iPod touch Nightmare Touch Exchange Story

[aidanpendragon]

I had a Touch "preorder" from Sept. 5, but because they were taking so long to ship, went and got one at an Apple Store last weekend (after calling 3 stores for 2 days to find one).

Tried many calls to Apple to cancel my preorder but they couldn't, so I had to refuse the package Thursday AM. Thursday PM, after thinking mine was OK (compared to others), watched some video with a lot of blacks, and saw pics of the good Week 38 models. Crap; it's bad, needs to go back.

Called the Apple Store - "call back tomorrow AM after we get a shipment and can see if there are more Touches." Do that. "OK, we have one, we'll hold it for you, we'll set up a Genius appointment and you can exchange it."

Go back to the Apple Store the 2nd time. Genius takes a look, and of course has no idea what I'm talking about when I say the screen is bad. But he and his buddies confer, and fairly quickly decide "yes, we'll exchange that for you. But we don't have any to do the swap."

Um, what about the one I had held - the reason I came here directly? 10 min. of seaching. "No, we can't find it, and they never should have said they were holding one for you, and we have no idea when we'll get more in." But, "just call Apple and they'll send you a new one."

Since I'm out at this point, I try to find Apple's support # in the Touch box. Of course, nothing is disclosed or given. Ironically, I find a good WiFi spot and use the Touch to look up Apple's # online! 45 min. ensues of bouncing through voicemail, to one person, to another, back to the start of voicemail, being disconnected, starting over, etc. (Tip: Apple's voice-recognition software DOESN'T recognize the phrase "iPod Touch"!)

Try again this Sat. AM. Give my serial number (twice!) to someone who promises to send it on to a CSR, but fails to. The CSR then tries to tell me "you need to go to an Apple Store to get a replacement." I'm not buying it and ask for a supervisor. "There isn't a supervisor who can take your call. But, we can send you a box, and you can mail yours back, and we'll take a look and see if anything's wrong with it." I angrily point out that I already jumped through my ass to go to an Apple Store and had a Genius pronounce it bad, and there's no way I'm sending mine out before I get a new one.

I eventually get escalated to a "product specialist," who's much more helpful, although he still doesn't know anything about the issue. After recounting my spiel for the 5th time, he calls the Store I went to to verify the problem, then calls me right back to set up the exchange. I'm put on hold, which spirals into a disconnect - but he has my #, so he calls me back, thankfully. He then sets up the exchange.

At one point, he says "we'll be sending you some legal documents to sign, that say you'll keep the resolution of this confidential." There's no way - particularly as there's a hint I'll have to do this before they send a replacement! I ask why a company that's replacing a bad product with a good one needs to keep that confidential, and tell him, "well, you can SEND the papers..." He gets the message - "oh, I'm mistaken, we don't need to do that in this case."

New Touch is hopefully shipping Monday to arrive Tues.-Weds.

Morals of this story:

-If you want to exchange a bad Touch, go armed with much patience and fortitude.

-Never, ever, ever buy any new Apple products immediately when first released; even a rev. 1 may be pushing it.

-Apple's customer service is no different from the byzantine nightmares of other companies.

Here's hoping I get a good resolution out of all this.

 

[queshy]

This is an example of one of the many threads that leads to a different moral - don't buy any high-ticket items from the Apple store because you might have to do this. Instead - avoid all of this - and buy from Best Buy. At Best Buy, it would have all happened in the same day, you wouldn't have had to make any phone calls whatsoever.

Hope everything works out.

 

[aidanpendragon]

Hope everything works out.

Thanks.

Anyone have Apple's consumer relations email address? I think they'd benefit from hearing the gory details. NOT Steve Jobs; that's a worst-case, my-G5-cooling-supply-flooded-my-logic-board-and-Apple-refuses-to-fix-it option.

This is an example of one of the many threads that leads to a different moral - don't buy any high-ticket items from the Apple store because you might have to do this. Instead - avoid all of this - and buy from Best Buy. At Best Buy, it would have all happened in the same day, you wouldn't have had to make any phone calls whatsoever.

I've sworn off my local Best Buy(s) due to the sheer incompetence there.

 

[queshy]

Thanks.

Anyone have Apple's consumer relations email address? I think they'd benefit from hearing the gory details. NOT Steve Jobs; that's a worst-case, my-G5-cooling-supply-flooded-my-logic-board-and-Apple-refuses-to-fix-it option.



I've sworn off my local Best Buy(s) due to the sheer incompetence there.

