Archive for the 'geekdom' Category

Streetwise Will Throw Away Your Mac’s Serial Number

Published on March 20, 2008 in geekdom, rants and tech. 4 Comments

Over the past week, I have decided once and for all to keep my computer out of the hands of Streetwise, a popular Apple retailer here in Melbourne.

I have previously written about Streetwise, an Apple Authorised Service Centre, and its policy of holding onto computers while they wait days for replacement parts to arrive so that they can maintain a high Apple Service Rating.

Missing Serial Number

That original post came about when I had to get the palm rest of my MacBook replaced under warranty, and in the past week another shocking outcome of that repair has come to light: when the Streetwise technician replaced my palm rest, he did not transfer my MacBook’s serial number sticker (which is attached to the underside of the palm rest—inside the battery compartment).

When I contacted Streetwise about this last week, service manager Jedda Wignall was appropriately contrite. “It is incredibly unfortunate that you have been hit with this inconvenience, as could have been put in a precarious situation as a result,” he wrote (sic.). “The technician who performed the work is no longer with the company, and I would like to think that this situation would not arise again.”

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Apple Service Rating Update

Published on February 3, 2008 in geekdom, rants and tech. 1 Comment

For those who’ve asked, here’s an update on the situation with Streetwise and the Apple Service Rating that I wrote about in my last post.

Streetwise replied almost immediately to my email complaint:

Hi Kevin,

I’m not sure why the technician on Saturday would have told you that – perhaps there was some sort of misunderstanding.
I do apologise if you felt that was inappropriate in anyway.
I can confirm that the part to be fitted would not be an issue and you can use your machine normally while we wait for the part.
As the technician is not in today – I will discuss the matter with him when I see him and to see if we can resolve this one way or another.
We will attempt to call or leave a message when the part actually comes in. Do you wish me to order the part for you?

Best Wishes,
Gary Chee
Service & Returns Manager

Quite the reversal. I asked Streetwise to go ahead and order the part. Two days later:

Hi Kevin,

The top case has arrived today. Could you please drop off your Macbook so we can install it for you?
Please allow us at least half a day turn around time to sort it out for you.

Thanks,
Gary

Still no explanation for the original incident, you’ll note. I queried this in my reply:

Thanks. Will do!

Has any explanation for the original mixup been forthcoming?

–
Kevin Yank

http://www.kevinyank.com/

Streetwise’s reply was about as vague as can be, but reading between the lines I believe my complaint was taken to heart:

No worries Kevin – I’ve spoken to the tech and he said there was a small mixup – but I hope that’s been cleared up.

Cheers,
Gary

The repair was completed the same day I dropped off the computer. In total, I was without my MacBook for about four hours. Not bad at all!

The next day, I received an automated email from Apple requesting my feedback on the support experience I had had with Streetwise. As you can imagine, I was very forthcoming, and ticked the box that said ‘You may contact me for more information about my experience’. Two months later, I have not heard from Apple on the matter.

Apple Service Rating Harms Customer Service

Published on November 17, 2007 in geekdom, rants and tech. 3 Comments

Streetwise is my local Apple retailer. It’s where I bought my MacBook laptop and my Epson printer, and it’s where I was planning to buy a lot of other computery things in the near future.

Unfortunately, my MacBook is in need of a little in-warranty TLC (a crack has a developed in the casing, a common defect). So today I dropped by Streetwise, an Authorised Apple Service Centre, to get it looked after.

I discovered that, in an effort to gain the highest possible “service rating” from Apple, Streetwise has decided to make it really inconvenient to get a minor problem with your MacBook fixed. I therefore walked right back out with my cracked MacBook in hand.

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Photos: Rubicon Valley Horse Riding

Published on October 7, 2007 in geekdom and personal. 3 Comments
Rubicon Valley Horse Ride 8

For the main event for our three-day getaway in and around Marysville, Jess and I went horse riding in Rubicon Valley on a perfect morning. We lucked out and got a guide all to ourselves, so we got to learn a lot more about riding than we had done on our previous ride.

Jess’s horse Bounty must have been having an off day, because she made several attempts to bite my horse, Apache (Yes geeks, Apache. Believe me, I was geeking out about it all the way!). Otherwise, the ride went smoothly, with lots of high-speed cantering that had Jess calling me “the geekiest cowboy around”.

View ‘Rubicon Valley Horse Riding’ set on Flickr

Lame Mac User

Published on March 31, 2007 in geekdom, snippets and tech. 5 Comments

I bought my first Mac yesterday—a spiffy, black MacBook. I’ve spent the first 24 hours with my new computer setting up various means of running Windows on it (Remote Desktop, Boot Camp, and Parallels). In the Mac world, I’m pretty sure that makes me very lame.

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Navigation, Geocaching and More with a TomTom GO 710

Published on February 4, 2007 in geekdom, reviews and tech. 7 Comments

Kevin holds up the Penny Bridge geocache and smilesIf you’ve been watching my Flickr photos lately, you’ll have noticed that Jess and I are getting into geocaching, the world-wide treasure hunt where participants follow GPS coordinates to the locations of hidden caches of goodies.

The one essential tool for geocaching is a GPS receiver (GPSr), which gave me the perfect excuse to add this long-coveted piece of technology to my car. But finding a unit that would make a good on-road navigator (with good maps, nice screen, useful routing features, and an extensive Points of Interest (POI) database) as well as a good tool for geocaching (offering accurate coordinates and useful off-road navigation features) would prove to be a challenge.

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Spam Subject Line #85

Published on December 22, 2006 in funny, geekdom and snippets. 0 Comments

Actual spam subject line:

The problem is homemade robots usually malfunction, before turning on their creators and going on homicidal rampages.

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I’ve been sketched!

Published on October 8, 2006 in cute, geekdom, personal and snippets. 1 Comment

This is so cool. Someone who attended the Fundamentos Web 2006 day two panel sketched us! See if you can guess which one I am before mousing over the image. You can also check out a photo of the actual event.

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Presentation Disasters

Published on September 7, 2006 in funny, geekdom, personal and snippets. 0 Comments

I’m madly preparing presentations for two separate conferences at the end of the month (Web Directions and Fundamentos Web). These presentation disasters relieved the stress nicely.

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Scale Model of Disputed Border Region Found

Published on July 20, 2006 in geekdom and snippets. 0 Comments

This finding in Google Earth is reason enough to download and install the software if you haven’t already. China has built a nearly 1km2 scale model of a 150,000km2 disputed region along its border with India.

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