updater software ruins ipod!

Hi all,

I would like to share with you a story regarding my experience with dealing with apple to get my ipod fixed. I have posted several threads in apples discussion forum. However the last posting: which is the one posted here was removed by apple 4 times.

You can read the following threads for a quick history of my problem concerning the ipod updater software damaging the hard drive on my G4. There are many, many people that have experienced this problem. You will notice in apples discussion forum that i announce my problem was sorted out. It wasnt. I was prematurely optimistic

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2213530#2213530
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=444443

My last interaction with apples is briefly explained below

I called apples support and explained my problem. I was out of warranty but one support guy gave me support anyway. After 2 hours of phone support we could not even get the PC to recognize the ipod without the machine hanging. I then said that i was hoping apple would either replace the ipod or fix it free of charge as it was their software that caused the problem.

I was then transfered to some "sales guy" whos opening line was "Please explain to me why you believe apple should replace your ipod, when it is out of warranty?" Right there i knew this was not going to go well. Not to mention that i had already explained this to 2 people in detail already over the last 2 hours. This guy was extremely arrogant and non sympathetic.

My last resort was to ask for a repair estimate in writing from apple for my credit card company (who extended the warranty) so i could make a claim. He told me to do it online. I told him that this does not explain the nature of the problem only the estimate to fix it. This is not sufficient for insurance claims. He basically said "too bad", go to an apple store. The nearest one from me is 60 miles away.

Anyway i went to the store. And they refused to write me up an estimate for repair.

So now i have an ipod, damaged by apples own software, (for which they wont take responsibility), i can't get a repair estimate from them, to make a claim to replace my mp3 player. Can you believe it?

I will never buy an apple product again.

I hope none of you experience this. Good luck.

I am aware that many people have ipods that work flawlessly. however there are a (arguably small) percentage of us who are having terrible problems due to apples updater software. We are being swept under the rug and told to quiet down. This is not acceptable

Andy