The Mac is back, thanks to Soluçāo Digital

Hi all,

Those of you who are regular readers will recall that I’ve had problems with my MacBook Pro. The screen died, miraculously came back to life, then failed again. Groan.

I trudged around to quite a few stores, I can promise you. Most would not even touch a Mac, which are about like blondes here: You can find them, but you have to search a bit. I did find two authorized Apple service providers in Ipanema, both on Visconde de Pirajá. One pretty much gave me the brush off. The second did at least accept my MacBook Pro to evaluate it. While they did assess the problem for free, they did not want to help me in any way thereafter. The problem, they said, was the video logic component of the mother board. The subsequent conversation went pretty much like this:

-Was that expensive? Oh, yes. -How much? Oh, no idea, really.

-Could they repair it? Oh, it was unlikely that they could even find the part.

-What if a friend of mine from the US could bring the part down? Could they replace it? Oh, perhaps.

-How much would that cost? Oh, get the part first, and bring it in. Then we can talk.

Seriously? This is an authorized Apple dealer. Had I had to pay for the evaluation, I would have been furious.

As it was, I just decided that Apple had lost a customer. I won’t own a computer that I can’t get serviced, because they ALL needs servicing at some point.

Long story short: Fast forward a few weeks. One of my roomies also owns a Mac. His died, too. He took it to Soluçāo Digital (Digital Solution), another authorized Apple service provider here in Rio. They fixed his computer for free, as the issue was a known problem. Cool. He suggested I take mine there.

Nothing from nothing leaves nothing. I took mine in a couple of days later.

Within 5 minutes, they had looked up my computer by serial number, found out that I had the Apple Care extended warranty, and any repairs (excluding battery) would be free. Seriously?

I left my MacBook, grabbed a quick lunch next door, and got on the Metro. Two stops later, I had a call from the store. They had diagnosed the problem (video card), had located a part in Sāo Paulo, and would have it here in 2-3 days. The repair would be free. They would call me when the computer was ready. Have a great weekend.

I was dazed. I love Brazil, but service like this just doesn’t exist here. This all happened within one hour of my departing the store. Apple should fire all of their other “authorized dealers” in Rio.

Ah, but did Soluçāo Digital follow through? Yep. I dropped off my MacBook on Friday afternoon, and had a call Tuesday afternoon that it was ready for pickup. I stopped by Wednesday. My baby worked (and still works) fine, and – surprise! – the bill, as promised, was nada. It is only due to Soluçāo Digital that I am still an Apple customer.

Moral: If you have any problems with your Mac in Brazil, go straight to Soluçāo Digital, one block from the Largo do Machado Metro station in Rio. Don’t even waste your time talking to any other dealers. www.solucaodigital.com.br

(In case you are wondering, I received no compensation from Soluçāo Digital for this post. I just appreciate friendly, professional service. If you do, too, you’ll remember their name.)

See you soon with another postcard.

Abraços,

John

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