Apple Plans to Stop Providing Customer Support on Twitter and YouTube

[Future-ex-apple-employee]

Great point! I wasn't even thinking about how this impacts Apple employees until your post. Do the phone support tech's also handle the iMessage chat support side of things too? I guess I just assumed there would be different teams assigned to specific groups of support. If so, maybe you could put in a request to be on the iMessage chat support team???

Support over the phone is one group. They handle pretty much just iOS stuff. Mac support over the phone handles pretty much just macOS stuff. Each group overflows into the other a little, but they stick to boundaries pretty well.

There's also chat support for both lines of business, which is dreaded. Double or triple chats at a time. Crazy stressful and nobody can wait to leave there. As of right now, we're only being offered BS entry-level support queues. It's a slap in the face.

 

[iStorm]

I think the Apple Support Community should just go away altogether. So many people think they are talking to actual Apple employees. Not sure if I've ever even found solutions to my issues over there in the past. There are also things like this, where the "Best Answer" is just flat out wrong and never corrected.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

I think the Apple Support Community should just go away altogether. So many people think they are talking to actual Apple employees. Not sure if I've ever even found solutions to my issues over there in the past. There are also things like this, where the "Best Answer" is just flat out wrong and never corrected.

It sure clutters up search results. I usually do a "-apple.com" to remove the Support Community when searching for issues.

 

[mxrider88]

Because paying people to tell you to try to reboot your device or update your software when it is obvious that you are dealing with another bug or issue created by the hopeless software developers at Apple is a total waste of time and money for everybody maybe..

 

[MrENGLISH]

Support over the phone is one group. They handle pretty much just iOS stuff. Mac support over the phone handles pretty much just macOS stuff. Each group overflows into the other a little, but they stick to boundaries pretty well.

There's also chat support for both lines of business, which is dreaded. Double or triple chats at a time. Crazy stressful and nobody can wait to leave there. As of right now, we're only being offered BS entry-level support queues, most likely just phone-based iOS. It's a slap in the face.

Oh wow I had no idea it was like that on the chat side. I'm sorry you are having to go through this

 

[Future-ex-apple-employee]

I think the Apple Support Community should just go away altogether. So many people think they are talking to actual Apple employees. Not sure if I've ever even found solutions to my issues over there in the past. There are also things like this, where the "Best Answer" is just flat out wrong and never corrected.

Oh wow I had no idea it was like that on the chat side. I'm sorry you are having to go through this

Thank you. Fortunately, most of us OGs there are older and we have quite a lot of experience, so I feel sure we'll be able to arrange other employment. Just hurts to be so proud to work here and then see this huge "lol no just kidding, you're expendable" thing happen. We understand if the group is not profitable and has to go, but to not recognize the talent in the group and just brush us away like a buzzing fly sucks.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Well that sucks. The Apple Support Youtube did great work and their guides and replies were extremely helpful.

 

[iStorm]

Well that sucks. The Apple Support Youtube did great work and their guides and replies were extremely helpful.

Their YouTube videos aren't going away. They're just not going to respond to customers in the comments section anymore.

In addition, the sources said Apple will no longer provide technical assistance to customers in the comments section of YouTube videos uploaded to the Apple Support channel

 

[75Batt]

I wished they would expand Apple support over iMessage outside of the US

It’s available outside the US

 

[sbuntin]

I’m one of the employees. There’s 250-300 of us. Thirty days notice, then busted back to phone support. I have 9 years with apple and most of it has been here in social media support. Most of my team is the same as me. Even the “newbies” are 3-4 years deep in this group.

We’re furious and worried as hell. Those who wish to stay start “phone training” in about a month…. Where we all started and busted our butts to leave. A handful are staying, everyone I’ve spoken to seem to be polishing up the resume.

Pretty sure 90% of phone support tries to escape. Friend of mine was one of the first discussions support peeps back in the day. You all made it out, and now you're getting screwed. They really should offer web-based chat support positions for all of you. Busting back to phone support is an insult.

 

[fwmireault]

It’s available outside the US

Is there a list of countries that support the feature?

