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Problem with your Apple product? Drop Steve a line...

TheBritishBloke

TheBritishBloke

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 21, 2009
2,532
0
United Kingdom
I've had huge scales of problems with my MacBook Pro. A hinge which creaks and is weak, an unresponsive trackpad, hard drive and wifi access issues, intermittent beachballing and much more.

I phoned AppleCare, whom put my through to CR to get the problem fixed (already had 2 trips to the Apple store [2 different ones] whom both denied to repair/replace) They told me to either take it back into a store AGAIN or send it off and wait upto 3 weeks for just a diagnose.

So sick of CR, 2 weeks later I sent Steve a simple email (sjobs@apple.com, steve@apple.com, steve@mac.com). And had the best succession since.

Less than 18 hrs after sending the email, I get a phone call from a very kind person from the Executive relations team, who has decided to collect my MacBook Pro using a courier, have it sent off for diagnostics and repair, and have it back to me all within 7 days.

Granted, it wasn't Steve, but I got the next best thing, a lovely woman ready to help :)

Just wanted to share my experience with you briefly.

Let me know your experiences.
 
Executive relations team

LOL !

the mail is received by the regular customer service, that's all...

don't be naive... thousands of people probably sent emails already to this address, it doesn't mean that their problems are solved
 
macchiato2009 said:
Executive relations team

LOL !

the mail is received by the regular customer service, that's all...

don't be naive... thousands of people probably sent emails already to this address, it doesn't mean that their problems are solved
Click to expand...

It's illegal for them to lie.. So I highly doubt a huge company like Apple would even dare to tread there.

I know not everyone would have had this experience... but I'm sure some have.
 
JoelKelly said:
It's illegal for them to lie.. So I highly doubt a huge company like Apple would even dare to tread there.

I know not everyone would have had this experience... but I'm sure some have.
Click to expand...

It's not a lie, they can call themselves whatever they want. I used to work for a certain large computer company's call center. We would transfer calls to a "resolution expert" aka the guy sitting beside you.

We all had different titles depending on the customer. If they had been through lots of crap and were pissed off, we were Level 2 tech support or resolution experts, if they were having serious hardware issues, we were hardware specialists. Virus problems? I was a top tier virus professional. No manager available to take an escalation? I was a manager for that call.

It happens all the time, with every company.

What happened is that you got someone who actually cared. Most of those people working in call centers / tech support are just trying to make their dime. They will help you, but they won't go beyond what they have to do. This girl was probably asked by her manager to handle this issue since you were an upset customer. Kudos on getting it handled though, you're one of the lucky ones.
 
mikeo007 said:
It's not a lie, they can call themselves whatever they want. I used to work for a certain large computer company's call center. We would transfer calls to a "resolution expert" aka the guy sitting beside you.

We all had different titles depending on the customer. If they had been through lots of crap and were pissed off, we were Level 2 tech support or resolution experts, if they were having serious hardware issues, we were hardware specialists. Virus problems? I was a top tier virus professional. No manager available to take an escalation? I was a manager for that call.

It happens all the time, with every company.

What happened is that you got someone who actually cared. Most of those people working in call centers / tech support are just trying to make their dime. They will help you, but they won't go beyond what they have to do. This girl was probably asked by her manager to handle this issue since you were an upset customer. Kudos on getting it handled though, you're one of the lucky ones.
Click to expand...

I understand your point, and I agree Yes I am a lucky one, but it's still illegal making false claims on a Job position.

That's like saying people who work in Customer Relations are no higher than AppleCare.

Put it this way, I phoned up asking about my new iPhone (iPhone number 5 after 4 replacements), I was wanting to know whether I can get an upgrade because of having 5 phones for all my problems. The guy basically said "You'll have to speak to someone in Tier 2 I don't have the (power) to do that". I spoke to someone in Tier 2, He put me through to someone in Customer Relations, as they don't have the ability to replace upgrades. So the guy in CR said he could do it. And bing bang boom, I have an iPhone 3GS now.
 
JoelKelly said:
It's illegal for them to lie.. So I highly doubt a huge company like Apple would even dare to tread there.

I know not everyone would have had this experience... but I'm sure some have.
Click to expand...

You actually think Steve Jobs reads the 10,000+ emails that are sent to that e-mail address. I'm sure there is a group that monitors the in-box and sends him a new select ones that he will respond to. According to Microsoft, there was a team of people that did nothing but monitor the "Bill Gates" email address at Microsoft.
 
mdgolom said:
You actually think Steve Jobs reads the 10,000+ emails that are sent to that e-mail address. I'm sure there is a group that monitors the in-box and sends him a new select ones that he will respond to. According to Microsoft, there was a team of people that did nothing but monitor the "Bill Gates" email address at Microsoft.
Click to expand...

