People Who Left Devices at Apple Stores for Repair Can't Get Them Until Stores Reopen

[citysnaps]

Entitlement 101.

I especially enjoyed the allcaps "ARE".

Here is the response to this story from two Apple Store employees via Reddit.

"We stayed open for 3 days after initial closure and called every single ready for pickup once a day for the 3 days while we remained partially open. 99% of people were ok with coming in or let us know they would come in when we were open again."​

​

"Exactly what we did too. Can't tell you how many phone calls I made and emails I sent to try and get devices back home. 99% of people for us too were very accepting of what was going on and came by or let us know they couldn't."​

A huge hat-tip to Apple Store employees going the distance to help get customer products repaired and back in their hands, under very extraordinary circumstances!

 

[notabadname]

Big picture people. It’s not Apple’s fault the stores are closed. Our malls, not just the stores within them, are closed. So it really isn’t possible. And it would be unrealistic for Apple to try to do a state-by-state program. It’s smarter, and more logical, to simply tell your employees to stay home and participate in the social distancing and take care of their families. Apple employees are not “essential” workers - which is the requirement in many locales now to be out and about. Just another example of self-absorbed people that put their own wants above those of other individuals and our society as a whole. You will live without your Apple product.

 

[skottichan]

Gamestop could say that. But what if they(government) say that and they(GS) weren't allowed to sell anything but what they say is essential to people working at home like keyboards and computer mice? Would they put up a fit? Probably.


I believe Pennsylvania is going to or already did shut down state run liquor stores. Mad scramble.
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Good for you! And bad.

So sorry to hear that you have to take a stance for you job but they certainly are not looking out for their employees with their "we are an essential business" stance.

I was just referring to another post and asked what would Gamestop do if they stayed open and were only allowed to sell "essentials" for working from home...like keyboards and computer mice?

They would throw a hissy fit.

Good luck and again, sorry you had to take such a measure.

Edit: What part of Ohio? I am actually from Norwalk, myself.

We were all stressed due to the obsessive push for tech trades and the even more toxic push for "NUMBERS!!", that we were all pondering leaving. Corporate's handling of the coronavirus, and insisting we're an "essential business" were the last straw.

And our store is one of the Zanesville ones.

 

[Puppuccino]

I don't see the issue. If they gave people a chance to pickup and people didn't then you need to wait it out. Even if you physically couldn't pick them back up, it's a unprecedented time right now.

 

[recoil80]

If your product broke now you are equally screwed...but I bet if it's really a necessity for work/life you have a backup device or will just order a new one asap.

The problem, at least here, is that you can't have products shipped in 24 hours. I just tried to order a new 16'' MBP, it would ship on March 26. I'm working from home, I ordered an external monitor and a keyboard on Wednesday evening and I'll receive it tomorrow. My 2016 MBP keyboard is starting to have problems, I expected that since it became my daily driver now and I'm using the keyboard more than ever.
I hope nothing else happens, I ordered the display and the keyboard so I don't care if the keyboard fails even more badly, but if I have a problem with some other components like SSD I'll have to take a couple of days off waiting for a new Mac to be shipped. I can do it, but if you work on something really critical you better have a backup device nowadays.

As for my MBP I'll wait for stores to reopen and I'll get my genius bar appointment to get it fixed. If the store is opened my office will be as well so I'll use my Mac Mini while the MBP is being fixed. At least they're getting rid of this stupid keyboard and even the new Air has the improved one.

 

[iOS Geek]

Entitlement 101.

I especially enjoyed the allcaps "ARE".

Here is the response to this story from two Apple Store employees via Reddit.

"We stayed open for 3 days after initial closure and called every single ready for pickup once a day for the 3 days while we remained partially open. 99% of people were ok with coming in or let us know they would come in when we were open again."​

​

"Exactly what we did too. Can't tell you how many phone calls I made and emails I sent to try and get devices back home. 99% of people for us too were very accepting of what was going on and came by or let us know they couldn't."​

I love how you classify “needing to work” because some of us don’t have a damn choice (nurse here)...as “entitlement”. We use Apple devices at work and currently are unable to get six of them back. That’s a problem for us. Entitlement? Far from it. Get over yourself.

 

[essjay2009]

you seriously expect a random employee running a twitter account to know what’s going on with your individual device? There are 500+ stores worldwide

I would expect a company like Apple to keep track of customer equipment they have in for repair. Which, in fact, they do. However when the "random employee", who represents the official Apple Support twitter account, looked up my device they said it had been "In Repair" for several days with no status update.

If the device wasn't ready for collection, they should have shipped it off to their remote device repair facilities, which are still operating. That seems the obvious thing to do. This was the second warranty repair on this device this year, and I've already been without it for a month it total across two repairs. I've only owned it, a maxed out MacMini, for a year.

At this point, I'm resigned to being without my device for months. I'm fortunate in that I've managed to hack together an old 2015 MBP to pick up the key services the MacMini was hosting. What I'm trying to get across is that blaming customers for not picking up their devices is not fair. Not all customers were given a choice, or even any notice. And as I've said, a quick look on line will tell you that there are many customers in this situation.

