Evolution
join:2001-10-17
Kinnelon, NJ
| [rant] Ok, Now I'm pissed (OWC)
Some of you may remember my latest fiasco with MacResQ in this thread »[rant] Do I have reason to be pissed? (MacResQ) now it continues with OWC. When I ordered my Firewire enclosure from them I had no problems whatsoever, and was looking forward to doing business with them again. So I went ahead and ordered a Superdrive for my 15" AL Powerbook from this thread »8x Superdrive update for Mini...
I ordered the drive with second day shipping so I would get it this week. I recieve the package last night, and printed out instructions to disassemble my PB. I take out the old drive, put the new one back in, put everything back together and start up the computer. The new drive makes a sound when I start the computer, good, just like my old drive.
The first thing I do when I start my PB is check in System Profiler to see if OS X recognized it. It didn't. I take apart my Powerbook again, make sure everything is tight with the connection between the Superdrive and the logic board. Everything is fine, I boot up again, still no drive. So I call OWC and after 40 minutes of waiting on hold, I finally speak to someone.
They had just found out about the problem the night before. Aparently I was the 5th or 6th person to call with a 15" Powerbook and complain that the drive doesn't work. They were quite aware of the problem. I asked him if they had known about it, don't you think it would've been a good idea to send out an e-mail letting people who bought the drive KNOW about the problem?? He said they had no such thing setup. I asked him if they had tested it in a 15" Powerbook before selling it to the public. He replied with "I don't know I don't do the testing here" which makes it seem like it was NEVER tested before it was shipped.
Now here's the best part of my fiasco, I have to check with them to see if they resolved the problem!!! He offered me my full money back in form of an RMA, but its not exactly that easy for me to send packages out here. I asked him if they had setup a mailing list or SOMETHING so they could get in contact with ME as soon as something is figured out. They had NOTHING of the sort, I made sure I left him my name and phone number before I got off the phone with him.
What kind of BS is this?? I've been having really good luck lately with resellers. Let's see if they can get this resolved, because this is unacceptable. A little compensation gift would be nice too.
P.S. I dual booted into Gentoo and Gentoo found the drive, but had some problems when I was browsing on the drive
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'04 325i ZSP - UUC Motorwerks BigBoy Clutch Stop - Clear Euro Lights - M3 Trunk Lip Spoiler - AUX Input - Alcantara Interior Pieces - Rogue Engineering IKON Exhaust (soon) |
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gabeman
join:2001-05-03
Easton, CT
clubs: | Maybe the drive had old firmware... have there been any PowerBook SuperDrive firmware updates? |
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Evolution
join:2001-10-17
Kinnelon, NJ
| said by gabeman  :Maybe the drive had old firmware... have there been any PowerBook SuperDrive firmware updates? Hmm I'm not sure, I'm calling OWC right now
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'04 325i ZSP - UUC Motorwerks BigBoy Clutch Stop - Clear Euro Lights - M3 Trunk Lip Spoiler - AUX Input - Alcantara Interior Pieces - Rogue Engineering IKON Exhaust (soon) |
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andrewmead
join:2000-11-05
Cedar Hill, TX | reply to Evolution
Well I just ordered this drive for my mini (whenever it comes in). I hope I don't have the same problem... |
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Evolution
join:2001-10-17
Kinnelon, NJ
| He said it works fine in the mini, don't worry. If you look on the webpage for the item, its listed for Mac mini only, not for the Powerbook anymore. I just got off the phone with them and they're gonna try and send out a replacement Matshita drive, but it might cost $20 extra, and hes not sure if I will get charged. I love Mac resellers!
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'04 325i ZSP - UUC Motorwerks BigBoy Clutch Stop - Clear Euro Lights - M3 Trunk Lip Spoiler - AUX Input - Alcantara Interior Pieces - Rogue Engineering IKON Exhaust (soon) |
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gabeman
join:2001-05-03
Easton, CT
clubs:
| reply to Evolution
you should've ordered it with a SuperDrive in the first place 
I regret not ordering my G5 with bluetooth. Now I have to use an ugly external adapter.
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Evolution
join:2001-10-17
Kinnelon, NJ
| said by gabeman :you should've ordered it with a SuperDrive in the first place I regret not ordering my G5 with bluetooth. Now I have to use an ugly external adapter. I hate you Gabe.
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'04 325i ZSP - UUC Motorwerks BigBoy Clutch Stop - Clear Euro Lights - M3 Trunk Lip Spoiler - AUX Input - Alcantara Interior Pieces - Rogue Engineering IKON Exhaust (soon) |
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gabeman
join:2001-05-03
Easton, CT
clubs:
| said by Evolution : said by gabeman :you should've ordered it with a SuperDrive in the first place I regret not ordering my G5 with bluetooth. Now I have to use an ugly external adapter. I hate you Gabe. It's not my fault you have to live in Towers
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Evolution
join:2001-10-17
Kinnelon, NJ | pwn3d by the kid who's scared of going downtown to buy a SmartMedia card but likes to drink 40's |
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dkmcknight
join:2001-12-10
Riverside, CA
| reply to Evolution
I might add that I've found OWC's email support to be very responsive. I picked up a Firewire enclosure about a year ago for an old DVD-RAM drive from my G4, and it didn't work as advertised. I did a little research to discover the enclosure's chipset needed a firmware update to get it to recognize the drive -- but it wasn't available anywhere for the Mac, running OS X, and it wouldn't work under OS 9. There was a Java updater from the chipset's manufacturer, but it was only available to OEMs -- so I asked OWC about getting the Java updater, and within a week, they had it, and sent it to me. From my perspective, their pricing of the enclosure (which they were discontinuing) was an incredible bargain, and their support to get it to work with an older drive was terrific -- though, I had to do some hunting myself to figure out what the problem was.
