I'm done with Apple; they ignored me and my new MacBook Pro

[joshuaad]

It's tough being a native English speaker in a non-English speaking EU country, isn't it. Especially over the phone - it takes quite a while to explain things. I called them on Monday and the whole call took me 34 minutes.

I'll just stick with email.

It's tough indeed [sarcasm]... I've read all your comments and can tell you you're losing it. Sure it would be nice if things just happened quickly and smoothly all the time. Apple is not out to screw you or hold on to your money. Call, email, drive, do what you need to do and stop whining already. More importantly, save yourself some grief and get your laptop looked at by a knowledgeable technician (Apple Store recommended but if you're not close to one, find plan B). If there's something significantly wrong with it, it will be replaced. Otherwise, it could be a quick fix.

So you're in a foreign country and are dealing with the associated challenges. Tough. Meanwhile, you're overreacting and crying about this here or anywhere is not going to help you resolve this other than perhaps allowing you to blow some steam and temporarily release stress. Take a breath. Relax. Be patient. It'll be fine.

 

[ManuCH]

Waiting for a call-back and sending emails will get you nowhere. You have to pick up the phone and invest 34 more minutes to solve the issue talking to a live person. Otherwise more days will pass and then window will *definitely* close. The more you wait, the less they can do for you.

 

[maflynn]

Waiting for a call-back and sending emails will get you nowhere. You have to pick up the phone and invest 34 more minutes to solve the issue talking to a live person.

I never trust those call backs, and I want to stay on the line to keep the case moving forward (what ever I'm trying to solve)

 

[faxe]

It's tough being a native English speaker in a non-English speaking EU country, isn't it. Especially over the phone - it takes quite a while to explain things. I called them on Monday and the whole call took me 34 minutes.

I'll just stick with email.

they sit together in one callcenter in cork for all europe ask them to put you in the english speaking call queue and you can talk with somebody in english.

 

[Fishrrman]

Sumthin' tells me that if the OP doesn't take the MacBook to the nearest Apple store -very soon-, it's going to remain his to keep…

 

[Big Bad D]

It's tough being a native English speaker in a non-English speaking EU country, isn't it. Especially over the phone - it takes quite a while to explain things. I called them on Monday and the whole call took me 34 minutes.

I'll just stick with email.

That's far from my experience. Never had a problem phoning Apple Support in France and getting efficiently transferred to someone who can speak reasonable English in parallel with my not so reasonable French.

 

[AintNoSuchThing]

Update: So yesterday I sent an email, and received an automatic acknowledgement email from Apple, that they received an email from me. The email even mentioned that someone in charge will answer my email within 24 hours.

There's no reply today.

Sumthin' tells me that if the OP doesn't take the MacBook to the nearest Apple store -very soon-, it's going to remain his to keep…

There are no Apple Store in the country I live, I guess I have to take a flight to Amsterdam or something?

 

[jksu]

Update: So yesterday I sent an email, and received an automatic acknowledgement email from Apple, that they received an email from me. The email even mentioned that someone in charge will answer my email within 24 hours.

There's no reply today.


There are no Apple Store in the country I live, I guess I have to take a flight to Amsterdam or something?

last time you called you said it was a painful 35minutes. you've spent at least that much time reading and posting here and emailing apple.

why not just call them again?

as painful speaking to a non-english speaker might be, isn't the chance of getting this whole thing resolved worth it? and if it's not resolved, you get to tell us all how wrong all of us are to encourage it.

win-win

 

[duervo]

You should get back on the phone, as has already been mentioned numerous times by others.

I don't understand why you're choosing the least efficient option, and expecting the most efficient response. Doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[bopajuice]

I'm very angry right now. I've been an Apple fan for 10 years, and I have never felt so betrayed. So here is my story:

I bought a MacBook Pro during the holiday season, and my my... I don't want to mention the issues because we've been hearing about it on the daily. But the battery life + random graphics glitch + I got computer shut down 4 times (I couldn't even turned it on back, it just turned on by itself after 10-15 min). Heck, even my "g" key is stiff to press on as I type this.

