swingerofbirch
macrumors 68040
When I worked for Apple through a contractor we were given no more information than what's in the warranty, which is that the replacement phones I sent out (I worked the over the phone, so I never saw the replacements) could be new or made with refurbished parts. This put me in a very difficult position as we had no official positioning. Every superior I talked to had a different answer about what I was supposed to tell the customer; the main thing was to not mention it unless they asked. So, I told them what was in the warranty and that I didn't have a way of knowing whether the phone would be new or made with refurbished parts but that I could assure them that Apple's refurbished products are of identical quality to new products, etc., etc. and would be indistinguishable from a new one. That was the spiel I came up with that I was comfortable with, but there is so much misinformation within customer service/tech support companies, and people tend to adopt whatever works. Oftentimes it's the fault of the company for avoiding giving agents direct positioning for difficult issues (such as: where are you located, is this refurbished, etc.).
The person who told you it was new may not have known or may have adopted that as a simple answer to avoid customers who get upset that they're getting a refurbished phone. Of course in the long run it doesn't help to not tell the truth as some other representative will have to deal with the fall-out, but when you're working in tech support (at least on the phones), you're judged on three things: how happy that customer was with that call, how fast you can get them off the phone, and whether you sold AppleCare.
That's one of the reasons I wasn't a tech support super-star in spite of having quite a number of happy customers. I'm not good with brevity or bullsh*tting.
The person who told you it was new may not have known or may have adopted that as a simple answer to avoid customers who get upset that they're getting a refurbished phone. Of course in the long run it doesn't help to not tell the truth as some other representative will have to deal with the fall-out, but when you're working in tech support (at least on the phones), you're judged on three things: how happy that customer was with that call, how fast you can get them off the phone, and whether you sold AppleCare.
That's one of the reasons I wasn't a tech support super-star in spite of having quite a number of happy customers. I'm not good with brevity or bullsh*tting.