Apple Tech Support Experience at Richard Mondello

My dearest MacBook Pro’s SuperDrive is at it again: it won’t burn discs. To save you from reading up on my two past experiences (one, two), I’ll summarize them.

A long time ago, I applied the SuperDrive 2.1 Update from Apple, as anyone who runs Apple’s Software Update utility should. Essentially, that update has been either bricking or severely limiting the function of drives everywhere. I sent the MacBook Pro to Apple, and rather than replacing the drive, they reformatted the drive and reinstalled Mac OS X Tiger. Eventually, some enterprising coders wrote a firmware patch utility, which actually solved my problems for a limited period. This last week, the problem reappeared, and I spent most of my day working to solve it. I twittered my experience with Apple Support:

On with Apple Support to fix SuperDrive. 15 minutes waiting, starting now, for a rep.
Hold music is awful. Surprise! But, I can forgive that. So far, no strikes against Apple.
My problem? The infamous SuperDrive 2.1 Update hosed my drive. Apple refuses to acknowledge it online… let’s see if they do on the phone.
I sent it in for a drive replacement in the past… instead, they reinstalled Tiger. I’m angry and finally have enough time to deal with it.
Hold music stopped… I’m just sitting alone, cold, and scared.
I feel like my call has been dropped into a bottomless pit. Calling again. >:/
Extended wait time. “You may prefer to call back later.” - How about no.
Current hold music: Coldplay - In My Place … I love that song! That almost makes up for my disconnection and extended waiting.
Connected to an agent. Let’s see how it goes.
“Let me see what I can do here.” I bet you that you can’t do anything. I’ve tried all the standard troubleshooting steps. The drive is bad!
“Let’s see if I can cure this somehow.” I’d be overjoyed.
“I think it’s a software issue.” It’s not!
He wants me to reinstall Leopard! It’s. Not. Software.
They refuse to acknowledge that the SuperDrive 2.1 Update firmware was corrupt. Off the phone. I was told to reinstall Leopard… AHHHHH!
I’m going to have to reformat my system this evening. Of course, it won’t fix the problem. Then I’ll call back for more bogus advice.
Guess what? A Leopard reinstall didn’t fix the corrupt firmware on my MacBook Pro’s SuperDrive. Calling Apple again.
Estimated wait time, fifteen minutes. Here we go again, twitter friends. Let’s hope that I’ve now proven it’s not an OS issue.
On the phone with a technician.
32 minutes on the phone, they’re sending me a box. Promised me they’re replacing the SuperDrive this time.

As you can tell, it took three phone calls and two support agents before I was given what I want: a box sent to my house to send the computer to Apple and the promise of a new SuperDrive.

I’ll keep everyone posted.