8 ms·
Steve Jobs’ Response
- pinstriped_dude 17y agoThis is reference to an article, which is a refernce to an article. Here's the original article - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7503635/The-top-five-terse-Steve-Jobs-email-replies.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7503635/The-top-...
- mikecane 17y agoYou are missing the point of his post. It's not just picking up on a news story.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- pyre 17y agoNo, it's ranting about something completely unrelated to the original reference that he gave. The email to Steve Jobs is from a person that is frustrated with something that a lot of people have been frustrated with at one point or another: "Why should I have to shell out $X (where X is a non-trivial amount) just for you to give me an estimate of how much more money it will take to fix the issue, or even to just tell me whether the problem is fixable or not?" The idea that someone like this is looking for a 'free ride' or to get 'something for nothing' is disingenuous. The people are just looking for "it will cost $X to fix" or "it's not fixable, you're screwed", not, "Well.... I could look at it and tell you what I think... But it's gonna cost ya."
- mikecane 17y agoI'll grant you that there are more details to the user's problems -- that $300 is scandalous, and I grant that too -- but it's still not the point of the post. If you want to say that he shouldn't have posted because he gave an incomplete picture, then I suggest you read some of his other posts to see where this fits in. That's the best I can do. And I thank everyone for posting the material that wasn't in his post.
- sstrudeau 17y agoDiagnosis is work. It costs something. Some businesses roll the cost of diagnosis into marketing expenses ("Free evaluation!"); others won't (e.g., my auto mechanic or my doctor). This guy was asking for a "free" diagnosis. That said, if he had AppleCare, even if the damage was his fault, my internal "fairness" compass says providing the diagnosis for free seems fair even if the repair isn't (what if the water isn't the problem and it's just a loose connection or a known bad part?).
- awa 17y agoInteresting to note is that the guy did have Applecare too.
- pinstriped_dude 17y agoI disagree. The reason I cliked on the link (and I suppose several other people will too) was to read Steve Jobs's responses (as suggested by the title of the post), not some guy's rant about Steve Jobs's responses
- blahedo 17y agoWhat a dumb response. The person that wrote in wasn't looking for a free replacement or a free repair---just an answer to the question of whether the laptop was fixable. The snark was unnecessary, as was the assumption that the user was just looking for a free ride. But perhaps Jobs just didn't read the original request carefully; Bob Lefsetz's ranty response doesn't have that excuse. He's using the user's question to rant about something completely unrelated. Lame.
- zackattack 17y agoIf you read the original email, which is two nodes back in the list, it's clear that the reader is voicing frustration with the possibility of having to spend $300 with no guarantee of fixity. It's not an easy pill to swallow, psychologically. If the customer had AppleCare, hopefully the diagnosis would have been free. But he didn't. In Blackjack insurance is a sucker's bet but in the game of life, perhaps it isn't. How's that for a platitude. p.s. taking suggestions for a single word substitute for "fixity"
- jongraehl 17y agorepair
- pyre 17y agoSee http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1214566 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1214566 The customer appears to have had AppleCare, but AppleCare doesn't cover damage that is your fault.
- zackattack 17y agoYou'd hope a simple diagnosis would be covered. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=409Pjtq7jzY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=409Pjtq7jzY
- pyre 17y agoI agree that a diagnosis should be covered, but the way I read that email it looks like it wasn't.
- chaosmachine 17y agoOff topic: It's really distracting when a site overrides the default cursor for no reason. html, body { cursor: crosshair; } Don't do that!
- snprbob86 17y agoI was confused for a solid 3 seconds wondering how I got my mac into screen clipping mode.
- stcredzero 17y agoRock stars are anti-heroes. They don’t do it everybody else’s way, but their own. To bring the thread back onto topic, the article needs editing. One example, substituting "anybody" for "everybody" in the above excerpt would make more sense.
- lincolnq 17y agoYeah, I used Firebug to disable that.
- jongraehl 17y agoThe author complains about a cult of personality around Zappos' CEO in the middle of his paen to Apple's.
- tylerdmace 17y agoYeah, I quit reading after that. Just lookin' for a cheap troll.
