An open letter to Apple.

I'm posting this online because there is literally no support@apple.com and the local Apple store staff were unable to direct me to any means of contacting Apple electronically. I can purchase a one-off appointment with support but there's no point in throwing good money after bad.

To whom it may concern,

Sometime around mid 2007, I purchased a 13" Macbook. After thirty years of working exclusively with mainframes and various PC architectures, this was my first Mac, ever, and have recommended it to more people than I can possibly count.

These days, we have three Macs in the house; a iBook G4, a 13" MacBook and a brand new 13" MacBook Pro, purchased by my wife for her academic work just over one month ago.

The keyboard assembly to my MacBook has been replaced due to cracking. This is not a complaint, I think it's great that Apple is covering a known defect years after the standard warranty has expired.

Having said that, I just discovered that while my MacBook was actually inside its warranty period, I was misled by your staff regarding a problem which I am now, unfortunatley, stuck with.

About eight months after purchasing the machine, I discovered my mouse button was sticking. It had no "throw" left. Sometimes the effect was minor; there was less "click" to each press and sometimes the effect was far more consequential; the mouse pointer would grab files or menus without me using the mouse button at all.

I returned to my local Apple store (Northshore Mall, MA) on two occasions, describing my problem in detail. Both times I was met with confused looks and shrugs. It was very hard to actually demonstrate the problem since the issue appeared merely cosmetic most of the time.

Just today I read online that the problem is known, was known and is caused by a swelling battery. Sure enough, I remove the battery and the mouse button has full functionality again.

Had someone from your store identified the problem at the time I reported it, which I explained in detail, I would not need to spend $129 in order to replace the battery. Granted, this battery does not hold much of a charge after three years but since I'm always plugged in to power and never using the battery for any length of time, its only function has been to power the computer long enough for me to replace the cord that may have fallen or been pulled out.

It's my first lousy experience with an Apple product or Apple Customer Care to date.

Sincerely,
Jason Desjardins
jason@pho7o.com
serial: W87271AGYQ7