IMAC 21.5 purchased at Best Buy

In October 2011 I purchased a 21.5" IMAC at Best Buy. I had always used Gateway but the Apple Rep at Best Buy in St Louis convinced me that Apple was the better choice. That day I purchased the computer and brought it home. Upon setting the unit up I quickly realized it had the older operating system on it and not Lion as the Apple Rep had told me. I called Apple Care, gave them the serial number and was told that the "Apple Phone Support" had expired. I told them that I had purchased the unit that day and they said that the "DATE OF PURCHASE" was the date that Best Buy acquired the unit. They said that they would have to charge me for the support and $29.99 for the upgrade to Lion. I was furious. I went back to Best Buy and of course the Apple Rep was not there. I talked to the store manager who gave me a $29.99 credit and the link to upgrade to Lion. I was assured that this in no way affected the product and that by downloading Lion I would have a "brand new " computer. After several more phone calls to Apple they finally and reluctantly changed my purchase date to the date I purchased it.

In a perfect world the story would end there. However, In December the computer began making a clicking noise. The noise comes from the right side of the computer if you are facing the screen. I have made three attempts to have the issue resolved at Apple. Each visit to the Apple Genius bar results in the Tech " not being able to duplicate the problem". I even recorded the sound on my phone and took it with me the last two times and showed them EXACTLY where the noise was. The noise is loud enough to hear from the other room. It is intermitent but occurs 75% of the time the unit is running. They claimed to have ran a "stress test on it". My entire family can hear the noise but the Apple Techs cannot. It is very annoying. The last visit to Apple I was told that they would just replace the fan and optimal drive. They had the unit 5 days and called me to pick it up yesterday. The ticket said " No problems found. No repairs were performed. Unit would not duplicate issue." I asked why the fan and optimal drive had not been replaced and they said it wasn't warranted.

Between the original purchase fiasco and this noise I am at wits end. I love the Apple Programs..but I cannot believe the issues I have had with this computer.

One tech at Apple store told me that if he were me he would sell the unit on Craigslist and return to the Apple store and purchase another one. He said it may have been refurbished to begin with! By the time the computer started making noise the 30 day return policy had expired at Best Buy. I am completely frustrated. : (