My previous post was about the horrible customer experience at the Apple store. I find out that I am not alone – there are more and more stories on the internet how their customer service is bad. Here is a recent post on San Jose Mercury News – very much along the lines of my experience.
Apple’s So-Called Geniuses Can Do Better: In order to fix my daughter’s iPod, a staffer at an Apple store wanted me to request an appointment with one of their ‘geniuses’ — their word, not mine – San Jose Mercury News 10/15/07
Software Product Manager by Gopal Shenoy 
I have been looking to replace my home computer, laptop and cell phones. I was considering Apple until the experience my son just had today with the Chinook Centre Apple store in Calgary Alberta today. I believe what they did was as close to fraud trying to sell an inferior product someone probably took back they weren’t supposed to. He had gone in first to fix his phone and they came back half an hour later.
He heard there had been water damage which is funny since the phone had never been near water but that wasn’t the problem. He was ready to get the iphone 5 and they tried to sell a different phone. He asked if it was locked as it was cheaper but they didn’t tell him it was with a company other then who is his cell phone provider. They sent him to get it unlocked and the places he was sent they couldn’t do it. After a few hours of running around and waiting for them to go to the back and come to the front he came back stating he wanted to get his phone back and return this useless one. He went in to buy the new iphone and left never to buy a iphone again.
In my work I speak with probably 1000+ people a month and computers do come into a lot of the phone calls and customer service even more. I will use my voice to ensure to tell as many people as I can in my work as well as social media contacts on the many sites I belong both in my name and in aliases. I wasn’t the only one unimpressed as they saw sales walk out the door refusing to buy from them as well.
After this experience I will not be buying the computers I planned to buy the computer graphics programs had me leaning towards apple products. My cell phone I was trying to decide if I wanted a new iphone but I have decided now I will be getting an android phone. I won’t be getting the Mac Pro or the laptop I was going to be buying my daughter. I had always thought Apple stood for integrity and I will be standing behind Bill C-343 after this so that an experience like this would be illegal.
The Bill mandates that:
consumers buying new cell phones in Canada must be informed of the existence of any SIM lock (also known as a network lock) on their phone before sale;
Most cell phone providers have the integrity to not pull this kind of garbage. This cost him money in the time he could have been working and the gas spent driving around. The entire experience took 5 hours and in the end another fight to get his broken phone back. Shame on you APPLE!!!
I am a senior needing only basic items- like Word for Mac on my MacBook- no frills. I do have Snow Leopard Version Thanks to my 11 year old grandson’s insistence. I started getting a pop-up insisting I buy or “test-drive” IWork6 whenever I clicked on a Word document. I found a way around this. I phoned support and after “talking” to its autorobot, was finally directed to a live person. She made it clear they would charge me to fix the problem! When I complained that I did not create this problem and demanded she help, she said she had to talk to someone else and get back. After a wait ( and I wasn’t sure I was still connected), she did that. Said she hadn’t a clue- I should take it to an Apple Store (where I am sure they will also charge me. So I am continuing to put up with it.
Anyone else with similar problems? It seems Apple has become arrogant and thinks we will just shrug and not do anything. I also notice when I Google with this problem- the only hits are to Apple!
I am pretty sick about Apple’s customer service. I bought my first Apple products last June, two iPads and a Mac Mini, along with a wireless router and printer at the local authorized Apple re-seller. I LOVE my iPad, and over the next six months I bought three more iPads, a Macbook Air, another Mac Mini, and an iMac for my employees and family members. I was planning to buy two more iMacs, but having second thoughts after my first experience with Apple Customer No-Service today.
Long story short, I dropped my bag containing my iPad and, even though it was in a cover, it fell out and struck just the right spot to jam my volume button. Now I can’t turn on the sound and can’t make the volume icon in the middle of the screen go away. Apple says I have to trade it out for a new iPad and pay a fee of over $320…..nnnoootttt! They have got to be kidding me. I have spent $8,000 there in the past six months, and they won’t trade out one measley little iPad??? I was told by two people, independently, that Apple will make a one-time exception and replace a product even if you don’t have the coverage if you call their corporate office. I spoke to three people at Corporate and NO ONE would help me. I asked if I could pay the $320 and have a credit of a couple of hundred dollars off future iMac purchases — again, I need two more for my office — and they wouldn’t even do that. These people are customer service idiots, they will run off all the business no matter how good the products are. I am seriously considering selling my Apple products and returning to PC’s where at least they treat you like a human being! Joyce
Apple customer service is going downhill. They will wind up losing a lot of loyal customers. Google is catching up and they are hungry for succsess. I am really disappointed. And further more apple wants you to buy An Apple care plan for ever single device. This costs hundreds of more dollars for overpriced gadgets to begin with.
Apple has has the worst Customer service , a 7/11 store has better customer service .
My HP laptop crashed and My husband ordered the Mac book air (online )two weeks and apple said we get adobe photoshop as well with them .
So he went ahead and ordered both , we received the confirmation email confirming our order and shipment delivery date , which was a week later . So according to email we were supposed to receive the laptop and photoshop on 7th September 2011 . I did not travel the week , so as to receive the laptop . At the end , the laptop never arrived .
I called Apple customer service with my order number and they put me on hold for 28 minutes only to get back and tell me that , my order ” for some reason ” did not ship at all.
They gave me no reason at all . I demanded to speak to the Supervisor , and ladies and gentlemen , this supervisor ‘Frank Topping ‘ is the epitome of in-efficiency and reason why US is losing customer service jobs to other countries .
He promised to get back to me by the end of the day , and in his own words ‘ I will personally make sure you receive this laptop by next week ‘.
