Apple Store is jerking me around, what would you do?

[aristobrat]

If there is a 2 day wait for repair then the store needs to hire more people to repair computers. i was told by the genius that all parts they order for repairs are sent overnight.

I agree that Apple needs to do *something* if the turn-around time is longer than two days. At one point, they were going to create a new "Family Room Specialist" position that could do Genius Bar type of work on iPods and iPhones, freeing the Geniuses up to spend more of their time repairing Macs. Haven't heard much about if that took off or not.

As for parts being sent overnight, it depends on how late in the day the store places the order, and if the parts depot has the part in stock. There's been times where the depot was out of certain parts for extended periods of time (weeks), holding up repairs Macs in stores and at the AppleCare depots.

Not everyone can afford more than one computer

I thought the point was that anyone that can't afford to be without a computer a for a few days (should it need repair) should have some sort of solution lined-up for that situation (be it owning another computer, or borrowing another computer, using the library's computers, etc).

 

[Panzo]

Not everyone can afford more than one computer

anything past 1 week is unnacceptable on any companies behalf, wether it be Apple, or your local car body shop. Take the local car body shop as an example, yes the repars take weeks, but they have loaner cars.

Back to the main point, we live in times where technology drives everything from pace makers to our buisnesses, 1 week downtime is 1 week downtime no matter which way you look at it. Apart from the "very rough" estimates of 1-3 days (that i get all the time) there are a few more things we need to examine:

A) If there are lots of repairs, hire more people, ship out the laptops to be repaired at the next closest apple store, or once again hire more people.

** im not goign to generalize about all apple stores, but i know the one i frequent has 20 people working on the floor and rougly 4-6 are Geniuses. time to focus more on customer support and less on sales, capitalist pigs.

B) Coming from a company which controls Operating system; Hardware; drivers; and charges premium for a "perfect match of hardware and software" there shouldnt be that many repairs in the first place.

** We all know the horror stories of apple qaulity control/ pre production screening. (See Nvidia 8600, Macbook Air Hinges, Mid 2009 Sata II issues)

C) For those who work in the mass consumer buisness, we always know to over, and never under estimate EVERYTHING, whether it would be price, or repair time, a customer should never feel like hes been lied to, and it is much more appealing to think they got a bargain then to think they got screwed.

** If you have many repairs, dont tell someone it will take on average 1-3 days, when in reality you have 70 computers to fix before theirs.**

** NB: im not sure about what went down with the OP but last time i checked, they are not allowed to take your machine untill they have the parts in stock.** I dont see any reason why you would leave a semi-working machine with them anyway.

 

[simmonsjeffreya]

I don't think I'm over-reacting one bit. I used to work at a Help Desk that had a moderate amount of traffic. The key is, he said 3-5 days which I assumed was accurate. 3 Maybe, which I didn't expect, but now it's coming up on day 6, which is outside the time frame given. They know how many systems they have, they know how long things take, why list times that are 1/4 as long as they're gonna take, it's just unprofessional and I'd have gotten fire for doing so more than a couple of times. And yes, I do understand it's a first come, first serve basis, but again, why give a time frame they can't stick to when they know they can't?

And yes, the drive was in stock AT STORE, not at a depot and was being reserved for the repair, so there's no reason for the part not to be there. It's hard to misidentify a part when all they do is enter your serial number and check stock numbers against what's in your system. The drive was even taken out and the sticker put on it right in front of me. So I feel I have reason to be somewhat annoyed about this.

And while I know people always defend Apple saying that only complainers voice their opinion, that's just not true, when I bought my MBP Unibody I made sure to come here and voice my opinion on how great of a system it was (even though it didn't come with chocolate.) The simple fact is, I've always been kind when calling and when I went in the store, there was no reason for the type of response I got from the manager. What line at Apple would be most appropriate to call in order to hopefully get things pushed along to be close to the time frame I was given?

** NB: im not sure about what went down with the OP but last time i checked, they are not allowed to take your machine untill they have the parts in stock.** I dont see any reason why you would leave a semi-working machine with them anyway.

To address this, the reason I left it there is because I saw with my two eyes the drive with the sticker reserved for my system. I asked, can I drop it off the day it's actually going to be repaired, and they said no, I also asked if there was a better day to drop it off that would be less of a wait and was told no. This is the only Apple store in my area so I've got no other choice.

 

[farmermac]

not sure why anyone goes to an apple store to get anything repaired

ive only heard stories like this

sending it in to applecare though, totally opposite. Ive only heard of same-day repairs. 4 day turnaround...

 

[Panzo]

not sure why anyone goes to an apple store to get anything repaired

ive only heard stories like this

sending it in to applecare though, totally opposite. Ive only heard of same-day repairs. 4 day turnaround...

same day repairs 4 days turn around, so lets say what 5 days total?

I dopped off my laptop sunday at 4 pm and its tuesday today, im definitely goign to call them tomrrow if they dont call me first.

They specifically stated they didnt have many repairs to be done which makes sence since they just reopened.

Im just hoping they fix the issue and dont disfigure my machine in the process.

 

[thecheda]

Customer Service

You will get some great days, and some bad days. That's life. :0

 

[jfyrfytr25]

I understand your frustration, but i dont think that if they told you 3-5 days that because it is day six it is an outrage. My Lord, if you have worked anywhere before you know "things happen" and to sit there and try to explain to a customer why it was not done when they said it would be is useless. The customer does not care about how many problems the company had that set them back. But the reality is it happens. they say 3-5 days but what happens if 2 or 3 or the repair guys get sick and call off for a day or 2. I have ran a dept before, if one person calls off you can play catch up for days. the manager talking to you snotty is different. thats not right and if they are taking longer the least they can do is be polite when telling you. I also think that you may not have been as calm as you think when talking to her. your posts here have sounded VERY heated and if i had to guess your tone of voice is the same when talking about it.

