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View Full Version : Apple Genius Bar not so smart



ineedaname
02-06-2008, 02:47 PM
So my GF's macbook has been having some problems. I'm not a mac expert but I went online and dled some diagnostic tool so I could test the hdd.

I downloaded a trial version of the latest TechTools 4 Pro. Anyway I did a surface scan and it detected about 10% of the end of the drive had bad sectors. So called up apple and made an appointment @ the Genius Bar to try to get the hdd replaced.

When I get there I tell the guy my problem and he tells me I just need to reformat the drive. Then he runs the apple disk scan utility which says my hdd is fine. He also tells me that TechTools was never made for intel macs and that many people have came in with false positives from their scans.

Not being a mac expert and seeing as how the disk scan utility said my hdd was fine I hesitantly went back home. When I got home I ripped out the hdd from the macbook and stuck it into my computer. I run HD Tune and a few other diag programs and sure enough there are bad sectors on the hard drive.

Thinking back now I can't believe how stupid it was and I should've picked it up when he told me to just reformat the computer. There's NO WAY that the mac disk utility did a surface scan in under 2 minutes. Logically speaking it takes way longer than 2 minutes for the 160GB hdd 2 read every section of the disk. I also double checked and TechTools 4 PRO is made for intel macs.

Anyways I take the computer back the next day and tell them my problem again. After 30 minutes of arguing with the person @ the Genius Bar they still don't believe me that the hard drive is broken. Only after I told them I work @ the tech dept @ my uni, did she finally cave and said she'll replace the hdd. But even till the end she didn't believe that there was anything wrong with the hard drive. She even stated that having bad sectors on 10% of the drive wasn't reason enough to replace it normally. She even goes on to tell me how this is a MAC and that it works differently than PC. I guess she thinks macs have some super hard drive that can read an entire 160gb hdd @ over 1GB/s

I don't care what she says bad sectors are bad sectors and a format isn't gonna fix it especially when its on 10% of the freakin drive.

What really grinds my gears is that the first guy I talked to said he turned away a ton of people who detected bad sectors on their hard drive with TechTools. Does this mean he just turned away a bunch of people with legit problems on their hard drive????

Anyway I feel like I lucked out this time cuz I got the hdd replaced but I feel sry for people who go in there and expect their computer 2 b fixed by ppl like that.

Hosser
02-06-2008, 04:11 PM
Ach that really sucks. Reminds me of the cretins in PC World - they never know what they're talking about either.

tbone8ty
02-06-2008, 04:38 PM
they should serve beer at this genius bar

ineedaname
02-09-2008, 05:16 AM
they should serve beer at this genius bar

Now that would be Genius. I can tell u I definitely would be more easy going if that were the case.

afireinside
02-09-2008, 12:52 PM
Getting a mac fixed or assistance in fixing it is damn near impossible. That's why I left my ibook broken and bought an XPS.

icon57
02-12-2008, 01:16 PM
those guys sound worse than the geek squad...and thats rock bottom...

Cupcake
02-12-2008, 02:12 PM
The main apple stores have knowledgeable employees but the ones in malls hire anybody and they generally all suck...

RAW-Raptor22
02-12-2008, 02:16 PM
those guys sound worse than the geek squad...and thats rock bottom...

Yeah, Frys is really bad too... my testicles know more than those losers... :rofl:

n00b 0f l337
02-12-2008, 02:42 PM
Bit off topic, but brought them a peg game at the mall the other day, not one of them could get one peg.

lowfat
02-13-2008, 08:33 AM
I dislike 'Geniuses'. I use to work Apple tech support, and the Geniuses would quite often call us for assistance.

icon57
02-13-2008, 10:46 AM
customer service is a big part of tech support...but glad you got things sorted out

Cupcake
02-13-2008, 02:52 PM
Raptor22;2767206']Yeah, Frys is really bad too... my testicles know more than those losers... :rofl:

