This is a bit of a rant about crappy Apple service, and also a warning to watch out for this issue.
I noticed that my 10.5" wasn't charging properly the night before I was going on a trip to a town that has an Apple Store. It got worse over the course of my trying to troubleshoot it for an hour, to the point where you could only push the cable at a certain angle to get it to flick on and off like it was being powered. What's weird is that nothing felt weird or loose, and I had tested it with three cables and three chargers.
So I take it in to the store (40 minute drive from where I was staying after driving two hours) and they do a quick test and confirm it, but tell me I'll have to come back in the morning since I didn't have an appointment and they need to run some tests. I asked two different people before I left, which was near closing time, if they had enough to do a swap in stock if I came back in the morning. One guy told me they have lots in the system since it had a green checkmark (I found out later this is the for sale supply which is different), and another (manager) told me they always have plenty to do swaps. So I left (40 minute drive back).
So I drive to the store (40 minutes again) and the guy in the morning does the same exact thing (nothing technical) plugging it in and says "Sure enough, it's broken." No technical tests, nothing! They could have literally done this same thing the night before. And they didn't have one to do a swap, so it was pointless. They said I'd have to call AppleCare to get it sent to my house because I was out of town. First of all, I thought it was ridiculous that he had all my info there in his iPad and yet couldn't initiate the order to replace it. Are their systems really that fragmented at Apple? I had to do it, which means I have to go through all the troubleshooting with AppleCare again, which I did not want to do since I do app design and have iOS 11 beta installed which would complicate things as they tried to write me off at first for having that in the store. I knew this would be an issue so I at least got him to note my account, which helped, but most people don't realize that they have to start over when calling.
I call Apple Care and talk to the guy. He said they would send me a new iPad in the mail, and I'd get a box to return the old one. I had the same thing happen with my 6s years ago after launch, so I figure that makes sense. NOPE. This was my first iPad issue out of five so I've never had to mess with it. I get an empty box in the mail and nothing else. What the hell. I call up Apple and the guy says that I have to pay $29 to do that, and the guy must not have done it right. So I go back and forth with him about how my iPad has been out of service for such a long time and they should pay for it because they keep jerking me around. He talks to his manager. His manager comes on after a bit and takes over the call. He tells me that Apple doesn't do swaps for the iPad, that they only do that for the iPhone, and that two different employees told me the wrong thing, so I'm out of luck.
He asks if I want him to call FedEx to schedule my pickup, and I say yes. In the morning, I call to double check and FedEx says that nobody has scheduled my pickup yet (big surprise!) so I tell them to schedule it. Then FedEx never shows up. In the evening, I call FedEx and they I can bring it by this certain office downtown as their last pickup isn't until 7. I get there at 6:52 and they say that the truck already left at 6:45.
I feel like this whole thing has been top to bottom a cluster. Apple support is really going downhill, and I'm never doing anything with FedEx again if I can help it as I always use UPS. I've been starting to integrate the iPad Pro into my everyday work, so it's kind of a pain to be without it. I now use it more than my MacBook Pro at home, and I'm starting to use it a lot more at work alongside my iMac, so it sucks that I'll be without it for so long.
I noticed that my 10.5" wasn't charging properly the night before I was going on a trip to a town that has an Apple Store. It got worse over the course of my trying to troubleshoot it for an hour, to the point where you could only push the cable at a certain angle to get it to flick on and off like it was being powered. What's weird is that nothing felt weird or loose, and I had tested it with three cables and three chargers.
So I take it in to the store (40 minute drive from where I was staying after driving two hours) and they do a quick test and confirm it, but tell me I'll have to come back in the morning since I didn't have an appointment and they need to run some tests. I asked two different people before I left, which was near closing time, if they had enough to do a swap in stock if I came back in the morning. One guy told me they have lots in the system since it had a green checkmark (I found out later this is the for sale supply which is different), and another (manager) told me they always have plenty to do swaps. So I left (40 minute drive back).
So I drive to the store (40 minutes again) and the guy in the morning does the same exact thing (nothing technical) plugging it in and says "Sure enough, it's broken." No technical tests, nothing! They could have literally done this same thing the night before. And they didn't have one to do a swap, so it was pointless. They said I'd have to call AppleCare to get it sent to my house because I was out of town. First of all, I thought it was ridiculous that he had all my info there in his iPad and yet couldn't initiate the order to replace it. Are their systems really that fragmented at Apple? I had to do it, which means I have to go through all the troubleshooting with AppleCare again, which I did not want to do since I do app design and have iOS 11 beta installed which would complicate things as they tried to write me off at first for having that in the store. I knew this would be an issue so I at least got him to note my account, which helped, but most people don't realize that they have to start over when calling.
I call Apple Care and talk to the guy. He said they would send me a new iPad in the mail, and I'd get a box to return the old one. I had the same thing happen with my 6s years ago after launch, so I figure that makes sense. NOPE. This was my first iPad issue out of five so I've never had to mess with it. I get an empty box in the mail and nothing else. What the hell. I call up Apple and the guy says that I have to pay $29 to do that, and the guy must not have done it right. So I go back and forth with him about how my iPad has been out of service for such a long time and they should pay for it because they keep jerking me around. He talks to his manager. His manager comes on after a bit and takes over the call. He tells me that Apple doesn't do swaps for the iPad, that they only do that for the iPhone, and that two different employees told me the wrong thing, so I'm out of luck.
He asks if I want him to call FedEx to schedule my pickup, and I say yes. In the morning, I call to double check and FedEx says that nobody has scheduled my pickup yet (big surprise!) so I tell them to schedule it. Then FedEx never shows up. In the evening, I call FedEx and they I can bring it by this certain office downtown as their last pickup isn't until 7. I get there at 6:52 and they say that the truck already left at 6:45.
I feel like this whole thing has been top to bottom a cluster. Apple support is really going downhill, and I'm never doing anything with FedEx again if I can help it as I always use UPS. I've been starting to integrate the iPad Pro into my everyday work, so it's kind of a pain to be without it. I now use it more than my MacBook Pro at home, and I'm starting to use it a lot more at work alongside my iMac, so it sucks that I'll be without it for so long.
