Trouble Installing Leopard on Refurbished Macbook

[wheezy84]

Hi,

My refurbished laptop is about a month old. I finally decided to install Leopard. My laptop came with Tiger installed and it came with 2 install disc and a Leopard CPU Drop-in disc.

My problem is that when I put in the Leopard disc that came with the computer, it doesn't read it at all. Any ideas? Thanks

 

[dborja]

Hi,

My refurbished laptop is about a month old. I finally decided to install Leopard. My laptop came with Tiger installed and it came with 2 install disc and a Leopard CPU Drop-in disc.

My problem is that when I put in the Leopard disc that came with the computer, it doesn't read it at all. Any ideas? Thanks

My guess is either the drive (I doubt it since they were able to install Tiger) or the Leopard disk. Call AppleCare and see what they say; you have 90 days of telephone support...

 

[wheezy84]

Ok. Just updating on this. I took it into the Apple store, where I was "helped" by a "Genius". Somehow he got the computer to read the Leopard upgrade disc and he continued to install. Installation was taking quite awhile and this is where the "Genius" moved me from the "Genius Bar" to the theater section where they explain stuff. Installation was going fine until he disconneted the power supply and had me moved from the bar in order to help other customers that had just got there. This was after I had been waiting for awhile and this was about 1 hr 45 mins. of being in the store. So I bring it back to the "Genius Bar" and told him that it froze after he made me move. He put my computer behind the desk and continued to help the other customers after me for another 1 hr or so while I stood there. That is ridiculous if you ask me. Finally he said, the only step now is to switch out the DVD Drive. I agree, already pissed off . They had the part in and said it would take a couple days. Fast forward to today, I go pick it up and failed to check it at the store (stupid me, but hey, it should work after dropping it off for repair). I get home and the computer is stuck on a grey screen. AWESOME! I called Apple Tech Support, they have no solution for me and now I have to take it back to the Apple store tomorrow. SWEET! Will never buy anything refurbished again! Waste of time, money, and gas. Thanks Apple!

 

[Pacer69]

So sorry to hear of this bad customer experience...that store you went to clearly is very poorly run. You should send a letter to Apple about it. Something like that should have never gotten out the door the first time, let alone the second, and you should have been helped immediately instead of being made to wait since you were already ahead in the queue.

If that ever happens again, speak up to a manager right away so you get help right THEN, there is absolutely no excuse for that; your time is valuable too and if you were ahead in line with your appointment at the counter, that's that. Very least, the guy should have just told you to go home and that they'd call you later instead of making you wait.

Try not to let this ruin your perception of Apple, though. I once had a not so great pizza from Pizza Hut but I still order from them, it was just bad that once, that's all.

Call Apple 1-800-SOS-APPL and tell them you want to exchange your refurb for one that works properly. I'd think they could just send you a new one and cross-ship as they have done in the past with me when I had issues with an AP base station. Be insistent but polite. Talk to a manager/s if you have to. Tell them very matter of factly that you're not going back to that store as it is poorly managed and you don't have the time or gas money to waste on getting unsatisfactory results.

If calling that number gets you nowhere, call Apple Customer Relations (sorry, don't know it off top of my head, you'll have to google that #) -- that department specializes in smoothing things over in cases like this. Again, be polite but firm. I'd also tell them you want to make a formal complaint about your local AS and how this was handled. Hang in there, your story is truly one of the very few bad refurb stories I've seen out of probably hundreds the last several years.

 

[wheezy84]

Thanks for the reply, helpful hints.

So I take it back to the store today. I go through the same thing with another "Genius", after telling them I've already done this and the last tech support person and "Genius" had already noted this in the system, so they say. So I talk to a manager and after admitting that they did a half assed job, they took the computer into the back and said it should finally be fixed. This time it coud be the logic board or the harddrive he says. So now I have to make ANOTHER trip back to the Apple store.

Yea, I have two other Macs, no problem whatsoever. This is definitely new to me. Sucks, sorry just venting. Will definitely call Apple Customer Relations.

 

[wheezy84]

computer is finally fixed. due to hard drive failure which resulted in superdrive failure. Computer is running great now. Only if they figured this out the first time, not the the 3rd.

Called Apple Customer Relations, they are giving me a free battery for all this inconvenience. Definitely made up for it. Case Closed. Peace

 

[levitynyc]

computer is finally fixed. due to hard drive failure which resulted in superdrive failure. Computer is running great now. Only if they figured this out the first time, not the the 3rd.

Called Apple Customer Relations, they are giving me a free battery for all this inconvenience. Definitely made up for it. Case Closed. Peace

Great to hear!

 

[dborja]

That's great news! Enjoy your MacBook and Leopard. BTW, I also just bought a refurb MB and it works and looks great...