I had problems with my MacBook Pro three months after purchase. USB wouldn't work correctly, WiFi kept dropping and I'd get distorted sound and regular kernel panics. After speaking with four senior Apple Technical Advisors on the telephone, I was told that my Mac had a hardware issue and that I should take it into an Apple Authorised Service Provider to get it diagnosed and repaired. As Compu-B was the nearest, I took it in there.
Went to the store after work, and started explaining the issues to the Compu-B employee who immediately interrupted me to ask me if it had been in contact with liquid "recently" while turning my laptop this way and that, peering into all the ports for signs of liquid. I said it hadn't, that it had always been used on a stand on my desk with a wireless keyboard and mouse, and an external monitor.
I continued explaining all of the problems I was having, and offered the Apple case number so that he would have access to all the Apple logs so they could see what I'd already spoken through with the Apple techs. He said he didn't need that.
While speaking with him, a female Compu-B employee, who was examining an iMac another customer had brought in, decided to rotate it to have a better look at the screen, in the process scraping the side of the iMac's screen along the back of the lid of my mint condition MacBook Pro. Thanks for that.
Decided to leave the MacBook with them and then got a barely intelligible message left on my voicemail the next day. I could just make out the word "Compu B' in the message so rang the store after Googling their number, as I couldn't make it out from the message. Eventually got put through to the technician who was "testing" my Mac. He said he couldn't recreate the issues, and asked how he could reproduce them.
He was extremely dismissive, rude, and did not listen at all. I told him that when using USB hard drives, they would disconnect when doing large data transfers. He said he didn't have a hard drive. I told him that if using a USB microphone to record audio, the audio would cut out after a few seconds. He said he didn't have a microphone. I said that if using an external USB hub, USB devices will stop working after a few minutes. He said he didn't have a USB hub. I said that if watching a video while dragging the window around the desktop, you'll see WiFi cut out over and over again. He said he didn't have a video to test with. I said that when editing video in FCP X, you'll see the WiFi turn off and the sound will distort, and eventually the machine will reboot. He said they didn't have FCP X to test with. I said that if trying to import photos to an Adobe Lightroom library stored on an external drive, the drive will disconnect after importing maybe half a dozen photos. He said they didn't have Lightroom, or an external drive, to test with.
He kept asking me to recreate the issues, I said I've just told you exactly how to recreate the issues and you say you can't because you don't have any applications or any peripherals.
He said "So the machine is working". I said that it clearly wasn't working as I'd just given him a whole list of the problems.
I asked him what he had done and he said he'd ran Apple Hardware Test (which I'd already done, which he would have known if he had bothered to look at the Apple case notes). I asked him what USB peripherals he had tested it with and he replied "A mouse".
Plugging in a mouse and moving the pointer around the screen for five minutes, on a Mac with a fresh OS install and no Applications is extensive testing? Seriously? Incompetent is putting it mildly.
I said to just forget it and I'll collect the Mac that evening and take it in to a different service provider.
Arrived at the store after work, asked for my Mac back which they said they couldn't give me as I didn't have the Compu-B case id with me, even though I had the Apple case id and the Mac serial number, and could prove that the Mac was registered to my Apple id. Pointed out that they could search for me by name and find the case id. Then they decided I couldn't have it back without identification. Offered various bank cards and was told it had to be a passport so I had to ask my girlfriend to go home, find my passport and then come all the way back to the store. While waiting for her to come back I observed other people coming in to collect their machines without being asked for any passport.
In the end took it to another service provider who actually listened to the issues, tested the machine properly, and diagnosed a logic board failure. All in less time than it had taken comp-b to return my computer to me after playing with it for 5 minutes and deciding it worked.
Avoid Compu-B at all costs. You'd be better off taking your Mac to a kindergarten that letting these clowns near it. read more