Apple to Charge Fees for Out-of-Warranty Chat Support

If this is indeed the case, I think it is a bad move. Support should be free for at least up to one year after date of purchase.

And even then, $19.99 for a support ticket? Hell ff-ing no!
 
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charlituna said:
this is a RUMOR. It hasn't happened.

Contrary to some folks belief, 9to5mac is not Apple. Just because they say something is going to happen doesn't mean it will. Yes it might be something someone proposed but for all we know Cook said hell no to it. And that site screen shot might be fake.

Until Apple actually does it how about folks put down the torches and the pitchforks.
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I had to vote up your post - I completely agree. Lets assume that that the rumour is correct - why the hell, as a paying customer should I pay second fiddle to some cheapskate demanding technical support on their Mac which is 6 years old? I've just recently bought a new Mac and I should be '20th in the queue, your call is important to use! please please keep holding!' because some person with a 6 year old Mac is venting to a customer support rep that they don't like the appearance of Contacts in the latest version of OS X. Honestly, the sense of entitlement is amazing - and in the whole time I've owned a Mac I've only ever rang up Apple once and it was for something really stupid (first time I used OS X and my brother had clicked on one of the three icons at the top left of the iTunes window which put it into mini player mode and I didn't know how to get it back how - I felt like a right idiot ringing up asking such a stupid question).
 
Rather pathetic, addicted to profits in order to survive, Apple desperately needs the money (sarcasm).

They're taking a page out of government operations 101. Call it a fee, a tax, whatever, but it's just plain pathetic greedy and self serving.

It's Apples arrogance I despise. It'd be so easy for them to be a classy, dignified, world class company if not for their unnecessary attitude.

The Apple of old, prior to the iPod, was the company I truly admired. They're the ones that earned my loyalty. Between the release of the iPod and the iPhone, Apples success went to their head.

But hey, they're a narcissists dream.
 
charlituna said:
As was pointed out by someone else, Steve Jobs allowed for charging folks for phone support. Which was not so long ago the same ilk as chat support, i.e. folks screaming it should be free.

Many places like MS, Best Buy etc charge you at least $10-20 just to run a simple diagnostic test on your stuff. Often prepaid, non refundable and not credited to any repairs. Apple in their stores charges you nothing. And despite saying those appointments are 10-15 minutes long they don't time you and toss you when your time is up. You could be there asking questions or whatever for hours. Sure they might 'multitask' here and there but they won't kick you out or charge you for going over your time.

If anything perhaps this fee is to get folks to stop calling or starting chats for mundane crap they should be able to figure out themselves, google for or is actually a question for someone else like their ISP. If the issue is my Earthlink email isn't coming in cause I forgot my password I shouldn't be calling Apple anyway, and yet folks do it all the time (same with going in the stores) cause 'i use it on my iPad' suddenly makes it an Apple issue
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If you want MS and Best Buy to be the standard by which you hold Apple, I'm sure you'll be delighted with this policy.

Some of us have long revered Apple because they held themselves to a higher standard.

Enjoy the new Apple.
 
i'm all for this...

other companies are no different in term of Telephone support, so why should people be allowed to get round the system by FREE live chat for out-of-warranty ?

Besides, i dunno what people are peeved abut,, if you like, there is something called Google that you can find that info for free.... anyway.... forums etc...

When a service become popular, how do you get people on-board ? charge for it...

I go to Live chat all the time over phone, but then i'm still in warranty :)


The same is no different for out-of-warranty repairs.... people expect the same level of support.... It sux ya, but their is no such thing as a free lunch.
 
I moved to Apple Mac just to use iBooksAuthor and get books in the store. Apple have now removed the DVD...but will sell you one. A 15" MBP costs as much as 27"imac...and everything is about double the price of anything Windows. Apple seem prone to phase out compatibility of applications and OS...and now they want to charge for support!
It seems a less expensive option is back to Windows and out of warranty...bin it and buy new..and still not have spent as much as the loyal Apple user eith problems!
 
This is one of the main reasons I've been moving away from Apple products lately.

My iPhone 4S was a month outside of the 1 year warranty when I started having wifi issues, and they quoted me £200 to fix/replace it. (in the end I took it to a shop that did repairs who fixed it for about £30).

Apple used to be a company that made amazing products coupled with amazing customer service. I'd still say they make amazing products, but for them, extra profit (Which they don't need) seems be a higher priority now.