 

[techwhiz]

People need to chill out. Apple is doing what WE ALL SHOULD BE DOING. Your device will be fine. Read a book.

And if the laptop you dropped off was needed for work?

 

[Steve686]

I would expect a company like Apple to keep track of customer equipment they have in for repair. Which, in fact, they do. However when the "random employee", who represents the official Apple Support twitter account, looked up my device they said it had been "In Repair" for several days with no status update.

If the device wasn't ready for collection, they should have shipped it off to their remote device repair facilities, which are still operating. That seems the obvious thing to do. This was the second warranty repair on this device this year, and I've already been without it for a month it total across two repairs. I've only owned it, a maxed out MacMini, for a year.

At this point, I'm resigned to being without my device for months. I'm fortunate in that I've managed to hack together an old 2015 MBP to pick up the key services the MacMini was hosting. What I'm trying to get across is that blaming customers for not picking up their devices is not fair. Not all customers were given a choice, or even any notice. And as I've said, a quick look on line will tell you that there are many customers in this situation.

What was being repaired on your mini?

 

[bobob]

Some people need these devices so they can work...not all of us have the luxury to be able to sit and read all day. There ARE still people who need to work.

Entitlement 101.

I especially enjoyed the allcaps "ARE".

Here is the response to this story from two Apple Store employees via Reddit....

"We stayed open for 3 days after initial closure and called every single ready for pickup once a day for the 3 days while we remained partially open. 99% of people were ok with coming in or let us know they would come in when we were open again."

"Exactly what we did too. Can't tell you how many phone calls I made and emails I sent to try and get devices back home. 99% of people for us too were very accepting of what was going on and came by or let us know they couldn't."

I love how you classify “needing to work” because some of us don’t have a damn choice (nurse here)...as “entitlement”. We use Apple devices at work and currently are unable to get six of them back. That’s a problem for us. Entitlement? Far from it. Get over yourself.

During the three extra days that Apple Stores stayed partially open, they managed to make arrangements with 99% of their repair customers. 1% chose to ignore multiple phone calls and emails from Apple staff instead of responding to make arrangements to get their computer back. If their computer was indeed critical for their work, that was the time to act.

 

[NWdev]

I ordered a Pro Display and Pro Stand prior to the stores closing. I had them shipped to the PDX store for personal pickup. The Pro Stand was ready very quickly but my Pro Display was scheduled for 2 days after the store closed.

Once the store closing announcement hit, I called Apple Support to request that the display at least be shipped to the billing address. The display had not left Apple yet.

Well 10 days and 3 phone conversations with Apple Support later, the display is sitting in the FedEx Portland distribution center -destination: a closed Apple store.

Apple Support has been very polite and understanding on the phone. But for whatever reason they can’t update my customer shipping address even though every Specialist I spoke with said they routinely do it.

From being a business owner for 10 years (that only ships FedEx) I know the FedEx system and it’s pretty straight forward to make an in-route/in-flight shipping address change.

I can still cancel the order, but I really wanted to start using the display during the upcoming weeks (months?) of lockdown.

I’m not going to die without it and totally get the store situation is a unique logistical event/challenge. But this I feel has more to do with Apple’s own internal (perhaps) legacy IT process. Why do I even have to call Apple Support? If this was an order for a fridge with Sears then yeah I could understand having to call a person. But this is Apple. I should be able to login to my account and update it myself. Instead, I call a phone bank in New Mexico or Texas then the staff call their managers who then look up the order and try to navigate a “tricky” system.

Apple’s certainly not doing their best work here.

 

[essjay2009]

What was being repaired on your mini?

I don't know for certain, but the symptoms were identical to the previous failure (completely dead, won't boot, fans don't spin, no light - happened two months earlier and was repaired under warranty) which required the power supply to be replaced. That there were two failures in quick succession may mean there was a more serious underlying issue though.

 

[Steve686]

I don't know for certain, but the symptoms were identical to the previous failure (completely dead, won't boot, fans don't spin, no light - happened two months earlier and was repaired under warranty) which required the power supply to be replaced. That there were two failures in quick succession may mean there was a more serious underlying issue though.

Is your home power possibly part of the issue?

 

[essjay2009]

Is your home power possibly part of the issue?

I don't believe so. It's on a surge protected power strip (with protection indicator still on) with other devices which are all fine. It's also a new build with additional surge protection built in. That doesn't completely rule it out, but I think it's unlikely. I've got a very flakey, ancient, NAS using the same power strip that falls over if you breath on it the wrong way, and that was fine the same time the MacMini died. I did also move it to another socket on the strip after the last failure, just in case.

I've seen a few other reports of MacMinis failing in similar ways, and they all seem to be the 10GBe variants, which mine is. Others have required a logic board and a power supply swap but also had multiple failures in a short period of time. Interestingly, I'm pretty certain they've changed the design of the power supply because the replaced one was slightly different to the original.