Apple UK are SOOOOO poor.

[Shadow]

Ordered a MacBook on 20th August, delivery 3-5 days. They took my money. They then changed the dispatch day to 4th Sept and gave a delivery date of 14th.

The Tracking numbers on the website don't work, because dispatch is actually from China to them, not from them to me.

Waited 3 weeks already, another week to go, no delivery date (or even estimate) yet and the only thing they can do is tell me to 'revisit the website' which continues to tell me nothing.

I've been a PC user for 17 years and this is my first Mac. Its probably going to be my last. I've never had such appalling serrvice in PC land (even with Time Computers!)

Seriously disgruntled, theres no excuse for it. Completely tarnishes their 'superior' image IMHO.

So you arn't gonna get another Mac *simply* because of the fact they take a while to ship? My MacBook took 3 weeks to get here, no biggie.

 

[CrackedButter]

wow, did you resurect this exactly 2 years later on purpose or was it coincidence?

Just looks like to me that somebody used the search function... finally, and contributed to a discussion already going on.

 

[belluaire]

Appalling Apple Service and attitude in UK

I'm on my second Apple having bought an Imac four years ago from John Lewis (who were a delight to deal with) I recently bought a MacBook Pro a MacBook and ancillary equipment and software from Apple at a cost of nearly £4000, I've been horrified at the attitude of their customer service.
I spoke to Mac User and I Create Magazines who were not surprised at my experiences and kindly furnished me with the email address of the UK MD Mark Rogers and the European VP Pascal Cagni, however the most inflexible,charmless and passively aggressive woman from the Executive Office called me, she was absolutely unhelpful and when I stated my intention to e mail Steve Jobs told me that he wouldn't read the email and it would come back to her.
Does anyone have his direct e mail address ? I am at my wits end with these people. I'm a screenwriter studying a Masters at University of Arts London (they buy huge amounts of Macs) and after talking to their outgoing purchasing manager discovered he had encountered the same lamentable attitude. Steve Jobs really needs to be aware of how his company is being run in the UK,though I suspect he really doesn't care.
Any help with contacts at US head office would be gratefuly accepted.

 

[bartelby]

I've never had any trouble with Apple UK. Actually, that's a lie. When a woman answers the phone with a lovely soft Irish accent it turn to putty in their hands!
If she suggested buying a totally maxed out MacPro and 2 30" dsplays I'd have a hard time saying no!

But back to the point.

I had loads of trouble with my order a couple of years back and Apple UK would ring me in work with updates. They even phoned me to say that the delivery truck was on it's way to my house, so I could leave work and meet it!

 

[Sesshi]

I'm on my second Apple having bought an Imac four years ago from John Lewis (who were a delight to deal with) I recently bought a MacBook Pro a MacBook and ancillary equipment and software from Apple at a cost of nearly £4000, I've been horrified at the attitude of their customer service.
I spoke to Mac User and I Create Magazines who were not surprised at my experiences and kindly furnished me with the email address of the UK MD Mark Rogers and the European VP Pascal Cagni, however the most inflexible,charmless and passively aggressive woman from the Executive Office called me, she was absolutely unhelpful and when I stated my intention to e mail Steve Jobs told me that he wouldn't read the email and it would come back to her.
Does anyone have his direct e mail address ? I am at my wits end with these people. I'm a screenwriter studying a Masters at University of Arts London (they buy huge amounts of Macs) and after talking to their outgoing purchasing manager discovered he had encountered the same lamentable attitude. Steve Jobs really needs to be aware of how his company is being run in the UK,though I suspect he really doesn't care.
Any help with contacts at US head office would be gratefuly accepted.

If you have such a major issue with Apples, I suggest you simply press for a refund as unfit for purpose and buy a better / more conservatively built machine - like an HP or Dell, and put up with the inferior OS. If you're doing so, don't cheap out - if you paid for Applecare for a Mac, you can affford to max out Dell/HP service. There is nothing you can't do on Windows that you can on a Mac, even though if it is a tad less elegant.

I had a certain degree of stonewalling from Apple regarding the numerous problems I had with my iMacs and to a much larger extent Macbooks - and after I tired of that I just got my lawyers to draft a letter to Apple as 'unfit for purpose' giving detailed explanations why. They responded reasonably quickly and picked up the iMacs/Macbooks and gave me a refund. I've half a mind to do that with the Macbook Pro as well, but I'm hoping that if I get around to sending it away for the second time it'll come back fully fixed.

I would say rather than getting yourself unnecessarily worked up, just press for a refund and be done with it - unless you're one of those guys who complains for the sake of it. If you still want a Mac despite all that, I guess you'll have to take the rough with the smooth. Even after my experiences, I still want a couple hanging around - but not for use involving any degree of a requirement of reliability .

 

[Project]

There is definitely issues that need to be resolved. My experiences with Apple retail have been nothing but exemplary, but higher up the chain and the online channel are awful. People are paying very good money for Macs and I would expect the customer service to reflect that.

 

[Sam0r]

My only order ever from the apple online store arrived on my doorstep the next day.

Although it wasn't a machine, it was an ADC to DVI converter (The huge box thing with the power unit etc), an iPod dock and a firewire cable.

Next day though, I'm impressed.

Should be ordering an iMac C2D at the end of the month, do you think it'll get here for christmas?

 

[fitinferno]

We need more UK residents to post their grievances here and then I can forward the URL to Apple. The principle of quality of service seems to be directly proportional to the size of the revenue generated.