Contrast that with Google, who spend billions of their profit on great causes and innovation, and also have amazing customer service. I've got the Nexus 5 now instead of an iPhone - cost half the price, does the same job (I actually prefer it to an iPhone now) and has better customer support.

If the rumours are true that Apple will be introducing tamper proof screws to the iPhone 6 as a way to ensure only Apple can replace/repair items, I can't see myself ever moving back towards Apple products if I'm honest.
 
I wonder if this is in response to Tim Cook recently telling investors to get out of apple stock if they don't agree with climate change initiatives? This charge might help cover the costs of apple getting overly green. So, essentially, everyone needing chat support can now pay more so we can save the spotted tree cows and furbian tarantulas that live in Antarctica or where ever.

Great. :rolleyes:
 
"Oh no" I have to pay for chat tech support after warranty is expired?! The horror!!! ::ROFL:: i didn't even realize they offer chat tech support as i find chat cumbersome compared to voice and I never call tech support as they won't be able to do anything I can't do on my own, if there is a hardware issue I just go take it to the apple store to let them fix it. If it's software I take five minutes and do some research and see if anyone else has had the issue and learn something new. If there is a bug I report it to the software developer. The end.

Computers aren't mysteries, they are humans best attempt at logic and order but even then it is still made by humans and will be flawed somehow because of it.
 
Konrad9 said:
The next logical step is to charge for the same kind of support in-store.
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Hopefully that day never comes. It would seriously tarnish Apple's image in my eyes. If there is one thing that Apple has rarely done, however, it is to make a previous product more expensive without adding some value first. Not always (as the recent changes to AppleCare for iPhone have proven), but I have hope.
 
doctor-don said:
Been to a doctor recently? A decision tree is what each uses, whether it comes out of a binder or from experience. (Soon those for medicine may be refined to the point that they will eliminate some of the need to go to the doctor's office.)

And once that AppleCare policy expires, how do you propose to pay for your aid?
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Yes. I pay a copay to see a primary care physician about an issue that I've researched extensively online. Within the first 5 minutes I can tell that I know way more about the issue than the PCP. She then goes to her little computer in the room and starts typing in symptoms into some doctor's office software (aka Wikipedia) and starts rattling off things that I already found myself. After wasting 30 minutes of my life, she refers me to a specialist who actually knows stuff about my issue and can make a true diagnosis. Now I don't bother with PCP's. I go straight to specialists. Calling AppleCare is like going to a PCP without any ability to go straight to a specialist.
 
I don't know what the issue is with this....

I don't understand why people are upset about this.

First of all, it is a rumor and has yet to be announced/launched by Apple.

Second of all, this would only apply to those devices purchased that are no longer under warranty. I don't see why this is such a troublesome issue. AppleCare is great and gives you a warranty for 3 years of "free" support. After that, you are already charged per issue that you contact them about. I had to deal with this for all of my older Macs that I owned and I have no problem with it.
 
macbookairman said:
He allowed it for phone support. Why wouldn't he for chat support?
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Because chat support is less manpower-intensive for Apple, and less convenient for the customer.

In a chat setup a single support employee can help more than one person at a time, saving apple from staffing more employees. As for the customer, they have to type everything to the support employee now, including descriptions of what they're seeing. In a phone-support situation the user can describe and communicate faster vocally while still interacting with the machine, instead of having to leave what they're doing to change over to the chat window when they want to "talk".

Charging for chat support is one thing, but I'd say the rate is WAY too high. $19.00/incident? Try $9.99 tops.
 
SeaFox said:
Because chat support is less manpower-intensive for Apple, and less convenient for the customer.

In a chat setup a single support employee can help more than one person at a time, saving apple from staffing more employees. As for the customer, they have to type everything to the support employee now, including descriptions of what they're seeing. In a phone-support situation the user can describe and communicate faster vocally while still interacting with the machine, instead of having to leave what they're doing to change over to the chat window when they want to "talk".

Charging for chat support is one thing, but I'd say the rate is WAY too high. $19.00/incident? Try $9.99 tops.
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The thing that might be throwing people off is the term "incident." This doesn't necessarily mean every time that you call is a separate incident. If you have one issue that you think you might call about more than once or twice before it might get solved, then paying the $19 for continued extended support over chat for the same problem over a longer period of time seems like a reasonable price to me.
 