So I decided to return it. As per Apple's extended return policy, the last return date is January 8. To make sure, I even checked my Apple account, and it shows that the last day for return is January 8. There was a return button. So I left my MacBook at home and went traveling, and returned back on January 7.

In the morning of January 8, I opened my Apple's Order Status page. To my surprise, there was no return button anymore! I immediately went to getsupport.apple.com to chat with an Apple representative. The gal went over my account and confirmed that the return button disappeared. She asked me if I wanted to talk to the sales support team to ask for a return, I said yes. But then, we realized that the sales team doesn't work on Sunday (I live in Europe). So she told me that I should talk to them tomorrow and present them the case number. To be careful, I even downloaded the conversation to my email.

The next day, I called the sales team, and the representative said: "I'm sorry sir, but your return window is already closed". I argued that 1) it's not my fault that the return button on the Apple website disappeared 2) the sales team doesn't work on Sunday 3) I already talked to the Apple Support. She said "okay, I'm going to hand over the case to my manager, so you should receive an email from them at the end of the day".

I waited and waited... no email. This is the 2nd day, it's almost 4 PM and still no email from them. So I'm just going ahead to assume they are completely ignoring me.

This is really disgusting. I mean, yeah, they definitely don't want me to return the machine because they'll lose revenue. But at least send an email, or give me a phone call and say something. "Please bring the machine to an Apple Store and we could try to fix it" would probably do it for me. But they just... they just ignored me completely. They were happy when I paid my cash and after that I no longer matter to them. It's a shame, because I planned to buy an iMac and the new iPad Pro coming up this March. Even the rumored iPhone 8.

Okay fine Apple, if you don't want me as a customer anymore, so be it. As for the MacBook Pro, I'd just probably sell it on eBay. /End of rant.

You lost me at the "went traveling part. Why did you wait until the last day to return the item? We would not even be having this conversation if you had not waited until the last day. I do not blame Apple.
[doublepost=1484368523][/doublepost]

Now first of all, there are no Apple Store in my town. I can't just "go there" and return my unit.

Secondly, some of you said hit the return button... Did you even read my case? I said it was Apple's technical fault that the return button didn't appear.

Third, some of you blamed me for returning it on the last day. So what? It's not like I'm working on an dissertation or something and the deadline is today. If Apple advertise the extended return window to be January 8, then make damn sure that the return window is January 8. Otherwise, it's false marketing.

Fourth, it is the end of 2nd day now. I even laughed that some of you defended Apple for a long reply. What's the issue here? If they are willing to help me return it's a pretty damn easy decision. I bet if I call them back again in a few days they'd go with "it's outside of return window sir" again.

Sorry but you are not getting any sympathy here. You had plenty of time to return it. You say it's not your fault the return date was on a Sunday, it's not Apples fault either. Should have returned it sooner. Left it at home and went traveling. Not Apple's fault.

You are complaining the return button disappeared and it's Apples fault. If you want to get picky, What time did you buy it and what time did you try to return it? Technically you may gave missed the window. Again, this would not be an issue if you did not wait until the last day.

 

[AintNoSuchThing]

UPDATE: Okay guys, so finally after 1 week Apple sent an email to me, stating that it took them long because the managers had to make an exception to my case.

They will dispatch a delivery person in the next 24/48 hours to pick up my MacBook and will send a replacement on a priority order.

Sorry for acting a bit immature in the starting thread, as I was very upset. Apple proves to be yet an excellent company for me again!

 

[ManuCH]

UPDATE: Okay guys, so finally after 1 week Apple sent an email to me, stating that it took them long because the managers had to make an exception to my case.

They will dispatch a delivery person in the next 24/48 hours to pick up my MacBook and will send a replacement on a priority order.

Sorry for acting a bit immature in the starting thread, as I was very upset. Apple proves to be yet an excellent company for me again!

I'm genuinely surprised that this actually worked out via email. Good for you

 

[maflynn]

UPDATE: Okay guys, so finally after 1 week Apple sent an email to me, stating that it took them long because the managers had to make an exception to my case.

