Well. . . I think the “iMac that went wrong” saga is over.

After the iMac did not ship yesterday as promised by the Apple on-line store, I decided that perhaps the Apple Ninjas just did not want me to have an iMac.

I called the local Apple store in Rancho Cucamonga “Victoria Gardens”and spoke with Amy (who turned out to be my Apple Angel). I asked her what the best configuration on an iMac they had was. She told me , and it was not even close to what I wanted. So I then asked what she had in the way of a Mac Pro. (here are FlickrPics too)

Amy proceeded to very patiently listen to my every need, get all my questions and provide me with the same corporate discount I could get at the on-line store.

I won’t bore you (anymore) with the details in witting, but let’s just say that Amy, her boss Carlos and the store manager Denise went out of their way to cut me a deal that I could not pass.

Below are the details of my new MacPro\23″ Cinema Display system, which by the way cost me about $1,200 more than the old one, but the service that I got from the Rancho Cucamonga “Victoria Garden”store , and the ability to look them in the eyes and know they cared, was worth every penny.

The On-Line Store could have had this profit, but they don’t. Amy, Carlos and Denise do. Thanks to all of you who followed this MacTale all the way to what I hope is truly the end and I can get back to enjoying my new Apple.

.

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Adrew Darlow from The Imaging Buffet Website and Podcast

Check out all the fantastic tips Andrew talked about here

Bradford Gibson and Current Thinking Radio

Here is the program Synergy that Brad spoke about

Links Mentioned

Twitter

Add me as a Twitter Friend

SpotLaser

Butler

LaunchBar (Errata: I think I said LaunchPad about 100 times during the show sorry)

Quick Silver

My Twitter Friends Top Free Mac Applicaitons

VLC Media Player

Adium

Pathfinder

Freemind (Mindmapping tool)

Quick Silver

Audacity

PosteRazor

Image Well

Switch

Gmail Notifier

UPDATE: This issue has been resolved by the developer, quickly as usual.

FYI if you are running Main Menu currently it is not supported after you install OS X 10.4.9. Just installed it and got a message (see below). I’m sure the good folks at Santa Software will replace this version soon,.

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This evening my listeners and I discuss the 10 best reasons to switch to a Mac.

If you dowloaded the show prior to 5:30 PM PST on Monday 3.12.07 you did not get the full quality. Please erase and re-dowload the show from here to hear the full quality show. Thanks.

Links Mentioned

Apple Switch Web site

Windows Vista

Ok so I check to see the status of my “New iMac” and notice that they have not shipped it, but they are building it. Then I notice that instead of building a 2.33GHz like my old one, this new one is a 2.16GHz.

<INSERT DRAMATIC MUSIC HERE>

So. . . I call Apple and let them know. Shanon was very sorry to hear about my problem. She tells me unfortunately the new machine has been ordered and is in an order state where it cannot be canceled. I will have to wait until I receive the new one (with the wrong processor), then return it. They will build my machine for me again.

<INSERT UPSET VICTOR HERE>

So , I explain to Shanon that this just won’t do (ok maybe not my exact words). I ask for an escalation. Shanon puts me on hold and comes back and explains that they are transitioning to a new computer system (of course I wonder if they are Macs), then she says in the old system the order was still pending so she canceled it and will order a new one.

<INSERT VICTOR STARTING TO GET HIS BREATH BACK HERE>

I then tell Shanon that I have spent a lot of time and energy trying to buy this mac and that I really feel some compensation is in order. I ask that I be upgraded from 2gigs of Memory to 3gigs. Shanon tells me (very nicely) that this is a $500 request, and it will not likely happen (ok I’m paraphrasing her words here too).

I then request that I at least get upgraded to a 750Gig HD. Shanon goes off line and returns with the approval. She writes the new order (perfectly) and puts it in the system.

Shanon was excellent, graceful and took a very unsatisfied customer and turned me around. I asked for her supervisor, and gave her a commendation. I also told her that I was going to blog about this here.

Thanks Shanon for doing a great job. By the way folks, I’ll have that new iMac in about 4 days according to Shanon.