Hrmm I don't have their e-mail off hand but I think you should wait 'til monday and call them (in Texas). They might be able to sort it for you faster. Again I don't know their number, but perhaps someone else here does. But either way it's on their website somewhere...

And incompetent or not, at least they take stuff back if it's broken.

 

[aidanpendragon]

Anybody else - have the Apple Consumer Relations email?

 

[wakerider017]

Seems like you made big to do about nothing...

Why didn't you just take a gift card or refund from Apple and order online once you got home? Could have been done in minutes.

Your the one who over complicated things.

 

[wizzracer]

Southlake number is 817-722-1401

Apple.com then support tab for e-mail

 

[TheSpaz]

Why not just wait for your iPod in the mail? Why does everyone wanna cancel their orders... drive to a store... find out it's busted... drive back to the store... return it... order a new one... wait for that... when in all that time you could have just waited for your online order. I was tempted to do what you did but, to tell you the truth, I figured, it will come when it comes and I'm not going to drive all over hell to get one and hope that they're in stock. It's your own damn fault you were so impatient with Apple. It's not a life threatening situation. I bet the one you were gonna get in the mail was a week 38 and the screen was probably perfect like mine... but, you were too impatient to get one before everyone else did.

 

[parrotheadmjb]

After walking in the door to best buy, it took me less than 10 minutes to exchange my iPod touch.

 

[aidanpendragon]

Lots of sympathy here. Guess none of you were part of the enraged threads here about "why did we kill ourselves to preorder when stores get them first?" I wasn't enraged, but I did wonder why I should wait for it to ship "by the 28th" when I could go get one 2 weeks earlier?

And never mind the side item that I returned a mail one - that's my own bad luck. Where's the anger that Apple released a bogus product that I have to exchange in the first place; that I went out of my way to go see a Genius, only to have them fail to have a replacement as promised; or that it took 3 calls to Applecare to get it sorted, and they still tried to refuse their own Genius' diagnosis?

 

[TheSpaz]

Lots of sympathy here. Guess none of you were part of the enraged threads here about "why did we kill ourselves to preorder when stores get them first?" I wasn't enraged, but I did wonder why I should wait for it to ship "by the 28th" when I could go get one 2 weeks earlier?

And never mind the side item that I returned a mail one - that's my own bad luck. Where's the anger that Apple released a bogus product that I have to exchange in the first place; that I went out of my way to go see a Genius, only to have them fail to have a replacement as promised; or that it took 3 calls to Applecare to get it sorted, and they still tried to refuse their own Genius' diagnosis?

Get over it. The iPod Touch's JUST came out. Not ALL of the Apple Geniuses know about the screen issue yet... I even asked the Mac Rep at Best Buy if a lot of people were returning the iPod Touch because of screen problems and she said she hasn't seen any returned yet. It's probably a small number of screens with the problem. So, I'm sorry you got a bad one and I feel bad for you that you had to go through all of that but, it's not Apple's fault for shipping these bad units out. Mistakes at the factory get made and they were probably shipping them directly from there... So how would Apple be able to stop this. Do you think Steve Jobs is personally checking each one before they're boxed and shipped... no. Apple is not God... they make mistakes too... they're just another company that happens to make very good products and people are usually generally happy with them. With so much technology in one device... the chances are high that there are kinks to work out. We don't even know yet how they will perform 5 years from now... does the touch screen get worn out? Does it stop working?

Sorry for my rant but, people shouldn't be putting Apple down for trying to make everyone happy and when someone's not happy... suddenly Apple is bad and they're the blame for all your problems.

 

[aidanpendragon]

Sorry for my rant but, people shouldn't be putting Apple down for trying to make everyone happy and when someone's not happy... suddenly Apple is bad and they're the blame for all your problems.

Maybe you should actually read my post. The defective first batch, I can live with - perils of early adoption and all that. But I get mad at any company that requires hours of my time to resolve the problem they created.

Why should Apple employees tell me they'll hold one; then others say "that's a major error, they never should have promised you that"? Why should it take 3 calls to get through to Applecare? Why do they have an automated voice system that doesn't recognize the product's name? Why, after a Genius has already ID'd the problem and said "you need a new one," do I have to fight with the people on the phone - why aren't their two systems at least somewhat linked to share info?

Note that the Genius himself was fine - didn't know about the problem, but quickly said "we'll exchange it," no hassle, no restock fee, etc.

This isn't an issue of "they aren't familiar with it"; it's "they can't get their act together."

In any event, I'm "over it." It's just that, for all the smoke everyone blows about how great Apple is, in the end, they were just as bad as any other company in resolving the issue easily. Excuse me for being a little disappointed.