Yeah frys tech support is awful

I returned a two 680i board a while back and the guy kept telling me the boards was covered in grease and I looked at him with a holding my grin behind my false confusion and said, I thought all boards came with grease on them. took about 20 mins of going through the return policy to prove to him theres nothing in there against Dice benching then returning it :p

Circaflex
02-15-2008, 08:16 AM
thats a little shady cupcake, id say you were at fault on that one IMO. At least clean off the grease:down:

Andrew LB
04-01-2008, 06:24 PM
Ach that really sucks. Reminds me of the cretins in PC World - they never know what they're talking about either.

Worst tech support I've ever encountered was Dell. I've had multiple occasions where much like the OP, was told that the HDD or DVD-RW was just fine and was told to format the HDD and that I should send them the entire PC because "the DVD-RW drive isn't bad, it's the IDE port".... WTF???

I also had an extremely annoying experience with Dell's tech support team in India over how my "Brand New" laser printer somehow had over 300,000 pages printed on the drum. Turned out that they sent me a refurbished printer with the ORIGINAL drum.... in NEW packaging.

BrokenWall
04-01-2008, 08:12 PM
Best Apple tech problem ever for me was.

One of my customers where I use to work wanted us to setup a MacServer for her media business. I told her a normal Powermac would do as a file server but she wanted the 2TBs on the MacServer.

So I get dedicated to take care of this client, because I use to have a Powerbook.

I started up the Server and got the FTP and File Sharing all setup, then the system locks up and gives a "?" for a boot screen.

I look it up to find out its a bad drive. Come to find out the Drives are not bad (they passed 24hr torture test in our bench machine), the controller went bad.

So I drive in my little Ranger with a $5000 Mac Server to Lenox mall and carry this big heavy rack mount case across the mall up the stairs to have everyone look at me and say nice computer. I walked to the genius bar and put on the table in front of all the mac people and stated, this pile of :banana::banana::banana::banana: needs a new controller, its under express warranty not even a week old.

They got offended, and I told them, to replace the controller since then OS is installed and working properly on the drives with everything configured. First they kept the server for around a week, trying to troubleshoot the issue. Then after finally figuring out the issue they called me to tell me they were ordering the part to replace the controller card. I stated firmly not to format the drives, well they replaced the daughter board that connects the hot swappable drive bays to the motherboard, and REINSTALLED THE OS. I was sooooo pissed after loosing all that work to have them make me redo it.

vengance_01
04-02-2008, 10:45 AM
Best Apple tech problem ever for me was.

One of my customers where I use to work wanted us to setup a MacServer for her media business. I told her a normal Powermac would do as a file server but she wanted the 2TBs on the MacServer.

So I get dedicated to take care of this client, because I use to have a Powerbook.

I started up the Server and got the FTP and File Sharing all setup, then the system locks up and gives a "?" for a boot screen.

I look it up to find out its a bad drive. Come to find out the Drives are not bad (they passed 24hr torture test in our bench machine), the controller went bad.

So I drive in my little Ranger with a $5000 Mac Server to Lenox mall and carry this big heavy rack mount case across the mall up the stairs to have everyone look at me and say nice computer. I walked to the genius bar and put on the table in front of all the mac people and stated, this pile of :banana::banana::banana::banana: needs a new controller, its under express warranty not even a week old.

They got offended, and I told them, to replace the controller since then OS is installed and working properly on the drives with everything configured. First they kept the server for around a week, trying to troubleshoot the issue. Then after finally figuring out the issue they called me to tell me they were ordering the part to replace the controller card. I stated firmly not to format the drives, well they replaced the daughter board that connects the hot swappable drive bays to the motherboard, and REINSTALLED THE OS. I was sooooo pissed after loosing all that work to have them make me redo it. this why we do everything ourselves. One thing I like about Dell's business side is they will next day any part that you and so you can install it. No muss no fuss.