Apple Plans to Stop Providing Customer Support on Twitter and YouTube

[bobcomer]

get people to go into an Apple Store to see someone at Genius Bar

How about those of us that don't have an apple store anywhere close enough to go to?

I really don't care about twitter, I don't use it anyway, and I didn't know they provided support on youtube. Not having reps in the apple communities forums, now that I don't like. I've gotten a lot of good answer out of there.

 

[amartinez1660]

So many posts steering the subject to twitter, or X, or Elon, etc… the subject is “Apple support employees on said social platforms” not “I love or hate Elon”

And on those mentioning instances of Apple Support being sometimes awful, I think it’s deeper than that.
Someone somewhere high up in the hierarchy probably got there sneakily (cronie, nepotism, bff) and doesn’t know what’s up or it’s corporate mandatory steps set by Apple, to mandate as first response blanket steps: “restart your device, log out, log in iCloud, clear PRAM, etc” for even things like “the keyboard H key doesn’t register”, i.e, the complex version of “restart your computer?”.

If that really helps 85% of the cases, then they should just offer a 100% reliable settings option button that does the blanket steps quickly automatically and leaves the phone/mac/iPad just as it was content wise.

 

[kwikdeth]

Yes. Because making people wait on the phone to be told "just reinstall and restore from your icloud backup" adds a more personal touch to support.

 

[kmoreau48]

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

Not sure exactly how I did it but I am able to speak with Apple support over iMessage here in Canada.

I believe I found Apple Inc. in my contact and just sent an iMessage to that contact and got a response. I used this a couple of times already and it was quite helpful

 

[cmcbhi]

When I have a problem, I need to speak to a human. I don't want to waste time Twittering, Twittering or messaging back and forth. I never learned to touch type and I'm too old now, so messaging/chatting is dreadfully slow and usually unhelpful. .
That said, Ive put machines together since the late 70's. I don't need to be told to reboot, reinstall, restore. By the time I've called for help, I'v already done that.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Wait, ok maybe twitter, but youtube? I didn’t even know that was a thing. And why in the world would Apple not let these employees just start working on Apple’s own Messages chat support?

You can just iMessage Apple, they have a special verified chat view and everything. Why would they tell them now they have to work the phones or leave?

 

[Crowbot]

When I have a problem, I need to speak to a human. I don't want to waste time Twittering, Twittering or messaging back and forth. I never learned to touch type and I'm too old now, so messaging/chatting is dreadfully slow and usually unhelpful. .
That said, Ive put machines together since the late 70's. I don't need to be told to reboot, reinstall, restore. By the time I've called for help, I'v already done that.

I get your concern but it seems to be everywhere. I tried to deal with a ticketing issue with an airline recently. No phone support since Covid so it's all done on WhatsApp. Once they figured out I wasn't in their home country I was put on perma-hold. I finally had to deal with it myself.

Also, remember that a support tech has no idea as to your technical ability. I did phone support and sometimes they don't know where the power button is. I always try to gently convey to the service tech (early) that I have some knowledge and have already done the basics. They don't want to waste time and so are usually OK with moving on. When it's a drone moving through a decision tree you just have to let it flow.

 

[laptech]

Maybe Apple think their products are so so good and thus so so reliable that they do not need the mountains of tech support workers any more

 

[Sophisticatednut]

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..

Nope it’s all about a recent US ruling that what they say on these social media platforms is legally binding as representing the company

 

[Mercifull]

The iMessage Support was very helpful when I had a brand new iPad faulty within the first 14 days. Gave me all the information needed to return for a full refund. I used the phone support years ago but never even thought to use Twitter/X or YouTube.

 

[Plutonius]

And why in the world would Apple not let these employees just start working on Apple’s own Messages chat support?

It's all about money with 350 less people to pay on top of the overhead for putting the support on YouTube and Twitter..

A.I. on phone support with a limited staff to handle difficult problems.

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

…YouTube?

Anyway that’s a no brainer. These support channels tend to be inefficient and nigh impossible to integrate with your own CRM
They were obviously there just to pander to the younger crowd who is used to reaching out to everyone on social media and things sending an email is “Stone Age ****”

Both platforms have lost favor with said crowd lately, so it makes sense to me Apple sees no benefit from maintaining those channels open.

 

[Jimmy Bubbles]

I prefer iMessage or phone support anyway.

I've certainly used that a lot more than airing grievances on social media. The chat part is clutch when you're in the middle of a work day and want to keep on about your business, but still have a support case being opened and documented simultaneously.

 

[blackgoatofthewoods]

”Oh hi there Jim! let’s sit down, here’s the situation… so… you are not fired, really, ok? Uhm, it’s just that the job it’s not there anymore, it… packed its bags and left, ok?”

I feel ya all, what I think is happening there, industry-wide, is that due to the economic landscape everybody everywhere is laying off staff… and doing so even increases stock prices so there’s double the incentive to do it.

I would suggest, polish your résumé but from the comfort of at least having the phone service desk job, play your cards, don’t even hint that you don’t want it (if you don’t, wasn’t clear, don’t clarify it here either)… companies aren’t being neither loyal nor straight faced with you, so you don’t need to be.

Good luck to you all and your team.

Great advice here. Thanks! If anyone from this dead org reads this, stop giving recommend points to the no-life nerds who are replacing us lol

 

[supremedesigner]

Will Apple's deaf employees continue to do phone support or be assigned new duties?

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.

 

[BanditoB]

I can understand Apple removing support from social media sites. That makes some sense, but to remove direct support from Apple’s own Apple SUPPORT site, seems kinda dumb to me. Yes, users do support one another there and that will continue, but having actual Apple folks to step in and lend a hand is/was fundamental to the site in my opinion.

 

[mjs916]

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.