 

[Rogzilla]

Man you are lucky. I tried showing the "Genius" at my local Apple Store and he all but called me a liar. "Well, your screen looks fine...let me get a second opinion" He grabs somebody who looks like thier shift is over and is leaving for the day. I point out that I compared it in the store to the screen on the iPhone and it doesn't look as good "Yeah but you should compare it to another iPod touch".

When I tell them that my research showed that it was models produced durring a certain production week, they asked me if I got that from Apple. "No, I read it on forums and reviews" "Well then its not official."

He then takes it to the back (where I can't see him) and says he showed it to a bunch of other people and they don't see a problem with it.

I don't even care if I get a replacement immediately. I just want to make sure they record that I have a deffective unit before the 14 day period is up. That way, when they get new touches in, I can exchange it even if it happens after the 14 days. I checked and this should be possible.

Anyways, I did more reading and found that one Jay-Z image that people are using as an example. I have it loaded on my browser (which is as close as I will EVER get to putting that guys image on my iPod...not a fan) and I will take it back in after work. I am also bringing in the reciept and will, if I have to, recite the return policy which states "If you are not satisfied with your product, return it within 14 days for exchange or refund" not "If you are not satisfied with your product to our satisfication" I hope I also get an Apple Genius who doesn't look like he still lives in his parents basement. Seriously...guy looked more like a stereotype than that William Hung guy from American Idol!

Wish me luck!

 

[wakerider017]

I really don't have any pity for you.

You should have just returned it while at the store, gotten a credit, went home and ordered online.

Sucks that apple said they had an extra one for you, but what are you going to do? No amount of complaining will make one appear.

There was a very simple solution and you chose not to take it.

 

[wakerider017]

Man you are lucky. I tried showing the "Genius" at my local Apple Store and he all but called me a liar. "Well, your screen looks fine...let me get a second opinion" He grabs somebody who looks like thier shift is over and is leaving for the day. I point out that I compared it in the store to the screen on the iPhone and it doesn't look as good "Yeah but you should compare it to another iPod touch".

When I tell them that my research showed that it was models produced durring a certain production week, they asked me if I got that from Apple. "No, I read it on forums and reviews" "Well then its not official."

He then takes it to the back (where I can't see him) and says he showed it to a bunch of other people and they don't see a problem with it.

I don't even care if I get a replacement immediately. I just want to make sure they record that I have a deffective unit before the 14 day period is up. That way, when they get new touches in, I can exchange it even if it happens after the 14 days. I checked and this should be possible.

Anyways, I did more reading and found that one Jay-Z image that people are using as an example. I have it loaded on my browser (which is as close as I will EVER get to putting that guys image on my iPod...not a fan) and I will take it back in after work. I am also bringing in the reciept and will, if I have to, recite the return policy which states "If you are not satisfied with your product, return it within 14 days for exchange or refund" not "If you are not satisfied with your product to our satisfication" I hope I also get an Apple Genius who doesn't look like he still lives in his parents basement. Seriously...guy looked more like a stereotype than that William Hung guy from American Idol!

Wish me luck!

Don't bother with showing them forums and what not. Show them the article from the WSJ. That is a pretty reliable source.

 

[smiddlehurst]

Get over it. The iPod Touch's JUST came out. Not ALL of the Apple Geniuses know about the screen issue yet... I even asked the Mac Rep at Best Buy if a lot of people were returning the iPod Touch because of screen problems and she said she hasn't seen any returned yet. It's probably a small number of screens with the problem. So, I'm sorry you got a bad one and I feel bad for you that you had to go through all of that but, it's not Apple's fault for shipping these bad units out. Mistakes at the factory get made and they were probably shipping them directly from there... So how would Apple be able to stop this. Do you think Steve Jobs is personally checking each one before they're boxed and shipped... no. Apple is not God... they make mistakes too... they're just another company that happens to make very good products and people are usually generally happy with them. With so much technology in one device... the chances are high that there are kinks to work out. We don't even know yet how they will perform 5 years from now... does the touch screen get worn out? Does it stop working?

Sorry for my rant but, people shouldn't be putting Apple down for trying to make everyone happy and when someone's not happy... suddenly Apple is bad and they're the blame for all your problems.

Yes, Apple make mistakes BUT they also have a responsibility to resolve issues when they arise, especially with units that are defective out of the box. As for this being a 'kink', no, this is something that should have been caught in the QA process as the failure rate is WAY too high and isn't a result of some brand new technology fault but of a problem in the manufacturing process.

