Goodbye

I agree! Apple's service is really bad. I tried to resolve my problem
trough their website, with no luck. And closest Apple store is 200
miles away from where I live now. Totally with you on :
Make it easier to contact a human being and do not charge someone to
talk to a human being.

How "nice" were you to your iPod? if you were anything like my brother
was to his I am not surprised it didn't have a long life span.

If you ever dropped it on the floor, tossed it because you got upset,
swung it around by the earphones cord, dropped it into your
purse/backpack/bag without protection. Left it in a car in the way of
sunlight or the car overheated, touched it with wet hands, dropped it
in water, used it in the rain...etc.

Well...then it's your fault it failed.

I have had my iPod touch for over a year now and it's working fine.
Sometimes it is all in how you care for your items. If you mistreat
them, they don't last long.

I'm sorry to say - BUT - if it was made in China, that says it all.

I'd like to know when U.S. companies will wise up and bring the
manufacturing of products back to the good old U.S.A.

what errors are you getting on your ipod?

Mine too is giving me some issues - mainly some of my videos don't
work anymore. But mine, like yours, is out of warranty.


However in my case there the fault is not Apple's fault... I simply
dropped mine a LOT. The last time I dropped it, the dang thing
bounced on cement and then slide a few feet...

So, for me... Apple wouldn't be to blame for my clumsiness -
especially since I wasn't even using the ipod protector-cases that I
own. (hah)

Like previously stated they "geniuses" are technicians but not repair
pros. They may be able to make basic repairs but taking apart an ipod
is no easy task. I have done it to upgrade a hard drive in one a while
back. And being that it is not functioning at all may require more
then what a store would have. Apple products are normally very
reliable and the industry standard warranty is on year. Not one year
and one month. Stinks that it broke but out of warranty I would be
upset too because they are not cheap. But when you make warranty
exceptions where do you draw the line. At one year done but there is a
market for broken stuff. A while back again out of the one year I put
my iPhone on a older music dock which charges on a higher current and
fried It but I sold on eBay for 150 broken and got a mytouch now.

Just last week, I had a problem with iTunes. I went to Apple's web
site, sent my question, and received a response back in about 24
hours. The answer was in good English and solved my problem.

http://www.apple.com/support/contact/

However, as you've pointed out, the quality e-mail support I received
for iTunes is not available for iPods. Only iTunes and Apple Photo
Service. That's a shame.

The question is: do you think your problem is something that someone
could resolve via e-mail? For a problem like "no longer functions at
all," the only thing someone on e-mail could do for you is tell you
how to reset your device. It would be difficult to do more, since
diagnosing the problem really needs to be a hands-on activity. Done
by a repair tech, not an in-store "Genius," who may know quite a bit,
but taking apart an iPod to figure out why it doesn't work is
something they are not allowed to do. (Note, you occasionally will
run into a Genius that will do things that they aren't supposed to, so
it does pay to try different people, different stores).

One last note: I've had my iPod now for over 3 years (purchased July,
2006) without a problem. I use it every day. It's traveled back and
forth on dozens of business trips. It's been thrown into my suitcase
for dozens of road trips. It's been to Europe and back.

Not saying that you don't have a dud device, but I can attest that
Apple doesn't make all their stuff to die after a year. Maybe certain
models (mine was the original video model, I think they call it a 5G)
were made to last and others weren't.

Steven S.,

I feel your pain.

Does Apple really refer to their associates as "Geniuses"?

I'm not a tech guy but I do think that a certain obsolescence is built
into these types of things or they would last forever and there would
be little demand to replace it for the "bext big thing".

As far a being able to contact tech without going through what seems
like a maze appears to be more the norm these days.

Stop back and let us know what you hear back.

BillR.

Apple retail employees are not hired nor trained to be technicians.
Their job is to sell Apple products to customers and be knowledgeable
about the features of the products they sell. While I will agree it is
not a good policy to charge customers to talk to a technician, it is
not an uncommon practice. As for the warranty period, 12 months is
standard among nearly all manufacturers.