Apple computer repair

Several products experience malfunctions

Apple Canada resellers are on the front lines in Apple Corp.'s battle for quality, armed with marching orders from the corporation's recently formed Quality Council.

Resellers will be administering a repair extension program for malfunctioning Performa 5200/5300/6200/6300 models and the Power Macintosh 5200/75 LC. A repair extension, and reseller exchange program, will cover resellers' unsold PowerBook 5300s and 190s (open box or closed box).

Power Macintosh and Performa customers have reported system freezes, which have been previously identified by Apple as being caused by component issues, and sudden or intermittent changes in monitors' color hue, which Apple attributes to trouble with a particular cable.

PowerBook 5300 series users have experienced: problems accessing a device in the media bay with certain PC Cards requiring high power; boot problems or delays when plugged into AC power; and some systems' devices have intermittently dropped off LocalTalk networks.

Some PowerBook 190 owners found their AC power connector getting loose, or the display bezel and housing cracking at the hinge.

Gene Gesualdo, national sales manager for the consumer and retail channel for Markham, Ont.'s Apple Canada Inc., says though not all the details of the repair programs have been finalized, Apple dealers will certainly play an integral role in the repair process.

Gesualdo says it's not possible to pinpoint an exact number of systems affected.

"This isn't all products being affected by this particular repair program. There is a finite group, but unfortunately I can't quantify it," he said.

Dean Arfin, vice-president of technical services for Toronto's Computer Systems Centre, which has been an authorized Apple dealer since 1982, said it's a good thing that Apple acknowledged that there's some quality control problems.

"From a dealer point of view, of course, it presents us with a windfall opportunity in terms of being able to generate additional repair revenue fixing these things."

"But, if nothing else, this will inspire more confidence in Apple products because people are going to know that the company is going to stand behind the product regardless of whatever problems may happen in manufacturing."

Arfin said Apple may have realized that it's better to admit when there's a problem and face it head on than to "let it fester" and give people a negative opinion of Apple products.

He said Apple's stock did not react too negatively to the announcement of the program, whereas in the past news like this would have "rocked the stock significantly."

But with the potential numbers of systems involved at one time, Apple has warned dealers that at the outset there may be a limited supply of replacement parts.

"I think there may be some initial frustrations for people while they wait for the spare part situation to be ramped up," said Arfin.

Apple Canada's Gesualdo wouldn't predict whether customers would end up waiting a long time for parts, nor estimate a turnaround time for the repair process.

"There's a very concerted effort to ensure that significant quantities of replacement parts will be available," he said.

Apple Corp. has implemented the Quality Control Council to address product design, engineering, manufacturing and customer service issues.

The Council hopes to introduce a completely refined global escalation and resolution process for quality and customer satisfaction issues by the third quarter of 1996.