One bad Apple
What is it with me and customer care lines!?
Recently I noticed a fault with my MacBook. While running on battery and when the remaining charge got to about 30%, it would suddenly switch off, without going to sleep or even a "battery low" message. It was as if it were a desktop unit and someone had just unceremoniously pulled the plug.
A bit of hunting around the forums confirmed that this was a "known fault" with some of the early batch of rechargable batteries that came with the new MacBook Pros. So I rang the AppleCare people to get it fixed under warranty.
The support line was excellent, minimal menu-navigation required and I got through to a human almost straight away. I talked through my problem with her and she agreed it was a faulty battery, and arranged to send out a replacement.
She then asked for my credit card details, explaining that they wouldn't be used unless I failed to return the faulty battery, in which case I'd be charged for the price of the battery. This was fair enough, I could imagine people who knew about the fault wangling free batteries out of Apple otherwise.
My credit card details were handed over. While she was arranging the courier details she asked if I wanted to extend my warranty for another 3 years (for a cool £270), explaining all the benefits that that would allow. I said that as great as it sounded, I just couldn't afford it.
Less than a day later the new battery was delivered. I swapped it out, charged it and allowed it to discharge fully with no problems. Great! So far, so Apple-are-the-best-company-ever.
Imagine my surprise (you have to say that bit in a Lynne Faulds Wood stylee to get the full on "this is where things started to go horribly wrong" effect) when I get an email from AppleCare stating:
And going on to say that my coverage expired in 2009. A swift call to AppleCare confirmed it. I had "purchased" 3 years of cover on my credit card.
"So you didn't give out your credit card details when you called?" the man asked. I explained that I had given out my details but that was under the understanding that they were only being used as insurance in case I didn't return the faulty part.
The man said that this was true, but that the system for purchasing extended warranties was completely separate from the system for booking replacement parts and there was "no way he could see" that my credit card details from one location could have ended up in the other.
The concept of copy and paste, or maybe even writing them down on a piece of paper, was obviously beyond the bounds of reason. From his tone of voice it was clear that I was either a) a confused person who didn't realise that they'd given out their credit card details twice or b) trying to weasel out of a contract after changing my mind.
It took a bit of explaining in a manner of "patient but with a simmering undercurrent of bloody furious" (I'm beginning to find that this works best) for him to go away and sort out the problem, and after about 30 minutes of phone call I really shouldn't have had to make, I'm being reimbursed.
As with all these things though, I'd like to know what really happened at their end. Was it a computer "glitch"?
Did the woman hear "yes" when I clearly said "no"? In which case I would have expected her to go into a bit more detail of what I'd be getting for my money!
Or maybe there's some kind of commission thing involved for each warranty sold, and she was sneakily trying to up her quota for the month! I guess I'll never know.
By the way, on the subject of customer services, I got an email out of the blue from Sky's customer services department the other day. They'd found my rant on their Sky card replacement cock-ups and wanted to know more so they could investigate what had gone wrong. The power of blogging!
The best bit was when they said they couldn't find any "Becky EnVérité" on their records. :-D
Recently I noticed a fault with my MacBook. While running on battery and when the remaining charge got to about 30%, it would suddenly switch off, without going to sleep or even a "battery low" message. It was as if it were a desktop unit and someone had just unceremoniously pulled the plug.
A bit of hunting around the forums confirmed that this was a "known fault" with some of the early batch of rechargable batteries that came with the new MacBook Pros. So I rang the AppleCare people to get it fixed under warranty.
The support line was excellent, minimal menu-navigation required and I got through to a human almost straight away. I talked through my problem with her and she agreed it was a faulty battery, and arranged to send out a replacement.
She then asked for my credit card details, explaining that they wouldn't be used unless I failed to return the faulty battery, in which case I'd be charged for the price of the battery. This was fair enough, I could imagine people who knew about the fault wangling free batteries out of Apple otherwise.
My credit card details were handed over. While she was arranging the courier details she asked if I wanted to extend my warranty for another 3 years (for a cool £270), explaining all the benefits that that would allow. I said that as great as it sounded, I just couldn't afford it.
Less than a day later the new battery was delivered. I swapped it out, charged it and allowed it to discharge fully with no problems. Great! So far, so Apple-are-the-best-company-ever.
Imagine my surprise (you have to say that bit in a Lynne Faulds Wood stylee to get the full on "this is where things started to go horribly wrong" effect) when I get an email from AppleCare stating:
"Thank you for purchasing the AppleCare Protection Plan. This certificate confirms that you agreed to AppleCare Protection Plan terms and conditions and the Apple product(s) entitled for coverage. "
And going on to say that my coverage expired in 2009. A swift call to AppleCare confirmed it. I had "purchased" 3 years of cover on my credit card.
"So you didn't give out your credit card details when you called?" the man asked. I explained that I had given out my details but that was under the understanding that they were only being used as insurance in case I didn't return the faulty part.
The man said that this was true, but that the system for purchasing extended warranties was completely separate from the system for booking replacement parts and there was "no way he could see" that my credit card details from one location could have ended up in the other.
The concept of copy and paste, or maybe even writing them down on a piece of paper, was obviously beyond the bounds of reason. From his tone of voice it was clear that I was either a) a confused person who didn't realise that they'd given out their credit card details twice or b) trying to weasel out of a contract after changing my mind.
It took a bit of explaining in a manner of "patient but with a simmering undercurrent of bloody furious" (I'm beginning to find that this works best) for him to go away and sort out the problem, and after about 30 minutes of phone call I really shouldn't have had to make, I'm being reimbursed.
As with all these things though, I'd like to know what really happened at their end. Was it a computer "glitch"?
Did the woman hear "yes" when I clearly said "no"? In which case I would have expected her to go into a bit more detail of what I'd be getting for my money!
Or maybe there's some kind of commission thing involved for each warranty sold, and she was sneakily trying to up her quota for the month! I guess I'll never know.
By the way, on the subject of customer services, I got an email out of the blue from Sky's customer services department the other day. They'd found my rant on their Sky card replacement cock-ups and wanted to know more so they could investigate what had gone wrong. The power of blogging!
The best bit was when they said they couldn't find any "Becky EnVérité" on their records. :-D
Those extended warranties are a pile of poo.
But as I alluded to in the title, one bad apple can spoil the whole barrel! I could have used some other pithy puns, but I de-cidered to go for the core issue. ;-)
Usually when you ring them you're greeted with a recorded message saying "This call may be recorded for training purposes". I find it concentrates the mind of whoever comes on the line after that if you tell them casually that you're recording the call too! At the least it means they don't make false promises to you and at best you might get passed further up the chain of command to someone who knows what they're on about.
It's ashame Apple gave you the pip but at least you can stalk away!
Don't you tape your calls with these people? How naive
And I'd disagree with you about iPods too. :-P
But I'm thinking that hearing the difference in uncompressed sounds could only be noticed by dogs, as I've pretty much been around expensive sound equipment my entire life and quite frankly cannot tell the difference between that and my iPod...other than the earbuds, of course.
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