"iPod's Dirty Secret" 262
akpoff writes "Have you ever made a promise while in tech-support hell to let everyone know how bad the product is? The Neistat brothers followed through after the batteries in an iPod died and Apple told them it would cost US$250 to replace them. The tech rep told the guys they might as well buy a new iPod. The brothers thought differently and made a movie showing how they got the word out in a large metro area. Of course it was made on a Mac with iMovie." Their statement is a bit misleading: many people have iPods that have lasted a lot longer than 18 months (the iPod was released over two years ago). But the batteries don't last forever. What is their life expectancy? Does Apple notify consumers of a life expectancy?
Oh my gosh! (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, what were they expecting? When I bought my iPod, I don't remember Apple ever saying they would replace the batteries for free, and I'm sure I don't recall them saying used magical batteries that never die.
They must work for SCO (Score:5, Insightful)
PDA Smart [pdasmart.com] offers $69 replacement service or a do-it-yourself kit for $59. Which Geek.com raved about [geek.com]
If the guys can't Google [google.com], they shouldn't buy expensive toys.
And a third-party iPod battery costs... $50. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:And a third-party iPod battery costs... $50. (Score:2, Insightful)
Would you pop open the case of your VCR and replace the damaged or worn out heads? Would you buy yourself a new DVD tray and motor and replace it when it goes bad? Would you replace the screen of your Palm when it gets scratched? Would you replace the lense of your digital camera if it gets moisture inside? I could go on.
Your point is weak.
Re:Oh my gosh! (Score:5, Insightful)
Ugh. If your iPod is under warranty and the battery dies, Apple will fix it for free. No need to put in a 3rd party battery if the iPod is still under warranty.
I told him the serial, he told me to frigg off.
Apple states specifically that they don't support some types of G3's on some versions of OS X. For example OS X 10.3 requires a G3 with USB.
If Apple states on the box that you need a certain hardware level to run a given version of the OS, I think they are well within their rights to tell you to 'frigg off'.
Re:And a third-party iPod battery costs... $50. (Score:2, Insightful)
No, it's cheaper to get a new one, or use it as an excuse to switch to DVD.
Would you buy yourself a new DVD tray and motor and replace it when it goes bad?
No, that would be covered under warrantee.
Would you replace the screen of your Palm when it gets scratched?
Yes, wouldn't you?
Would you replace the lense of your digital camera if it gets moisture inside?
No, I'd probably just dry it.
I could go on.
Please do, I don't think we have enough data points to extrapolate your point yet.
Out Of Warranty, So Crack The Case (Score:2, Insightful)
As a rule, consumer electronics factory repair prices have been at or near replacement cost for all but high end gear (ie. >$2000US) for years. Consumers with enough brains to program their VCR who want to flog their gear a little longer have long been buying DIY books. As others have pointed out, Google is the friend of modern man.
website (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:website (Score:2, Insightful)
What century have you been living in? Corporations have many product lines and many subsidiary companies these days. I can tell people that I think the PS2 is a great product while also laying claim to being one of the foremost experts on why the Walkman sucks. I mean, Quicktime and the iPod aren't exactly the same product, now are they?
Amused? No.
Re:Oh my gosh! (Score:5, Insightful)
IIt really sucks that his iPod battery died as quickly as it did, and it's unfortunate he ended up with an unknowledgeable person on his Tech support call, but they both seem to be isolated incidents. A friend of mine has had his iPod for at least that long and he doesn't have any problems with it.
Re:I know how they feel! (Score:2, Insightful)
More like buying a car and having to replace the "gas tank" after 350 miles. They were recharging their battery after all with electricity. And I'm sure that Apple didn't advertise the fact that batteries need to be replaced after a year or so. In fact, I'm quite sure that Apple was playing up the "rechargability" as a feature.
This is pretty silly (Score:3, Insightful)
Second, batteries don't last forever. There can't be a life expectancy because that number is dependent on number of charges, hours used, length of time used, and other factors. If they said "13000 hours" and some fool's iPod went dead before that, then he'd be compelled to put it on a site like these people did, which IMO, is ridiculous.
It is very possible their tech support guy was a moron, but they shouldn't tarnish the reputation of iPod or Apple. It's so pathetic how they always go for the most successful products and attempt to break them to pieces.
2 bad batteries... (Score:3, Insightful)
Defective by Design (Score:3, Insightful)
While Apple might not be guilty of any crime in their handling of this, they are definately guilty of:
o Very poor design
o Very poor handing of the problem.
Apple relies on very high customer satisfaction to justify their premium products. This type of incident does not bode well.
Re:They must work for SCO (Score:5, Insightful)
Everyone gets a bad phone rep - these things are farmed-out, But instead of asking for a supervisor, or calling back and getting someone with a braincell, or getting his name and then writing Apple, or doing any research themselves to find out about replacing batteries and why batteries fail, they decided to go ballistic and go to war with Apple.
They remind me of he people you see in a store, who - if they don't get what they want, right then - decide to start yelling at the tops of their voices to get a crowd. You know the types - they want what they want because the "client is king", which is always true until they start acting like one.