- jsz0 17y agoObviously the customer is complaining about a convoluted, possibly unfair, repair process more than trying to evade responsibility. I believe Apple has since changed their practices. The last incident I had with Apple included a free evaluation (they paid postage too) and a flat repair cost that was pretty hefty. About $200 less than a brand new computer. My guess is the estimate included the possibility of replacing the entire machine since we never discussed the possibility the machine couldn't be repaired. (but I didn't bother since it was just a banged up Ethernet port) Anyway my personal feeling is I give a company as much respect as they give me. I admit I've tried to screw companies on warranty repair if I was either unhappy with the product or didn't like how their technical support people treated me. If a company plays it straight and fair I'll show them respect. Over a period of probably 3 years I had some awful experiences with Toshiba and I certainly will try to screw them again in the future if possible. Treat your customers with respect.
- asnyder 17y agoShit, I treat my MacBook Pro like gold, I know how much it costs, I won’t even put a drink near it. Interesting, I'm usually of the opposite mind. If I pay $2500 for a ThinkPad I expect to be able to spill water on it and it continue to run great. Otherwise what's the price premium for? A shiny case? In case you're wondering, ThinkPads do in fact have a drainage hole for those unexpected spills while working away. I wish my current HP ProBook 5310m had one.
- potatolicious 17y agoNot to mention Dell's warranty covers spills and other accidental, non-abuse use cases. Mistakes happen, I'm willing to pay my insurance money instead of worrying about what's happening to my precious gear. I'm a Mac user, and Apple's customer service is top notch - way better than Dell's consumer customer service (3 hours on hold? hurray!), but I have to admit that the accident coverage options in their warranty makes me jealous.
- sliverstorm 17y agoReliability and robustness are features of ThinkPads, not basic laptop functionality. With the ThinkPad, a good chunk of the 2.5k goes towards making it a solid product. With the apple, a good chunk goes towards making sure it's pretty and a trendy product. Simple as that.
- somebear 17y agoMust have been before they were bought by Lenovo. Seems like the T61's we have at work are nothing but trouble. Regarding the new Macbooks, the casing machined from a solid block of aluminum is very robust. Quite a bit more robust than any Thinkpad I've ever had by hands on.
- houseabsolute 17y agoWhen you are super rich and super cool, you can be an asshole and nobody will stop you. At least that's the message I got from this.
- hernan7 17y agoNote to bloggers: Can we stop living Steve Jobs' life vicariously?
- dnsworks 17y agoAnother "Let's all bow down and worship at the cult of Apple" post. Apple's return policies are somewhat abysmal, but that's OK, because in the eyes of many, Apple can do no wrong because "At least they're not Microsoft". The iPhone is the only phone I've ever used that is so poorly designed that it gets destroyed if you sweat a little bit. (Hint .. Heat makes people sweat. The iPhone gets very hot when used.) It's a design flaw that Apple refuses to acknowledge.
- dhimes 17y agoWe've had good luck with the iphones in our family. Two teenage boys and wife have them with no problems. I don't have it yet because my mobile is my business line and their ability to get a signal, until the newest model, has been crap. The latest version seems almost (but not quite) as good as my old Razr. When we're all somewhere with poor signal, everybody borrows my Razr.
- grumpyfart 17y agoIt's quite funny how author analyzed the response, it's obvious that he's classic fanboy. All I get out of this conversation is Steve Jobs is a jackass, yes being a public jackass is really cool but doesn't change the fact that your are indeed a jackass. Recently I blew up a really expensive Sony device, it was out of warranty. I gave them a call and explained that it's gone. Because I was one of the first buyers of that model they send me a brand new one for free. Now I love Sony, they didn't have to, I'd understand that it's out of warranty, however they did! A company got millions of customers there are only a few customers which will come to you and say I dropped my iPhone from the window, would you replace it?, a good company got buffer to replace it a jackass company won't. They made millions out of it, replacing couple of thousand extra devices won't kill them. They can buy one less Yacht.
- erikb85 17y agoDownvote me if you like, but what is that? 1. Nonsense article. 2. As described in another comment, the curser sucks. 3. And it links as a second source to another second source. Why link to them and not to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7503635/The-top-five-terse-Steve-Jobs-email-replies.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7503635/The-top-...? Please guys, read the telegraph article. Even that one is a second hand source, but at least they add some value by combining some sources (and is better to read and makes more sense).
- rsheridan6 17y agoDoes anybody know how hard it would be to design a notebook that doesn't die if you spill a few drops of water on the keyboard?
- jerf 17y agoA Google term you could use is "ruggedized laptops", that will lead you to some other terms. Prepare to pay. But if you need it, it's worth it. (In general, you don't need it.)
- rsheridan6 17y agoThat looks like total overkill. I'm talking about protection from spilling an ounce of water, not using it as a weapon to bash grizzly bears to death with or whatever these people are doing with their computers.