FastMac Customer Service and Turnaround Speed
December 20th, 2008 | by ghostshadow |
“Green is good! Dead batteries are no good!”
I recently had a faulty MacBook Pro battery replaced by FastMac and thought I would share my experience with you all. Was it good or was it bad? First let me explain the situation. On October 1st, 2008 I ordered a brand new replacement battery for my 15” MacBook Pro, one of the FastMac TruePower batteries. The batteries claim to have 68% more capacity than the “other” brand of Apple batteries. You can find out if it’s true by looking at a couple reviews here and here. For the short time that I used the battery it seemed to perform well. I cannot comment on the longevity of the battery though, as mine became inoperable after a few weeks of use. Why did my battery suddenly die? I made the mistake of taking the battery out of my MacBook Pro when the charge on the battery was at 36%. I left the battery sitting on my desk for about 2 weeks without charging it, causing the charge to slowly deplete. After that, the battery would no longer charge. Whoops.
On October 14th I contacted FastMac about my situation, explaining what had happened and that the battery was completely dead. I received a reply within the hour! They asked for the serial number, cycle count, charge capacity, some other general information from the System Profiler, and my order number. I received a follow up email within 20 minutes (or less) of sending my reply. The customer service rep told me that I had a couple options as they were out of stock of this particular model of battery. He told me I could either send the battery in and they would exchange it free of charge when the new shipment arrived, or if I was in a hurry they could ship me an Apple branded battery if I put down a $100 deposit that would be refunded when they received the old battery. I opted to send the old battery in and wait. Luckily the new shipment arrived before my package reached FastMac! It was immediate turnaround, I got my new battery in 3 days after sending my dead one in.
FastMac’s customer service is great: they are very fast, super nice, and easy to talk to. They listen to your problems and try to help you resolve them to the best of their abilities. I was really happy with the exchange and would recommend FastMac to anyone thinking about purchasing from them. Their products are great, I get 4 and a half – 5 hours of battery life on this new battery. On top of all that, they are also very reasonably priced.
Edit – 08/06/2009 – Rating changed from 4.5 stars to 3.5. Read here to find out why. http://www.knoxware.org/fastmac-battery-saga-pt-2/
FastMac Service gets a rating of 4.5 stars.
Rating: 
Tags: Apple, Fast Mac, FastMac, Hardware, Mac, Reviews, Technology
(8 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)
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By damnyankies on Jan 26, 2009
Ihve been thinking about ordering form them guys. They look poretty cool, I really would like some of their stuff. They have all kinds of upgrades for older apple stuffs too! Very cool, hwo is that new battery hodling up?
By ghostshadow on Jan 26, 2009
The battery is holding up great! I get 4 + hours out of it. I’d recommend it. Good luck!
By smartblack09 on Feb 9, 2009
That pic is tight dude where you get it? u got a full size of that thang?
By Al on Mar 8, 2009
Funny enough – I too had an issue with the MBP battery from them. Only with an entirely different outcome! Entirely different!
For starters – I’ve never seen the likes of 4 hours on this computer, when operating under the batteries power. The closest that I’ve ever seen to 4, was 3:36 min.
Secondly – after having the Fastmac battery for a few months, the metal cover began to de-laminate from the cell itself. I called the company and was told the same info as the above original post. I too opted to wait – that was back in December, and I’m still waiting! No call, no email…. and every time I call to find out when they might be expecting to re-stock, I get a response, “oh, the system is saying a few more weeks!”
At this point, I don’t know if I’d recommend them – as a) I’ve never gotten a considerable amount of better performance out of their battery, vs. that of the standard Apple model. b) Their customer service IMHO, has been horrible!
By ghostshadow on Mar 11, 2009
I am sorry to hear that AL. I guess I must have gotten lucky. I haven’t had anything but good luck with FastMac. I hope you can get your issue resolved.
Thanks for the comment!
By neopium on Jul 22, 2009
I am having a very bad experience with FastMac :
I bought the TruePower battery last year. It died after 2 days. I had it exchanged. The new battery died in no time. I had it exchange AGAIN. I had to wait 4 months (yes, 4 months !!) to have a new battery.
This one worked just fine during 8 months (up to 4 hours battery time) until… The battery health started to decline very rapidly (I lost 10% per week during a month). I’m now at 48% of battery life. The alumium cover starts to unstick and the battery seems to inflate a little… I sent them 3 emails in two weeks… and had no answer so far.
My conclusion is : don’t buy their products ! Their reliability is VERY poor. Moreover, they are out of stock all the time ! Finally, the support doesn’t return your mail.
I have looked in various forums and I am NOT and isolated case. Maybe not the majority as well, but the probability to get in trouble with them is way too high to worth it.
By ghostshadow on Jul 24, 2009
I feel your pain. I just had to send back the battery that I reviewed. The battery died and then came back to life out of the blue one day last month. Once it started taking a charge again, it blew out a cell. Started bloating. Doing everything you just described. This will be my third battery. I am going to write a post about this topic. I think I will also update this review. Thanks for the support and comments!
By Taurenhunter on Aug 6, 2009
I have been having major issues too! Fastmac is screwing me big time. I paid for a battery for my macbook pro, only to have it die on me within a month! I have been waiting on a replacement for two months now, I cannot get any e-mails or nuthin from them. This really pisses me off big time! I spent 100 dollars on a hunk of junk and now they don’t even live up to their business. Snake oil salesmen I tell you! They just take your money and run. Leaving you with shitty components. I definitely won’t be buying from them ever again.
By Mrgoodseuss on Aug 6, 2009
I too have been having issues with fastmac! Their products, more specifically their batteries… SUCK!!!!! So does their service. I guess you, ghostshadow, must have gotten lucky. I have been screwed by fastmac twice! Just like Neopium, I cannot get a response from them. They won’t return my messages or call back. We should file a complaint. Run their name into the ground, their products are shit and they are making good money off of honest working people. Taurenhunter is right! Snake oil salesment!!!!
Something needs to be done with these people. I want my damn money back!
By tenderedlove on Aug 6, 2009
I don’t believe this. This company is shit! I have had nothing but troubles, I relly think you should review your review. I have had nothingbut problems with fastmac and their batteries,. I am on my 6th battery from them. Everyone i have had has died within 5 months of having them. I don’t get responds to my e-mails or phonecalls either!
By Gyve Safavi on Feb 2, 2010
Yea your story sounds exceptional. FastMac is horrible with customer service. I got a macbook pro battery from them it died, they sent me a new one (after 2 months of emailing back and forth) and 3 months later the replacement died again! I am now in the process of trying to return it and the respond to my email every 10 days!!!!!
DO NOT BUY FROM FASTMAC -SEE YOUTUBE For other horror stories
By Max on Apr 29, 2010
It seems to me that people are quick to post their bad experiences and its rare for people to post their good. In that case, I just wanted to say that I have never had problems with Fastmac. I’ve ordered from then 3 times and never any problems. I’m sure that they are not perfect but I recommend them to my friends.
By ghostshadow on Apr 29, 2010
Thanks for the comment
I think in my case I had the same issue happen with several batteries all from different batches. I do understand that we mostly hear of horror stories first on the web though. I do have to say I am still getting reasonable charge on the final battery. I tried to follow up with my case on the site. There are 2 more parts to the story.