Apple Store Support is awesome!

T

turb0

Gawd
Joined
Aug 20, 2004
Messages
636
So last week I ordered a new 13" MBP for the wife. Our old white MB from mid '07 is finally going down hill. I ordered a refurbed June '12 model from the apple website and had it sent to the store at Barton Creek Mall (Austin).

I went to pick it up last night and when they brought the box out to me... there was a huge hole in the bottom and you could clearly see the laptop was damaged. (Turned out to be the bottom of the laptop over the battery area).

The manager came over and looked at the specs. She said this is a current model MBP (non retina). How about I accept it and she will them refund it and give me a BRAND NEW MBP (same specs and all), and adjust the price for me so it's an even wash.

Return and repurchase took about 2 minutes and I walked out of the store with a brand new MBP for $250 less that what it should've been.

I've always had decent CS with Apple.... but this was freaking awesome!!!

Just had to share the experience and know that you're not just buying status or a fancy laptop... you are buying an experience and top notch customer service!!!


Hook'em!
 
Yea, Apple Support has been generally pretty damn good for me.

When my first MBPr went bad they didn't have any of the base model in stock to swap it out with -- and they were not expecting any for a while.

They gave me the $2800 version and met me in the middle for the price difference, in which I happily paid. I had wanted to move to the higher processor and more storage but didn't want to shell out an additional $600 for it -- $300 was the sweet mark.

Unfortunately I've had the same MBPr replaced several times since -- they just seem to have a lot of troubles. Even being very far outside of my return window, they also exchange. My latest exchange was done last Friday!

Wouldn't buy another MBPr, but I definitely will continue to go to the local Apple Store.
 
Sorry to hear about the MBPr issues. I've heard quite a few different stories out there similar to yours... which is the main reason I saved my money and just went with the regular MBP instead.

Wife played with her new laptop all night almost.... if I had known she was going to use Pintrest this much..... I should've kept the MBP for me and got her a Ipad4!
 
!@#$%^&*() said:
Yea, Apple Support has been generally pretty damn good for me.

When my first MBPr went bad they didn't have any of the base model in stock to swap it out with -- and they were not expecting any for a while.

They gave me the $2800 version and met me in the middle for the price difference, in which I happily paid. I had wanted to move to the higher processor and more storage but didn't want to shell out an additional $600 for it -- $300 was the sweet mark.

Unfortunately I've had the same MBPr replaced several times since -- they just seem to have a lot of troubles. Even being very far outside of my return window, they also exchange. My latest exchange was done last Friday!

Wouldn't buy another MBPr, but I definitely will continue to go to the local Apple Store.
Click to expand...

I am very curious as to what problems you were having with your mbpr. I have been using one for the last 5 months and I have not encountered any.
 
Haiku214 said:
I am very curious as to what problems you were having with your mbpr. I have been using one for the last 5 months and I have not encountered any.
Click to expand...

The most major complaint is image retention. Nearly all LG panels seem to have some level of IR, some worse than others. Samsung panels are the ones to get, though they seem to be fewer in number than the LGs.

If you haven't seen any problems, I don't advise hunting for them - which is what I often see on mac forums.
 
I have heard several stories from friends about similar stellar customer service from Apple stores.

I don't have an Apple store where I live, but when my iPhone 5 arrived with scuff marks direct from the factory I called and complained. Apple shipped me a new one right away; I swapped my sim card when it arrived and shipped the damaged iPhone 5 back. Seamless.

I'm fairly new to Apple products (iPhone 5 and iPad 3) and a die-hard PC user, but I'm thinking hard about a MBP as my next laptop due to the high level of device quality and excellent CS.
 
i rave about the CS at my local apple store. the employees are awesome, albeit a little excentric looking. every time i've had an issue with any of my phones or ipods they went out of their way to replace or fix things for me promptly. i even had a friend that got mad and threw a new iphone4 on the ground (it was just released like a month prior), shattered it into like 4 pieces. he took at into the store against everything i told him, and when the employee asked what happened he said exactly this: "go Sabres?" (i live in buffalo, ny and the sabres were in the playoffs playing a big game that night). the guy laughed and 5 minutes later, new phone, no cost. call apple what you want, but they've got CS on lockdown. :)
 
I'd have to concur.

I made a real bonehead move earlier this month and my brand new iPhone 5 took a ride in the Maytag, and then took a second ride in the dryer. :p

It was toast.