The community is made up of Apple users and employees some of the time. There is crossover in those categories as well. Keep using the community. There are lots of people there that are not Apple employees that are willing to share their knowledge.

 

[mjs916]

Good! Don’t give X any more support than it needs. It’s become a cesspool since Elon took over. Glad Apple is making this move, I’d happily use the support website instead of that garbage website.

It was always a cesspool.

 

[oldMacGenius]

More communication channels for support is necessary for accessibility.

Some people will not ever call on the phone or walk into a store to get something fixed.

No, they will simply just avoid the hassle of worrying about needing a solution by simply ignoring the problem.

People on the spectrum, people who have ADHD/Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, people who suffer from social anxiety, or those who have avoidant personality disorder, and more are likely to fall in this category. Also people who believe that they have done something wrong when in reality they’re just experiencing the same problems as everyone else, but handle the problem with a lot of shame based on their perception. These people rely on chat based solutions because they have a lot more confidence than during forced communication in person or on the phone.

More chat, not less!

Not my image but explains the situation well.

 

[kazmac]

I understand social media disengagement, but the Apple Support Communities website has been super helpful when I needed an answer immediately. Sorry to see that go. Apple should continue this for folks who do not want to call in.

I hope more employees can transition over to a phone role, but I can understand why some Apple employees are upset.

 

[Crowbot]

Will Apple's deaf employees continue to do phone support or be assigned new duties?

We don't know that any deaf employees are getting the boot. I imagine they could put them on FaceTime calls.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

I can understand Apple removing support from social media sites. That makes some sense, but to remove direct support from Apple’s own Apple SUPPORT site, seems kinda dumb to me. Yes, users do support one another there and that will continue, but having actual Apple folks to step in and lend a hand is/was fundamental to the site in my opinion.

Well as I mentioned before it’s because of a lawsuit against Hp that have concluded that anything an Apple representative says on a forum is legally binding as truth and as the official opinion of the company they represent irrespective of their position

 

[JabeltyNron]

To give more insight... I'm one of the employees affected by this as well. To clear things up in the comments, the 200-300 of us handle absolutely everything related to social media. We start the day in communities, then move to an internal tool that routes Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook messages to us. Facebook and Instagram have had issues being routed to us (or that's what we were told at least) so we have not been getting those as of late. The largest portion of these messages come from Twitter. And yes, our support there isn't top notch. We don't handle them as individual chat messages. We complete a message, then the system routes us to another one. So every time a customer messages us, a different employee is responding. YouTube support isn't really support. We have to provide a related publicly available article from Apple's website, then direct the customer to the contact Apple Support website.

We are also limited on what we can support. Most of it is basic troubleshooting. We're generally not allowed to find workarounds or anything that isn't documented on the Apple website, because in social media we are speaking as "Apple" and doing something incorrectly can hurt the brand image. The same rules apply for the Apple Support Communities generally.

We were not offered any roles besides entry level phone positions. This even applies to those of us who came to the social media group that were previously senior advisors.

I saw another employee on here state chat advisors handled 3 chats at a time. It is worse than that in the current climate. They take up to 5 chats at a time. Chat advisors are being bullied into going to phones using tactics like this too. They are the ones who handle the Messages chat too. So when you chat in and they want a moment to look over your information, they're actually stalling because they're being bombarded with other chats.

What most people do not realize, is that over the last decade or so, Apple has been trying to phase out a lot of these positions for their internal workers. Many of the phone support and chat support advisors work for other companies that have contracts with Apple, AKA temp agencies.

Apple has not been hiring many if at all for direct support advisors over the last several years or more. There have to be far more of these third party advisors than there are actual direct employees at this stage. The way it is going now, Apple will likely lay off all of their support staff in favor of these vendors in the future. Or rather, they're already in the process of doing this, just doing it slowly to transition it all over. They do not have to pay them as much, and also do not have to pay them insurance or any other benefits since they are all classified as temp agencies. If you have noticed a decline in the quality of support you've gotten from Apple over the years, it's because of the temp agencies and who they choose to hire. Those agencies will hire anyone. Apple used to be quite strict about who they would hire. We have also seen people fired over trivial actions without any sort of warnings.

Most of us are AHA (At Home Advisors). This was the majority of Apple's work force for support in the US until they slowed down on hiring. They've built several campuses around the US and have hinted at us moving to relocate near one of those to work in office for any sort of promotions. In the past, you could do essentially any role at Apple you'd like being an AHA. From my and other employees understanding, T2 phones is the limit for AHA now. Anything else requires you to move to where one of the campuses is located and work there.

 

[JabeltyNron]

I understand social media disengagement, but the Apple Support Communities website has been super helpful when I needed an answer immediately. Sorry to see that go. Apple should continue this for folks who do not want to call in.

I hope more employees can transition over to a phone role, but I can understand why some Apple employees are upset.

ASC isn't going away. Apple employees just won't be on it anymore. The level 10 users on there are better at it than employees as they are not bound by following documented Apple troubleshooting articles.

 

[JabeltyNron]

More communication channels for support is necessary for accessibility.

Some people will not ever call on the phone or walk into a store to get something fixed.

No, they will simply just avoid the hassle of worrying about needing a solution by simply ignoring the problem.

People on the spectrum, people who have ADHD/Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, people who suffer from social anxiety, or those who have avoidant personality disorder, and more are likely to fall in this category. Also people who believe that they have done something wrong when in reality they’re just experiencing the same problems as everyone else, but handle the problem with a lot of shame based on their perception. These people rely on chat based solutions because they have a lot more confidence than during forced communication in person or on the phone.

More chat, not less!

Not my image but explains the situation well.

View attachment 2253319

This is true for employees as well. Many of us who have held out and stayed in social media have some these conditions. Those who do not found other roles with more pay and took those. Which is why everyone is so upset.