Number(s): tracking number was here

You can also check your tracking numbers at:
http://www.fedex.com/us/

For orders shipped Monday through Thursday tracking information will
be available on the carrier sites 12 to 24 hours after shipping.
For orders shipped Friday through Sunday tracking information will be
available on the carrier sites by the following Monday evening.

If your attempt to track this shipment on the carrier's web page is
unsuccessful, please contact your Apple Sales Support Specialist for
assistance.

If a partial shipment was authorized, additional items may ship
separately. This is a record of shipped items only.

Thank you for shopping at Apple.

If you have any questions concerning your order, please call us at
***-***-**** Mon-Fri 8am-9pm, Sat-Sun 9am-6pm CT


Ordering was not easy from apple store. It took 3 tries before I was able to order my 17” laptop. Same problem as with Dell. Sales people are not knowledgeable about the product they sell. Big loss for the company (especially for those interested in making "the switch". Finally I came across a girl in tech support of all places, who was very knowledgeable answered all my questions (first time mac user) and off I went placing my order. The only grudge I have with her (and since she wasn’t in sales dept, she may not have known this), she didn’t tell me that once you “customize” your system, it is apple’s policy that it can not be returned!! Of course I found that out when I went to return this absolutely beautiful sexy machine. When the sales rep looked up my order number, he immediately told me that I can not return this laptop, because it was customized. The only part that was "customized" was an extra module of memory. The standard would be 512 mb, with 1024 mb of RAM, this instantly became a CUSOMIZED system. It outraged me, I said “you guys never told me that it was your policy, and this smells like a rotten egg”. He said not much he could do. I went on to request to speak with a supervisor. This guy proceeded to tell me the same thing. After a heated debate, he finally said that he is going to make an exception for me, but charge me a 10% restocking fee. TEN PERCENT, equals to $350!!! That was unheard of!! The only policy I was made aware of at the time of the purchase is that I had to return this laptop in 10 days or less. I wanted to return it after only 2 days!! I finally agreed to his proposal, (at this point I knew I knew that the Macintosh system, way too cumbersome for me). I mean, something as simple as browsing all your pictures in a given directory required of me to write a scrip, I was told by their tech support, that although they couldn’t tell me on the phone what that script was, I was invited to their online forums where I could post my questions, and surely someone was going to provide the script. Who said macs were capable of everything and then some compared to a PC? Compete BS. Anyways, I am $350 short as a result of apple misrepresenting their policy.
I would love to buy a laptop that has the same design that this 17” beauty had. Maybe Sony will put out something similar. When they do, the first order is mine!! You can count on that!! "

"Good, prompt service. Everything was flawless, and it took about a week to be shipped from Taiwan to the East coast. I'm not a big fan of the "custom built for every customer" delay period (which was part of the week, 2 days to ship), but hey- everything was fine."

"Although the Fed Ex home delivery shipping was free, I've been hasseling for days with FedEx, Apple requires that I sign in person. I tried calling the Apple Store & they won't budge - I guess they expect me to take a day off work to sign for a $7 cable. Get real!"

"Pre-ordered 10.2 (Jaguar) on August 20th. Having selected free UPS ground I figured I'd get it a week after the official launch (Aug.24th). Apple cancels my order and re-instates it with...Free 2 day Fed-Ex. I received Jag on the 23rd. Thanx Apple."