I took it into the Apple Store, and the manager allowed me to buy Applecare on the damaged phone and I was able to exchange for the price of the Applecare insurance.

While I don't love everything Apple does, this is an example of incredible customer service and honestly, this is what will keep me as a customer.
 
Congrats. Yeah, they are great with their customers, even when the damage is obviously the customer's fault.
 
TurdFurgusand said:
I would expect them to replace it. What do you mean? Do you have a personal experience that you'd like to share with us, where this happened to you?
Click to expand...

IOS 4 crippled my iPhone 3g. The only solution offered to me over the phone and in person was "buy an iPhone 4"
 
PNut12345 said:
IOS 4 crippled my iPhone 3g. The only solution offered to me over the phone and in person was "buy an iPhone 4"
Click to expand...

Ok, yeah - that's a good point. Backwards compatibility wasn't a big priority when Steve Jobs came back. I'd argue that that's not a customer service, or Apple support, qualm though. It has more to do with the product, and the software itself.
 
Are there any examples of companies with profit margins as high as Apple who don't offer great CS?

I guess I'm a little bitter because Apple refused to do anything when my 5th gen iPod broke a month outside the warranty, and it was barely used. Cost me a lot of money and I was very (maybe overly) optimistic after having heard of Apple's service.
 
MrCrispy said:
Are there any examples of companies with profit margins as high as Apple who don't offer great CS?

I guess I'm a little bitter because Apple refused to do anything when my 5th gen iPod broke a month outside the warranty, and it was barely used. Cost me a lot of money and I was very (maybe overly) optimistic after having heard of Apple's service.
Click to expand...

I was optimistic too, only to have my hopes dashed and then set on fire right in front of me.
 
As we can clearly see from this thread, Customer service is a very shaky issue. It seems to fall to the two extremes: GREAT service that saves you hundreds of dollars or lousy service that costs you full-price or worse.

Personally, my experience with Apple service at the Mall of GA (Buford, GA) has been phenomenal! I took in a white MB (2002 model I think - this was about 4 years ago and it was an older model then) where the wifi antenna was unseated and they quoted me $500 to repair it, but then they noticed it had a palmrest separation issue that was covered under extended warranty, so they said they would check it in with that and reseat the antenna for free! I walked out the next day with $500 worth of repairs (plus extra repairs I didn't even ask for) at NO COST.

So... yeah, very hit-or-miss and little in-between. My personal guess is it varies by store and if your not happy with the service one store gives you, try another.
 
Ashton said:
As we can clearly see from this thread, Customer service is a very shaky issue. It seems to fall to the two extremes: GREAT service that saves you hundreds of dollars or lousy service that costs you full-price or worse.

Personally, my experience with Apple service at the Mall of GA (Buford, GA) has been phenomenal! I took in a white MB (2002 model I think - this was about 4 years ago and it was an older model then) where the wifi antenna was unseated and they quoted me $500 to repair it, but then they noticed it had a palmrest separation issue that was covered under extended warranty, so they said they would check it in with that and reseat the antenna for free! I walked out the next day with $500 worth of repairs (plus extra repairs I didn't even ask for) at NO COST.

So... yeah, very hit-or-miss and little in-between. My personal guess is it varies by store and if your not happy with the service one store gives you, try another.
Click to expand...

My service experience made me declare my household an "Apple-Free Zone" for fucking eternity. Over the phone and in the Apple Store in the Tyson's Corner Mall in VA both resulted in a "Hey fuckhead, buy our new shit or GTFO!" response. I didn't care to try again after that, two shootdowns taught me my lesson quite well, thank you very much.

My wife wanted an ipad, she got a Yoga 13 Windows 8 hybrid instead. We're both rocking Windows Phone now (Lumia 900 for me, Lumia 920 for her, we both went with WP7 after our 3G's got fucked up with iOS4), and as soon as her 160GB ipod classic dies for good (battery is shit, only works when hooked up to the wall...hey, maybe we'll try to exchange it LOL) that'll be it for Apple.

The worst part is, we both LOVED our iphones until iOS4, after that it was nothing but problems that could only be fixed, according to the "Genius Bar", by laying out over a grand for two out of contract iphone 4's. I was a convert, now I'll tell anyone who asks my opinion to stay the fuck away from Apple.
 
