AppleCare=>100% Joke; Genius Bar=>Extremely Disappointing

[anon42]

My experience at the "Genius" Bar has not been the best either. My mom had an ipod shuffle that didn't seem to play any music. She asked if I would take it in to get it fixed or whatever.

I walked in the Apple store and showed them the charger and the shuffle. They concluded it was the charger that didn't work. I bought a new one for the high price of 30 bucks or whatever it costs (even though an equivalent charger for any other mp3 player would be much cheaper because of the standardization...). But since it was for my mom, she would need one.

I brought the charger home and charged it up. It had the same problem. I scheduled another "Genius" Bar appointment for that. At that appointment, I was told that the ipod shuffle just didn't have any songs on it and that was the problem the whole time. They refuse to either 1) give me back my old charger and refund the new one or 2) refund price of the new charger and let my keep it since my old one was working just fine and they took it.

They said they couldn't do it as it was against their policy. After 15 minutes of refusing to leave they called their manager. I finally gave it to their offer of a 10% a purchase in their store, of which I will never use.

I understand their employees make mistakes at times, I just wish they could account for their mistakes in a respectable way and not just try to buy their customers off with a coupon. This is why I avoid apple.

 

[wpotere]

Don't deal with a Genius Bar fool... Call Apple Care and talk to them. They can open a case and you can either send it in or you can take the device to a Genius Bar and if you have that case number they won't be able to say no as it was pre-approved.

 

[Paulywauly]

The OPs experience is pretty shocking, although i think it depends on who you speak to, every customer based service has sme bad eggs. Some Geniuses are really good and will go the extra mile.

Less than a month ago i took my girlfriends Macbook pro in for repair as it kept shutting off randomly and wouldnt charge. Turns out the magsafe adapter and battery had faulted, most likely due to a power surge at home. The genius was very helpful, they were happy to replace the battery and magsafe free of charge despite not being a manufacturing fault which saved me £200. Similar story with my exploding ipod, sent a replacement out next day no questions asked.

 

[stroked]

All I saw there was a wall of text.

So your just a blind fanboy?

 

[roadbloc]

So your just a blind fanboy?

Wat? Seriously? You think I'm a fanboy just because I couldn't be bothered reading the OP's post?

 

[EleanorT]

I, too have had several disappointing store encounters

I have been using Macs since 1994, when the Northridge, CA quake destroyed about $7000 worth of my personal possessions, including my PC. My friend, an engineer at JPL told me that they use Mac and so does NASA, so why would I want to go back to a PC? I bought a Mac Laptop 180c and never looked back at PC's again - until now.

I always get AppleCare because I always end up using it, and until last autumn, the experience has always been stellar. They are helpful on the phone and in person. Fantastic. Then I started to go to the Sherman Oaks Apple Store because it is closest to my home.

Whenever there have been any issues with my MacBook or my iPhone, the first thing out of the Sherman Oaks "genius's" mouth is that I did damaged/mangled/breathed on/looked-at-something-cross-eyed to cause this. (Granted, I have had this problem when I've called Apple support in the past year, but I quickly found that once I get past the first level to a senior tech support person, they quickly figured out the problem was not one I could possibly cause and it is fixed promptly. My issue is about the Sherman Oaks store). They hate when you list off the restarts, restores, fixing of permissions, resting PRAM, etc that I've tried before going to them. It seems that if a customer knows anything about their computer, they are to be treated like an idiot. I get condescended to and asked the same question over and over. Last time I was in the store, to replace the AC adapter because it was shorting out, the Genius (whose name starts with an S) told me he can't possibly replace it until I drive home (in rush hour traffic) to get the MacBook so he can find the serial number on the bottom of the machine because that is the only way to get it to prove I was under AppleCare. Even I know that's not the only way to get the number, and had to convince him that he can find out simply by typing in my email address into their system to find it. I also spent $199 on a replacement 3GS iPhone 4 months ago because my home button on my previous one wouldn't function anymore. When the replacement started freezing and screwing up, too, the store manager told me (today) it wasn't his problem because it's over the warrantee period on replacements. They keep you on hold at that store for 20 minutes, supposedly looking for a part, then come back and say they still don't know if the part is there. The manager is snide and the closest thing to an apology is a non-apology for his condescending tone and behavior "(I'm sorry you feel that way..." not "I'm sorry if it came out that way, that was not my intent..").

