Customer service disaster

[seanwarburton]

I have a iPhone 6s given to me as a gift in December 2015. I’m in Europe and we have consumer law that gives us 2 years warranty. The phone was previously replaced because of a fake charging issue and 2 weeks ago it stopped charging so I contacted Apple support via web chat and a very helpful lady accessed the phone remotely and confirmed that there was a fault and that I would need to take it to the Apple astore for repair or replacement. I have the transcript of the chat and at no point was I told the repair would be chargeable.

She set-up an appoint with a “genius” and I travelled the 40 miles to the appointment on the following Tuesday. The young chap that saw me confirmed the phone had a fault but informed me that the phone was sold by Apple “asis” without warranty so I couldn’t have a repair but I could pay them £299 for a replacement. I very politely asked if I could escalate this to a more senior member of staff and was eventually spoken to by a manager who was very rude, asking me at one point to stop talking and let her finish and telling me that she knew where I lived so I didn’t need to expalin how far I’d travelled.

I realised I wasn’t going to get anywhere with the repair so I asked why I had been asked to travel to Manchester when the phone wasn’t even under warranty and was told to take it up with Applecare.

Last Tuesday I spoke with a member of Applecare who said that the original member of the chat team should have told me that there would be a charge and that she would escalate the problem. She called me this Monday and said that no one had responded so she was going to offer me a free repair of my iPhone because the correct procedure hadn’t been followed. Great I say, thank you.

Today, Wednesday the same member of staff called me to say she made a mistake and shouldn’t have offered me a free repair and that I now wouldn’t be having my phone repaired!

I am appalled at this but can’t find any contact details for Apple customer service. Can anyone offer any help or advice?

 

[bufffilm]

What country do you live in where the one year warranty gets extended to 2 years?

 

[seanwarburton]

I live in the UK

 

[keysofanxiety]

I live in the UK

Consumer law is not an extended warranty. The manufacturer’s warranty is one year or two years if you had AC+.

 

[bufffilm]

The U.K. Consumer law states you are entitled to a free repair, but is not clear if this is a one time occurrence (which was used when the phone was recently serviced before) or if this lasts the duration of the warranty period.

 

[seanwarburton]

If the lady who dealt with my initial enquiry via web chat had said your phone isn’t covered by warranty so there’ll be a charge then I wouldn’t be writing this but they didn’t. They just said no problem, you need to take it to the Apple store for repair, no mention of being charged (as I say I have the full transcript e-mailed to me by Apple). So I took 2 hours out of my day and travelled 80 mile round trip to get it fxed only to be told it isn’t under warranty.

The worst thing is that on Monday I was offered a free repair by Applecare but today they rang to say they made a mistake so now I can’t have the repair.
[doublepost=1508368760][/doublepost]

The U.K. Consumer law states you are entitled to a free repair, but is not clear if this is a one time occurrence (which was used when the phone was recently serviced before) or if this lasts the duration of the warranty period.

Technically UK law affords consumers up to 6 years but I have previously had a MacBook Pro repaired (new motherboard and screen) that was just under 3 years old with no Applecare coverage.

 

[KGB7]

I’m still unclear how Apple sold you a phone “as-is” with out any warranty.

Here in US, refurb phones sold at Apple store, have a 90 day warranty.

 

[seanwarburton]

I’m still unclear how Apple sold you a phone “as-is” with out any warranty.

Here in US, refurb phones sold at Apple store, have a 90 day warranty.

Apparently, Apple refurb some iPhones and sell them to carriers to use as warranty replacements but they are sold “asis” with no warranty. It’s the first I’ve ever heard of it but I searched the web and found a couple of stories including one where the iPhone was a warranty replacement from Apple.

The tech’s notes showed a manufacture date of 1978 for my phone when it was actually manufactured December 2015

 

[bufffilm]

If the lady who dealt with my initial enquiry via web chat had said your phone isn’t covered by warranty so there’ll be a charge then I wouldn’t be writing this but they didn’t. They just said no problem, you need to take it to the Apple store for repair, no mention of being charged (as I say I have the full transcript e-mailed to me by Apple). So I took 2 hours out of my day and travelled 80 mile round trip to get it fxed only to be told it isn’t under warranty.

The worst thing is that on Monday I was offered a free repair by Applecare but today they rang to say they made a mistake so now I can’t have the repair.

It wouldn't be a first time that an Apple employee told you the wrong info...esp. if it was over a chat or phone line.

So what did the manager say the first time about the warranty and repair?

