Approximately 3 months I started the process of trading in my iMac Pro for a Mac Studio. Running into a lot of difficulties, thought that I would share the things that I learned.
Ordered a Studio Ultra and Studio display with height as soon as ordering was opened. Initial schedule had the Ultra arriving in the May 4-11 timeframe and the display April 7-14. Surprisingly the Ultra arrived early April 28th. The display was another matter. Got continually delayed until finally delivered May 25th.
So I had the computer but no display and therefore could not send in my iMac Pro. We cancelled the trade-in on the assumptions that we would restart it when the display arrived and that I would still get the ~$3k trade-in credit.
When the display arrived we restarted the trade-in and they sent me the return packaging. This is where things started to go wrong. I sent the iMac in but was given a $0 value due to "unable to install operating system, arrived late". I rejected the $0 value so they sent it back to me. Got the machine, reinstalled the OS.
Called Apple again, selected sales on their phone menu and asked for "post-sales support" who are the people who deal with trade-in issues. They restarted the cancelled trade-in and sent me another box. Turns out they have to send the box along with the label, not just the label for some reason.
Got an email with the same thing: "unable to install operating system, arrived late". They sent it back, I had no problem installing the OS, got another return box and sent it back again.
Again it was rejected with the ""unable to install operating system, arrived late". At this point I asked for a post sales manager to get involved. After an hour wait I was told "problem has been resolved" even though the email said no trade-in value. To speed things up I rejected the $0 trade-in and the system was sent back to me again.
Called post sales support again. We agreed that I would take the system into the Apple store to have them evaluate it, so that is what I did. The Genius bar had no problem installing the OS. I asked if they could handle the trade-in but it turns out they could only offer the store trade-in value of $800 so I left the store with the iMac.
While in the store I called post sales again. The representative was, to put it mildly, unhelpful. I was told that the trade-in had been rejected and that was it. When I tried to explain why that wasn't reasonable he told me I wasn't listening to him. Hauling that heavy computer into the Apple Store was a bit of an ordeal and I had been there for over an hour at this point. So I asked to talk to his manager. He refused. "You mean you refuse to let me talk to your manager?" "Yes". At this point I lost control and said I would go to Tim Cook if I had to. He laughed at me. In the 10's of thousands of support calls I have been involved in, on both sides, that has never happened so a new experience.
Got home and called post sales again. By this time it was early evening and after telling her my story she told me that it actually was impossible to reach a manager as they are on the east cost and it was past 10 pm. She would have a manager call me back the next afternoon.
Got the callback the next day from a manager. She was excellent, understood the problem, and re-started the trade-in. Her response to my complaint about the bad representative experience was the one I would expect from a top-notch manager. "Sounds as if we need to do some more training". Unfortunately we couldn't trace who provided the bad experience as I didn't get his name and he, possibly to protect himself, didn't update the case.
Send in the iMac for a 3rd time and this time they installed the OS successfully. Still got "received late" in the email and the trade-in value was reduced to ~$800 which is what the store would have given me. So I called in again and asked immediately to talk with a manager. We connected, he understood the problem, but said that it wasn't in his power to restore the original value. He would escalate the issue to his management.
Later that evening got an email that the trade-in had finally been completed at full value. He then called me today to say that I had made his week as he much preferred making positive calls than the negative result ones.
What I learned:
1. Make sure you send things in on time. If you get an "arrived late" your trade-in value can be substantially reduced.
2. Understand when talking with someone what they can do. Try to resolve the issue with whoever is on the other end of the phone, but understand their limitations. As you move up the chain (in my case 3 levels) you will get increasing expertise and ability to do things. Don't move up the chain until you have exhausted all options available at that level.
3. Get the name of the person you are talking with. If you get a difficult one be nice and call back to get a better representative. In a large organization there are always going to low and high performers. If get a low performer just move on to another likely better representative.
4. Keep good records of interactions and refer to them as needed.
5. Understand that there are corporate policies, such as the Apple Store only able to give a lower than trade-in credit. That is just the way it is and there is no point in trying to fight it.
6. Be nice. I was told multiple times by the managers that they appreciated the fact that I was being nice about it. That implies to me that a lot of their escalations are by irate people who don't appreciate the fact that there is a human being at the other end. May not make any difference, but it you don't aggrivate them then that small fact may help you get the resolution you want.
7. Be reasonable and objective about your issue. You may want it, but is it truly reasonable? Unreasonable expectations do not lead to good results.
I am always amazed about all the posts about poor apple support and how it has deteriorated. Although there were bumps on my road due to corporate issues (trade-in folks somehow not able to install the OS), and one historically bad representative all in all I still find Apple Support to be the best in the industry. The only better support I have had had is from 1 or 2 small vendors who don't have to deal with the restrictions of a large corporation.
