Where do you go to complain about Apple's Tech Support?

[alexp]

Well, I brought my Powerbook in to get repaired at the Apple Store and all the guy seem to do was repair the disk permissions. Problem was not fixed. Second time, brought it in and they finally decided to send it in to repair the temp sensor. It's been a full two weeks that my computer has been in for service, the part has been on hold since Jan 4th. This is the most frustrating tech support experience I have ever been through. Calls to Applecare just result in, "Sorry, Sorry, Sorry" but no action. Is there any other person we can contact? I go back to school in 3 days and i'm required to have a computer.

 

[TMA]

Call Applecare again and ask to speak to a supervisor or manager, they will be in a better position to check the repair status and often have powers to 'flag up' or prioritize the service. You could also email or write to Apple.

It might not make it any faster but it's worth a go. Best thing to do is stay polite and make sure anyone you speak to understands your situation, where possible ask to speak to senior engineers/managers and staff generally higher up.

 

[alexp]

Call Applecare again and ask to speak to a supervisor or manager, they will be in a better position to check the repair status and often have powers to 'flag up' or prioritize the service. You could also email or write to Apple.

It might not make it any faster but it's worth a go. Best thing to do is stay polite and make sure anyone you speak to understands your situation, where possible ask to speak to senior engineers/managers and staff generally higher up.

We actually did talk to a supervisor earlier today, who just apologized and didn't offer any solutions or seem to have any.

 

[mdavey]

We actually did talk to a supervisor earlier today, who just apologized and didn't offer any solutions or seem to have any.

I don't know about Apple specifically, but often with technical call centers, the "supervisor" is just the team leader. You want to speak to the "duty manager" or "center manager".

Always ask for the case id. Some companies give it a different name - ticket reference, call reference, issue number are all popular terms. This number is essential - it uniquely identifies your problem in the system and any helpdesk employee can bring up the entire history of your problem using this reference alone.

Always ask for the name of the person to whom you are speaking. Always make sure that they know your case id.

Some questions to ask technical support, to ensure that the problem progresses.

[replace case with the term the technical call center uses - eg. issue, ticket, etc.]

* Who is currently the owner of this case?
* What is the current status of this case?
* What is the priority of this case?
* What progress has been made since [date-last-called]?
* What are the outstanding actions, who is responsible for each action and when is the next status update due for each action?
* What is the current action plan (the planned next steps)?

Ask them to email you a summary of your conversation, to include the answers they gave to the above questions. Once you have an email from the case owner, I'd suggest using email communications in preference to telephone unless it appears that no progress is being made.

Only if you are certain that they are not working on your problem and can't justify why they are not working on it (note lack of progress is different to not spending time on the problem), you can try the following questions. These are likely to get technical support on the defensive so only use as a last resort:

* What are the possible causes for this problem?
* How does [the facts] explain [a cause] and that [other thing] is not affected?
* How are you going to test each possible cause?

Once the cause is known, you can ask:

* How do you intend to fix [cause]?
* How else could [cause] be fixed?

Never ask how long it is going to take, just ask when they intend to provide you with an update on progress.

If you still don't make progress, you could ask to speak to the duty manager and express your unhappiness at the progress being made. If they are any good, they should promise to take some action (perhaps escallating the case, involving other engineers or moving it to a specialist engineer). If they don't, you could try insisting that the priority is raised or the case is escallated.

Hope that helps and best of luck.

 

[alexp]

I don't know about Apple specifically, but often with technical call centers, the "supervisor" is just the team leader. You want to speak to the "duty manager" or "center manager".

Always ask for the case id. Some companies give it a different name - ticket reference, call reference, issue number are all popular terms. This number is essential - it uniquely identifies your problem in the system and any helpdesk employee can bring up the entire history of your problem using this reference alone.

Always ask for the name of the person to whom you are speaking. Always make sure that they know your case id.

Some questions to ask technical support, to ensure that the problem progresses.

[replace case with the term the technical call center uses - eg. issue, ticket, etc.]

* Who is currently the owner of this case?
* What is the current status of this case?
* What is the priority of this case?
* What progress has been made since [date-last-called]?
* What are the outstanding actions, who is responsible for each action and when is the next status update due for each action?
* What is the current action plan (the planned next steps)?

Ask them to email you a summary of your conversation, to include the answers they gave to the above questions. Once you have an email from the case owner, I'd suggest using email communications in preference to telephone unless it appears that no progress is being made.

Only if you are certain that they are not working on your problem and can't justify why they are not working on it (note lack of progress is different to not spending time on the problem), you can try the following questions. These are likely to get technical support on the defensive so only use as a last resort:

* What are the possible causes for this problem?
* How does [the facts] explain [a cause] and that [other thing] is not affected?
* How are you going to test each possible cause?

Once the cause is known, you can ask:

* How do you intend to fix [cause]?
* How else could [cause] be fixed?

Never ask how long it is going to take, just ask when they intend to provide you with an update on progress.

If you still don't make progress, you could ask to speak to the duty manager and express your unhappiness at the progress being made. If they are any good, they should promise to take some action (perhaps escallating the case, involving other engineers or moving it to a specialist engineer). If they don't, you could try insisting that the priority is raised or the case is escallated.

Hope that helps and best of luck.

Well, we already know the problem and what has to be replaced. The "Top Case" needs to be replaced... The problem now is it's been more than 2 weeks and the status hasn't changed, they've claimed that they we're going to reroute the part to the facility (despite recieving an e-mail earlier that they receive that part on a daily basis). I refuse to believe that a component like that is out of stock at their service facility. I've read many good things about their tech support, but this is getting a little out of hand.

 

[CompUser]

Well, we already know the problem and what has to be replaced. The "Top Case" needs to be replaced... The problem now is it's been more than 2 weeks and the status hasn't changed, they've claimed that they we're going to reroute the part to the facility (despite recieving an e-mail earlier that they receive that part on a daily basis). I refuse to believe that a component like that is out of stock at their service facility. I've read many good things about their tech support, but this is getting a little out of hand.

This is what you do. I have dealed with applecare to know it inside and out.

When you call applecare, they first have to talk to a low level person that knows just OS X. Then if they transfer you to a product specailist and they know more about internal more complex hardware. Technically, they won't let you talk to anyone above a product specialist. They can transfer the problem to the engineering dept. but they don't talk to you. When you send in the computer, at least here on the east coast, it is sent to a company called flextronics in memphis, where they fix it, so there is very little communication between apple and flextronics.

This is what I reccomend. Call up Apple- as if you were ordering a product, that way they will pick up quickly and thell them to transfer you to costomer relations and not not an apple care representrative. Again CUSTOMER RELATIONS. There you can tell them your story. Be firm on the matter but not rude. Hopefully, you will get to talk to a kind and understanding person. Tell them how ridiculous the matter is and how valueable your computer is. And tell them if they cannot get your computer back to you in a timely manner, that you think it would be fair for them to send you a new computer since yours has been out for service and two weeks is more than enough time to fix the computer.


P.S. Sorry if I have a lot of mispellings, I'm typing faster than this iBook can handle. My PB is being replaced because of some issues with it. The DHL man has been to my house 9 times and I have spoken with applecare about 15 time I think.

 

[colosodian]

CompUser: Where did you find the information about Apple outsourcing repairs to flextronics? I was under the impression that flextronics only does manufactoring.

 

[puckhead193]

i want to know where to complain about the retail store..the employes don't know jack

 

[DMPDX]

Its wierd. I sent my AL PB into apple care for the 4th time for a HD issue and they are replacing the top case. WTF? Top case? why? what in the world does this have to do with anything

if you know send me a pm cause it is driving me nuts.