Welp, I had been rather please with Apple over the past year and a half until I RMA'ed a laptop purchased right before the update. (The procedure I was told to use by an Apple CSR (indian call center, of course) to return the product in order to get the updated model which I found out LATER I had to order again.) It was received in the Apple warehouse on Feb 2nd (tracking and signature verification was on the package). I *STILL* haven't received the refund. It's not Feb 28th. Supposedly a refund had been issued in their systems on Feb 16th but has a status of "Not Cleared". The story I got today was the same one I got the last 3 times I called. "It should be in your account shortly." This is completely unacceptable. Holding money for what will be more than 30 days after a return isn't even legal is it? The CSR I spoke to today (oh my, it was an american!) put in a request for more info to the dept which handles the refunds to see why it is taking so long. I'm supposed to call back in a couple of days for an answer. I really hope this isn't typical of Apple. It would really make me disappointed in them and less likely to recommend them to clients or family and friends.
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Apple's horrible RMA service!
- Thread starter Ysean
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Has anyone else on the board called Apple support and got someone from India? It's always been an American when I've called.
Here in Australia when we call Apple Customer Care we always get India. These people have no idea about Macs and offer little, if any, satisfactory advice.
But as I said before, Australia is at the bottom of the priority list for Apple so I don't expect anything to change. To be honest if anything goes wrong with my current order (waiting and waiting for PowerBook to be delivered
) I will have no hesitation in returning it and looking for an alternative system.
But as I said before, Australia is at the bottom of the priority list for Apple so I don't expect anything to change. To be honest if anything goes wrong with my current order (waiting and waiting for PowerBook to be delivered
) I will have no hesitation in returning it and looking for an alternative system.
I had the exact same problem!!! I sent back my 15" powerbook almost 3 weeks ago and it was received 2 weeks ago. They told me when I called it can take 2-3 business days for them to "see they actually received the package". Then another 2-3 business days to send a request to the credit department. THEN ANOTHER 2-3 days for the department to contact the credit card company (in my case VISA). Apple made it very clear that it can take up to 30 days or more for a refund and there is nothing that I can do about it!!!!!! I have to say apple has the WORST customer service of any company I have ever purchased from. Dell and IBM blow them out of the water in every respect so far (and I have had a lot of experience with Apple customer support lately). Some people will no doubt try to defend Apple and say that my case is unique.. but it unfortunatley is not as these and other forums will show. I feel your pain...
I have to say apple has the WORST customer service of any company I have ever purchased from. Dell and IBM blow them out of the water in every respect so far (and I have had a lot of experience with Apple customer support lately). Some people will no doubt try to defend Apple and say that my case is unique.. but it unfortunatley is not as these and other forums will show. I feel your pain...
I've had them a couple of times - bloody useless they were. Apple's wasting their money on these guys. They couldn't find their own ass with both hands. The only people you get a decent answer from is the Irish support. I've got to the point that I hang up as soon as I realise I'm being transfered to India - you can tell from the call volume etc.Blackheart said:
If we mac users pay more for privilge of owning a mac (bonus with quality and design) or for any Apple product, then why does Apple use indians for the tech support? We pay more!
Well, to be nice... I'm not sure Apple even runs it's own call centers in house. I remember seeing ads when I lived in California for call center jobs for Apple through a contractor called Apple One. So I'm surprised there's any Americans at all! I know 2 of my credit cards seem to solely use Indian call centers. One of them being AmEx. How dirty does that make you feel?
Yea, this sounds very strange. Overall, I myself have been pleased with Apple customer service so far.
I called 2 days ago to cancel an order and the authorization was never removed from my card so I called in. I was directed to their payment & returns division. The guy I talked to had an Irish accent and even apologized for having a deep Irish accent. He was very helpful, he even put us into a conference call with my bank.
However, when I used the iMac chat service I was directed to an Indian division. Not many Americans have names like Abdar and Guptan and type incredibly slow English.
I called 2 days ago to cancel an order and the authorization was never removed from my card so I called in. I was directed to their payment & returns division. The guy I talked to had an Irish accent and even apologized for having a deep Irish accent. He was very helpful, he even put us into a conference call with my bank.
However, when I used the iMac chat service I was directed to an Indian division. Not many Americans have names like Abdar and Guptan and type incredibly slow English.