A similar thing happened with a friend of mine. He had a 15" MBP that was almost three years old. It started acting funny and it resulted in two logic board replacements. None of the repairs completely fixed the problem, and on the third visit they just gave him a brand new MBP. Apple does a pretty good job keeping their customers happy.
 
PNut12345 said:
The worst part is, we both LOVED our iphones until iOS4, after that it was nothing but problems that could only be fixed, according to the "Genius Bar", by laying out over a grand for two out of contract iphone 4's. I was a convert, now I'll tell anyone who asks my opinion to stay the fuck away from Apple.
Click to expand...

When I dropped my iPhone 4 and shattered the screen, I had to buy a refurb for $150, not half a grand. When my sister's iPhone 3GS stopped holding a charge for any usable length of time, they offered a free replacement with a refurb 3GS. Instead, she asked if they could apply some sort of credit or discount for a then-new iPhone 4S, and she got $50 off—still not half a grand.

Either you're exaggerating the price or you royally pissed the employees off.
 
Terpfen said:
When I dropped my iPhone 4 and shattered the screen, I had to buy a refurb for $150, not half a grand. When my sister's iPhone 3GS stopped holding a charge for any usable length of time, they offered a free replacement with a refurb 3GS. Instead, she asked if they could apply some sort of credit or discount for a then-new iPhone 4S, and she got $50 off—still not half a grand.

Either you're exaggerating the price or you royally pissed the employees off.
Click to expand...

Shit, all I wanted was a replacement iPhone 3G. Gimme a clean 3G without ios 4 on it, I'll leave here a happy man.

I was told that all I could do was buy an iPhone 4 (wife's was fucking up too, making it two of them we "needed").

As I recall iPhone 4's off contract were at least $500 each. No mention of anything refurb was made. I specifically asked for a 3G and was told they could not do that and could only "fix" my problem with an iPhone 4.

That was the Apple store at Tyson's Corner Mall in Virginia.

Prior to that, over the phone with support, I was placed on hold for 15 minutes, while the gal on the other end checked with her boss about getting me a replacement 3G. Her response: "there's nothing we can do." An iPhone 4 was mentioned several times as a possible solution. She then laughed at me when I told her I'd be taking my money elsewhere.
 
They have excellent customer service. I bought a used MBP from Craigs with the intention of re-installing Snow Leopard. The disc was not reading, long story short. Genius bar offered to install Snow Leopard or Lion at no charge.
 
Last edited:
PNut12345 said:
Shit, all I wanted was a replacement iPhone 3G. Gimme a clean 3G without ios 4 on it, I'll leave here a happy man.

I was told that all I could do was buy an iPhone 4 (wife's was fucking up too, making it two of them we "needed").

As I recall iPhone 4's off contract were at least $500 each. No mention of anything refurb was made. I specifically asked for a 3G and was told they could not do that and could only "fix" my problem with an iPhone 4.

That was the Apple store at Tyson's Corner Mall in Virginia.

Prior to that, over the phone with support, I was placed on hold for 15 minutes, while the gal on the other end checked with her boss about getting me a replacement 3G. Her response: "there's nothing we can do." An iPhone 4 was mentioned several times as a possible solution. She then laughed at me when I told her I'd be taking my money elsewhere.
Click to expand...

If both retail and phone support were telling you the same thing, there's an underlying element that was either not explained to you or you aren't explaining to us.

I would imagine that there simply was no supply available to give you at the time, though the fact that you bring up the out of contract price implies that you were trying to get a product without signing a contract. Welcome to the cell phone industry.
 
I wanted a replacement 3g. Nothing more. I was months away from an upgrade for my wife and I, hence having to buy off contract, full price. I did not have the disposable income to buy full price phones, not did I feel the need to, since it was apples OS that caused our iPhones to go full retard.

So no, I wasn't trying to get shit for free, I simply expected them to fix their cock-up. I came away less than satisfied.
 
As for your first paragraph: Apple release OS 4, say OS 4 worky great on 3g. OS 4 breaky 3g, Apple no want fix.
 
PNut12345 said:
As for your first paragraph: Apple release OS 4, say OS 4 worky great on 3g. OS 4 breaky 3g, Apple no want fix.
Click to expand...

Attitude like this is why I suspect you're not telling the full story and/or royally pissed off the Apple Store workers somehow.
 
Well that's what happened, not some shady attempt by me to get something for nothing, which was what you implied.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top