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Evolution
join:2001-10-17
Kinnelon, NJ
| I've had no problems with them in the past, as I mentioned before I ordered a Firewire enclosure from OWC with no problems. Its their fault for not testing this before sending it out (which is my guess).
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'04 325i ZSP - UUC Motorwerks BigBoy Clutch Stop - Clear Euro Lights - M3 Trunk Lip Spoiler - AUX Input - Alcantara Interior Pieces - Rogue Engineering IKON Exhaust (soon) |
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JoshNJ
Premium
join:2001-12-25
Freehold, NJ
edit:
February 10th, @04:54PM
| reply to Evolution
said by Evolution :which makes it seem like it was NEVER tested before it was shipped. you can't be serious, you really think stores test every product they sell on all setups (or any at all) to verify manufacturer-stated system requirements?
said by Evolution :A little compensation gift would be nice too. yeah, they should send you a check for $500 plus a free ipod, they are just a store selling a product, they didn't build it, they just sell it, they are trying to be nice and do the right thing and they offered you all your money back and you are getting upset over something very silly
quite honestly, for all anyone knows, it could have been a recent software update to os x that is causing the drives not to work
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JoshNJ
Premium
join:2001-12-25
Freehold, NJ
edit:
February 10th, @04:58PM
| reply to Evolution
said by Evolution :Its their fault for not testing this before sending it out this is the second time you have said this, stores do not "test" all the products they sell, it is the consumer's responsibility to do their research on a product to see if it works or not, and at worst you just return it for a full refund
this is the same nonsense as your other rant thread about the ipod battery, you USED it for 5 months, the warranty as stated was 90 days, no reasonable person could possibly expect a store to exchange that
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I support the RIAA |
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gabeman
join:2001-05-03
Easton, CT
clubs:
moderated:
February 10th, @05:16PM
| reply to JoshNJ
said by JoshNJ : said by Evolution :which makes it seem like it was NEVER tested before it was shipped. you can't be serious, you really think stores test every product they sell on all setups (or any at all) to verify manufacturer-stated system requirements? said by Evolution :A little compensation gift would be nice too. yeah, they should send you a check for $500 plus a free ipod, they are just a store selling a product, they didn't build it, they just sell it, they are trying to be nice and do the right thing and they offered you all your money back and you are getting upset over something very silly quite honestly, for all anyone knows, it could have been a recent software update to os x that is causing the drives not to work I don't think its unreasonable to expect that the product works.
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JoshNJ
Premium
join:2001-12-25
Freehold, NJ
| said by gabeman : I don't think its unreasonable to expect that the product works. it is way unreasonable to expect a full refund plus "compensation" , try taking that to small claims court and see how fast the judge laughs at that
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dave49er
join:2004-05-05
Walnut, CA
 ·Charter Pipeline
| reply to JoshNJ
said by JoshNJ : said by Evolution :Its their fault for not testing this before sending it out this is the second time you have said this, stores do not "test" all the products they sell, it is the consumer's responsibility to do their research on a product to see if it works or not, and at worst you just return it for a full refund I think that in general, you are right. Stores buy boxes, advertise according to manufacturer specifications and claims, and then push the boxes out.
I think that OWC, though, is a different case. They are about upgrading your Mac without paying the exorbitant prices that Apple, Daystar, Sonnet, etc. charge.
You can pay $500 for Apple RAM, $175 for RAM at NewEgg with no guarantee that it will work in your Mac, or $225 at OWC for RAM that they buy that has been tested by them to work in specific Macs. The same goes for other peripherals. That is why people buy from OWC.
If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me. |
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Evolution
join:2001-10-17
Kinnelon, NJ
edit:
February 10th, @05:51PM
| Re: [rant] Ok, Now I'm pissed (OWC)
Josh you CANT be serious here. IT WAS LISTED DIRECTLY AS WORKING WITH A 15" POWERBOOK. Do a little research before you start running your mouth. In the second thread I posted, it shows a link to the drive, the DESCRIPTION HAS CHANGED BECAUSE OF THE PROBLEM. It was originally released for the 15" Powerbook and 17" Powerbook. SO If a company STATES that it works for my computer, and I spend $160 on a new drive, I EXPECT THE DRIVE TO WORK WITH MY COMPUTER. I really don't understand your logic here. Do you honestly have nothing better to do than sit on the internet criticizing everyone?
As far as the iPod battery goes, I got a new one for FREE, I could've been a jerk and posted the FULL e-mails between us, but I didn't. If you seriously have any more problems, feel free to PM me.
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'04 325i ZSP - UUC Motorwerks BigBoy Clutch Stop - Clear Euro Lights - M3 Trunk Lip Spoiler - AUX Input - Alcantara Interior Pieces - Rogue Engineering IKON Exhaust (soon) |
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JoshNJ
Premium
join:2001-12-25
Freehold, NJ | Re: [rant] Ok, Now I'm pissed (OWC)
fine... but there is still absolutely no reason to expect anything other than your original payment back
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I support the RIAA |
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