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Apple Phone Support SUCKS.

Shacklebolt

Shacklebolt

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 2, 2004
596
0
Okay, maybe that's a bit of an unfair generalization. But the past 5 times I've called up 1800-SOS-APPL in the past month because my computer/monitor's on the fritz, only ONE of them has actually helped me conclusively. And I got the distinct impression that four of them didn't even really know what they were talking about. I understand that the internet has made it easier for Apple customers to help themselves. It used to be, back in the early 1990s, Apple technicians knew everything. Now, all they do is yank up documents on the internet. Come on - I can do that myself.

An Example:

I just finished a call. My question related to my new cinema display's compatibility with my old sawtooth. I got the idea (you can tell by talking to these guys), that this one also wasn't particularly knowledgable. But what really made me just say, "Okay, thanks," and then hang up, was this: "Sir, it says here that you need an ... ummm... [phonetically] en-vah-duh or radeon graphics card." I know this is rude and a little bit obnoxious, but there are TWO graphics card manufacturers that Apple uses. This guy, who was a "Powermac G4" specialist, couldn't pronounce the name of one of them. I don't have a problem with someone saying "Nvidia" incorrectly. It's not a real word. But this guy sounded like he'd never even spoken the word aloud before, in the, you know, course of being an Apple technician, or, hell, even knowing anything about Apple graphics cards. I was directed to this guy to talk about my graphics card.

All that Apple phone support seems to be any more are a few people reading documents off the internet. Where have all the experts gone?
 
True. They do suck. I called one day because I had questions about my apple care, and the lady on the phone was so sleepy, so funny. The lady could barely talk, and many "huh?"s were said. I did, however, get my questions answered (she took a while to look it up though). So no major complaints here, but still, thats not the way I wanted it to be, or should have been
 
There are some great CSRs at Apple support, however the bulk of them are not very helpful.

I called a few weeks ago to order a replacement mouse for my iMac, and the CSR took 15 minutes to lookup which mouse originally came with the machine. After 10 minutes, he finally asked me what "type" of mouse I had. I kindly told him it shipped with an Apple Pro Mouse. He then asked me what color? Umm... I'll take a Pro Mouse in dark red with a splash of blue... please. LOL.

You would think since he already knew I owned an iMac G4, he would know which mouse I had and what color it is. If not by common knowledge for a Apple CSR, at least that kind of information should be displayed on his computer after he took my serial number.
 
I completely agree. I've never been told anything I haven't read on the Apple Support Web Site. I've had problems with iMovie exporting to miniDV on multiple cameras and the SENIOR TECHNICIAN gave me this ******** about how my camera model (even though I repeatedly told him I tried different cameras) had a history of firewire problems...and when I looked up the article he referenced it wasn't even my model. He was just sick of dealing with me for over half an hour and gave me a ******** answer to get off the line.
 
here here - me too

I've also had a bout with Apple's phone support. It took them a good 5 minutes to find out what computer I was talking about - my new G5. I had explained to them that the HD had gone belly up and I was forced to go and buy another one.


For a warranty claim, I was required to take the WHOLE COMPUTER to an AppleCentre for assessment. The process would take between 10 - 14 days for them to assess the problem - and then allow more time for a new hard drive to be fitted if found faulty.

I insisted it was the HD - the computer told me that the SMART status was failing. What more do you want?? The excuse was that there could be a fault with the computer and it needs to be seen to. I said I ran hardware test and no fault was found... They had no idea what I was talking about. I was then put onto customer relations as I was getting a little distressed.

In the end, I just bit the bullet and didn't worry about it.

Should I just send the HD to Apple directly with a note saying it is no good?

aussie_geek
 
I downloaded a song from ITMS that proceeded to cause a kernal panic and totally knacker my system. Just before it happened, I emailed myself a copy of the file to open on another mac in the house. I opened it, and guess what? Totally knackered that system too.

So, I happily telephoned Apple in the morning to explain what had happened, and they proceeded to tell me they would only deal with my call if I handed over £40 or there abouts.

I flatly refused and started shouting until I got referred to a "specialist"

Now, this specialist told me that it was a big inconvenience, and a sheer coincidence that the ITMS File had done this. I happily accepted that, and I accepted that it could have just been the file that happened to set it off (On two computers no less) but what really annoyed me was the following:

I asked if i should back up my work.

"No, we will do an achive and restore, you won't loose your work" she replied.

I accepted this, and got on with the process with her help on the line. The unfortunate thing was that the situation got worse; I could only get into Darwin screens, and I had to end up doing a complete reformat, with no saving of my data.

This was back in the days where I hadn't got a clue about macs, and was after only a little while of switching. So, on her advice, I lost all my work, lost all my music downloads, and paid for the honour. It was seriously almost enough to make me want to switch right back.

Poor show.
 
My experience buying my powermac and talking to Apple on the phone was miles better than dealing with Dell.
 
I've had generally great experiences with the Apple Australia Team.