Ordered a Studio Ultra and Studio display with height as soon as ordering was opened. Initial schedule had the Ultra arriving in the May 4-11 timeframe and the display April 7-14. Surprisingly the Ultra arrived early April 28th. The display was another matter. Got continually delayed until finally delivered May 25th.
So I had the computer but no display and therefore could not send in my iMac Pro. We cancelled the trade-in on the assumptions that we would restart it when the display arrived and that I would still get the ~$3k trade-in credit.
When the display arrived we restarted the trade-in and they sent me the return packaging. This is where things started to go wrong. I sent the iMac in but was given a $0 value due to "unable to install operating system, arrived late". I rejected the $0 value so they sent it back to me. Got the machine, reinstalled the OS.
Called Apple again, selected sales on their phone menu and asked for "post-sales support" who are the people who deal with trade-in issues. They restarted the cancelled trade-in and sent me another box. Turns out they have to send the box along with the label, not just the label for some reason.
Got an email with the same thing: "unable to install operating system, arrived late". They sent it back, I had no problem installing the OS, got another return box and sent it back again.
Again it was rejected with the ""unable to install operating system, arrived late". At this point I asked for a post sales manager to get involved. After an hour wait I was told "problem has been resolved" even though the email said no trade-in value. To speed things up I rejected the $0 trade-in and the system was sent back to me again.
Called post sales support again. We agreed that I would take the system into the Apple store to have them evaluate it, so that is what I did. The Genius bar had no problem installing the OS. I asked if they could handle the trade-in but it turns out they could only offer the store trade-in value of $800 so I left the store with the iMac.
While in the store I called post sales again. The representative was, to put it mildly, unhelpful. I was told that the trade-in had been rejected and that was it. When I tried to explain why that wasn't reasonable he told me I wasn't listening to him. Hauling that heavy computer into the Apple Store was a bit of an ordeal and I had been there for over an hour at this point. So I asked to talk to his manager. He refused. "You mean you refuse to let me talk to your manager?" "Yes". At this point I lost control and said I would go to Tim Cook if I had to. He laughed at me. In the 10's of thousands of support calls I have been involved in, on both sides, that has never happened so a new experience.
Got home and called post sales again. By this time it was early evening and after telling her my story she told me that it actually was impossible to reach a manager as they are on the east cost and it was past 10 pm. She would have a manager call me back the next afternoon.
Got the callback the next day from a manager. She was excellent, understood the problem, and re-started the trade-in. Her response to my complaint about the bad representative experience was the one I would expect from a top-notch manager. "Sounds as if we need to do some more training". Unfortunately we couldn't trace who provided the bad experience as I didn't get his name and he, possibly to protect himself, didn't update the case.
Send in the iMac for a 3rd time and this time they installed the OS successfully. Still got "received late" in the email and the trade-in value was reduced to ~$800 which is what the store would have given me. So I called in again and asked immediately to talk with a manager. We connected, he understood the problem, but said that it wasn't in his power to restore the original value. He would escalate the issue to his management.
Later that evening got an email that the trade-in had finally been completed at full value. He then called me today to say that I had made his week as he much preferred making positive calls than the negative result ones.
What I learned:
1. Make sure you send things in on time. If you get an "arrived late" your trade-in value can be substantially reduced.
2. Understand when talking with someone what they can do. Try to resolve the issue with whoever is on the other end of the phone, but understand their limitations. As you move up the chain (in my case 3 levels) you will get increasing expertise and ability to do things. Don't move up the chain until you have exhausted all options available at that level.
3. Get the name of the person you are talking with. If you get a difficult one be nice and call back to get a better representative. In a large organization there are always going to low and high performers. If get a low performer just move on to another likely better representative.
4. Keep good records of interactions and refer to them as needed.
5. Understand that there are corporate policies, such as the Apple Store only able to give a lower than trade-in credit. That is just the way it is and there is no point in trying to fight it.
6. Be nice. I was told multiple times by the managers that they appreciated the fact that I was being nice about it. That implies to me that a lot of their escalations are by irate people who don't appreciate the fact that there is a human being at the other end. May not make any difference, but it you don't aggrivate them then that small fact may help you get the resolution you want.
7. Be reasonable and objective about your issue. You may want it, but is it truly reasonable? Unreasonable expectations do not lead to good results.
I am always amazed about all the posts about poor apple support and how it has deteriorated. Although there were bumps on my road due to corporate issues (trade-in folks somehow not able to install the OS), and one historically bad representative all in all I still find Apple Support to be the best in the industry. The only better support I have had had is from 1 or 2 small vendors who don't have to deal with the restrictions of a large corporation.
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