New macbook pro release, feedback response.

Question

i've recently been trying to open a dialogue with Apple about my recent purchase of my macbook Pro, any ideas how best to get in touch or get a response?
I sent the following letter to both Irish and US offices but haven't heard back other than a general email requesting I fill in a survey, which I did, but still no response even though they "love feedback".
Any ideas who I can get in touch with? or anyone had a similar issue with a better outcome?
letter sent as below:
Hello
I recently purchased a mac book pro which I had been saving for, for months.
I was really excited to order it and I specked it up as much as possible with 8Gb Memory and 7200rpm drive and 3.06 intel core 2 duo processor.
Bought through my employee purchase scheme it cost me £2311.23, I was happy to spend it knowing that I’d got the fastest mac book pro available.
My partner and I are both designers working in graphics and we own and use nothing but Mac’s for this both at home and at work, between us we now own 3 Mac book Pro’s, 1 G5 2 iPhones and 2 iPods.
We count ourselves as loyal Apple customers and we really believe in your brand and it’s standard of quality, not only when it comes to products but service too.
I think this is why I was so disappointed to find out that 19days after my new Macbook Pro was delivered on 26th March Apple brought out a new one, with no prior warning.
It was my understanding that Apple had countdowns before new products were launched but there seemed to be no announcements of this new version being forthcoming on your site or any forums, when I was looking into purchasing mine. So I’m saddened to find that a mere few weeks after buying my Mac a better faster version is available and for less money too at £1986.93 (a saving of £324.30)
Unfortunately after telephoning one of your customer service advisors - on 14th April, I’ve been informed I cannot exchange my Mac for the newer release as I am 5 days past the return terms. This understandably leaves me feeling incredibly saddened as I placed my trust in Apple and the honesty of the brand to be rewarded with a more expensive, out of date Mac book Pro a few weeks after I took delivery of it. I feel a bit cheated, especially after spending so much money it feels as though I’ve been willfully mislead by apple and now I’m left without any option but to like it or lump it. Couldn’t Apple have informed me of their forthcoming new release when they saw the order I was putting through, and allowed me to decide if I wanted to wait for the newer and cheaper model. It feels slightly dishonest to me that Apple would knowingly sell a more expensive product that was about to become outdated.
I understand that it’s within Apple’s rights and the terms I agreed to on purchase, but I feel as though given that I’m a loyal home and professional user of Apple products some sort of gesture of good will would go a long way to re-establish my trust in Apple.
I hope to hear from you soon concerning this matter.

Answer 1

Prouser: If it was your understanding that Apple regularly provided "countdowns" prior to the launches of new products, you were sadly and utterly mistaken. Apple is famous throughout the industry and the world for its secrecy about new product releases. Always has been. Probably always will be. Should Apple completely shut down sales of its current products by preannouncing the arrival of their replacements? If it did, the new models would have to be priced higher to offset the cost of remaindering existing inventory of the previous models.
Everyone understands that technology marches relentlessly onward, growing more powerful and less expensive at every step. No matter when you buy, whatever you've bought will be succeeded by something faster and cheaper within weeks or months. How long would you have had to own your new MBP before a new model appeared, in order not to feel cheated? 21 days? 35? 60? Four months? A year? My first-generation unibody MBP is now 16 months old. Should I be outraged that Apple has introduced not one, not two, but three new iterations of 15" MBPs since I bought it? Well, I'm not. That's because I paid what I thought was a fair price for it when I bought it, and it did then and still does today everything I bought it for and more. The same can be said of yours. You got a great computer at a price you considered fair. Be happy about it.