I'll post my grievance here...but tomorrow I'm calling them to bitch about my grievance.

I ordered an iMac earlier last week...they say, oh, yeah, it'll be shipped in 3 days. And yet, upon 3 days later, I get this stupid ass email saying that not shipping until 17th October!!! WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT!

And looking at the website, if I were to order one again right now it is still claiming 3 days...when how can this possibly be true? What liars! Afraid they might hurt their sales? Tell the bloody truth...they KNOW it's not going to ship anytime within that amount and yet they put that up. Bollocks!

 

[thworple]

I'm on my second Apple having bought an Imac four years ago from John Lewis (who were a delight to deal with)

I have to say John Lewis would be the place to buy a Mac from that doesn't require any BTO options on it. Their customer service is excellent, and you get the added bonus of getting 2 years warranty with it for no extra cost.

My only argument against what people are saying here about the "3 days to ship but is taking 13 etc. etc." - remember that this is a computer that you will have and use for possibly several years. Surely the wait will be worth it in the grand scheme of things?

 

[Willis]

Ive personally never had any issues with Apple and their shipping dates. My G4 and Powerbook were both BTO, and they came in reasonable time. The PB took 5-7 days to actually ship though, then 3 to get to my door, but arrived just after xmas 04 =)

 

[FireArse]

Apple Customer Care

When a woman answers the phone with a lovely soft Irish accent it turn to putty in their hands!

Boy do I understand where you're coming from!

I must admit, I feel Apple Customer Care has been fantastic. I have had as few issues with my PowerMac, one quick call sorted it all out.

Just wish others would follow suit and create call centres like Apple's.

F

 

[fitinferno]

My only argument against what people are saying here about the "3 days to ship but is taking 13 etc. etc." - remember that this is a computer that you will have and use for possibly several years. Surely the wait will be worth it in the grand scheme of things?

Oh there's no problem w/it taking 13-20 days to finally ship. That's fine. I want a Mac and not a PC and I'm willing to wait for it to come rather than be able to get a crappy PC next day. What I do have a problem w/is the fact that they are blatantly giving out false information. I know now that, since I placed my order, there ARE CURRENTLY delays. Yet their website still states that if you place an order it will only take 3 days. Surely they are dynamic enough of a company to be able to update that on a day to day basis. It's ridiculous to quote a ship date you positively cannot keep.

Because at least if they quoted oh yeah, it'll take till 17th to ship and for some reason it shipped maybe even 10th, I'd be ecstatic. Unfortunately, they said, oh, it'll ship 3rd October and now are saying 17th and I'm pissy.

 

[thworple]

Oh there's no problem w/it taking 13-20 days to finally ship. That's fine. I want a Mac and not a PC and I'm willing to wait for it to come rather than be able to get a crappy PC next day. What I do have a problem w/is the fact that they are blatantly giving out false information. I know now that, since I placed my order, there ARE CURRENTLY delays. Yet their website still states that if you place an order it will only take 3 days. Surely they are dynamic enough of a company to be able to update that on a day to day basis. It's ridiculous to quote a ship date you positively cannot keep.

Because at least if they quoted oh yeah, it'll take till 17th to ship and for some reason it shipped maybe even 10th, I'd be ecstatic. Unfortunately, they said, oh, it'll ship 3rd October and now are saying 17th and I'm pissy.

I see where you're coming from, but Apple, like many large manufacturers, have plenty of clauses listed in their Terms and Conditions policy. Like this one for example:-

Estimated Product build times which are given at the time of placing an Order are estimates only and do not equate to delivery times.

Theres not really much anyone can do as a consequence. It does happen both ways however. I've ordered products off of the site a few times, and have recieved some of the goods up to 6 days earlier than orginally told. The fact is that all the dates are "estimates" nothing more, nothing less.

 

[millypede]

I see where you're coming from, but Apple, like many large manufacturers, have plenty of clauses listed in their Terms and Conditions policy. Like this one for example:-

Estimated Product build times which are given at the time of placing an Order are estimates only and do not equate to delivery times.

Theres not really much anyone can do as a consequence. It does happen both ways however. I've ordered products off of the site a few times, and have recieved some of the goods up to 6 days earlier than orginally told. The fact is that all the dates are "estimates" nothing more, nothing less.

and this is why most Apple resellers are no doing their own BTO options in store, or will be very soon...

Yes the delays on machines are taking the pi$$ but a lot of it is down to Customs in china checking every package that contains a laptop, they are too afriad that a battery might explode or something, dont worry you the customer us the stockists are also having the same problems, this is why you buy in a shop and not online, as most of the time they have it stock to take away the same day.

 

[fitinferno]

Split Shipment

In an update to this, I asked Apple to split the shipment as they claimed it was sourcing the nano that was taking them so long to do. Doing this caused the shipping dates for all the items I'd ordered to change from the 17th of October to 6th of October!

And interestingly enough, the nano was the first thing to arrive. So I got everything I had been waiting for by 16th October instead of 26th. Amazing.

 

[RedTomato]

wow, did you resurect this exactly 2 years later on purpose or was it coincidence?

Blimey I was trying to work out how they ordered 'powerbooks' last august.

One guy said 'they've just come out' so I figured the first guy made a mistake and meant MacBooks.

Then 2 other people said they'd ordered Powerbooks from Apple UK last July???

Eh durr.

 

[Willis]

I think its funny when people bring threads back from the depths of MR. People can see that bad shipping times isnt just cause of new hardware, its 'other' factors too. I'll let you decide what you think other is.