Although, when I clicked this thread I thought it was regarding the Moto-iTunes Phone :p
 
This is becoming the case more and more with all phone support. It is not unique to apple. Just be glad you got an answer from someone in the US that spoke english.

Try phone support for Intuit (Quickbooks, etc.). That is a joyride to India from people that have never even seen the frickin program. I kid you not.
 
My experiences with apple support have been good. I have had my share of interesting issues though. one such example would be my attempt to get a replacement keyboard for my powerbook. After being on hold with a CSR for a while they came back and indicated that the replacment keyboard would be $63. I couldn't believe the low cost so I asked many times if they had it correct (A replacement keyboard for a 15" Backlight Powerbook keyboard). I was assured all was right. A couple of days later when the box arrived, they sent me a desktop USB keyboard. I called apple back and they then realized that they can't send me out a powerbook keyboard as it is not a user replaceable part. Good thing though, they did refund the money I spent on the desktop USB keyboard, and told me to keep it as it was their fault. So in the end the whole thing turned out fine (except i still need to get my keyboard fixed)

Kimo
 
Everything is outsourced to India these days. If you think you can find a tech company that isn't....you are mistaken. Simply hang up and try back until you get someone that didn't just walk out of the employment line in New Deli.

MSN is the WORST for this crap. Dealt with that a few times and never again!! Apple is a step up.
 
Lucky you don't live in the UK! Apple seem to have outsourced most of their phone support here to India - at least that is where I have got through to the last few times. I don't bother even trying anymore they are that bad!
 
Yet MORE

I FIXED IT MYSELF.

My computer was only starting to a grey screen. I called 3 different Apple people, and none of them could direct me to the answer. One of them told me, "Let's see... it says here, start in the open firmware and type in this command line... [don't remember]" So I booted into open firmware, and lo and behold, the command line didn't work. "Huh... this is unfortunate," I think to myself. "Yeah, it should work," says the technician.

And then _I_ figured it out. I decided to start in the single-user interface, holding command-s immediately after start up. THEN I entered the comman d line, gave it a few minutes to do its thing, then once it verified that the Volume "Macintosh HD" was okay, I typed reboot.

The tech-guy I called simply didn't know the difference between a single-user interface and the open-firmware interface. How the heck is this possible? These guys are the friggin' EXPERTS. It's like, if you told me to boot into Linux and then wondered why I was having problems using MS-DOS command lines.

Where HAVE all the experts gone? I mean, seriously, there must be mac experts somewhere. Where did they put them? Why are we (I've spent about 3500 dollars on Apple products in the past month) relegated to "phone support" by people who just read documents off the internet, and obviously don't even know what they're talking about. I feel bad saying, "Yeah, could I please talk to someone else." But still - what the hell?
 
Shacklebolt said:
Where HAVE all the experts gone? I mean, seriously, there must be mac experts somewhere. Where did they put them? Why are we (I've spent about 3500 dollars on Apple products in the past month) relegated to "phone support" by people who just read documents off the internet, and obviously don't even know what they're talking about. I feel bad saying, "Yeah, could I please talk to someone else." But still - what the hell?
Click to expand...

Its pretty unfortunate, but i'd imagine the few true experts left are too valuable to be doing tech support calls :eek: :rolleyes:
 
It's been a few years since I called Apple. I can remember spending up to an hour. The problems that I had were software conflicts. So it took time to rectify. Being able to visit a Mac Genius one to one makes it so much easier. The frustration aspect is removed.
 
Erendiox said:
Its pretty unfortunate, but i'd imagine the few true experts left are too valuable to be doing tech support calls :eek: :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

generally in call centers the best techs get promoted to a 'lead' and manage or help train the other little minions. generally when you hear a tech put you on the phone to find an answer they are talking to the 'lead'. now that 'lead' has to handle question from everyone under them, so you can see how quality would suffer. i don't know if this is how apple works, but i bet it is a similar system. call centers generally produce higher quality when most of their techs are certified. i have feeling, not all the techs in the apple call center are certified.
 
Hi, all!

I've had nothing but good experiences whenever I had to call Apple Support. I noticed, though, that the people posting about bad experiences seem to come predominantly from outside the US. It would appear that Apple should give their international support more training.

Have fun... Tony.
 
The people I have dealt with have always been great, no issues. The only issue I had was long hold times... but that wasn't too bad. They were nice about it, and got my PowerBook fixed.
 
Jschultz said:
Cant be much worse than Linksys. All Indian people named Sarah, Bob, and Thomas oddly enough :confused:
Click to expand...

That's what is printed above their monitor. It changes depending on week and cubicle.
 
Apple Store Kids Suck Too

Can't say i've had too much experience with the phone techs, but the apple store "mac geniuses" are total knob heads
 
Although my experiences with phone reps has thankfully been limited, most of it has been pleasant. When I've gotten someone who is in over his/her head I've been directed to someone with surgical precision in assessing and resolving problems and answering my questions.
 
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