Awful experiences with local Genius bar. Help !

[heron1968]

My local apple store has broken my phone three times in a row. Completely rendered it useless by either breaking connections within the phone and smashing the screen 'accidentally' twice, all during simple battery replacements- and I had to dish out £69 and hours of my time resetting and going through the back-up process each time with replacement phones that were in worse condition than the one I handed in.

I've had to book another appointment for a keyboard issue with my MacBook, and I'm genuinely concerned that they'll mess it up again and I'll have to end up paying for a shoddy repair that'll fail on me shortly.

How should I approach this if they happen to mess another repair up? And has anyone had a similar experience with their local Genius bar?



Thanks

 

[C DM]

My local apple store has broken my phone three times in a row. Completely rendered it useless by either breaking connections within the phone and smashing the screen 'accidentally' twice, all during simple battery replacements- and I had to dish out £69 and hours of my time resetting and going through the back-up process each time with replacement phones that were in worse condition than the one I handed in.

I've had to book another appointment for a keyboard issue with my MacBook, and I'm genuinely concerned that they'll mess it up again and I'll have to end up paying for a shoddy repair that'll fail on me shortly.

How should I approach this if they happen to mess another repair up? And has anyone had a similar experience with their local Genius bar?



Thanks

Battery replacements have been known to result in issues of that nature given that it's not as simple to get to the battery, remove it, and put another one in. That said, it shouldn't be too common, and if you do end up with a replacement those are usually phones that should be in good condition.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

So you saying your upset you basically received a new phone for £69? You could always take it to a 3rd party for battery replacement and find out that if they break it you'll get no compensation except your money back... I think if your not satisfied with the replacement device offered, ask for a different one until you find one that meets your standards.

 

[s66]

You should have the same options in the UK (?) than in the rest of the world:
- Apple Store
- An Apple Authorized Service Centre
- a 3rd party not approved by Apple

Apple has extremely high standards for repairs and will replace stuff if they (risk) damaging it during the repair or have mishaps. On old gear you might get a refurbished device as a replacement, but on newer gear you get a brand new device if they have to replace it.

In any Apple store there are managers behind the scene that can (and will) authorize going beyond the normal service level. If you feel you've been badly treated: ask to have your case made to one of them. You'll not see them - but they can authorize a _lot_. Be friendly, patient etc.: they only work there...

I've dealt with Apple stores directly out here in Brussels and in other places around the world and they provide the best service - but the drawback is the huge crowds in the Brussels store - it's one of the busiest Apple stores I've seen around the world even outside of peak periods. Service has always been way beyond what I expected there. Just one example: I walk in with the intention of buying a band for my Apple watch as the old one is breaking apart. I walk out with the band I wanted to buy for free - I didn't even expect nor ask they'd replace it. All I did was explain to the dude selling them that mine was breaking apart and he set it all in motion. I had not even bought the band nor the watch there (I bought them in Germany)

Apple Authorized Service Centres: they are a bit slower than Apple Stores, but deliver absolute correct service without any issues that are not solved. Even next to impossible to find the root cause problems do get solved in the end. [Had an iMac frying its mainboard a few times in a row ... eventually got a complete new iMac internally to fix it, including a new screen as they had damaged it opening it once too many - no charge.]
These authorized centres get audited by Apple on doing the right thing and use the same procedures than Apple uses themselves. So sometimes they hide just a tad bit more behind procedures than that manager at the Apple Store has to do ... -> hence if I have a border-case I'd go to the Apple Store. But if I have a heavy device (looking at an MP7,1 e.g.) or when the Covid thing clsoes down the Brussels store or when having something run off the mill (replacing batteries, keyboard etc. is run of the mill) I'll happily use an Apple Repair Facility just as well.

3rd parties: never again for me. I let them do one repair because it was so much cheaper on an old iPad than at apple, but it was pure shoddy work - the guy even admitted it was his first ever on that model and gave it for free as it was badly done... still ended up nuking the iPad (literally) to wipe it before I let it go to be recycled as he had broken the digitizer.

