Just to recap a story that started the 15th of November with an order of an i7 iMac and tell everyone how pleased I am with Apple's customer support.
In short: I ordered a full spec iMac which arrived, flickered twice and then died completely. Replacement came: disco option was installed and it flickered like crazy. third iMac came which is YelloW, you can't miss it and it is annoying. The deliveries have been troublesome to some extend that all my neighbours have been bothered at least once while apple's policy is to absolutely NOT deliver anywhere except the correct address. Fortunately I have good neighbours. Also, every delivery had the tendency to shift final delivery date at the last moment. Not apples fault but UPS's and no disaster.
At this point in time all my contact with the apple after sales department (the Netherlands) had been very good, they were very friendly and understanding. I needed to have a good think about what to do then, the options they offered were a fourth replacement (with a 100e coupon), a refund or macbook (pro). Since I wasn't looking for a laptop to start with I didn't go that way. My 'problem' a that time was that I had already been home for 5 days (deliveries and pick-ups) and was getting a bit fed up with the replacements with no sure solution out there.
The customer service personnel told me they were receiving at least 5 returned iMac 27inches per person per day...not very encouraging.
I did want to stay with apple due to the customer service so far and the fact that I did like osX (never had any problem with XP, ever, but after switching it's equal to me. For me it isn't increadible or amazing but it works and I like it)
After some deliberation I sent an email (neat, short, to the point) to sjobs@apple.com. To my amazement in two days I was called by Apple exec. relations in Ireland who were amazing. Extremely friendly, understanding and willing to help me out. In the end I offered to buy a macbook for the time being and order a new iMac as soon as there is a problem-free generation. This wasn't their favorite but after some negotiation I have just ordered a macbook, at a good price for european standards, and will be sending my iMac to their Irish lab for research. As soon as the new generation is 'out' i'll be able to sell the macbook and end up (cost-neutral) with the iMac i always wanted.
The summary:
- The customer service has been excellent throughout the process
- Unfortunately the people are let down by this product
- the combination of the very promising product (the iMac i7 is an amazing product, if it is free of problems...) and excellent, thinking, friendly support has resulted in me buying another mac and I will definately buy more in the future!
(pfew, long story but after the initial disappointment with the consecutive iMacs I'm happy with the solution!)
In short: I ordered a full spec iMac which arrived, flickered twice and then died completely. Replacement came: disco option was installed and it flickered like crazy. third iMac came which is YelloW, you can't miss it and it is annoying. The deliveries have been troublesome to some extend that all my neighbours have been bothered at least once while apple's policy is to absolutely NOT deliver anywhere except the correct address. Fortunately I have good neighbours. Also, every delivery had the tendency to shift final delivery date at the last moment. Not apples fault but UPS's and no disaster.
At this point in time all my contact with the apple after sales department (the Netherlands) had been very good, they were very friendly and understanding. I needed to have a good think about what to do then, the options they offered were a fourth replacement (with a 100e coupon), a refund or macbook (pro). Since I wasn't looking for a laptop to start with I didn't go that way. My 'problem' a that time was that I had already been home for 5 days (deliveries and pick-ups) and was getting a bit fed up with the replacements with no sure solution out there.
The customer service personnel told me they were receiving at least 5 returned iMac 27inches per person per day...not very encouraging.
I did want to stay with apple due to the customer service so far and the fact that I did like osX (never had any problem with XP, ever, but after switching it's equal to me. For me it isn't increadible or amazing but it works and I like it)
After some deliberation I sent an email (neat, short, to the point) to sjobs@apple.com. To my amazement in two days I was called by Apple exec. relations in Ireland who were amazing. Extremely friendly, understanding and willing to help me out. In the end I offered to buy a macbook for the time being and order a new iMac as soon as there is a problem-free generation. This wasn't their favorite but after some negotiation I have just ordered a macbook, at a good price for european standards, and will be sending my iMac to their Irish lab for research. As soon as the new generation is 'out' i'll be able to sell the macbook and end up (cost-neutral) with the iMac i always wanted.
The summary:
- The customer service has been excellent throughout the process
- Unfortunately the people are let down by this product
- the combination of the very promising product (the iMac i7 is an amazing product, if it is free of problems...) and excellent, thinking, friendly support has resulted in me buying another mac and I will definately buy more in the future!
(pfew, long story but after the initial disappointment with the consecutive iMacs I'm happy with the solution!)
