“Because Apple creates the hardware, operating system and many built-in applications, Apple computers are truly integrated systems with vastly superior support. AppleCare offers a range of service and support products to meet your needs.” – Apple Inc.

Apple’s Customer support is amazing, known for its excellence, friendliness, and professionalism. However, this isn’t always the case…

A month after the roll-out of Apples latest Macbook Pro “Late 2008″ I indulged myself with buying one of my own… I live in egypt so for obvious reasons Apple’s Premium Resellers here didn’t have them in stock. So, I had someone buy it and ship it to me from the states… Say that I’m a little slow when it comes to noticing flaws… but my excuse was that I was overwhelmed with the eye-candy awesomeness of my new machine

A couple of months later I noticed some flickering lines on my screen from the right that would occasionally appear for no valid reason, like I wouldn’t be working on any GPU crunching applications/games. One day while shutting the lid of my laptop, I found something that shocked the hell outta me… my lid was never shitting properly… Let me elaborate, apparently the unibody chasis of mine was slightly bent  upwards from the back left corner, therefore lifting the left hinge a little bit so when the lid closes, it shifts off the uni-body chasis!!! Now being completely honest here… This is my gadget BABY!!! I would never had dropped it, mis-handled it, nor leave it in the middle of harm’s way… So, I called up Apple’s support hotline in the states and they told me that my warrenty should allow me to replace the unit with a new unit, so they redirected me to their website so that I can check about the closest Apple Service Center, so I tracked my way through the following : Apple US. -> Apple Europe. -> Arab Business Machine (Located in Dubai) -> To finally a few Authorized Service Centers here in Egypt!!!

I Picked one, gave them a call, and they said “Sorry, but your warrenty is not valid with us, however you can fix it but you will have to pay…“. I was like oookaaay… so I tried calling another one, and they said “Yes we accept your warrenty, stop by our office and we’ll have a look and see what can be done“. Awesome… so I I headed over there immediately only to be recieved with complete dissappointment… I met one of the Engineers over there and he said the same crap that the 1st service center said to me on the phone… I was like “what the hell, one tells me yes on the phone and then you tell me no!!!“… So I continued my journey around each and every single service provider that egypt has currently… only to be recieved with rejection!!! made me kinda furious.

My computer is running fine… its nothing that drastic, only the fact that the flickering from the side of my screen is due to some pressure on the data cable!!! which is worrying me the most… I don’t want to end up with a Shiny $2,000 LED Flashlight at the end of the day – you know what I mean?!!

The point is, Apple is awesome… I love apple, I’ve been using apple products ever since I’ve learned how to count!!, but my advise to all of you who are in 3rd world countries and considering buying apple products from abroad “Or Any Brand of that Matter” – DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!! make sure you have your service centers, a valid warrenty in case anything happens – especially for those of you who don’t travel abroad often, or whatever they buy is critical for their business/life and they can’t afford not having it for more than a week.