Quite frankly you seem to be refering to Apple as if they were a person rather than a corporate entity here which I can't quite wrap my head around. If they are selling a product that is defective out of the box (and a significant percentage of first batch iPod Touch units ARE defective) they should bend over backwards to make things right for the customers who just plunked down a LOT of cash on a premium product. In this case, the local Apple store has CLEARLY failed to achieve this. Reading through this tale you can pull out the following failures of the local store:

Informing the customer they would reserve a Touch for him to exchange the product.
Genius should have also provided the customer with the relevant telephone number for Apple support.
If the store has to be called to verify the fault the genius should have been aware of this and acted accordingly (i.e. initiated the support call themselves), although it could be argued that this is an Apple policy issue.

The problems with Apple support are fairly obvious from what's written, although the 'legal documents' part was utter rubbish (and really poor form).

If anyone here thinks that this example shows acceptable customer service on the part of Apple and that you'd be happy at receiving this level of support then I'm honestly amazed. I've just been through something similar (tilted Nano screen - return; duff iPod Touch screen - return; tilted Nano screen - holding on for a week then return for one of the next batch) and as the OP said, it's not a good situation when you need to spend hours of your own time just trying to get a replacement unit issued for one that was faulty out of the box.

 

[Rogzilla]

Don't bother with showing them forums and what not. Show them the article from the WSJ. That is a pretty reliable source.

Yeah I tried to mention it but my tongue went all blegh and I couldn't remember jack crap!

 

[smiddlehurst]

I really don't have any pity for you.

You should have just returned it while at the store, gotten a credit, went home and ordered online.

Sucks that apple said they had an extra one for you, but what are you going to do? No amount of complaining will make one appear.

There was a very simple solution and you chose not to take it.

That's... ridiculous. Seriously, why should the OP have to get a refund, go home, put an on-line order in to Apple, wait for it to be delivered and then if, god forbid, there was a fault on the unit, have to deal with Apple support over the phone (and incur further delays) when his local store told him flat out that there was a replacement unit waiting for him? That's not the OP's fault, that's a failure at the Apple store and it's their responsibility to resolve it. While complaining will not make one appear they could, at the very least, have offered to reserve one of the next shipment as a swap and given him the option of waiting, talking to support or refunding. Or even, and I know this is a radical idea, offered some form of compensation, a free iPod Sock or something, just a token gesture to acknowledge their mistake and the time it had cost the customer.

The simple solution, in this case, is NOT what you suggested above. The logical course of action is to expect Apple to resolve the situation quickly and efficiently, something they failed to do. Now this may be an isolated incident but to blame the OP for this situation boggles the mind.

 

[TheSpaz]

I've never had a bad experience dealing with Apple Support. Very nice people most of the time. You just had an unlucky experience. Why do you have to automatically generalize Apple as a company and what bad people work for them? Just because you didn't get exactly the help you expected doesn't mean that it's the same case for everyone. I'll give you an example.

There's a music store called Daddy's Junky Music nearby my house and the store in Portsmouth, NH has a terrible staff... they don't even look at you and they pretend you don't exist... but, I was in Salem, NH once and I stopped into the Daddy's Junky Music there and the staff was amazingly helpful and were really excited about answering questions and making sure you had everything you needed. They were MUCH more helpful than the other store. It such a big difference. If I hadn't gone to the other store, I might say that Daddy's Junky Music is a really bad place to shop and talk bad about the company... but, this would not be right because clearly, I saw that different people behave differently and it's not the company's fault if they do not fire everyone that works for them if they do not know what is going on in each individual store. I hope I make sense. Things happen... it's not like Apple isn't replacing your iPod at all... be thankful.

 

[wakerider017]

That's... ridiculous. Seriously, why should the OP have to get a refund, go home, put an on-line order in to Apple, wait for it to be delivered and then if, god forbid, there was a fault on the unit, have to deal with Apple support over the phone (and incur further delays) when his local store told him flat out that there was a replacement unit waiting for him? That's not the OP's fault, that's a failure at the Apple store and it's their responsibility to resolve it. While complaining will not make one appear they could, at the very least, have offered to reserve one of the next shipment as a swap and given him the option of waiting, talking to support or refunding. Or even, and I know this is a radical idea, offered some form of compensation, a free iPod Sock or something, just a token gesture to acknowledge their mistake and the time it had cost the customer.

The simple solution, in this case, is NOT what you suggested above. The logical course of action is to expect Apple to resolve the situation quickly and efficiently, something they failed to do. Now this may be an isolated incident but to blame the OP for this situation boggles the mind.

Like I said it sucks that the Apple store said they had a replacement when they didn't. I agree, that is not right.