 

[Chazak]

Personally, I think Apple's decision is a good one especially with respect to twitter.

They should not do anything that lends credibility to Musk and his disaster whether it is posting on the platform or ad dollars. There should be a concerted effort by tech powers to put twitter and Musk into a box that isolates them. So long as they don't cross anti-trust lines or collude among each other I am 100% behind any effort in that direction.

For different reasons that are more business oriented, the YouTube aspect also makes sense. Centralized control and driving support traffic to platforms they control makes sense. If you want support that doesn't come from Apple or isn't controlled by them you will still have more options than you can count.

I do understand workers will get the short end of the stick. They can thank Musk for that, not Apple.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Twitter based customer support was always a bad idea. It felt convenient to shout gripes into the void and be heard by somebody who could help, but the next step involved providing personally identifying information to a random customer support agent on a Twitter account you had to assume was correct. All via Twitter DMs, which aren't encrypted and can't be deleted.

I couldn't get behind any company or public agency that went this route. It feels like you definitely may or may not get a response.

 

[verdi1987]

Support via YouTube comments is a thing?

 

[verdi1987]

My favorites are the boilerplate responses on the Apple Support Community that are unrelated to the issue. (Apple certainly isn’t alone in this, but it drives me mad.)

 

[MrENGLISH]

Support via YouTube comments is a thing?

I'm surprised to learn that too. I knew they were making support videos but never knew they would offer actual one-on-one support via YouTube.

 

[matsan]

Don’t know if Apple knows or cares but I’ve been in touch with Apple’s Swedish phone support on a couple of times and it sucks! The community has been much more accessible and helpful.

 

[ikramerica]

Never made sense to me. 100% of my DMs with Apple support over X resulted in doing basic troubleshooting steps and then Apple support telling me to go to the support website for further help. And the website chat ended up asking me to do the same exact troubleshooting steps.

Yep. And the paid helpers were just as useless. Maybe not useless to people who can’t bother to type a search request in google, duck duck go, or on Apple websites to find the same info.

 

[ArizonaApple]

100% despise phone support. If a company or even doctors office doesn't have an email/messaging feature, they aren't even an option. I don't want to call support when I can just message and be done with it.

 

[Nermal]

So does this mean that Apple's nonexistent "support" is going to become more nonexistent, or will there be a focus on having a single support channel that will actually be staffed?

 

[lordofthereef]

I get that people spend more time on social apps than with their families. I also get the concept of "meet the customer where they are." But it always struck me as an unnatural place for Apple (or any company) to offer customer service. Typically, customer service is a more intimate, one-on-one scenario. The expectation of moving that experience to a social channel always seemed odd. But... you gotta try things to evolve things. So, check that box. Having tried it a couple of times, I'm not surprised to see them sunset this concept. Next? 🤪

I agree. I think it evolved to social because people like to put a company on blast for every little thing and social media presence evolved from basic ads to damage control.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Very good. Its all about social skills. Apple knows customers love connecting with an actual live person. With all this rush to chat bots and all that non-sense, its nice to see a company actually put meaning to support.

 

[verdi1987]

I get that people spend more time on social apps than with their families. I also get the concept of "meet the customer where they are." But it always struck me as an unnatural place for Apple (or any company) to offer customer service. Typically, customer service is a more intimate, one-on-one scenario. The expectation of moving that experience to a social channel always seemed odd. But... you gotta try things to evolve things. So, check that box. Having tried it a couple of times, I'm not surprised to see them sunset this concept. Next? 🤪

I’ve since deleted my X account, but I only used Twitter for support (not Apple but other brands). The support agents over DM were usually more responsive than phone or email agents. It was especially helpful if other chat support options didn’t exist or were inconvenient due to time zone differences.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Not a big deal. People in need can download the Apple Support app and talk directly to support, or call the Apple Support number or post on MR for help.

 

[verdi1987]

Not a big deal. People in need can download the Apple Support app and talk directly to support, or call the Apple Support number or post on MR for help.

iMessage Business Chat is good, too.