So the new “Lesson learned is. . . no one (even Apple ) is perfect. We take the next step, and we do the best we can. In this case I’ll feel better only after I turn on my new iMac and hear the start-up chime.

<INSERT HOPEFUL VICTOR HERE>

See pics below for examples of the order error:

Original order

Replacement order with error

Latest order (this one is right, thank’s Shanon)

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Links Mentioned

Photoshop CS3

Photoshp Elements and Apple Image Academy

Apple Remote Control troubleshooting

Apple Remote Pairing

Apple Support

Apple Support Discussions

Kevin Devin, In The Trenches Podcast

UPDATE:

Unfortunately the story gets worse. I spoke to Apple customer support and they deemed my iMac as (Dead on Arrival D.O.A.). Then I got sent to sales who told me I only had two options.

A. I send the iMac back via Fed Ex and get a refund 5 days after it scans

B. Send the iMac back and get a new iMac (built to my specs) 5 to 7 days after it scans.

I asked if I could simply take the iMac back to a retail Apple store near by and get a refund or another Mac. They said “No.” The Apple On Line Store and the Apple Retail stores have “two different accounting systems, and that is not possible.”

Well, a few good learnings for me on this one. I am back on my Powerbook and don’t have a lot of podcasting tools on this machine so I will try and put something out tonight or tomorrow, but you will NOT hear the same audio quality you are use to. As for Sunday’s show, I will see if I can make that work.

More to come. . .Victor

——————-

Well folks yesterday my new 24″ iMac decided not to play nice and crashed. I had noticed on Sunday a bit of erratic behavior in that the “start up chime” was not audible. I did all the troubleshooting on that and could not find the answer.

Yesterday when I got home the iMac was frozen. I rebooted and got the grey screen with the ? folder (ouch). Good thing I had just done a show on troubleshooting.

I tried Tech Tools pro that found the HD was corrupt and could not repair it. It did repair the volume but I still could not boot. I re-installed the OS (yes I have a back up (I believe)) and that went very well. However, still no “start up chime” on boot. So I suspect there is somethign going on with the Logic Board etc. Believe me a did a bunch of troubleshooting on what that could be.

So, it’s time to take this 7 day old iMac to Apple and let the Geniuses figure it out. Needless to say I may not get out a show tonight or tomorrow at all. We will see.

I wanted to let you guys know in case I’m slow in replying to emails etc. Thank and I’ll keep you posted.

Victor

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This evening I have a very special co host Steve Stanger who is the host of the Mac Attack Podcast. Steve is a super knowledgeable veteran Mac User unlike, and tonight focus on tips and tricks to keep your Mac running great, and what to do when it’s not.

Links mentioned during the show

Mac Attack Podcast

Disk Warrior 4

File Salvage

Micromats Tech Tools Pro

iDefrag from Coriolis

AppleJack (I can’t live without it)

iStat Pro Widget

Menu Meters

Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.)

SMARTReporter

Security Now Podast #81 on Hard Drives

Main Menu

Repair Permissions

File System Permissions

Xlab

Onyx

Maintenance Automator Actions

ChronoSync

I was watching a very very funny video podcast called Mr. Deity and could not help but notice how much Alex Albrecht from Diggnation and Mr. Deity look alike.

So. . . I have Three Theories. You vote and decide which one you think is true.

After you vote, why not subscribe to the Typical Mac User Podcast

by: Matt Beckwith, Associate Editor

I spend nearly three hours of every weekday in my car driving to and from work which gives me a lot of time to listen to my favorite podcasts and audio books. Although I don’t usually read, or listen to, fiction, I recently came across a great podcast audio book. Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword is brilliantly written and read by Tee Morris and features awesome music and sound effects.

Why mention this here, on the Typical Mac User website? Well, because Victor makes an appearance in the third chapter which was released this week. I don’t want to give away any of the story – you’ll just have to download it yourself. Let me just say that Victor did an amazing job!

Check out the Billibub Baddings website here.

Click here to visit the Billibub Baddings podcast on iTunes.