But what did he accomplish by taking the defective iPod home when he could have just gotten a credit?

He had to fight with tech support to make them believe it was defective all over again, spent hours on the phone trying to get them to send a replacement before sending the old one out.

What we have here is someone who is sooo anxious that they couldn't go a few days with out an ipod that is not even supposed to be released yet.

I would hate to see this guys reaction when something serious happens.. This is an iPod. Relax.


My Story:

Bought iPod Touch at Apple store (It was defective)
Returned it for a store credit when I was at the mall again
Went home and ordered a new one.
Now I just have to wait a few extra days.

 

[Luigi239]

Man you are lucky. I tried showing the "Genius" at my local Apple Store and he all but called me a liar. "Well, your screen looks fine...let me get a second opinion" He grabs somebody who looks like thier shift is over and is leaving for the day. I point out that I compared it in the store to the screen on the iPhone and it doesn't look as good "Yeah but you should compare it to another iPod touch".

When I tell them that my research showed that it was models produced durring a certain production week, they asked me if I got that from Apple. "No, I read it on forums and reviews" "Well then its not official."

He then takes it to the back (where I can't see him) and says he showed it to a bunch of other people and they don't see a problem with it.

I don't even care if I get a replacement immediately. I just want to make sure they record that I have a deffective unit before the 14 day period is up. That way, when they get new touches in, I can exchange it even if it happens after the 14 days. I checked and this should be possible.

Anyways, I did more reading and found that one Jay-Z image that people are using as an example. I have it loaded on my browser (which is as close as I will EVER get to putting that guys image on my iPod...not a fan) and I will take it back in after work. I am also bringing in the reciept and will, if I have to, recite the return policy which states "If you are not satisfied with your product, return it within 14 days for exchange or refund" not "If you are not satisfied with your product to our satisfication" I hope I also get an Apple Genius who doesn't look like he still lives in his parents basement. Seriously...guy looked more like a stereotype than that William Hung guy from American Idol!

Wish me luck!

I had exactly the same thing happen to me. The guy couldn't see it, then pumped up the brightness to 100%, and the problem went away. Obviously thats not a solution as that will kill the battery. He decided that I should live with it, or I could pay a nice 10% re-stocking fee.

I ended up calling Applecare, and a box for my touch is on it's way.

EDIT: I decided to go back to the store. This time another genius looked at it, and I will be receiving a week 38 Macy Gray one tomorrow.

 

[aidanpendragon]

He decided that I should live with it, or I could pay a nice 10% re-stocking fee.

The kind of thing I wanted to avoid. If the Genius had said, "we'll take this as a return and give you a full credit, then go order another one," I might have done that. But he didn't - he said, "call Applecare and they'll fix you up." Not sure why one person here insists I'm some kind of fool for following the official support/replacement instructions I received. Or why it's my fault for having to fight the Apple system to recognize a diagnosis already made by another part of it.

Whatever. Don't mean to beat this to death. Thanks to the folks who had kinder words to offer.

 

[Rogzilla]

I had exactly the same thing happen to me. The guy couldn't see it, then pumped up the brightness to 100%, and the problem went away. Obviously thats not a solution as that will kill the battery. He decided that I should live with it, or I could pay a nice 10% re-stocking fee.

I ended up calling Applecare, and a box for my touch is on it's way.

EDIT: I decided to go back to the store. This time another genius looked at it, and I will be receiving a week 38 Macy Gray one tomorrow.

Yeah, the same thing happened to ME today. I went it, ready for a fight, got a different Apple guy and I was in and out in less than 5 minutes with my brand new, Week 38 Macy Gray! Perfect, love it, awesome! I was a little disappointed I didn't get to fight...I mean I WAS READY! :-(

 

[aidanpendragon]

UPDATE, or, the Saga Continues:

So it's Weds. The product specialist I spoke to on Sat. said my replacement Touch would ship Mon. to arrive Tues.-Weds. So, Weds. PM, haven't seen anything. Call Apple again, and after some trouble, the rep. brings up the replacement order to see that it's stuck at "pending." They're now trying to get it out of pending.

Oh wait! Now I have to wait until tomorrow to get a phone call from "Legal" to discuss the legal, do-not-discuss this paperwork that I "have" to sign before they'll even send me a replacement. The paperwork the last rep. said didn't apply in this case, and which I refuse to sign anyway. They also failed to check that the phone # they had was one where I could be reached during work hours - I had to volunteer that.

This gets better and better. If I had this experience with my Mac (as opposed to a stupid iPod), I might not go back.