 

[maldahleh]

You should have the same options in the UK (?) than in the rest of the world:
- Apple Store
- An Apple Authorized Service Centre
- a 3rd party not approved by Apple

Apple has extremely high standards for repairs and will replace stuff if they (risk) damaging it during the repair or have mishaps. On old gear you might get a refurbished device as a replacement, but on newer gear you get a brand new device if they have to replace it.

In any Apple store there are managers behind the scene that can (and will) authorize going beyond the normal service level. If you feel you've been badly treated: ask to have your case made to one of them. You'll not see them - but they can authorize a _lot_. Be friendly, patient etc.: they only work there...

I've dealt with Apple stores directly out here in Brussels and in other places around the world and they provide the best service - but the drawback is the huge crowds in the Brussels store - it's one of the busiest Apple stores I've seen around the world even outside of peak periods. Service has always been way beyond what I expected there. Just one example: I walk in with the intention of buying a band for my Apple watch as the old one is breaking apart. I walk out with the band I wanted to buy for free - I didn't even expect nor ask they'd replace it. All I did was explain to the dude selling them that mine was breaking apart and he set it all in motion. I had not even bought the band nor the watch there (I bought them in Germany)

Apple Authorized Service Centres: they are a bit slower than Apple Stores, but deliver absolute correct service without any issues that are not solved. Even next to impossible to find the root cause problems do get solved in the end. [Had an iMac frying its mainboard a few times in a row ... eventually got a complete new iMac internally to fix it, including a new screen as they had damaged it opening it once too many - no charge.]
These authorized centres get audited by Apple on doing the right thing and use the same procedures than Apple uses themselves. So sometimes they hide just a tad bit more behind procedures than that manager at the Apple Store has to do ... -> hence if I have a border-case I'd go to the Apple Store. But if I have a haevy device (lookign at an MP7,1 e.g.) or when the Covid thing clsoes down the Brussels store or when having something run off the mill (replacing batteries, keyboard etc. is run of the mill) I'll happily use an Apple Repair Facility just as well.

3rd parties: never again for me. I let them do one repair because it was so much cheaper on an old iPad than at apple, but it was pure shoddy work - the guy even admitted it was his first ever on that model and gave it for free as it was badly done... still ended up nuking the iPad (literally) to wipe it before I let it go to be recycled as he had broken the digitizer.

Luckily I've rarely had to go to Apple Stores for repairs, but the 3 most recent times I've gone, it's never really been good service (all at different Apple stores).

- My MacBook Pro failed after 7 months of ownership, it took them 6 weeks to do the repair, blaming it on them "being busy".
- Bluetooth wasn't working on the keyboard that came with the iMac Pro like 10 days after I set it up, they diagnosed it and determined it needed to be replaced, they said they need to ship the keyboard to a service centre and get a new replacement from them and they would want me to come back in a week to 10 days. I asked for one off the shelf, they said no we don't use store stock for that (even though the entire iMac Pro was still in return window so I could have returned it all and bought a new one).
- The speaker on my iPhone failed at like a week before end of Apple Care, this experience wasn't too bad, they did the repair the same day, though took them 6 hours.

I don't know how it is in the rest of the world, but I've never really had great service at an Apple Store, I find it average at best, so I wouldn't be surprised with OP's story.

 

[richinaus]

Luckily I've rarely had to go to Apple Stores for repairs, but the 3 most recent times I've gone, it's never really been good service (all at different Apple stores).

- My MacBook Pro failed after 7 months of ownership, it took them 6 weeks to do the repair, blaming it on them "being busy".
- Bluetooth wasn't working on the keyboard that came with the iMac Pro like 10 days after I set it up, they diagnosed it and determined it needed to be replaced, they said they need to ship the keyboard to a service centre and get a new replacement from them and they would want me to come back in a week to 10 days. I asked for one off the shelf, they said no we don't use store stock for that (even though the entire iMac Pro was still in return window so I could have returned it all and bought a new one).
- The speaker on my iPhone failed at like a week before end of Apple Care, this experience wasn't too bad, they did the repair the same day, though took them 6 hours.

I don't know how it is in the rest of the world, but I've never really had great service at an Apple Store, I find it average at best, so I wouldn't be surprised with OP's story.

Best go to the Dell, HP and Lenovo stores then......

I have had a nightmare on earth with HP, and still am. Their service is the antithesis of Apple.