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Trying to get an Apple representative on the phone is RIDICILOUS

B

Benenstein

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 5, 2011
170
0
Illinois
I was on the phone for an hour and a half earlier, but gave up because I had to get ready for work. Now, I'm off of work and I'm on hold again...this time it has only been for 12 minutes so far, but who knows how long it will actually take. During this time, I have realized how awful some of the songs Apple puts on their hold period.

I really need to change my address before it prepares for shipment...but it seems almost impossible to do so (I would do it online if I could, but I can only do it by phone since AT&T requires the same address that the account has on file)!

The keynote didn't stream correctly last week (LOTS of technical issues), pre-ordering the iPhone was a chore to do, and even getting a live person on the phone is become a long and drawn out process. What is going on with Apple?! I didn't have anywhere near as many issues preordering my iPhones previously.

Edit- I now noticed that I spelled ridiculous incorrectly in my title. Oops.
 
You have to understand Apple could hire 100,000 call center people to answer phones and you would still be on hold........




I mean its not like its the first day of iPhone orders or anything.
 
Maclver said:
You have to understand Apple could hire 100,000 call center people to answer phones and you would still be on hold........




I mean its not like its the first day of iPhone orders or anything.
Click to expand...

Yes, I do understand, I work in a call center myself; however, it is unacceptable to be on hold for 2 hours to simply change a shipping address.
 
Just got off the phone with the agent to change my address and was on hold for about 35 min. They were able to change within a couple minutes so hang tight!
 
megsalias said:
Hope you have better luck than I did. I was on hold for just over three and a half hours before I finally got to a person.
Click to expand...

If it seriously goes that long i'm going to just cancel my order and use the 3 hours of stewing in anger to file a complaint.

Apple is on the verge of becoming a trillion dollar company...surely they could figure out a better call flow with the call centers.
 
Benenstein said:
I was on the phone for an hour and a half earlier, but gave up because I had to get ready for work. Now, I'm off of work and I'm on hold again...this time it has only been for 12 minutes so far, but who knows how long it will actually take. During this time, I have realized how awful some of the songs Apple puts on their hold period.

I really need to change my address before it prepares for shipment...but it seems almost impossible to do so (I would do it online if I could, but I can only do it by phone since AT&T requires the same address that the account has on file)!

The keynote didn't stream correctly last week (LOTS of technical issues), pre-ordering the iPhone was a chore to do, and even getting a live person on the phone is become a long and drawn out process. What is going on with Apple?! I didn't have anywhere near as many issues preordering my iPhones previously.

Edit- I now noticed that I spelled ridiculous incorrectly in my title. Oops.
Click to expand...

It seems variable. I called Apple three times today. The first time, I connected in 12 minutes. A couple of minutes into the call, Verizon dropped the call (damn you Verizion!!!). I called back on my landline and waited for an hour and a half before I had to hang up because I needed to do something else.

After dinner, I called again and was answered in about 10 minutes.

Response time seems very unpredictable (I wonder if it matters what queue you get yourself into). The last time which only took 10 minutes to get through, I asked for iPhone sales support. The time with the long delay, I had asked for help with an existing order.
 
Benenstein said:
Yes, I do understand, I work in a call center myself; however, it is unacceptable to be on hold for 2 hours to simply change a shipping address.
Click to expand...

Which person ahead of you in line should be pushed back so that you can go before them? I mean specifically.
 
cameronjpu said:
Which person ahead of you in line should be pushed back so that you can go before them? I mean specifically.
Click to expand...

I didn't ask for a smart ass remark. As I stated earlier in the thread, Apple is on the verge of becoming a trillion dollar corporation. When it comes to major releases, they need to think of a better call flow. Surely they have analysts that do this.

Since I work in an insurance call center, when we are expecting a hurricane, bad weather, ect, we have a different call flow so we can assist more callers, and we beef up the amount of reps on the floor.
 
Benenstein said:
Yes, I do understand, I work in a call center myself; however, it is unacceptable to be on hold for 2 hours to simply change a shipping address.
Click to expand...

These are two separate issues.

The on hold for 2 hours is because of the crush of pre-order period.

As for the other, surely you understand the need to restrict change of shipping address to a situation where the need for and validity of the change request can be probed? You may be an honest person but there are apparently so many people willing to commit fraud and hoping to get away with it during peak traffic periods like product launches.

There are a lot of stolen credit cards out there that are held back for times like this. Changing the shipping address is key to smoothing over the hot card issue! I once received a call from a vendor asking if I really wanted my ski gloves shipped to my East European country house. (Duh!,,,, not really!). Turned out my card had been compromised during some online transaction earlier but not used fraudulently until almost three months had passed.
 
I waited for an hour and change before hanging up just now.

I hope I can get the shipping address changed. this stinks :(
 
They were slammed.

And, if you read even a few of the idiot responses to stuff on this forum, you would realize they were about to go ape-$**** dealing with idiots.
 
