I have a launch day iPhone 5, and my battery has had problems for a while now, many of which are consistent with the large thread on bad launch day 5 batteries. I don't have AC+, but I did call my credit card, and they said they would cover it under extended warrantee with the Genius report saying the battery was faulty (I would pay and they reimburse the $79.)
So I made an appointment for yesterday for the Staten Island, NY, store, and I brought in the phone. After checking in, I waited 20 minutes to actually see someone. They ran the diagnostics, showed the battery was far red (past serviceable life), and said they would make sure they would show that on the report, and it would take 30-45 minutes to replace. Except for the 20 minute wait, all good so far.
I had other things to do, so I left and came back two hours later. The check-in person tells me the phone isn't ready yet. (WTF?) I tell him it's been two hours, and show him the service receipt, and he radios to the back to get an update with the name on the receipt... which isn't mine! I didn't even notice when I first got it. So that's odd. He sends me to wait for someone to go check. After 3 people and about 10 minutes, someone finally tells me there's a problem with the phone registration, and they can't fix it. I ask to speak to the manager, and he says for some reason, the system shows that the phone was previously replaced because of a prior issue, and should be out of service. He says it's a "database issue", and the wrong name on the receipt is part of the whole issue, and that they're investigating, and should take 3-4 days to work it out and they'll contact me to bring the phone back again once it's straightened out. (Note, the phone has never been serviced until yesterday.)
I was very annoyed at the whole thing. And definitely felt that they wasted a lot of my time. I told him I wanted the issue escalated, and that when I came back, I really shouldn't have to pay for the battery if they're giving me this runaround. He said he could give me his personal discount of 10%. Woo hoo, $8 for two hours of my time between all of the back and forth driving and waiting (since next time I'll wait in person to make sure it's fixed). -- Note, even though my credit card will actually reimburse me for the battery, now it's a combination of principal, and if I'm spending all this time with Apple, at least save me the time filling out all the paperwork for the cc reimbursement!
Then when I get home, I look on my original electronic receipt for the serial number, and I happen to notice the serial number on the Genius receipt is NOT the one on my phone! One of the letters towards the end is a N (on receipt) instead of a B (on phone), and they're next to each other on the keyboard. I call the apple store back to tell them that this whole thing may be because of a typo. The number on the business card the manager gave me rings about 30+ times and never gets picked up.
I'm annoyed, so I call the customer service number from the website, and I tell the person that I wasn't happy with the service I received in the apple store, they ask for which store, and when I tell them, they're like "okay, I'll connect you to the store manager" and before I can say anything, they transfer. That doesn't help when the issue IS the store manager!
So fine, this time I actually get the manager, tell him about the wrong serial number, and the guy totally blows me off and says that's not it, he says that's the serial number the system shows my phone was replaced with, and he can't do anything about it until they fix the "database issue" and basically hangs up. (Yes, sure, one phone replaced with another from the same factory and build week.)
So now I'm REALLY annoyed, call the customer service number from Apple again, and tell the person right away that I'm having an issue with the store manager, so I need a customer service manager who can help me with the issue. They say sure, put me on hold to transfer, I wait about 5-10 mins, and the line hangs up on me.
AAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!
Coming from a household that has had an iPhone 3, two iP4s (32), two iP5s (64), iPad2 (64), rMini (64), and an Apple stockholder, I'm not a happy camper right now.
So I made an appointment for yesterday for the Staten Island, NY, store, and I brought in the phone. After checking in, I waited 20 minutes to actually see someone. They ran the diagnostics, showed the battery was far red (past serviceable life), and said they would make sure they would show that on the report, and it would take 30-45 minutes to replace. Except for the 20 minute wait, all good so far.
I had other things to do, so I left and came back two hours later. The check-in person tells me the phone isn't ready yet. (WTF?) I tell him it's been two hours, and show him the service receipt, and he radios to the back to get an update with the name on the receipt... which isn't mine! I didn't even notice when I first got it. So that's odd. He sends me to wait for someone to go check. After 3 people and about 10 minutes, someone finally tells me there's a problem with the phone registration, and they can't fix it. I ask to speak to the manager, and he says for some reason, the system shows that the phone was previously replaced because of a prior issue, and should be out of service. He says it's a "database issue", and the wrong name on the receipt is part of the whole issue, and that they're investigating, and should take 3-4 days to work it out and they'll contact me to bring the phone back again once it's straightened out. (Note, the phone has never been serviced until yesterday.)
I was very annoyed at the whole thing. And definitely felt that they wasted a lot of my time. I told him I wanted the issue escalated, and that when I came back, I really shouldn't have to pay for the battery if they're giving me this runaround. He said he could give me his personal discount of 10%. Woo hoo, $8 for two hours of my time between all of the back and forth driving and waiting (since next time I'll wait in person to make sure it's fixed). -- Note, even though my credit card will actually reimburse me for the battery, now it's a combination of principal, and if I'm spending all this time with Apple, at least save me the time filling out all the paperwork for the cc reimbursement!
Then when I get home, I look on my original electronic receipt for the serial number, and I happen to notice the serial number on the Genius receipt is NOT the one on my phone! One of the letters towards the end is a N (on receipt) instead of a B (on phone), and they're next to each other on the keyboard. I call the apple store back to tell them that this whole thing may be because of a typo. The number on the business card the manager gave me rings about 30+ times and never gets picked up.
I'm annoyed, so I call the customer service number from the website, and I tell the person that I wasn't happy with the service I received in the apple store, they ask for which store, and when I tell them, they're like "okay, I'll connect you to the store manager" and before I can say anything, they transfer. That doesn't help when the issue IS the store manager!
So fine, this time I actually get the manager, tell him about the wrong serial number, and the guy totally blows me off and says that's not it, he says that's the serial number the system shows my phone was replaced with, and he can't do anything about it until they fix the "database issue" and basically hangs up. (Yes, sure, one phone replaced with another from the same factory and build week.)
So now I'm REALLY annoyed, call the customer service number from Apple again, and tell the person right away that I'm having an issue with the store manager, so I need a customer service manager who can help me with the issue. They say sure, put me on hold to transfer, I wait about 5-10 mins, and the line hangs up on me.
AAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!
Coming from a household that has had an iPhone 3, two iP4s (32), two iP5s (64), iPad2 (64), rMini (64), and an Apple stockholder, I'm not a happy camper right now.
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They also had me disable my passcode and find my phone, which the first store didn't do, which makes me again wonder what they even attempted to do.