Now, I buy Macs because they are great machines, but the customer service is what always made me know I was getting my money's worth. By this afternoon I was ready to consider getting a PC again. I was so annoyed with the store and there was no one there to talk to about it, so I called Apple Care support and spoke to Kim. She is aces.

Kim listened and was literally appalled at their behavior. She said they do take these types of complaints very seriously and made me feel taken care of. She also had a terrific iPhone tech specialist (Skylar) walk me though fixing my iPhone problem for free even though it is out of warrantee just because the Sherman Oaks Store personnel put me through "enough". I also have both of their direct lines in case someone else happens, so I know I will be given proper support by Apple.

If you have complaints about the stores, call Apple and let them know. If you get a crappy customer service person, tech person, sales person or manager, report it. There are people there who DO give a crap and WANT to help you. It's too bad that I view this as amazing news rather than the norm, but the fact is most companies have horrible customer service. The thing is, we don't always have to put up with it.

 

[stroked]

Wat? Seriously? You think I'm a fanboy just because I couldn't be bothered reading the OP's post?

Yes, now more than ever. You didn't even read his post, but you can leave belittling reply.

 

[roadbloc]

Yes, now more than ever. You didn't even read his post, but you can leave belittling reply.

Seriously? You think I'm a fanboy? Simply because I couldn't be bothered reading just just stated that all I saw was a wall of text?

Right.

Read through my post history, you may realise then I'm not a fanboy.

 

[davegoody]

For every bad experience . . . .

No, you just chose not to exercise them. You could spoken to the manager there and then, you could have called them later on or written them a letter, you could have called Apple's customer care line, you could have emailed Steve Jobs.

Instead you chose to come on an online forum and complain.

The attitudes of the employees you dealt with were unacceptable, but you had plenty of opportunities to voice your concerns and alert management. You chose not to use those avenues. That's not Apple's fault.

I too was stuck behind a queue in a UK Applestore (Meadowhall), an hour late by the time I got seen. However the fault I had on my iPhone 3GS - which was a little out of warranty I hasten to add, was identified and the phone swapped out with no fuss, no SS style questioning etc. What the OP and others have to remember is that this is a STORE. A store that is staffed (mainly) by Human Beings. We all have bad days. My own experiences vary on service, but perhaps I have been lucky and have ALWAYS walked away from the store after having problems with the problems sorted. YOUR attitude (OP) goes a long way to how you are treated, not only at Apple, but anywhere. If you go in with an attitude that Apple owe you something, all shouty and annoyed, then you will automatically put them on the defensive. Go in with a conciliatory attitude and you will, in most cases, find more sympathetic ears.

The wait I encountered was DUE to good customer service by the way. The person in the queue in front of me had a few issues and the Genius's service to them was excellent, yes, I did have to wait a while for my appointment, but remember that the person in front of you might be you next time.

 

[secondhandloser]

Service at the store level is generally hit-or-miss, because you're usually dealing with college kids that often don't really care about you or their job. Every once in a while you will run into someone who cares too much about their job, and the service will be fantastic though...

 

[482214]

I haven't bought apple care for a few years now...

No matter what the situation was I could never get them to action anything on it.

It wasnt even the cost that was the main problem for me - it was the feeling of being ripped off that made me angry.

Thus I just buy Apple products alone and persue other means of dealing with faulty items.

I agree the stores service can be VERY hit and miss... Just like any shop really. It's the human factor... We tend to screw things up a lot!

I had an iphone 3gs last year that melted at the dock/serial port while charging, leaving burnt marks on the unit and cable and a very nast smell... O2 were very quick in replacing the unit!

 

[wpotere]

I was very disappointed. I may be overreacting, but he didn't even take the time to see if it was really rust before giving me a final answer. I would expect them to be a little more thorough with the inspection before making their decision whether it was covered under AppleCare or not.

Actually you cuold ahve saved yourself the hassle. AppleCare does not cover accidental damage which this clearly was. You dropped it in a puddle so even if the sensors were white you are still at fault. The $199 is the water damage replacement cost that Apple put in play to help people out.

That being said, I am glad you are enjoying your new phone. I switched as well and love my Samsung Focus.