i hope steve jobs falls headlong into his own bony ass

[chronovore]

More fun in the new world: The place which advertised out-of-warranty iPhone repairs does not, for some reason, repair iPod Touch.

A long story, short: my iPod Touch headphone jack went flaky 3 weeks ago, which was 6~7 weeks past its one-year warranty. Apple wants 23,200 yen to give me a refurb unit, but recommended buying a new, same-capacity unit for 29,980 yen. Because of a 100 yen headphone jack. I have been pissed off since then.

Last night I called the US support line, and they reiterated the same policy: After 12 months, "it is a gamble" to own the iPod without extending the warranty through AppleCare, and the cost of my unknowingly cast bet is 199USD. This advice was not endearing.

During lunch today, I took a rushed trip by train to Nipponbashi to again visit the shop which had been closed on Tuesday. This time it was open, but the first thing the guy said was "Oh, this is an iPod. We do iPhones..."  He was helpful and gave the old college try to open the iPod, but the sucker-grip used for iPhone didn't work, and jimmying it with a guitar pick didn't have any more luck. He couldn't get it open and was worried about warping the case, especially since they didn't carry replacement cases. At this point, I'm considering shipping it to one of the US-based, third party repair places, then getting them to ship it to my sister, and having her bring it with her in June.

Also "at this point," I'm pretty sure that my current set of Apple goods are the last ones I will buy. Apple suggesting that a 13-month-old, 500USD piece of kit should be repurchased over a headphone jack, combined with the cascade of problems my refurb PowerBook had, with which Apple dealt so gracelessly, Apple is no longer the apple of my eye. My planned iPad purchase, my MacBook replacement for the still-ailing PowerBook, are no longer in the works. If Softbank gives me a free iPhone I won't refuse it, but I'm done sending Apple my money.

Comments

[ferricide.livejournal.com]

wow, that's fucking terrible. i bought applecare for my macbook, since i carry it all over the place, but i've just relied on the base warranty for my iPhone and iPod, and they've been solid as anything.

i'm surprised given the popularity of apple products in japan that there's... one shop, and it doesn't handle iPods. surely there are other options?

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

When I was shopping for an MP3 player, I went out of my way to avoid purchasing an Apple product.

Fuckers.