After all it was Apple and I took him by his word . I received an email giving me shipping details and tracking and tracking number and mentioned the laptop weight in pounds . A week goes by and I postponed my travel plans once again . I eagerly wait and the mail
Arrived and guess what is in the mail , ?! NO LAPTOP!! , only the photoshop pre-registration stuff .
Mad with rage I call Apple once again only to find out that it hasn’t been shipped yet , again!!!! So I ask them then why did you give me shipping confirmation with the laptop weight ? No answer so , I once again demand to speak to ‘Frank Topping ‘ our supervisor hero and I asked him as to Why he didn’t keep his promise , why didn’t he get back to me ?’ he says you know it’s just one of those things , got busy ‘ , I was blind with rage , all I asked him was one question , whatever might be the delay , I would have understood it , if they would have atleast sent me a notification that there was some problem , there was no communication from apple , they had their communication game set for taking my money , but never for actually giving me what I paid in full for !!
Once again they claimed they were having authorization problems , which did not happen when they took the credit card info .
And if that really was the case they should let us know that in the beginning , not after giving us confirmation emails .
I told them to change the shipping address (coz i could not at home waiting anymore )to wherever I was traveling to , and they said that was easy and said it was taken care of . I knew it was not the end of this . I travelled to a different place , called up Fedex to make sure they were delivering to the right place and to my horror ,found out there was no change of shipping info given from Apple and as dreaded it was delivered to the old address .
So guys , this is my horror story with apple . I haven’t yet gotten my hands on my laptop , this is the third week and wouldn’t be surprised if and when I open the box and an orangutan jumps out instead of my Mac book air !!!
I have been trying to purchase the new Iphone for the last three days. On Saturday I called them and they said that they have a line 1hr deep and they have enough phone to help everyone out. When I got there 20 minutes later, the line was gone, and they said that they quit selling the iphone for the day, wtf? I drove from the other side of town, to get to this stupid store with no success. On the next day, I came in early, 45 minutes prior to store opening. I was the 4th person in line, and when they opened, they said they have only 3 phones left, and everyone else is SOL, come back tomorrow. WTF apple? Apple sucks, I will not recommend them to anyone any longer. AT&T Service sucks as well, and I don’t know why I am even bothering with this ish. Thanks for listening.
I think my story tops the one originally posted here.
Went to the Apple Store in Palo Alto, not knowing about the new “Genius” appointment requirement. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, not the best time to go I admit, but my warranty was 3 days from expiring so it wasn’t like I had much of a choice. Was told by the greeter that getting an “appointment” with the Geniuses was harder than getting reservations at the French Laundry in Napa (HIS words, not mine) and I needed to go on standby. Despite using a cane and telling them that I was having knee surgery 3 days later, I was kept waiting for over 40 minutes while one of the “geniuses” spent 25 minutes with a lady who had one of the coveted appointments but couldn’t speak English trying to convince her that AT&T was wrong and there was nothing wrong with her computer, it was the ethernet setup.
Finally get “my” genius, Dale. Find out that it needs to be replace (he doesn’t even try it, just takes my word for it). Of course they don’t have the right replacements it in stock. Yes, they have 80 GB Ipods, but they aren’t white, and they aren’t allowed to give me a colour other than the one I have. They won’t take it (they say it’s due to “legal issues” — I’m a lawyer, that’s total BS) and can’t give me a confirmation print out showing that I brought it in before the warranty expired. He finally scrawls a # on the back of my original receipt and tells me that someone will call me on Tuesday, the day of my knee surgery (natch)
By the following Tuesday, when I’m coherent enough to deal with this again, I call the store. I’ve now been on hold an hour and ten minutes with no sign of a human.
And my husband (a mac user) wonders why I only use PCs . . .
Dan,
I have you beat. I was on hold and transferred today numerous times. My call began at 3:25pm and did not end until 8:01. In that time, there was only 20 minutes of actual conversation. I have a black macbook. It has been sent in three times for the same issue and I have been to the Apple store twice. To date, the issue has not been resolved. After almost five hours on the phone today, I was told there was little that could be done unless the machine presents the problem while a tech is working on it. It is under my purchased “Apple Extended Warranty,” yet, Apple refuses to replace it. I have been an Apple customer since 1995. Apple is not the company it once was. I have never purchased a PC, but after today, I am looking at getting one of the new Sony PCs. I will never purchase another Apple product.
I agree, i’ve been using ipods since pretty much they came out and i cannot take their customer service any longer. The ipods i own always malfunction and i get told i still have to pay very high fees to repair them when it is a hardware malfunction. i do not agree with paying for a repair when i only get 2 years of use from a 300 dollar product plus the thousands i pay for music on itunes. It is ridiculous and i even got told i would be charged for help over the phone cause im out of warranty….that is just ridiculous. I’m getting a zune or creative mp3 player because although ipods are great, they break and i get no help from apple.
Hey good luck with the customer service at Microsoft. I’m sure you won’t run in to any of those issues. Enjoy your zune.
I have had kernal panic and screen freezes adnausium. Calling Apple support is tedious—1m hour wait times and rude treatment from product specialist Natasia was even more frustrating. Apple support where have you gone— you were great when you were struggling and now you are exceedlingly poor and arrogant now that you are having success. Help=Help are you listening???
I have a lot of problems with Apple’s repair service.
My MacbookPRo is waiting for LCD replacement for over 3 weeks.
This is second time Apple installed bad LCD display in this machine.
Few Oily stains over 1 inch each shows inside the screen.
You can noticed this only on bright background.
The problem I have that nobody seems to realize that having a computer in repair for over 3 weeks
could be painfull. Worst – nobody can tell me when my computer will be ready.