watch dodogg MAXIMUM PC TAKES A BITE OUT OF BAD GEAR dog
Woodhams told the Dog that “automatically
generated email is sent at 45 days notifying
the customer they’re nearing the abandon-
ment period. A phone call is made at 60 to 120
days before recycling the iPod. Another email
is sent if we cannot leave a message. Seven
days later, if there’s no response, the iPod is
recycled. In Esther’s case, the iPod should
never have been recycled.”
Yes, and the Dog must note, that’s because
Esther was never called or emailed about her
iPod being “recycled,” so one has to wonder
what’s going on. After further discussion
about the warranty discrepancy and the pre-
mature “recycling,” Woodhams offered to send
Esther an equivalent refurbished iPod without
charging her $99.
That’s good news to Esther, who told the
Dog, “Am I happy? Yes, if I have a repaired
iPod, but it was a very ugly thing to go
through. I don’t think anybody who does busi-
ness with somebody should go through that.
Would I ever recommend the company? No.”
Apparently, a lot of people agree. The
Western Michigan branch of the Better
Business Bureau said of iPodMechanic: “The
BBB advises extreme caution when dealing
with this company.” The BBB’s report goes on
to state: “In June 2006, the BBB of Western
Michigan contacted Nick Woodhams, owner of
iPodMechanic, in regards to the large number
of complaints received. The BBB was assured
by Mr. Woodhams that he would respond to all
complaints. Unfortunately, the company failed
to honor their statement to the BBB.”
The company has few fans on the Internet,
where just about everybody had gripes. At
Amazon.com, where iPodMechanic.com is no
longer a merchant, consumers are still com-plaining about the company, with at least one
consumer saying that his iPod was “recycled”
rather quickly.
When asked about the “extreme cau-
tion” warning from the BBB, Woodhams said
it’s “exaggerated.” Woodhams also said that
the overwhelmingly negative reviews on the
Internet go back to temporary staffing issues
the company had last year, and happy custom-
ers tend not to take the time to post on the
Internet, just disgruntled ones. He said the
company sees from 10,000 to 15,000 iPods
a year, and a small portion of customers
can never be satisfied. Woodhams said the
situation has improved since last year and
explained, “We do still get complaints here
and there; we can’t please everyone.”
“I do apologize for the negative experi-
ences that customers have had. Any customer
that has had a bad experience can email or
call us and we’ll work through a solution to
make them happy.”
The Dog would also like to hear from you
as well—especially if a company claims that
you abandoned your hardware. Woof.AREA 52? IT’S RIGHT NEXT TO AREA 51
After reading your December column about re-
marked CPUs, I followed the tinyurl you supplied,
http://www.tinyurl.com/o0n , in order to verify the
authenticity of my AMD CPU. Amazingly, I was sent
to http://www.artbell.com after pressing Enter. Have I
been UFO’ed?
—Gene BurchThere’s no conspiracy here, Gene, just a font
that’s difficult to read. The correct URL is http://www.
tinyurl.com/o0n, as in the letter O, zero, N—not
lower-case O, capital O, N.■ OKI Data is recalling a very small number of color print-
ers that may pose a shock hazard. The company said about
175 of its C9600 color printers may shock its customers. The
bad printers feature serial numbers that begin with the prefix
AA5600 or AA5800. All other printers are unaffected; however, if
you have a printer with one of these prefixes, you should check
the full serial number. If the printer has a serial number that falls
within the ranges of AA56002655A0 through AA56002804A0,
AA58001468A0 through AA8001617A0, or AA58002702A
through AA58002801A0, you should immediately stop using the
device and unplug it from the wall.
Contact OKI Data at 877-654-6364 to arrange for an on-site
inspection of the printer. More information is available at http://
tinyurl.com/2fexwe.Recall Alert
AA5600 or AA5800. All other printers are unaffected; however, if
you have a printer with one of these prefixes, you should check
OKI Data will send
someone to your
home to see if your
printer is one of the
few units that may
shock you.