I can be an Apple apologist, but I have an iPod too and if I thought I was going to get screwed, I'd complain. And I have - my iPod was 4 weeks old when one of the earbuds gave up. They sent me a new set in 3 days. The pod skipped the first song occasionally (Toshiba HD issue - known in the forums) and the screen, while it worked, didn't seem to be the bright-blue screen you see in the commercials but instead a weaker green that washed-out a bit in the sun (polarizing, I guessed). I even scuffed the screen and back a bit - it looked old.
All this is 6 weeks after I buy one in NY and take it home to The Netherlands.
Called them up, told them the story, got a rep who sent a box Airborne the next day. It was in for repair. Then, a week and a half later, I get a brand-new iPod with a new blue screen and un-skipping drive, just as I asked. Perfect condition, just as I expected.
They idiots plain lie on their site. Their guerrilla tactics don't impress me because I know their tactics aren't about respect but about public embarrassment.
They should enjoy their 10 min/MB of fame. I hope Apple sues 'em.
mod parent up, insightful (Score:4, Insightful)
Bad tech support rep? (Score:4, Insightful)
1. There was something wrong with the iPod other than the battery (maybe it fell our of their pocket one too many times?)
2. Or, the tech support rep from Apple goofed and forgot that battery service is cheaper. Heck, not all of the Apple tech support reps can be stellar. If you don't like what you hear, call back.
Re:mod parent up, insightful (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, but y'know so would not being given the first no by the company in the first place.
I mean come on, what, we're all telemarketers now and have to ignore the first three times a company says "no" until we get what we want?
Re:Oh my gosh! (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd rather think he called tech support before Apple introduced the $99 battery exchange program.
Re:Oh my gosh! (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, he certainly deserves to have the hate of millions, for the unpardonable sin of being new and not being clear on all aspects of all products.
I hope I get a question that I don't know at the computer store where I work, just so I can hope to see a movie about people protesting the company/device and my name plastered all over
Post from Mac/ (Score:4, Insightful)
I typically listen to my iPod for about 6-8 hours a day. I charge it up every two days. I've had it for almost a year now. The battery is fine for me. But of course, being an audio engineer, I don't listen at earsplitting levels so my battery isn't used up by driving the output amplifier.
Let's do a little basic math here. I spend $3 on some batteries...long life Duracell or Energizer. I go through a pair in two days at my usual listening rate of 6-8 hours per day. So that's $1.50 a day in batteries. In a month, I've spent $30 (an average of 20 work days a month, at $1.50 per day). In a year, I will spend $360 in batteries. If you stretch that out to the 18 months the guy is complaining about, you end up spending $540.
So, in 18 months, he can spend $540 on batteries, or $499 on a new iPod and $41 on music from the iTMS.
Or, he could spend $499 on a new iPod, and in 18 months, for only an additional $10 investment, get a new battery. So he now spends $550 and get's an iPod for 36 months.
This is utter silliness.
Re:Oh my gosh! (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple Support (Score:3, Insightful)
Now they're complaining that the battery doesn't last forever. I find it amazing that after Li-ION batteries have been out for years that people don't understand that these things don't last forever.
When i purchased my Powerbook G4, i was told by the reseller that i would go through about a battery every year. I opted for the Applecare and they have given me a new battery every year. My first battery dropped to about 50% life after a year and now i'm on number 2. While this isn't great, it's certainly better than my fathers Dell laptop that has about 20mins of life after about 1 year. For those of you who don't understand why Apple will not repair things like powersupplies, it's because it would cost more to fix one, than buying a new one.
As for batteries, has anyone looked the market full of portable electronics lately. A large share of PDAs do not have replacable batteries. Once your Clio battery dies, you have a $200 paperweight.
Unfortunately, i have yet to find a battery that lasts forever. You have to change the battery in your car every 3-5 years, and it's only really used to start the car. PDA, Laptops, Cellphones, none of these devices have batteries that last more than a couple years, yet it is the iPod that gets complained about.
People need to realize that every device has a "cost of ownership." With most devices this consists of purchase cost, maintanence costs, repair costs and so on. Having a battery fail in a device after 18 months is not out of the ordinary, especially with heavy use. You have to change the oil in your car, rotate the tires, and tune it up every 60,000 miles, yet none of these things anger people as much as the battery failing in the ipod.
Just sit down, shut up, and stop blaming Apple for the simple fact that their hardware makes it through the warrenty period without issue.
Product Safety (Score:5, Insightful)
These guys are wrong but... (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't think these guys had all the info, or were possibly led astray by the Apple rep. But really, as big an issue as this has become, Apple would do well to offer a 4G iPod with an external battery pack. I mean, c'mon, Ives and crew are more than up to it. If the design was more or less exactly like the PowerBook design is, it would make no difference at all to daily use (i.e. battery flush with the body, like a cell phone).
In fact one of the unexpected bonuses to this kind of design I've observed, on my T68i, is that if I drop it the phone has tended to land on one of the bottom corners, or scrape the back - which is the battery itself. I can remove the cosmetic damage to the phone by changing that battery.