My Experience with Apple in Saudi Arabia: 2 Years of Frustration

[SaudiMac]

Very long read

Just an example on how IMC is a bad idea ... yeah I will never give up on that ...


ops, change the title from my experience :> I wanted to quote the guy but it went wrong

[Magnus]

Very long read

Just an example on how IMC is a bad idea ... yeah I will never give up on that ...

ops, change the title from my experience :> I wanted to quote the guy but it went wrong

Yeah, wow, that's quite a story. You're pointing to this MacForums.com posting by "voidness".

Obviously we don't know the details of all what's been happening. What I'd like to ask is if people are by and large unhappy with the situation - let's assume for a second that they are - what do we do about it? Or if this is an unusual, isolated case, then we need to deal with it in another way.

When similar things come up on this site, I always try to contact both parties, find out what the story is, and more often than not, there is a misunderstanding or something, a natural explanation to it that was just not communicated properly. I have no knowledge of this case so I'm not saying that's the situation here though, please note that.

[SaudiMac]

one of the issues raised here is that apple US (and canada, uk, Europe) don't honor IMC warranty. That's a serious issue. I am taking that into mind when buying my next mac.


As for how the local dealer acted according to what voidness said, that's typical here in Saudi, yes that's sad. And I blame the chamber of commerce for that.

[Magnus]

one of the issues raised here is that apple US (and canada, uk, Europe) don't honor IMC warranty. That's a serious issue. I am taking that into mind when buying my next mac.

I'm a bit confused about that part as I didn't think there really was anything like "IMC warranty".

We had two MacBooks that both had the problem of some plastic off the cover cracking and coming off, a well known problem. Apple IMC ME said they would replace the cover under Apple warranty, but we never had a chance to arrange for that. In January we were due to go to US for a visit and when there we took the MacBooks to an Apple Store and they replaced the covers under warranty too. One MacBook was purchased in UAE, the other one in Hong Kong I believe, but Apple US had no problem fixing them both under warranty.

I think we need some clarifications on some points...

[SaudiMac]

yes, I have PMed voidness and waiting for his email...
let's hope its just a single bad situation

[SaudiMac]

Here's an update from my contact with the guy.

The second time Apple got involved in my issue is when I contacted Apple Customer Relations in the US on October 31st. I was able to call them from Riyadh using Skype. As I mentioned in my post, the person I talked to seemed genuinely willing to help me. Unfortunately, according to her, Apple Customer Relations in the US doesn't deal with issues from IMC countries. She told me I'll have to contact Apple UK. However, she also told me that she was looking for ways on her end to help me.

After several attempts, I finally managed to call Apple UK Customer Relations on November 14. They also told me that they can't do anything in regards to IMCs, since they are not operated by Apple. When I asked for contact information of someone who can deal with IMC ME, the person I talked to claimed that there's no one at Apple Europe who can deals with issues involving IMC ME. That's is not the case, since I was helped by an Apple Europe Executive in a previous issue I had with Arab Computers. When I told him so, he seemed very skeptical. However, he said he will try to call Arab Computers to look into the situation.

[Magnus]

Let's see what happens. My experience with trying to contact Apple Europe or US about anything is they kick the issue back to IMC, even if the question cannot be answered locally or the problem can't be resolved here.

[SaudiMac]

Been 2 weeks since I emailed arab computers and globalstore, none responded so far.

[SaudiMac]

A month and no answers, but Apple Inc did respond to Mr. Talal's email. to quote the doctor from Futurama, "Good news everyone!"

Thanks to a direct response from Apple Inc
SaudiMac Good Conclusion to 2 Years of Frustration with Apple in Saudi Arabia

Mr. Talal will get a replacement MacBook Pro directly from Apple.

Apple is also aware of the problems with Apple IMC and looking into it

[Magnus]

I sure would like to know what Apple meant by " She assured him that Apple is aware of these concerns"