Do companies even care about providing quality customer after sales support? I remember Dell pulled back 2 of their computer lines call center from India for their corporate customers due to complaints of bad customer service. Sounds to me that those corporate executives are trying to save money without regards of quality support. It's true that India have some very talented programmers but in terms of customer relations, they still have a very long way to go.
The only experience with Apple's call center in India I have was once when I was checking the status of an order. I couldn't understand the CSR and he kept asking me to repeat my web order number. It was very frustrating and took much longer than it should. So I know how you feel.
However, I have never been transferred to the Indian call center when I call AppleCare. It is usually either the call center in Austin or the call center in the Northeast (I'm thinking CT). They have always been extremely helpful, and never had a problem understanding them at least.
However, I have never been transferred to the Indian call center when I call AppleCare. It is usually either the call center in Austin or the call center in the Northeast (I'm thinking CT). They have always been extremely helpful, and never had a problem understanding them at least.
daveway00 said:
I had the same experience with the iMac chat service. The chat was extremely slow, and I could have called AppleCare twice before I even got to explain my issue. I needed a replacement mouse, and the CSR informed me that I needed to drive 90 miles to my nearest Apple Store and show it to the a genius. I asked if I could be sent a box, and he told me that was a not an option.
Hah, yeah right. I called AppleCare and was shipped a brand new mouse overnight.
There is no point in Apple offering a 24/7 service, if they can't provide the same quality customer support Mac users have experienced over the previous years.
CrackedButter said:
Apple is a publicly traded company and has a fiduciary duty to its stock holders to MAKE MONEY.
If it's customer service is **** it will make LESS MONEY for it's shareholders in the long run.superbovine said:
I too have had lots of trouble with Apple's phone support, both pre and post sale. Without going into it all, I was basically told that they were unwilling and unable to fix a problem that they know about and admit is an issue. After being shuffled from a CSR to a product expert, and then put on hold so he could talk to an engineer (yeah right), just for him to come back and tell me they won't help me, without even an apology for the lengthy hold time or my dissatisfaction is completely unreasonable. I was very close to just returning the machine right then, and still have 2 days on my 2 week return period in which I might do just that. I have to call again and try to talk to someone else.
Rob
Rob
caveman_uk said:
If you can hire college educated people to answer the phone for $40 for your customer service then go ahead.
When ever I have called, latest was 8PM EST. I have always gotten a fluent English speaking person, and I didn't notice an accent so I'm guessing American. I'm guessing it all depends on where you are calling from, such as me on the East coast of USA, and what time you call. Say if I was to call at 3 AM. I'm sure I would get someone in India since they are the only ones that are up at that time. That is why if you call in Australia, you get them, because they are on the same time as you, and that is closes call center. If you waited to 3AM, I would think you would get someone in Europe or USA.
As for the RMA, it usually takes a bit of time. Its not like they can reach in their pocket and just return your money. They first have to look the computer over to make sure you just didn't bust it and send it back. Then they need to find the funds to pay you, which is not just a simple reach in the bank account and give the money out. They need to make sure that the money is there, its not going to be used for something else, and also that if they have trouble occurs, that this little give out wont break their bank (as in they need to pay someone else to stay in business because of a law suit or something). These are just a few of the step of course, but I hope you are you getting the picture, that this is not as simple as "We have the PB, here is you money."
On top of all that, there probably was like another 20,000+ people wanting to do the same thing as you, so it takes time to make it all happen.
As for the RMA, it usually takes a bit of time. Its not like they can reach in their pocket and just return your money. They first have to look the computer over to make sure you just didn't bust it and send it back. Then they need to find the funds to pay you, which is not just a simple reach in the bank account and give the money out. They need to make sure that the money is there, its not going to be used for something else, and also that if they have trouble occurs, that this little give out wont break their bank (as in they need to pay someone else to stay in business because of a law suit or something). These are just a few of the step of course, but I hope you are you getting the picture, that this is not as simple as "We have the PB, here is you money."
On top of all that, there probably was like another 20,000+ people wanting to do the same thing as you, so it takes time to make it all happen.
Some of the banks here make a selling point about not outsourcing their call centers to overseas. They obviously see paying someone a decent amount of money here as a good thing - not a waste of money. Besides, what's so cheap about having customers ringing several times for stuff to be sorted out, or in the end getting so pissed off with your company they never buy your products again. Suddenly that college guy looks a reasonable investment.superbovine said: