Apple customer service

Unless you have AppleCare he's correct accidental damage has always been chargeable.  You may have been fortunate and in the past not been charged but that's not been their policy.  With new AppleCare (3-4 years iirc) there is now an excess of £55 for iPhone repairs (£79 for iPhone 6s / 6s Plus). 

It varies. My partner's Macbook Pro was repaired free of charge a month ago - it was about three years old and I was expecting to have to pay for the repair (no Applecare). But then it wasn't an Apple store... we've got one where I live and the one and only time I went there the attendant didn't know what a NAS was. Very swish but not very efficient.

For someone as "unlucky" or accident prone as you and your family appear to be from your account of all the mishaps that have befallen you I would be shouting from the rafters and extolling the virtues of buying Apple products.  I f***ed up AGAIN but I want you to provide me with a replacement free of charge.  How many other companies do you know of that would be so willing to replace products damaged by lack of care on the part of the owner?    Symptomatic of the something for nothing society that we live in today.

I'm astonished that any company would replace for free an electrical item that you have dropped into water.  Personally I'd be grateful for what they've given in the past and cough up for a replacement as I can't see how you can expect them to pay for your accident. 

Problem with walking away from Apple products is the need to learn a different way of working, transferring al your apps from MacOSX to Windows and probably having to do quite a bit of data transfer.

I avoid disappointment by buying end of line or used products.

Steve2 posted:

For someone as "unlucky" or accident prone as you and your family appear to be from your account of all the mishaps that have befallen you I would be shouting from the rafters and extolling the virtues of buying Apple products.  I f***ed up AGAIN but I want you to provide me with a replacement free of charge.  How many other companies do you know of that would be so willing to replace products damaged by lack of care on the part of the owner?    Symptomatic of the something for nothing society that we live in today.

Spot on - I can't see Apple shedding too many tears over the loss of a customer with that track record!!

Thanks for your mostly thoughtful comments. I have kids, sometimes accidents can happen. Not very often mind. But just occasionally. Perhaps you have never have such mishaps? Maybe you don't have kids? I won't assume either way as I don't know anything about you.

In the past Apple have replaced a SMALL number of items free of charge. Most of my family's Apple products live problem free lives.

the point of my post is that when I went into the shop, the manager implied that these replacements had never actually happened. That in fact I was making it up. Have would that make you feel?

badger1963 posted:

Thanks for your mostly thoughtful comments. I have kids, sometimes accidents can happen. Not very often mind. But just occasionally. Perhaps you have never have such mishaps? Maybe you don't have kids? I won't assume either way as I don't know anything about you.

In the past Apple have replaced a SMALL number of items free of charge. Most of my family's Apple products live problem free lives.

the point of my post is that when I went into the shop, the manager implied that these replacements had never actually happened. That in fact I was making it up. Have would that make you feel?

"How would it make me feel?" Disappointed that I didn't get more free stuff.

The manager has no clue as to whether or not you are telling the truth. He's going to quote the company policy. He could have perhaps been more diplomatic, but without your specific knowledge of the past exceptions that had been made, he's not really in a position to say much else. Perhaps something like: "Wow, you must have caught some of the staff on a good day(s). I'm happy that we've exceeded your expectations in the past, but today I must stand by the company policy (we might have a big Irish tax bill coming up)."

(BTW Apple products have internal moisture detectors/telltales that will indicate if a device has been submerged, even if the owner is less than forthcoming about the likely cause of the malfunction - not saying that you were. So I'm quite shocked that they previously replaced a cracked screen and drowned phone free of charge)

Yeah, kids are hard on the electronic toys we give them. They're kids. What should we expect? And £450 phones for kids? First-world problems.

Winky. The irony is in your last comment. "First world problems". The irony is that this is a forum aimed at enthusiasts who think nothing of spending large amounts of money on equipment to achieve small improvements in sound quality (I include myself). You could say "first world problems" to many of the posts asking for advice on this forum. It wouldn't really get us anywhere.

i repeat again, up to now I have had great after sales service from Apple, including replacement equipment for a SMALL number of accidental damage situations.  I have NEVER asked for these and always been pleasantly surprised and grateful when offered. That's why I kept going back to the stores.

i detect something has changed, and was simply asking if others had seen this too. I don't walk into Apple stores demanding anything for free (as some have rather ignorantly insinuated).

But when a senior member of Apple staff suggests I have imagined my previous excellent experiences in his store, or implies that I am lying, I don't call that good customer service. Simple as that.

now waiting for the next post telling me I am overly clumsy, a lousy customer, or maybe telling me that my kids are spoilt. Ho hum. I guess that's the joy of the Internet.

peace and love to all xxx

I agree with you Badger, the Apple stores used to fix all sorts of stuff foc, it probably cost them very little in real terms but lots in terms of good reputation. My son was always getting things repaired without charge. I'm sorry to learn this is no longer the case.

badger1963 posted:

Winky. The irony is in your last comment. "First world problems". The irony is that this is a forum aimed at enthusiasts who think nothing of spending large amounts of money on equipment to achieve small improvements in sound quality (I include myself). You could say "first world problems" to many of the posts asking for advice on this forum. It wouldn't really get us anywhere.

i repeat again, up to now I have had great after sales service from Apple, including replacement equipment for a SMALL number of accidental damage situations.  I have NEVER asked for these and always been pleasantly surprised and grateful when offered. That's why I kept going back to the stores.

i detect something has changed, and was simply asking if others had seen this too. I don't walk into Apple stores demanding anything for free (as some have rather ignorantly insinuated).

But when a senior member of Apple staff suggests I have imagined my previous excellent experiences in his store, or implies that I am lying, I don't call that good customer service. Simple as that.

now waiting for the next post telling me I am overly clumsy, a lousy customer, or maybe telling me that my kids are spoilt. Ho hum. I guess that's the joy of the Internet.

peace and love to all xxx

I dunno. What were you expecting? Why did you post?

I guess what I was "expecting" we're some comments along the lines of "yes their customer service standards are changing" or "no you are wrong". Either way I really don't mind.

tonym seems to agree.

I guess then only someone that's an Apple customer could possibly give an opinion then; vis-à-vis 'changed policy or not'. Rules me out.

tonym posted:

I agree with you Badger, the Apple stores used to fix all sorts of stuff foc, it probably cost them very little in real terms but lots in terms of good reputation. My son was always getting things repaired without charge. I'm sorry to learn this is no longer the case.

Yes this no longer the case in my experience either...in fact my experience of Apple customer care/support in the last 12 months in terms of implementing statutory rights in the UK  has been poor (when purchasing online directly from Apple) .. Apple is great when it 'just works' but sadly this is less often the case now. For a premium priced set of products they should do better here.. They could learn a thing or two from Naim...

badger1963 posted:

I guess what I was "expecting" we're some comments along the lines of "yes their customer service standards are changing" or "no you are wrong". Either way I really don't mind.

tonym seems to agree.

I've not noticed a change. They've always charged me as is appropriate. I don't think I've ever received a free damage replacement or service, except that my wife received replacement phone free when hers failed. It may have been as a result of a shock, but it wasn't "dropped" per se. The gear my kids have destroyed (and continue to destroy) has been replaced/repaired but always with a charge. Maybe it's been different where you live.

We should save my youngest son some trouble and just buy him electronic toys and laptops with pre-cracked screens. And just leave anything else of value we buy him at random locations in the city, without ever giving it to him. This would save him a lot of hassle. You know, cut out the middle-man(kid).

thanks winky (and others). i have never "expected" a free replacement, and as i say was always pleasantly surprised & grateful when i got one for an accidental damage situation.

as simon says these are premium products, with big margins built in (hence apple's extraordinary returns on capital for its shareholders). so maybe we should anticipate that they deal with customers in a "premium manner", and not imply that a customer is lying when recounting previously good experiences in one of their stores.

if someone has an experience to restore my faith in dealing with apple as a company i would be happy to hear it.

when i think about it i have probably bought at least 6 iPads, 3 laptops, and 12 iPhones over the years, but given my most recent experience with their covent garden store in london, I am not particularly inclined to return.

agree with you that simply buying items with ready cracked screens may be the best way forward for the kids.

Been using Apple since 2009 and they replacing phone FOC due to user negligence is totally unheard of to me.  

That said, I am still happy with them as their hardware has proven to be a lot more dependable than their competitors. 

I like their phone/online support as they do not waste your time with stupid questions and product know how is top notch.

I have a family member who works for Apple who says that they would never replace a product due to water damage as it would be business suicide to do and has always been company policy to decline and any store manager would have a very difficult time if they did so.

I think that people's expectations have simply got out of hand. This is not a decline in customer service, poor customer service is a missed delivery, poor advice, unfriendly service not failure to replace a product you have broken. I would be embarrassed to go into a shop and try and get a replacement for a water damaged product let alone leave incensed.

Maybe the thing to have done would have been to accept the outcome with a little grace and not pressure some poor guy into breaking his companies rules.

Well, my clumsy son did the usual & dropped his nearly new iPhone down the toilet a few years ago. He took it to his local Apple Store & they replaced it for him, foc. Seems the situation's different depending on where you go.

tonym posted:

Well, my clumsy son did the usual & dropped his nearly new iPhone down the toilet a few years ago. He took it to his local Apple Store & they replaced it for him, foc. Seems the situation's different depending on where you go.

Out of interest, did you go into the Apple Store and said "I've dropped my iPhone down the toilet and now it doesn't work" or did you just say to the Apple Store "my iPhone has stopped working"?

badger1963 posted:

and not imply that a customer is lying when recounting previously good experiences in one of their stores.

I'm not sure exactly what was said (I obviously wasn't there) and you obviously feel aggrieved by how the manager spoke to you; but look at it from his point of view.  You are an honest gentleman (afaik) but I would expect somewhere between 1 and 17 (stat made up) every day he has to deal with people who come in who have damaged their phone / tablet / laptop through their own negligence and do expect a free repair and/or lie about how the equipment has been damaged.  

While I'm sure the manage of the Apple store is generally a nice, balanced guy; perhaps something was grating on him that day and his response to you didn't come across quite how it was intended.  Perhaps he'd been balled out recently by head office for his staff giving free repairs on damaged goods?

It has never (afaik) been Apple's policy to repair equipment damaged through users negligence.  They specifically sell AppleCare to give an insurance for accidental damage (though there is an excess on current AppleCare policies).  Perhaps the guy dealing with you could have been more diplomatic, but perhaps give him the benefit of the doubt?

Eloise posted:

tonym posted:

Well, my clumsy son did the usual & dropped his nearly new iPhone down the toilet a few years ago. He took it to his local Apple Store & they replaced it for him, foc. Seems the situation's different depending on where you go.

Out of interest, did you go into the Apple Store and said "I've dropped my iPhone down the toilet and now it doesn't work" or did you just say to the Apple Store "my iPhone has stopped working"?

I don't know what he said. But I suspect he'd have told the truth.

tonym posted:

Eloise posted:

tonym posted:

Well, my clumsy son did the usual & dropped his nearly new iPhone down the toilet a few years ago. He took it to his local Apple Store & they replaced it for him, foc. Seems the situation's different depending on where you go.

Out of interest, did you go into the Apple Store and said "I've dropped my iPhone down the toilet and now it doesn't work" or did you just say to the Apple Store "my iPhone has stopped working"?

I don't know what he said. But I suspect he'd have told the truth.

Then he's a very fortunate person...

yep. i too walked in and simply told the truth. as a previous poster said, apple can tell if a product is water damaged, they take it away and do some diagnostic analysis.

just to put one particular questioner's mind at rest. i am not the sort "to walk into a shop and put somebody under pressure", and i did not "walk into the shop and expect to get a free product". not sure where you got that idea.

my approach in these situations is always to be friendly, smile, be honest, and explain what the problem is. its amazing where that can get you.

the reason i became incensed, was that the manager implied i was fabricating some previous excellent experiences in his own store. i think that would annoy most of us. as you say maybe he was simply having a bad day, but he could have dealt with me more diplomatically.

thanks heavens for tonym. for a while I really did think i was losing my marbles and had been hallucinating. another customer who has had a free replacement product pressed into his grateful hands by apple in a case of accidental user damage. who would have thought? apparently this never happens. maybe tonym and i have had our allocation now, the good news is it could be somebody else's turn.

badger1963 posted:

 

my approach in these situations is always to be friendly, smile, be honest, and explain what the problem is. its amazing where that can get you.

 

+1

Although there is no doubt an official Apple policy on accident damage, I can only assume that individual store managers must have a certain amount of leeway in this, as my experiences both locally in York, with an Apple reseller, and more recently at the Leeds Apple store, have always resulted in a happy outcome.