As the failure rate of equipment seems to be increasing seems to me to be a great way to make money...
Don't bother improving QC, just charge for support.

I'd love to know if this charge would be to bring the issue to resolution or just per call.
 
RedCroissant said:
The thing that might be throwing people off is the term "incident." This doesn't necessarily mean every time that you call is a separate incident. If you have one issue that you think you might call about more than once or twice before it might get solved, then paying the $19 for continued extended support over chat for the same problem over a longer period of time seems like a reasonable price to me.
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That's a good point, but most issues shouldn't require multiple chat sessions to start with. If it does, whoever took that first support chat didn't really fix the problem IMO, and that's the opinion of someone who's been doing end-user tech support for 10 years.

Edit: Also, the term "incident" is up for interpretation. I've had people say two problems are the same thing just because they're seeing the same thing on their screen. If a problem is "fixed" and the symptoms gone after that, Apple is going to close out the "incident" at that point and the customer will likely have to pay again if they call back unless it's within a couple days of the first contact.
 
SeaFox said:
That's a good point, but most issues shouldn't require multiple chat sessions to start with. If it does, whoever took that first support chat didn't really fix the problem IMO, and that's the opinion of someone who's been doing end-user tech support for 10 years.

Edit: Also, the term "incident" is up for interpretation. I've had people say two problems are the same thing just because they're seeing the same thing on their screen. If a problem is "fixed" and the symptoms gone after that, Apple is going to close out the "incident" at that point and the customer will likely have to pay again if they call back unless it's within a couple days of the first contact.
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I agree that it could happen that way and it probably will for a few people and most likely does for those using phone support as well.

I however am more than willing to pay that amount for support for out-of-warranty devices. I say this because I would much rather call Apple for assistance with older Macs than take it to a reseller that doesn't necessarily understand older tech.

For example, I've had a LOT of PowerPC Macs and what I haven't been able to figure out by either visiting the PPC Forum here or by other sites, I normally end up contacting Apple about it. I love that even though these machines are considered obsolete that they are still willing to provide support for these devices (even if it does cost me). Apple also helped with with diagnosis of a Firewire problem on my first iBook when a diagnosis through a reseller in my local area was quoted at $100.

SO even though there is the opportunity for opposing interpretations of the term "incident," I think chat support for older and out of warranty devices is awesome and worth the money.
 
WallToWallMacs said:
I had to vote up your post - I completely agree. Lets assume that that the rumour is correct - why the hell, as a paying customer should I pay second fiddle to some cheapskate demanding technical support on their Mac which is 6 years old? I've just recently bought a new Mac and I should be '20th in the queue, your call is important to use! please please keep holding!' because some person with a 6 year old Mac is venting to a customer support rep that they don't like the appearance of Contacts in the latest version of OS X. Honestly, the sense of entitlement is amazing - and in the whole time I've owned a Mac I've only ever rang up Apple once and it was for something really stupid (first time I used OS X and my brother had clicked on one of the three icons at the top left of the iTunes window which put it into mini player mode and I didn't know how to get it back how - I felt like a right idiot ringing up asking such a stupid question).
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Haven't looked through every page of this thread so it may have been mentioned, but sadly this is happening. I tried to chat about my 3.5 year old macbook early yesterday and was surprised when I got the prompt about paying for the service. I had the option to request them to waive the fee, but that's only if my question related to a product I recently bought (say, software I purchased isn't working on my macbook).

This all happened before I saw this article just now, so I guess I'm not the only one.
 
I am wondering how they would count so-called "incidents". Computers are complex machines, and while one incident may be solved, another one may appear and still be linked to the first one.
 
Tim Cook Angrily Rejects Political Proposal Asking for Profits-First Policies
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AHAHAH, really ?!

The way they are now pushing Apple Care + plans, and not taking damages and failures under regular warranty anymore is just lowering their aftersales policy to regular crappy companies.
Shame.
 
Fishticks said:
AHAHAH, really ?!

The way they are now pushing Apple Care + plans, and not taking damages and failures under regular warranty anymore is just lowering their aftersales policy to regular crappy companies.
Shame.
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Huh? MacRumors is full of posts from people getting their iPhones replaced under the "regular warranty" for power buttons that are easier to push on one side vs. the other, or a rattle from the camera area when you vigorously shake the phone, etc...
 
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