I never said that... I was talking about the Executive Relations personnel whom I spoke to.. Not Steve Jobs..
 
Reminds me of the time I was on a tech support call.

"Hello, this is Andy with blah blah tech support, how many I help you?" He had me going thru all different "reset this, flip that" and couldn't get anywhere, and we were both getting frustrated after about 20 minutes.

He ended up telling me to hold on and he was going to "escalate" my call to the next "tier". The phone rings a few times...

"Hello, this is Andy with the escalation team, can I get your phone number, please?

Oh crap... same guy. Heh.

--rob
 
robo456 said:
Reminds me of the time I was on a tech support call.

"Hello, this is Andy with blah blah tech support, how many I help you?" He had me going thru all different "reset this, flip that" and couldn't get anywhere, and we were both getting frustrated after about 20 minutes.

He ended up telling me to hold on and he was going to "escalate" my call to the next "tier". The phone rings a few times...

"Hello, this is Andy with the escalation team, can I get your phone number, please?

Oh crap... same guy. Heh.

--rob
Click to expand...

LOL! Most the time I get put through I get to someone Italian ;)
 
I think your post would have been much more appropriate when you received the laptop back from apple and you can say whether or not you were really provided good customer service. You come across as disgruntled and I hope you are happy and would like to hear some follow-up.

Judging your complaints I don't know if you really had any problems at all:

"A hinge which creaks and is weak"

Hinges sometimes creak. BFD. It is weak? Do you mean broken? Then that is a big problem. If it just "looks weak" what is Apple really going to do about it.

"an unresponsive trackpad"

Was this cured by a restart, if so I don't see what the big deal is. If by unresponsive you mean the trackpad is broken and will not respond after restarts then I agree you have a big problem.

"hard drive and wifi access issues"

Welcome to the club. Unless something is broken what do you expect Apple to do about it? I have issues my hard drive and wifi every day, these are nags, but if either one was broken, then sure, that would be a big deal.

"intermittent beachballing"

Welcome to the club. I just had Firefox and Chrome beachball into unresponsiveness. BFD. After a restart they are chugging away again. Earlier today it was itunes that refused to load after I connected my iphone.

" and much more"

Okay, anything broken? I hope you have actually provided Apple with some real details of problems they can actually fix. The most frustrating computer problems I have are the intermittent ones, and unfortunately, I have found I have to live with them if I want to compute.
 
MacVibe said:
I think your post would have been much more appropriate when you received the laptop back from apple and you can say whether or not you were really provided good customer service. You come across as disgruntled and I hope you are happy and would like to hear some follow-up.

Judging your complaints I don't know if you really had any problems at all:

"A hinge which creaks and is weak"

Hinges sometimes creak. BFD. It is weak? Do you mean broken? Then that is a big problem. If it just "looks weak" what is Apple really going to do about it.

"an unresponsive trackpad"

Was this cured by a restart, if so I don't see what the big deal is. If by unresponsive you mean the trackpad is broken and will not respond after restarts then I agree you have a big problem.

"hard drive and wifi access issues"

Welcome to the club. Unless something is broken what do you expect Apple to do about it? I have issues my hard drive and wifi every day, these are nags, but if either one was broken, then sure, that would be a big deal.

"intermittent beachballing"

Welcome to the club. I just had Firefox and Chrome beachball into unresponsiveness. BFD. After a restart they are chugging away again. Earlier today it was itunes that refused to load after I connected my iphone.

" and much more"

Okay, anything broken? I hope you have actually provided Apple with some real details of problems they can actually fix. The most frustrating computer problems I have are the intermittent ones, and unfortunately, I have found I have to live with them if I want to compute.
Click to expand...

I've already had it diagnosed at an Apple Store. The Trackpad problem is always there, even after a format and reinstall.

The hinge has creaked since I bought the machine, and by weak I mean that the screen can fall under its own weight so easily.

I'm not posting full details, I'm basically just telling you about the experience so far, Granted I haven't received the laptop back, but I want people to know that if you want them to do something, just drop Steve an email and someone will contact you to help. Someone much higher than you can get through usual means such as AppleCare
 
JoelKelly said:
I understand your point, and I agree Yes I am a lucky one, but it's still illegal making false claims on a Job position.

That's like saying people who work in Customer Relations are no higher than AppleCare.
Click to expand...


who actually cares ? nobody would never check if the guy who answered you is the senior vice president of the coffee machine or Manager of erelations between the world and SJ's false email address"

they can call themselves whatever they want

they probably receive thousands of emails on so-called SJ's emails...

what happens if they don't answer you ? nothing !

wanna sue them ? they will say that the address is a "no-reply address"


ok, you got a response. it doesn't mean that they would pay more attention to these emails rather than regular customer care or applecare

don't be so naive
 
My experience has been great, so far with Apple support...

