Not sure that would fly legally (Genius: "Oh you want to return within 14-days? No")
Looking for responses with better effort (i.e. more realistic options).
Getting warmer though!
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If you were Apple how would you go about dissuading OCD types from exchanging phones?
- Thread starter Hal~9000
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Looking for responses with better effort (i.e. more realistic options).
Getting warmer though!
If you look hard enough, and there is people doing an insane type of analysts on their Apple product, you could probably find a "defect" on every unit.
The iPhone is expensive, but still is a consumer grade product, not an high technology professional instrument (that would cost thousands of dollars and would have much more restricted production tolerances).
The people we are referring in this thread are not just looking for a product that is working as advertised. I could give you a lot of examples, but you just need to take a look at some threads on this forum about image retention, bookspine, yellow screen, antenna gate, scuffs and so on...
You would find people complaining for really defective units and..... OCDs...
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Not sure that would fly legally (Genius: "Oh you want to return within 14-days? No")
Looking for responses with better effort (i.e. more realistic options).
Getting warmer though!
They could set a slightly different return policy. Something like "after two returns you'll take a third last unit to keep or you'll be refunded " to avoid those kind of OCD. But it would be difficult to enforce, especially with people changing Apple store and don't register the product.
Didn't Apple just recently revise their return policy? I believe it used to be a 30-day return period until a few months ago, so you could argue that they have already had the meeting described above. Personally I think this launch has been a lot worse in terms of potential returns just because we have two different sizes available for the first time. And I'm sorry, but no amount of playing around with a phone in the store will tell you what it's really like to use day in and day out. Especially with something like the 6 Plus. Some sort of exchange period is needed.
Not sure that would fly legally (Genius: "Oh you want to return within 14-days? No")
Looking for responses with better effort (i.e. more realistic options).
Getting warmer though!
Why are you interested in getting Apple to act negatively to towards their customers? They are successful due to the great customer service and this is why people keep going back.
To directly answer the OP's question:
1) Apple should stop convincing people that they design and manufacture perfection.
2) Apple could limit the number of times that an individual can exchange a product, but I think this is a bad idea given that Apple is considered a "high end" retailer.
In general:
1) We don't have the ratio of exchanges to sales, so there is no way to gauge how the exchanges are affecting Apple's bottom line.
2) Apple is doing fine. People really need to stop worrying about their bottom line.
3) It's really no one's business if a person decides to exchange an item that doesn't meet their expectations.
4) I wish people would stop throwing around the term "OCD". Learn what OCD actually means. Many people that are having problems with their devices don't necessarily have OCD.
5) Why do people care if someone exchanges a device to the point where they have to post about how crazy the person is? It comes off as obsessive to me...
1) Apple should stop convincing people that they design and manufacture perfection.
2) Apple could limit the number of times that an individual can exchange a product, but I think this is a bad idea given that Apple is considered a "high end" retailer.
In general:
1) We don't have the ratio of exchanges to sales, so there is no way to gauge how the exchanges are affecting Apple's bottom line.
2) Apple is doing fine. People really need to stop worrying about their bottom line.
3) It's really no one's business if a person decides to exchange an item that doesn't meet their expectations.
4) I wish people would stop throwing around the term "OCD". Learn what OCD actually means. Many people that are having problems with their devices don't necessarily have OCD.
5) Why do people care if someone exchanges a device to the point where they have to post about how crazy the person is? It comes off as obsessive to me...
Oh come on. Apple itself advertises that they have this incredible unmatched eye for details and perfection. And then you complain that there are customers with the same eye for small details?
And yes, If my iPhone has scuffs out of the pocket (regardless how small) and it bothers me then I have every right in the world to get it exchanged.
I support it in a sense. These are the people who are exchanging their iPads 6-7 times in search of that "perfect" ipad which doesn't have backlight bleeding, when it is probably working just fine and it's their own sensibilities to blame.
Conversely, it's this sort of abuse which jacks up the cost of AppleCare for the rest of us who don't abuse this policy.
The problem isn't with Apple here, the problem is unreasonable people. I think after 2 exchanges, Apple should just take the product back, give a full refund, and tell the customer "no more" or maybe even ban him from future purchases of Apple products.
Why do you care how a company interacts with strangers? Apple has done alright for itself. You, however, may want to find a hobby that will allow you to sleep easier at night.
But to answer your question, Apple could build the perfect phone.
Apple does go to great lengths to emphasize the precision with which it manufactures iPhones. I remember this point being made during the iPhone 5 keynote a few years ago.
The price and the hype make many customers demand perfection. I paid $649+tax for an unlocked phone. That's a lot of $ for most people. At that price level, I expected that my device would be perfect out of the box (and it was). My expectations for a much less expensive phone like the Nexus 5 ($349) would have been lower.
My take is that if returns are a problem for Apple, or if they simply want to boost profits by lowering return costs, they need better quality control. Most of the problems I read about for iPhone 6 have to do with display flaws: bad pixels, yellow tinges, and dust. More uniform manufacturing of the displays would help (require OEMs to use specific process and equipment to build the displays). Automated optical scan equipment should check each panel for bad pixels. Robotic assembly of the front panels in dustless clean room (the fusing of display, glass, backlight etc) would prevent foreign objects from being accidentally glued into the panels. The key consideration thoughts whether the cost to implement these measures outweighs the cost of dealing with returns from customers. It may be moot to ask though, as FoxConn has publicly stated that it intends to automate more areas of its manufacturing line.
Oh come on. Apple itself advertises that they have this incredible unmatched eye for details and perfection. And then you complain that there are customers with the same eye for small details?
And yes, If my iPhone has scuffs out of the pocket (regardless how small) and it bothers me then I have every right in the world to get it exchanged.
If you believe in perfection in a consumer grade product, and expect that, you are the right target for that idiotic advertisement....
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Advertising is, in a way, a controlled lie, or if you prefer a "modified truth".
Everyone with a little brain should know that.
The car you are watching in the tv spot is perfect. The one you are getting from the reseller is not.
Apple advertisement department is doing his job in let us think the iPhone is a piece of jewelry, but if the customer really expect that, well he's very naive...
Not sure that would fly legally (Genius: "Oh you want to return within 14-days? No")
Looking for responses with better effort (i.e. more realistic options).
Getting warmer though!
Within 14 dye, if their policy is you can return it, they either do it or they don't.
I assumed you meant "in general". Right now I could turn a phone in with any of the defects people are turning them in for three months later and they will exchange it just like they would within the first 14 day (difference is exchanging a 'defective' unit rather than returning).
The only thing Apple could do in that first 14 days is change their return policy. If you have a 14 day return policy printed on your receipts, you sort of have to honor it. You can't simply say "except for perceived defects". Because then the customer can just say "fine, I don't want thins anymore, not because of a defect, but because you have a 14 day rerun policy".
Outside of that 14 days, they can and do have the right to claim that "getting your hair stuck in your phone is not grounds for exchange" (an example of some of the 'issues' people have been reporting). Inside that 14 day policy they are sort of bound by their own contracts.
Wow. I thought Apple's industry leading customer service was a feature, not a bug.
Why it would it bother you that people can return expensive purchases that don't work out for them? That actually sounds a little OCD.
Why it would it bother you that people can return expensive purchases that don't work out for them? That actually sounds a little OCD.