However, I would not get upset and yell at all until my machine was fixed and back in my hands. kinda like a resturante, you dont piss off the waitress before they bring you the food or you end up with a fromunda cheeseburger.
made with cheese from under ......
not that they would intentionally break it, but they could def. drag their feet even more.

lastly, If you are the type of person that relys on their computer. you need it for school and you can live without it for even a day. i would suggest a backup machine. nothing fancy, maybe a used Acer or something for $100 or so. i am just saying if you can not afford to be without the computer, i dont think you can afford not to have a back up.`

 

[J&JPolangin]

...that's why its foolish to only have one computer... I have 4 at work and 6 at home (two of which get carried to work with me every day) and I'm not even an IT

Not everyone can afford more than one computer

...I thought the point was that anyone that can't afford to be without a computer a for a few days (should it need repair) should have some sort of solution lined-up for that situation (be it owning another computer, or borrowing another computer, using the library's computers, etc).

...well if you look at my sig... the Sony PCG-TR3A is a >7 year old ultra portable 10.1" laptop, the eeePC1000H is a netbook that's ~2 yrs old by now, the Dell 8100 I have is >10 yrs old (and still working for basic tasks) and the Toshiba 1905-s303 is >8 yrs old...

Both the Toshiba and Dell can actually preform all my "web client" based work if needed so the only real modern machines I have are the 2 macs listed in my sig... but all the other machines allow me to be productive if I had to use them for work or otherwise... (just because the machine is older/slower doesn't mean it needs to be thrown away - remember most of what's considered trash used to be the "latest and greatest" when it was purchased).

I'm sure the OP has access to at least one other computer via friends or family... maybe even one that could be loaned to him/her during the repair period.

 

[throttlemeister]

I understand your frustration, but i dont think that if they told you 3-5 days that because it is day six it is an outrage.

I think you (and others in this thread) missed the point. The point is not that it is the 6th day, the point is that after 5 days they claim to not have the part in stock and its going to take another 7 days, while the TS physically saw the part was in stock and it was reserved for him with a sticker. The TS is getting the runaround and getting lied to, that's what he is pissed about. I doubt he would have made an issue out of this if they had told him something had come up but everything is ok but it would take a few days more.

 

[pkoch1]

Rarely do Apple Stores do repairs in an efficient manner. The hard drive in my late 2008 MBP died and the tech person arranged for a quick drop at the Lenox Square store. I was told by the in store person that it would be turned around in 24 to 48 hours. It took 13 days to get the call to pick it up. I have learned that if you need a repair, it is always better to ship it to a repair depot.

The exact same thing happene to me with a mighty mouse. I was told 24-48 hours and it took exactly 2 weeks.

I agree that Apple needs to do *something* if the turn-around time is longer than two days. At one point, they were going to create a new "Family Room Specialist" position that could do Genius Bar type of work on iPods and iPhones, freeing the Geniuses up to spend more of their time repairing Macs. Haven't heard much about if that took off or not.

the family room specialist exists, and all it is is an iPod/iPhone only genius. There is usually 1-2 per store.

I don't know why both Genius' and AppleCare agents feel like they need to give the customer specific time. They're not the ones doing the repair so how could they possibly know exactly when the repair was done?

because the geniuses are the ones doing the repairs

 

[jfyrfytr25]

I think you (and others in this thread) missed the point. The point is not that it is the 6th day, the point is that after 5 days they claim to not have the part in stock and its going to take another 7 days, while the TS physically saw the part was in stock and it was reserved for him with a sticker. The TS is getting the runaround and getting lied to, that's what he is pissed about. I doubt he would have made an issue out of this if they had told him something had come up but everything is ok but it would take a few days more.

I got the point. but as i said, Things happen!!

so they tagged the part. maybe the tag fell off and they used for someone else. maybe the one they had was mis-identified and wont work in his unit.

there are a million things that it could be. I agree if the lady got snotty that is where they messed up, however i dont believe he was Mr. congeniality either.

plus, people think that just because they have a title of genius, they are SMART. well, i hate to tell you, but some of the people working in an apple store are only qualified for one other job, FAST FOOD. therefore the fact that they make mistakes i would consider "within spec".


Bottom line, it has been 6 days. maybe it will take another 6-7. when it is all said and done it is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

Sh** happens in life. you deal with it the best you can and move on. if your computer repair taking 12 days to get done is your biggest problem, count yourself lucky. lot of people right not wonder how they are going to feed their kids next. now thats something to get upset about.

 

[mikes70mustang]

Well I know what you would do, write and angry post on the internet.

 

[CountBrass]

Danger: Apple Fanbois at work.

I'm as big a fan of Apple kit as the next guy (I have a Mac Pro, iMac, Macbook Pro and a Mac Air) and I've "converted" half a dozen people to the-one-true-faith but:

a) Some (all?) Apple Stores suck. They seem to employ people based on the number of tatoos they sport rather than any kind of competence and serving customers. I've had so many experiences of crap service from the staff at the Birmingham (UK) store I simply don't go there any more. My sister-in-law (her son is a mac fan and she's a recent convert) agrees so I'm not some paranoid over-sensitive nerd.

b) I am astonished at the number of fan bois defending seriously poor service from this Apple Store. YOU might be happy to be handed the ****** end of the stick but that doesn't mean the rest of us have to put up with it.

It's completely reasonable to expect an Apple Store to have parts in stock and to be able to complete a simple replacement in a couple of days. Their staffing levels are *not* our problem: if they have a back log of repairs they should hire more staff.

I pay a premium for Apple kit and I expect both the kit itself and the after-sales service to reflect that.