I waited about 2 hours 10 min
How I did that was leave the call on while at work, not speaker, but just volume up so I can hear the music faintly

Anyway, someone else mentioned a great tip that seemed to work for a few people. Call and ask to talk to sales other than iPhone. Such as Mac sales

Then tell them your situation briefly and ask to be transferred to "shipping". Some said this worked and it took about 30-40 min
 
LizKat said:
These are two separate issues.

The on hold for 2 hours is because of the crush of pre-order period.

As for the other, surely you understand the need to restrict change of shipping address to a situation where the need for and validity of the change request can be probed? You may be an honest person but there are apparently so many people willing to commit fraud and hoping to get away with it during peak traffic periods like product launches.

There are a lot of stolen credit cards out there that are held back for times like this. Changing the shipping address is key to smoothing over the hot card issue! I once received a call from a vendor asking if I really wanted my ski gloves shipped to my East European country house. (Duh!,,,, not really!). Turned out my card had been compromised during some online transaction earlier but not used fraudulently until almost three months had passed.
Click to expand...

I understand people are getting their identities stolen easily now. However, I find it easier to take a call to where I have to verify somebody due to an identity issue because if it's them, they can easily and quickly verify their information. If not, then escalate their call to a higher source and state that the customer is (I forget the specific term that we use) possibly stealing an identity. So if it is an identity related issue, they tend to go faster instead of a person going "uhhhhhh, yeah, I think there was water damage". :p
 
I'm also trying to change my shipping address, just crossed 3 hr and 48 min. It's almost a game now, can I get in before they close at 10pm PST? We shall see.

Oh and this isn't including the 1.5 hr this morning and another 1 hr on hold this afternoon, gave up both times. Almost 6 hours on hold in a single day, that's gotta be some kind of record.
 
I was on hold today for 1 hour and 40 minutes.

I just had the call on speaker phone while I did my chores around the house. No biggie.
 
Just got off after being on hold for 4.5, but successfully changed my shipping address. I saw some reports of people waiting 10.5 hours :eek:
 
Benenstein said:
I didn't ask for a smart ass remark. As I stated earlier in the thread, Apple is on the verge of becoming a trillion dollar corporation. When it comes to major releases, they need to think of a better call flow. Surely they have analysts that do this.
Click to expand...

When you post, you have to take the responses you get. Sorry, your post seem whiny and very much a first world problem. Don't insult the people who take the time to respond to your rather lame complaint.
 
s15119 said:
When you post, you have to take the responses you get. Sorry, your post seem whiny and very much a first world problem. Don't insult the people who take the time to respond to your rather lame complaint.
Click to expand...

It very much so is a first world problem. People don't spend $500 on a cell phone in a 3rd world country...for some reason we are all crazy enough to do so.

Responding to my "lame complaint" with a smart ass remark is hardly contributing.

If a 3+ hour hold time is okay with you for a purchase of $500+ then more power to you. I, however, find it unacceptable, and will not kiss Apple's ass in the process.

----------
mateen110 said:
Just got off after being on hold for 4.5, but successfully changed my shipping address. I saw some reports of people waiting 10.5 hours :eek:
Click to expand...

That's beyond ridiculous. If people on here want to keep taking Apple's side, go for it. I don't love the company enough to make up excuses for a hold time that can eat up all of your cellular minutes in one call that should last an entire month.
 
Benenstein said:
It very much so is a first world problem. People don't spend $500 on a cell phone in a 3rd world country...for some reason we are all crazy enough to do so.

Responding to my "lame complaint" with a smart ass remark is hardly contributing.

If a 3+ hour hold time is okay with you for a purchase of $500+ then more power to you. I, however, find it unacceptable, and will not kiss Apple's ass in the process.

----------



That's beyond ridiculous. If people on here want to keep taking Apple's side on here, go for it. I don't love the company enough to make up excuses for a hold time that can eat up all of your cellular minutes in one call that should last an entire month.
Click to expand...

It's acceptable if it's just for one day. As for the remaining 99% of the time which I've called Apple, the wait time has always been less than 3 minutes.

You do realize that there were millions of people trying to buy an iPhone yesterday, all at the same time, right?
 
cathyy said:
It's acceptable if it's just for one day. As for the remaining 99% of the time which I've called Apple, the wait time has always been less than 3 minutes.

You do realize that there were millions of people trying to buy an iPhone yesterday, all at the same time, right?
Click to expand...

I am very aware of this. The previous pre-orders have not been this troublesome. Millions of people pre-ordered the iPhone 4 as well...and I was able to pre-order mine within minutes of the Apple store opening. I, however, didn't need to contact Apple for any issues afterwords.

The pre-order process for this release is like taking a step backwards. Same with streaming the recent Apple event. I never had an issue in the past with streaming the live event.

Apple sells a product that is revered to be of high quality...and we pay a pretty good price for such a high quality product. When your customer service fails (and failing on a release day gives a company a bad image) then people will seek business elsewhere. Comcast is a great example.

Yes, this is a cell phone, who cares, first world problem, blah, blah, blah. However, if I am paying this much of my hard earned money on a product, I expect excellent customer service to go with the product. Is it such a crime to pay for a premium device and expect good customer service? I don't think so.
 
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