I've used Macs for well over twenty years and have always found its customer support to be good, sometimes superb. Of late, however, I fear that things may be changing for the worse.
Hear's my basis for stating this:
1. Hardware reliability.
2. Repair service.
Yes, Apple has far to sink before it reaches Comcast's fathomless depths, but it's not so buoyant at the moment, it seems.
Hear's my basis for stating this:
1. Hardware reliability.
The Macs we purchased twenty to about ten years ago all still work. None of them required a trip to the repair shop. We still use two of them sometimes, and they're fine. None of the seven Macs we've purchased in the past eight years have made it for more than three years without needing major repair. Three of them failed just after the expiration of the additional AppleCare warranty. Two failed just before the AppleCare warranty's expiration. The others failed well within the AppleCare warranty.
2. Repair service.
MacBook Air, September of 2016. Our MacBook Air failed catastrophically. The AppleStore clerk confirmed that the failure was on the logic board and would require depot level work. He said the screen had failed as well. He confirmed that both problems were due to defects and not due to abuse. The AppleCare warranty had just expired the week before. Tough. We would have to pay $500 to get it fixed. Okay.
iPad, October of 2017. Our iPad developed a small crack in the screen. It (truly) happened spontaneously. We tried to ignore it. Within a week, it spread across the entire screen. When I took it to the Apple Store, they acknowledged that it was within warranty but wanted an additional $49 to fix the screen, because they said it had, "spidering."
iPhone, December of 2017. This week, an iPhone 7 developed a similar single crack in the screen. Given what happened with the iPad, we took it in immediately, before spidering could spread from the one crack, as it did with the iPad. The Apple Store personnel agreed that it was within warranty and that no additional charge was necessary.
We could not wait for them to repair it, as they said it would take about four hours. They put us in contact with Apple's phone support while we were still in the store. The phone support person said that there would be an additional charge of $99 to switch a fixed phone for ours, which contradicted what the store personnel had said.
The Apple phone support and the Apple Store personnel got into an argument about the charge right there in front of us, which was not resolved until Phone Support put a senior person on the phone. The senior person was, well, cold and officious. She said that, well, okay, they would exchange it free of charge this time, but that they would have to bill our credit card $600 until they saw that we were returning the old phone. She said we should receive notice of the shipment shortly, as we would have to sign for it.
The $600 charge showed up on our credit card immediately, before we left the store. It is now over twenty-four hours and we still have not received notification that the replacement phone has shipped.
Although the MacBook Air was on us, and that is fair, I mention it, because in 2012, a MacBook Pro failed in a similar fashion about one month after the AppleCare warranty had expired. I expected to have to pay for the repair, but Apple volunteered that they would fix it for free, given that the (expensive) warranty had just expired and that I was a good customer. When Apple did that, it put wind in my sails and increased my loyalty to Apple.iPad, October of 2017. Our iPad developed a small crack in the screen. It (truly) happened spontaneously. We tried to ignore it. Within a week, it spread across the entire screen. When I took it to the Apple Store, they acknowledged that it was within warranty but wanted an additional $49 to fix the screen, because they said it had, "spidering."
iPhone, December of 2017. This week, an iPhone 7 developed a similar single crack in the screen. Given what happened with the iPad, we took it in immediately, before spidering could spread from the one crack, as it did with the iPad. The Apple Store personnel agreed that it was within warranty and that no additional charge was necessary.
We could not wait for them to repair it, as they said it would take about four hours. They put us in contact with Apple's phone support while we were still in the store. The phone support person said that there would be an additional charge of $99 to switch a fixed phone for ours, which contradicted what the store personnel had said.
The Apple phone support and the Apple Store personnel got into an argument about the charge right there in front of us, which was not resolved until Phone Support put a senior person on the phone. The senior person was, well, cold and officious. She said that, well, okay, they would exchange it free of charge this time, but that they would have to bill our credit card $600 until they saw that we were returning the old phone. She said we should receive notice of the shipment shortly, as we would have to sign for it.
The $600 charge showed up on our credit card immediately, before we left the store. It is now over twenty-four hours and we still have not received notification that the replacement phone has shipped.
Yes, Apple has far to sink before it reaches Comcast's fathomless depths, but it's not so buoyant at the moment, it seems.
