First, thank you to all of you that viewed and responded to the saga posted a few pages back.

[forums.macresource.com]

I picked up the CUSA MDD from MacMall yesterday, at 1:30 PM, and got some help getting it out of the van. I checked with the Better Business Bureau about filing a complaint, and they already had CUSA on file. For some reason the contact they had on file for the store I bought the MDD from, was a manager from another store several miles away. I called at 1:54 PM my time, and asked to speak with that manager, and the person answering asked what the call was in regard to. When I told her, she hung up on me! I then called CUSA’s corporate customer service at 2:00 PM, and after being on hold for close to ten minutes, the gal I finally spoke with also hung up on me after hearing what the call was in regard to!

I then dug up the number of the next closest CUSA store that was listed as having an Apple rep, and called at 2:15 PM and actually got through to Chris, one of the store managers. Chris was a lot more helpful that most of the previous CUSA personnel I had spoken with. He had to check with a couple of other people during the course of our conversation, and got back to me saying that CUSA should have re-registered the MDD “through the system” at the time of sale… like where have we heard that before. He agreed the machine should be AppleCared through October 7, 2007 according to the sale info provided.

Chris then asked why the selling store manager couldn’t register it within the last month and a half, and I told him it was likely because the sale was too stale at the time it was made, trying to read between the lines of what has happened over the last several weeks. The Apple rep wasn’t in Chris’ store at the time we spoke yesterday, so I agreed to call him back at 2:00 PM today, when the rep should be in, and then bring everything to Chris’ store after that.

In the mean time, I called AppleCare back, and got through to Mark at 3:00 PM yesterday. He reviewed the case notes, and did some more checking at his end. He re-confirmed the five prior AppleCare incidents starting September 14, 2003 originating from the selling CUSA store with the user’s initials “P.M.”, and also confirmed a registration date the day prior, which jived with the September 13, 2003 date the techs at MacMall had listed as the “estimated purchase date” pulled from the “GSX” database when I dropped the unit off for service December 5th.

Mark also confirmed the dates were far enough out of whack that CUSA would have likely experienced some difficulty re-registering the machine at the time of their sale to me. I was unable to find out if they even tried to do it. He asked what happened when I spoke w/ the “Agreement Administration Department” (the Re-Reg guys) that he saw noted in the case file, and I told him that they were putting it back on CUSA to make right, and brought him up to speed on my history w/ the BBB and CUSA prior to calling him.

I continued explaining that I thought Apple should stand behind their products and resellers, as this has turned out not to be a very pleasant experience to resolve a rather obvious case of a fraudulent sale. Mark finally uttered the magic words, “Customer Relations Department”, and noted the file that I should (finally) speak w/ them after, or during, my intended meeting w/ Chris and the Apple rep at his CUSA store.

Late yesterday afternoon, I fired up the CUSA MDD to do a little bit more sleuthing, should the results be needed to resolve this matter. In between freezes and crashes, I uncovered whom “P.M.” was, and that a lot of activity tracked back to him starting September 13, 2003. There was about a half a GB of iTunes, several years of pictures in iPhoto, data from 1997 on up from what appeared to be a couple of former computers. There was a pretty comprehensive tell-tale trail of usage through mid 2004, where it then appears the machine’s usage tapered off. It appears to have been set up as a CUSA machine on or about October 19, 2003, and put into customer demo mode in early December, 2003.

It took about four and a half hours to back up the roughly 17GB contained on the CUSA drive to a virgin FW drive for safekeeping, pending resolution of this matter, w/ several reboots required due to intermittent crashes in both 9 and X.

I’ll report back after meeting w/ Chris, the Apple rep, and checking with Apple’s Customer Relations Department later today…

Buzz

Good luck!

I'm interested to hear how it all comes out.

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
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Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
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Eureka, CA

This is like reading a novel. I would have blown a major fuse at someone long before now. I think they out to give you a new top of the line machine for free because of all the crap you've had to put up with through no fault of your own. You have held your cool so much better than most people. Good luck and I hope in the end it is all worth it. And I thought Best Buy was bad, sheeze.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

He's certainly held his cool longer than *I* would have!

I'd have been in the parking lot looking for that managers car with a baseball bat and a bucket of fish....

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
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Eureka, CA

I would not let ChumpUSA off the hook. I would sue them for criminal fraud, and seek punitive damages if possible. They certainly deserve whatever they get.