I had an iMac that had a drive failure at a bad time. I got the machine to the local Apple store (2+ hours away) and freaked at the time frame. I bought Pro Care and got the system back in 2 days and had a very bad fan noise. Ticked at the response that I got from the Apple store techs, I went to a different Apple store and found out the same techs worked for that one too. I was pissed and having a hard time living with it. The noise was excruciating and I kept getting the runaround at the Apple stores. I called up Applecare and wrote a rather terse email to Mr. Jobs and got a mysterious call from a woman in their 'executive relations' or some such department asking me to 'hang on' and confirming my address. I was quizzed about what I had on the system and then told that I would have to send my system back. 'Great' I thought. In the middle of getting a project done for a client pre-holiday and I'll have to ship my system back and be out it for the duration. Ahh, no. I get an email with a tracking number the next day. The shipment originated in China. 'Huh?' I think.

I get a brand new aluminum iMac 2 days later. I am stunned... I swap the memory into the new one and install the apps and client data and am rocking and rolling. I get the project done and on the way out of town, ship the old one back. Actually, on my holiday in Mexico I get a call from the woman that I originally talked to that they don't have the old one back so I trace it through FedEx and get the updated tracking number to her and she is surprised that I did that. (Interesting that FedEx could find it after the shipping label fell off the box. They deserve kudos too) 'Well, heck' I say, 'it's the least I could do because I got a new iMac out of the deal'.

Sure, I'm loyal. After that, who wouldn't be...

Was it the Pro Care? Was it the near hysterical calls? Was it the email to Mr. Jobs? Was it my built up good karma? I don't care. I got rid of the pain in my ass and ended up on the positive side in the end. I couldn't even get a 'new' low end laserjet printer out of HP after it failed within 3 weeks of purchase and still had to wait 2 weeks for a refurbished one that died before its time anyway. No sorry, no nothing... And I think I had to pay for shipping too! I'd buy Apple over HP...

If only I could have gotten such good service out of Toyota... Don't get me started on that shaft job...
 
macchiato2009 said:
who actually cares ? nobody would never check if the guy who answered you is the senior vice president of the coffee machine or Manager of erelations between the world and SJ's false email address"

they can call themselves whatever they want

they probably receive thousands of emails on so-called SJ's emails...

what happens if they don't answer you ? nothing !

wanna sue them ? they will say that the address is a "no-reply address"


ok, you got a response. it doesn't mean that they would pay more attention to these emails rather than regular customer care or applecare

don't be so naive
Click to expand...

You are very very wrong on so many levels.

1. Apple do have a distinct Executive Relations team. I know someone that works for this department in Ireland.

2. Emails sent to this team are dealt with differently, if the issue requires a particular resolution - otherwise it is passed back to standard AppleCare.

3. On 3 separate occasions over the past 5 years, I have had outstanding customer service from Executive Relations when AppleCare has failed. Most recently, this was a replacement MacBook for the continual cracking palmrest problem. It was replaced with the most recent unibody model and the old one collected within 2 business days.

I think you should avoid unnecessary, inflammatory posts. The OP was posting a positive customer service story in a forum mostly filled with problems. There was no need for your response.
 
davidjearly said:
You are very very wrong on so many levels.

1. Apple do have a distinct Executive Relations team. I know someone that works for this department in Ireland.
Click to expand...

i never said i didn't exist

what i meant is that this kind of team doesn't take care of emails sent to fake email addresses like the ones quoted in the original post


AppleCare has several levels. When the first level cannot solve the problem, this issue goes to the next level.

Don't be naive... technical problems don't end up on the Exec's table...
 
macchiato2009 said:
i never said i didn't exist

what i meant is that this kind of team doesn't take care of emails sent to fake email addresses like the ones quoted in the original post


AppleCare has several levels. When the first level cannot solve the problem, this issue goes to the next level.

Don't be naive... technical problems don't end up on the Exec's table...
Click to expand...

He is not being naive, you are.
Executive relations means they are the highest form of CUSTOMER relations available and have absolutely nothing to do with the CEO or his office (in most cases). He is right, and from what I hear I will attempt to get them to solve any problems I run into too.
 
shadowbird423 said:
He is not being naive, you are.
Executive relations means they are the highest form of CUSTOMER relations available and have absolutely nothing to do with the CEO or his office (in most cases). He is right, and from what I hear I will attempt to get them to solve any problems I run into too.
Click to expand...

Every company has their support divided into tiers like this, but you can't just hop to the top tier. You have to go through an escalation chain, and if your problem isn't important enough to get to the top, you're not going to get there. OP had a string of issues and repeated problems. His case files likely showed this, meaning that he may have gotten top tier support after they reviewed his file.
 
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