 

[KGB7]

If the lady who dealt with my initial enquiry via web chat had said your phone isn’t covered by warranty so there’ll be a charge then I wouldn’t be writing this but they didn’t. They just said no problem, you need to take it to the Apple store for repair, no mention of being charged (as I say I have the full transcript e-mailed to me by Apple). So I took 2 hours out of my day and travelled 80 mile round trip to get it fxed only to be told it isn’t under warranty.

The worst thing is that on Monday I was offered a free repair by Applecare but today they rang to say they made a mistake so now I can’t have the repair.
[doublepost=1508368760][/doublepost]

Technically UK law affords consumers up to 6 years but I have previously had a MacBook Pro repaired (new motherboard and screen) that was just under 3 years old with no Applecare coverage.

Just because you weren’t told there would be a charge, doesn’t automatically mean that repair is free.
But second person you spoke with, should have honored free repair. I don’t care if they made a mistake, that’s their fault.

And write a letter to Apple corporate of UK, if you have one and let them know about the Apple store managers attitude. She’s lucky she doesn’t live in Texas.

 

[seanwarburton]

It wouldn't be a first time that an Apple employee told you the wrong info...esp. if it was over a chat or phone line.

So what did the manager say the first time about the warranty and repair?

She’d seen a customer before me who had bought a pair of Beats headphones from JFK in 2014 and they had a split that he wanted repaired FOC. She wanted his proof of purchase which he didn’t have so it all got very angry.

By the time she arrved at me she was just rude and unhelpful. She said the tech people wouldn’t have access to warranty information and that if I had a problem get back to Applecare because she had no access to the transcript.
[doublepost=1508369641][/doublepost]

Just because you weren’t told there would be a charge, doesn’t automatically mean that repair is free.
But second person you spoke with, should have honored free repair. I don’t care if they made a mistake, that’s their fault.

And write a letter to Apple corporate of UK, if you have one and let them know about the Apple store managers attitude. She’s lucky she doesn’t live in Texas.

The lady I spoke with on Monday said I should have been told there would be a charge and that was the reason I was being offered the free repair.

Once over you could contact Apple Customer services in the UK but they don’t seem to exist these days unless it’s for a sales enquiry

 

[bufffilm]

She’d seen a customer before me who had bought a pair of Beats headphones from JFK in 2014 and they had a split that he wanted repaired FOC. She wanted his proof of purchase which he didn’t have so it all got very angry.

By the time she arrved at me she was just rude and unhelpful. She said the tech people wouldn’t have access to warranty information and that if I had a problem get back to Applecare because she had no access to the transcript.
[doublepost=1508369641][/doublepost]

The lady I spoke with on Monday said I should have been told there would be a charge and that was the reason I was being offered the free repair.

Once over you could contact Apple Customer services in the UK but they don’t seem to exist these days unless it’s for a sales enquiry

Do you have the sales slip detailing when the phone was bought?

And why can't they see it in the store?

 

[KGB7]

Apparently, Apple refurb some iPhones and sell them to carriers to use as warranty replacements but they are sold “asis” with no warranty. It’s the first I’ve ever heard of it but I searched the web and found a couple of stories including one where the iPhone was a warranty replacement from Apple.

The tech’s notes showed a manufacture date of 1978 for my phone when it was actually manufactured December 2015

That’s horse ****. Even US carriers that sell refurb phones to customers have a warranty. And phones that are replaced with a refurb, carry same warranty as new phone; so if you had 6 month left on your original warranty, your refurb would have same warranty.

You need to escalate this issue up the chain of command ASAP. You have far better consumer protection laws than we do in US, but what you say is true, how you were treated and false informed is freaking horse crap. Don’t let them get away with it.

 

[akash.nu]

Yep agree with @KGB7 , definitely look for ways to escalate. That’s not how Apple deals with customers.

 

[seanwarburton]

It's disappointing that I'm going to have to start writing letters and maybe getting solicitors involved for what is a simple customer care issue. They cocked up and any reasonable company would just hold their hands up and admit it for what is a low value repair.

 

[seanwarburton]

Credit where due. I just spoke with a lady at Apple support and she agreed the service had been poor and offered to honour the repair. Let’s hope they don’t change their mind again!

 

[akash.nu]

It's disappointing that I'm going to have to start writing letters and maybe getting solicitors involved for what is a simple customer care issue. They cocked up and any reasonable company would just hold their hands up and admit it for what is a low value repair.

This is definitely something we rarely hear about. Apple is the best company I know of in terms of customer service, along side Amazon.

Credit where due. I just spoke with a lady at Apple support and she agreed the service had been poor and offered to honour the repair. Let’s hope they don’t change their mind again!

That’s more like it. I’m sure this will be resolved for you. Sorry you had to go through a poor experience. I recommend Apple products to people a lot of the times purely for after sales support and also I am willing to pay the premium knowing they take care of issues.