A new way to fight corruption in India: Use the BPO model and make fighting it profitable.

Have a listen to Shaffi Mather's idea. He takes quite a while to get to the point, but at the end, you do figure out what he's up to. He's done some 40+ cases where he takes a small fee to fight on behalf of the victim. What a great idea to let a for-profit organization work on behalf of the victims.

Let's hope he (and others!) can make this happen.

Apple India repairs: more nightmare

As mentioned earlier, the Apple "authorized" repair places in Bangalore all told me it would take a minimum of two days to get a logic board.  So I left it with the original place that I had taken it.

I dropped it off on Monday, was told on Tuesday that it would need a logic board.  Then on Friday they called and said it was ready, and that they'd delayed for an extra day "to make sure that the logic board was the problem".  I think this means they swapped out my logic board for another one and verified that it would work. (Another 24 hours to do that? Wouldn't that have been part of the original investigation?)

So, I finally picked it up on Friday, and asked for my old logic board. If I'm going to pay 32000 rupees for a logic board, I want the old one back.  They can be refurbished for about $350US at multiple places online, and I figured I might take advantage of that option to have a spare for the future.  That's when I was told that 32000 rupees ($725 US) is the price for a "trade-in" logic board and I would have to leave my old one there.

So at this point, I'm very suspicious about the whole thing.  Perhaps they just reset the memory chips and told me it was a logic board problem.  Bang, instant 32000 in profit.  So I asked for some proof that the logic board was actually replaced, and they refused.  They wouldn't show me the old one, nor would they show me the order they placed with Apple for the replacement.  They were really losing credibility with this one.

Then they informed me that I'd have to pay cash for the work.  Excuse me?  Rs. 32000 in cash on a Friday afternoon? If you know Bangalore, you know how difficult that would be.  ATMs only dispense 10000 at a time.  Then the guy working there said "I told you this on Monday" which was a complete lie.  This is when I really went ballistic.  Had he told me on Monday I would have taken my business elsewhere.  What computer business today can't accept credit/debit cards?  That's right, a clueless one.

Apple has no business giving these jokers an "authorized repair" license.  If someone told you to pay in cash for a repair but then refused to show you proof that a repair was actually done, you'd tell them where to go, right?  "Sir, your car has a new engine, but no, we won't let you look under the hood or see the old one.  Trust us. And pay cash now please."

In the end the situation was sorted with the involvement of Apple India's sales/service leadership. I didn't like the outcome nor did I like having to escalate, but it was sorted.  My laptop is up and running.  I'm praying that it'll last another 7 months until I leave India and am forced to leave it behind. If it needs further repairs, I certainly won't take it to the same place.  And I fear for all those Apple customers who don't escalate or have the options to escalate.

Bottom line:  32,000 rupees for a trade-in (possibly refurbished) logic board, payable only in cash and delivered after 5 days of downtime.

That is just unacceptable, Apple.

If you rely on an Apple machine for your livelihood in Bangalore, I suggest you look at a disaster-recovery plan. My experience tells me that Apple will not be there for you if deadlines are approaching and your hardware dies.  I suggest you have a second machine ready.  The problem is that most musicians, artists, designers, even software geeks I know here can't afford that.

Apple India: not ready for business

Apple is not ready for enterprise business.

Many of my colleagues are moving to Apple hardware, even though our IT department doesn't support them. It's entirely a self-service model, which is actually a pretty good story in terms of cost-savings. As long as you're self-supportable, that is.

Which is where this comes in: Apple hardware support.

I live in Bangalore, India, home of 8 million people and a place that doesn't have an Apple store per se, but does have some authorized resellers and 7 authorized repair centers.

My macbook refused to boot this past week. I removed it from an external monitor and that was then end of it. I get a DVD drive noise, but no video or other movement.

I took it to the repair center closest to me. He "pushed the button" a few times, and agreed that it was broken. Then he said "I'll get back to you after some time". If you know India you know what that means.

24 hours later the expected outcome: "Needs a new logic board". For PC users, this is the motherboard.

Now the big one: it will take 4 days to arrive.

I asked why and was told that he has to get approval from Apple.

Approval to purchase a replacement part?

I called around and spoke with 4 or 5 other repair centers and was told the same thing. One place even said 10 days was more likely. In each case they pointed to the "process" at Apple.

I said: "I have cash and I want the part today, where do I go?" and they all said it wasn't possible even though the Apple parts are physically located in Bangalore already.

Apple, to be even remotely considered for enterprise use, you have to get serious about the inefficiencies in your supply chain. This is ridiculous.