Apple "walk of shame"

Following a week of waiting for Apple to arrange for the pickup of a malfunctioning iMac G5, a Dublin says he has decided to prove that he can walk to Cork -- the location of the nearest Apple repair center -- faster than Apple can arrange for the pickup of his broken Mac. "I think there comes a time when the only thing that works with these companies is to show them up publicly and shame them into taking you seriously," said Karl Hayden, who is frustrated after repeated efforts to resolve the issue with Apple customer care. Hayden says his 10-month-old iMac crashed on the 14th of July, after which he received two replacement logic boards, a power supply unit, and a back casing which failed to fix the problem. The Dublin man claims Apple finally agreed to replace the computer on August 14th following a long phone conversation, but has failed to pickup the old system prior to shipping his new iMac.

Hayden has decided to "shame" Apple by setting out next Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. local time from his Charlemount Street home in Dublin on foot carrying his iMac G5 back to Apple in Cork to prove that he can deliver the computer faster on foot than the company can arrange to have it picked up.



"[Apple is] only interested in how negative publicity affects [its] sales and share price. Apple only seems to respond to customer concerns when direct action is taken to highlight [its] failings."



Hayden also said that he previously waited nine weeks for repairs to another Mac which was lost three times in Apple's service system, but was recovered and repaired in the end--with a bill attached for the repair work.