Resolved Higher Battery Repair Cost

[goldmac2006]

I’ve had a very fair share of experiences with this store in particular and the one before it where they got most of their Apple Certified „Technicians“ from.
I could write for a hour about all of them. But here is my favorite story, I’ll try to be quick:
Went to get dust in my iPhone X front camera removed.
First dude called me 30 min later because my phone was still passcode locked, usually you turn that off with the customer but I forgot and so did he… I was luck I had my old SE with me to insert my SIM.
Came back later that day, 10 min before closing time. Dude gave me the phone, and I saw the screen BULGING. Like what?
Showed him that, he was confused and first didn’t know what I was talking about…
Then took it to the back. He supposedly properly softened and removed the seal to do whatever in their, I don’t know if it was dirt or a connector that wasn’t plugged it, and reapplied a new seal in 3 minutes.
Luckily Apple replaced that phone later because repeated issues after servicing…

Some techs at AASPs are just rushed or do not take their time to fix your iPhone. They do not know what they are doing with it and they just go straight to replace the part. For the screen to come loose, they forgot about removing the seal properly and reinstalling it prior to placing back the display.

 

[Parowdy]

Some techs at AASPs are just rushed or do not take their time to fix your iPhone. They do not know what they are doing with it and they just go straight to replace the part. For the screen to come loose, they forgot about removing the seal properly and reinstalling it prior to placing back the display.

Exactly.
I forgot to mention, it was evening and through the reflection in their windows I was able to see him rush through the process. Not in detail, but it looked like how it looks like when you have to do one more thing before your shift ends and you have no more time left, probably because it was like that, but that’s not supposed to be my problem as a consumer.

 

[Parowdy]

Go dispute with them regarding that and consult consumer law and regulations for your country.


This is the typical procedure done at Apple Store for repair. I would prefer if the AASP just replaced the part directly instead of a replacement Watch like the below 👇 example

This is another way to reconsider if you want to have it done at a third party and you do not have AppleCare + on your Apple Watch Series 7. Make sure the price is the same or below what Apple is charging you in their stores or for mail in.

Would do, but for that we would have to have more than that one store available. And even then, it would have to be a store that also takes AW, which only the one here does. For reference:

Unfortunately it doesn’t even suggest Berlin or Hamburg, but this is what we’re dealing with around here. One third party store doing AW.
Also I found out, that the other „stores“ we have around (big box electronics named MediaMarkt, not Saturn) are shown as incorrectly on Apples maps (in Support) as can be.

That their own Support app‘s map isn’t updated is one thing, one of the stores originally was called Saturn, but the addresses of the other two were never correct.

 

[Haga]

Well, I booked my appointment through the Apple Support app and wanted to receive Apple service.

And why didn’t you just send it in to Apple?

 

[headlessmike]

And why didn’t you just send it in to Apple?

Yeah, Apple will send you a box if you request to send the watch in. That's what I did. I had the replacement watch in less than 48 hours after dropping the parcel off at UPS.

 

[Parowdy]

Yeah, Apple will send you a box if you request to send the watch in. That's what I did. I had the replacement watch in less than 48 hours after dropping the parcel off at UPS.

Anecdote: I cycled through 6 first gen iPhone SE's because repeated QC issues with the screen and particles in the cameras. After the 6th, the send in option was "not available in your region" anymore, as if they didnt want to have more phones returned. My family and I keep jokingly saying since then that if I was in charge of Apple's quality control, they wouldn't be selling anything.

Anyway, the only option I had was to drop the watch off.

Edit to the anecdote: I even went to the store that the one in question now inherited its technicians from. I gave it to them to get it back 3 hours later with deep groves on the frame, a (software) diagnosis that returned nothing was wrong and I had to pay 20€ for it.
That was phone #4. Had it picked up for Apples own service the next day and they just send me e new one... a faulty one, again, but at least they tried and didn't charge me for it.

 

[Parowdy]

So, I've had a chat with an Apple Support Advisor. After quite a time consuming chat with the Advisor often starting to type and stop, repeatedly, he told me to go to the store and ask who was doing what because he couldn't tell me either. He gave me a number to call afterwards and my case ID so I "can contact [their] phone department to escalate the situation and they will try to solve the situation wit[t] the store advisor!"
Now I feel like going in, asking who is handling the repair/replacement showing whoever is at the desk the receipt, either somehow going out without mentioning what for and calling Apple just for them to maybe call back into the store, or with me still there and explaining the situation and throwing myself in a shark tank, again, potentially with Apple on the phone, I'm at a point where I question if the anxiety is worth the eventual 60€.
I think it is worth it because the store needs to be called out on their, I don't know let's say, selling tactics, but I don't expect anything to actually happen afterwards.
For me personally, the 60€ is quite a loss. I admit that I'm quite late contacting Apple, I honestly forgot to do that because every time I remembered I didnt have 1+ hour available to just be concerned about the chat. During my last chat Support app notifications just didn't work. I went through my Settings mid session but they were all correct. So I would literally have to plan to keep the chat open and stay on the phone. But if Apple says do it, customer can still do it. I just really don't feel like it, especially if I might need service only their store offers (like AW) in the future.
So, 169€ down and the repeated lesson to be very careful with interactions in that store, I guess?


Thank you to everyone that took the time commenting and reading this.