A week ago from today, I bought my first cell phone. Using the money I worked for this summer at the Computer Academy, I was able to justify buying, arguably, one of the greatest cell phones on the market. While putting down the cash for the iPhone, I decided to buy a one year subscription to MobileMe. My justification was off-site backup for my precious college work; everything else was a bonus.
I hate MobileMe for one reason and one reason only. Although it’s a great service that I’m finding useful, I’ve had to readjust my entire workflow and calendaring system to accommodate its greatest flaw. While using an iPhone or iPod touch without MobileMe, the user may choose individual iCal calendars to sync to the device. While using MobileMe, in great contrast, calendar sync is all-or-nothing.
I depend on my calendaring system to keep me alive. It’s the hub of my events and small reminders of things I need to do. I use one main calendar, “Events”, to remind me of places I need to be or deadlines I need to meet. Then, I use one called “Alarms”, to remind me to do my Getting Things Done Weekly Review or to do household chores like checking up a water softener. Those calendar events are set up with an alarm that I’d like to see while sitting at my Mac – not while I’m on-the-go with my iPhone.
MobileMe’s system of forcing users to sync all calendars without any way to stop it makes the calendaring feature useless for me. It ruins one of the most important aspects of Getting Things Done (GTD), contexts. In Getting Things Done, David Allen writes that grouping tasks by context (often location) is more appropriate than priority. Having my phone vibrate to remind me to do my weekly review is useless while I’m away from my computer. I’d much rather just have the notification sitting on my Mac for when I return.
Apple, please fix this.
Image credit to the One More Thing blog at CNET.
This email address is the key to getting any high-level problems with Apple addressed. It’s worked for me in two instances, and I feel that spreading it only helps people. Of course, if you’re irresponsible and have unrealistic expectations, you may get a humorous reply. I’m now summarizing this article on The Boy Genius Report.
Very recently, one man who was frustrated with Apple Support emailed Steve Jobs with his problem.
Dear Steve Jobs,
I wanted to write and express my concern about some recent problems that I have had with Apple Care. This week, my MacBook Pro unfortunately sustained water damage. I understand this is entirely my fault but it is still something I would like to get fixed. After three or four calls I was finally able to get a straight answer. While I was happy to get a straight answer, I was not at all happy with the answer. It is very worrisome to me that the only way to get my computer fixed is to pay almost $300.00 up front with no guarantee that this will fix the problem. I was horrified to learn that their is no system to assess the problem and bill once all damage is known. I am reluctant to put money into a problem that could easily grow. I have had three Apple computers in a row. I love using them but I am not sure if my replacement will be one. I feel powerless in the situation and the whole experience has turned me off of the Apple company.
Sincerely,
Xxxxxx Xxxx
Of course, Steve Jobs and company owe him nothing. In one of the most impressive and entertaining forms of PR I’ve ever seen, Jobs (or likely an assistant) sent this reply.
Xxxxxxx,
This is what happens when your MacBook Pro sustains water damage.They are pro machines and they don’t like water. It sounds like you’re just looking for someone to get mad at other than yourself.
Steve
That’s called getting “Steved”, and I love it.
I just received a great email.
Richard:
I’m writing this to thank you for your help with my MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857D problem. I followed your advice and wrote to Steve Jobs at his Apple e-mails and I got an answer; they fixed my superdrive for free. They realized that it was a worldwide problem and fixed it, no questions asked.
So thank you for the advice.
It’s times like these that I’m glad I wrote up a detailed article on fixing these SuperDrives. The entire SuperDrive saga is in the Matshita SuperDrive category of the blog.
Countless Macintosh users have been troubled over the last year by a firmware-corrupting update that Apple Inc. released for Matshita disc drives in MacBook and MacBook Pro computers, SuperDrive 2.1 Update. Possible solutions were premiered, but none proved permanent. I wrote this post to help those affected by this problem; if you’re lucky enough not to be plagued by this issue, skip this post.
My complete personal saga with this issue lives in the Matshita SuperDrive category of this blog. I encourage you to read the buildup to my permanent solution. Through these personal experience and heartache, I have determined that the only solution for this problem is a SuperDrive replacement.
First, a recap of my experience. In August 2007, after applying to SuperDrive 2.1 update, I realized that my MacBook Pro wasn’t recognizing or burning certain types of media. I sent my MacBook Pro in for a drive replacement. Unfortunately, Apple’s technicians only reinstalled Tiger on my computer, which didn’t solve my issue. Although I was outraged, I decided to deal with the issue another time. In late December 2007, I came across a firmware patch for my drive and applied it. It was only a temporary fix, as many users have found out. Come late January 2008, I finally decided to try Apple Support again. After two phone calls, I arranged a drive replacement.
After twelve days, I had my computer back with a brand new HL-DT-ST DVDRW GWA4080MA drive.
I believe that the only solution for this problem is to call Apple Support and demand a SuperDrive replacement. As far as I know, Apple have not officially recognized the SuperDrive problem. Here are my tips:
- Take names of your support agents.
- Stay consistent with your story.
- Don’t admit any firmware hacks, period.
- Don’t take “no” for an answer.
- Call back if you don’t get what you want.
- Mention all of the articles you’ve read online of people saying its a corrupted firmware caused by an Apple update.
- If you’re told to reinstall your operating system, tell the support agent you’ll do so and call back in an hour.
- Email all of Steve Jobs’ email addresses. I’m serious. (steve@mac.com, sjobs@apple.com, sjobs@mac.com). Tell your story and show your disappointment in the company. You’ll likely get contacted by Apple’s Executive Office.
Please leave any thoughts and experiences in the comments. I hope every last person affected by this issue gets his or her SuperDrive replaced.
My MacBook Pro is making a pilgrimage to Apple’s laptop technical support center in Texas for what is hopefully a SuperDrive replacement. In that time, however, I need a computer to use.
My answer is my G4 Cube. For the next week or so I’ll be living with a 450mhz, 640 megabyte (RAM) machine. This’ll be fun. I’ll be sure to give my thoughts on the experience.
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.