I’m going to agree with commenters who say Apple customer service sucks.

I’m a huge Apple fan, having converted to the Macbook last year, but I often liken it to an abusive relationship. When it’s good it’s sooo good, but then Apple punches me in the face and tells me it’s my fault. We work it out, Apple says it’s sorry and will never do it again and I crawl back.

My first Macbook was a lemon and it took me more than nine hours on the phone with customer service and more than a month of back-and-forth (after sending it back repeatedly) to get a new one. Even that was only after I had a male voice call customer service and complain - that male voice was able to work through the ranks in five minutes when I was able to get nowhere in four hours. Because of his VOICE.

Now I’ve returned a DOA Airport Express and despite numerous calls they’re taking their sweet time crediting my account. Two thumbs down Apple.

I don’t think that Apple’s service has gotten worse. I think people have just gotten much, much more vocal about telling everyone how incredible Apple is when they step above and beyond in extraordinary circumstances, and that people with completely invalid complaints then feel incredibly entitled to the same levels of service that are not the norm. There’s nothing wrong with the “norm” of customer service by phone or web.

But I’ll agree on the stores. Both Apple Stores in Honolulu were packed every single time I visited in four months. Couldn’t touch an iPod or talk to someone if you were bleeding to death.

That Shure adapter is really nice. I use it on my iPhone with a pair of E4’s. I also have a friend who uses it with his car stereo. He just plugs it into the auxiliary port and clips the microphone on so he can answer calls when he’s driving. Pretty slick.

It is so great to be able to surf the web while my husband drives us down to visit the parents or to be able to check my email while I’m in town to see if something needs to be taken care of before I drive back to the farm.

Although I’m a computer consultant and computer literate, I see no reason to “hack” my phone. It does everything I want it to do (and what it was advertised to do) and does it very well.

And I’ve already spent my iPhone refund and got some great Apple products with no problems.

I’ve loved Apple since I got my first Mac SE and I’m still in love.

I updated my phone and lost some photos. I had used iToner to install a couple of ringtones (one of which made it so my microphone and earpeice on the phone wouldn’t work until I changed it to another ringtone!) and I think the 1.1.1 update was not as clean as it should have been. That aside, I bought a 1.0 product that functions better than any 1.0 product I’ve owned.

I waited three years before getting an iPod and because I hated my cell phone so much, I was willing to pay a premium for something that was better. I still love my iPhone, but I thought the Macworld piece was necessary. It’s important for the fanbase to speak up when they are unhappy.

I can’t decide on what to spend my $100 Apple store credit, but it probably is going to be headphones… or that Shure adapter (ships in “2 or 3 months”!).

This sort of article burns my chaps. This is like a local news story, making news out of a story that’s not news. Apple’s not any more arrogant now than they’ve ever been under Steve Jobs.

I don’t have an iPhone, but that headphone jack thing? It’s just one example in Apple’s rich history of having design infringe on practicality. Other examples off the top of my head include the PowerMac G4 cube, the dock for the 2nd generation iPod shuffle, the (until the Mighty Mouse) strict adherence to the one-button mouse, and as he mentioned in the article, the circular mouse. Marshall gave another example above, and there are probably a dozen others that I’m forgetting about.

And the iPhone bricking, we had to see that coming. At least Apple warned the public first.

Is it just that Apple is expected to be less arrogant now that they have a larger customer base?

I personally can’t wait until the iPhone hits the UK on Nov. 9th. I will likely be in line at a nearby Apple Store from the early hours - I can’t help it, I’m a geek! The so-called issues with the line out, ringtones and headphones I will debate when I have my hands on the iPhone and can form my own opinion. Some people will be happy, some won’t - you can’t please everyone. And frankly, if the ringtone issue stops the irritating few from blaring out their badly-recorded sound effects and moronic rave tunes on the bus, I’ll be thankful…

but i’m a pc girl - used a Mac in grad school when our whole lab was Mac but now am drumming on a Dell laptop. Not enough scratch for a Mac, yet.

Peripherally, I do feel badly for iphone owners who got shafted with the price drop. ouch, without the lube and all that.