Thought I'd share my experience with Apple lately. I had an issue with my iPhone 5 (
from this thread) that the home button was crooked. I go into the Apple store 30 minutes from me a week ago asking if they had anything available (I was in the area anyways). They say no but come back later tonight and we
may have something available. "No, sorry, come again another time". I try back the next day, this time scheduling an appointment at the Genius Bar. I go in, right on time, and they tell me MobileMe is down so they can't do anything. That's two trips, no resolution.
Today, I call AppleCare, but not just for a problem with my iPhone but with my Lightning cable too as it no longer charges. I'm told at the beginning that I could send it in for repair after expressing my discomfort and dissatisfaction with going back to the Apple store. For some reason, I have to get transferred to their Senior Advisor with a really long hold. After asking to send both in for repair, I'm left with a simple "no, our only option is to set up an appointment at your nearest Apple store." She also knew of my dissatisfaction. Don't they stress empathy when you're an At Home Advisor? There was none in the call. It lasted 40 minutes and again, no resolution. I might be taking it too far but I'll be filing a complaint with the BBB, just to further express my dissatisfaction.
Just venting.
While I'm very late to the party that was this thread, I'm compelled to reply regardless.
I'm not sure why your post is getting so many callous responses, but I'm shocked to read about the terrible treatment you received from Apple's staff - not once - but on THREE separate occasions over such a brief period of time. I cannot vouch for the typical service provided by Apple Retail Stores, but I am currently employed as an advisor.
I'll admit that I'm still relatively new, but your telephone call with AppleCare sounds unacceptable on so many levels. None of that would be taken lightly if upper management ever got wind of either advisors' behavior. I can only be left to guess as to why your problem was so rudely received before it was dismissed entirely. Maybe the advisor you spoke with was one of those uncommon "bad apples" in the bunch, but the senior advisor, too?! Now I find THAT hard to believe - er, that's not to say I don't believe you - I do.
Maybe you were just unlucky that day? Maybe you called during a REALLY busy queue and both of your advisors happened to be sick, exhausted, and/or miserable. Fair enough. Still! That would only explain the awful attitudes and why you may have been placed on hold for so long! It doesn't explain why neither advisor offered to set up a mail-in repair for you.
From what I've gathered, it sounds as though both of your products are CLEARLY defective. It's not even one of those cases of careless accidental damage, although that doesn't excuse anyone either; this is damage covered under AppleCare's hardware warranty! That's all our bad, not yours. Fixing problems like yours is exactly what we're paid to do.
Okay, then I thought maybe AppleCare's systems were down that day. That's a possibility. If so, it may have been impossible to process a mail-in repair for anyone, but I'm skeptical about that as well. Did the Tier 1 advisor explain why he/she was transferring you to a senior advisor in the first place?
Tier 1 AHAs are more than capable of arranging a mail-in repair without Tier 2's supervision. I'll admit that having the repair done at an Apple retail store is a lot faster, but why did no one explain the other repair options available to you?
If the system was down, I hope I'd at least have the decency to let you know about it and apologize for the huge inconvenience. You were already mistreated twice at the retail store! In light of those two separate - yet equally unsuccessful - trips, I'm ashamed to hear about both advisors' failures to step up and take ownership of your case. Neither of them took the opportunity to make things right like they should have.
Now, if I were in either of their shoes, I'd try my best to guess when our systems would be back up and running, so that we could finally make the proper arrangements to get your repair underway. I'd offer to schedule a call back for you right around that time. It's no guarantee, but it's something, right?!
This probably won't mean much now, but I would like to deeply apologize on Apple's behalf. I hope you'll give AppleCare support another shot to take you and resolving your problems more seriously in the future. If or when you do, and you feel that the Tier 1 advisor is rude again, you should ask to speak to a senior advisor. I'm pretty sure that all of us over at Tier 1 are REQUIRED to honor such requests.
Oh yeah, and however unlikely, should you get transferred to a senior advisor who is just as uncooperative as the first, I encourage you to hang up on them. Hang up and call the support line back for another AHA. I could be misguided, but I believe the majority of AppleCare's staff WANT to help you! It's unfortunate how a couple of exceptions to the norm left such a bad taste in your mouth, albeit understandably so, regarding Apple support. Please feel free to PM me if you ever think of anything I could do that would begin to compensate for the negative encounters you've had with AppleCare support thus far.
P.S. Try to remember the unhelpful advisor's name if you can, check your inbox for a survey from Apple, and let them have it! Every single survey submitted is read and reviewed by AppleCare's upper management. If it falls into the "very dissatisfied" spectrum in any category, the team manager of the advisor linked to the DSAT will ALWAYS go back and personally listen to the recording of the call in order to determine whether or not the customer's dissatisfaction was the direct result of misconduct on the advisor's part.
Whether the advisor is guilty or not, he/she is then scheduled a mandatory one-on-one meeting with said
team manager to discuss the call, where disciplinary action is taken if necessary. Long story short: Apple takes how well you're treated and supported by its staff VERY seriously. I would definitely make it a point to fill out every survey they send out, especially if an employee treated you poorly.
I do have to stress that you really try remembering the name associated with the survey. Check to make sure that's the name on the e-mail! The only reason I even know about the severe impact one negative survey can yield is because I recently got my first "very dissatisfied" survey.
The customer didn't seem to notice the survey was asking about her experience with me, not the T2 advisor I was forced to transfer her over to! She even left me a compliment in the comment section before returning to her main goal: ripping the T2 a new one. I had to go the dreaded meeting anyway! I almost got into trouble until my manager listened to the call and found I was innocent. However, I still have to keep the DSAT on my record, which has single handily murdered my metrics (and yes, they do matter).
But, I digress, please be careful about who you're slapping with that ruthless DSAT, all right? You know the deal: great power... great responsibility - yadda, yadda. You get the idea!
Even though Apple is a massive company, each and every survey DOES make a difference! It gives every customer a voice, so please use it wisely!