They will dispatch a delivery person in the next 24/48 hours to pick up my MacBook and will send a replacement on a priority order.

Sorry for acting a bit immature in the starting thread, as I was very upset. Apple proves to be yet an excellent company for me again!

I'm glad it worked out, and I can understand the level of frustration you had, but perhaps this could be a learning experience in that if you continue to be polite and persistent, things will work themselves out.

 

[Ethosik]

For the record ol' sport...

I don't think you were acting thát immature. I actually think you are acting immature now.
Stating that Apple is an excellent company for still handling your return.

They messed up. The button to return should've been there. They are just fixing the problem they caused.
Nothing excellent about that. Just as normal as can be.

All the people calling you out for doing it at the last minute are completely missing the point.
If anything they are the immature ones.

All the people criticising you for emailing instead of calling... Same bunch of idiots.
You ALWAYS want a paper trail. Something written. I don't know if you record your calls. Most people don't.
But I imagine Apple as a company not responding good to recorded calls.

But the people are right though.

You are immature. You've been letting your emotions fly when starting the thread and when you got 'saved' by Apple you let them fly again praising them as if they did something extraordinary.

The only thing I thought was very immature is that you jumped the gun way to quick when they didn't call you back when they said they would.

If you know you're in the right. Always stay calm.

Um what? Email is not very reliable. Phone calling is MUCH better. Expect it to take a while (as the OP found out) if you deal with Email only. Phone call will get you in contact with someone MUCH faster.

 

[TonyK]

Okay, that was an interesting 5 pages.

So I won't comment about the actual waiting to the last day issue. The OP addressed it and also addressed why they were using email and not calling.

What I will address, as a web developer, is what might have caused the button to disappear and as another poster stated, wording of the guarantee.

Not having purchased an Apple product as a gift this past holiday season, I don't know the exact wording but the difference between "to" and "through" sets a legal standard. Using "to" means up to the date but not including that date while "through" is up to and including the date.

But what date? What time? Some companies use UTC/GMT and others use their timezone. It is all confusing that in order to protect yourselves it pays to carefully read a contract and all inclusions.

I think the lesson here is to not wait until the last minute, make arrangements if possible and to quietly work through all issues and roadblocks as possible before going ballasitic on a forum.

Take care,

 

[jksu]

the OP was amusing. we all have friends that act hysterical over mundane things- actually i don't have too many so OP cracked me up. it's been like a seinfeld episode here

 

[burgman]

Um what? Email is not very reliable. Phone calling is MUCH better. Expect it to take a while (as the OP found out) if you deal with Email only. Phone call will get you in contact with someone MUCH faster.

In the terms most companies directly say written mail is required not email for problem resolution. I agree being nice on the phone can work wonders. I can feel a tense conversation change with a simple "thanks for your time" and I do mean it because the person on the other end works a very stressful job dealing with the public. Posts all over the internet prove that fact.

 

[Matthew.H]

Good to hear you it got sorted OP. Maybe initiate the return a bit earlier next time.

 

[duervo]

Wait. What? Now you're not done with Apple?

Here. Let me show you how to do that ...

I'm done with this thread.

 

[Mefisto]

Personally I had little doubt that this would be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Apple really have nothing to gain by dicking people around on a technicality, and even less so if there's documentation that the customer has tried to take action whithin the time frame dictated by Apple. Even if it was a last minute thing. I may be wrong, but that's just not my experience with Apple. Some of you may disagree, and you're free to do so, obviously.

Good on OP to have the situation handled (the next time remember this process, and act accordingly), enjoy the new machine when it arrives.

 

[BarracksSi]

Going back to this notion (and it really doesn't matter who said it):

Why are people attacking the OP and defending Apple?

It's because he came on, ranted for several paragraphs -- and several more posts -- and when asked what he was doing about it, he basically only said, "Waiting for something to happen."

It doesn't even matter who the other party was. It was Apple here, but it could have been Dell, Chevrolet, or McDonald's. The lack of maturity displayed by the opening rant -- and especially the lagging updates about following up -- is what frustrated most everyone else who was reading the thread.