Apple Customer 'Care' - Pathetic

[Ben Hughes]

Ok, so basically my 9 month old iPhone 3G has been slowly dying over the past few weeks. Firstly the silent/loud toggle button stopped working, then the hold button, then the home button needs at least five presses to do anything. To top it all off, it rings people from my 'favourites' list completely out of the blue.

So, I speak to o2 who were worse than useless, and basically told me to call Apple. Helpful.

I call Apple, and sit in a queue for an hour and ten minutes. An hour and ten minutes. Anyway, I'm finally told that 'your call is the next to be answered': No such luck, the phone rings for fifteen minutes with no answer, until the iPhone battery that was fully charged before the call finally dies and puts an end to my ninety minutes of fun.

Absolutely fking pathetic.

[lawrence567]

Go to an Apple store, they'll probably give u a new / re-conditioned phone, or fix it for free.

[hornetrider]

Did you upgrade to iOS4?

[anonymous-user]

lawrence567 said:

Go to an Apple store, they'll probably give u a new / re-conditioned phone, or fix it for free.

This is definitely the way forward!

[Ben Hughes]

That's the thing, it was my nearest Apple Store that I was on the phone to!

And yes, I am now on iOS4, but the hardware issues had started before that. The random calling began subsequent to the software update though.

[theaxe]

lawrence567 said:

Go to an Apple store, they'll probably give u a new / re-conditioned phone, or fix it for free.

This, they're usually pretty good.

That said if you got the phone from O2 then your contract of sale is with them, they're the ones who have to sort it, they can't just fob you off to the manufacturer.

Edited by theaxe on Wednesday 21st July 14:42

[Strangely Brown]

Errr... isn't it O2 that sold the phone so it's O2 that have to deal with it under warranty?

Edit: Bugger, beaten to it.

Edited by Strangely Brown on Wednesday 21st July 14:55

[sjg]

Ben Hughes said:

That's the thing, it was my nearest Apple Store that I was on the phone to!

Why?

https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do - put in your serial number, either create a case online if you want a pickup/return support case, or you can book an appointment at the store from the same place.

Or take it up with O2, as you would with any other manufacturer's phone. Because Apple actually give a toss about supporting their customers it seems the networks can't even be bothered any more.

[paddyhasneeds]

You actually sat on hold for 70 minutes? I'm amazed you did that. Don't get me wrong it's st if Apple didn't answer, but I can't believe anyone would wait so long.

[Ben Hughes]

Don't worry, I was doing other things whilst I had st music coming through speakerphone!

Anyway...

After an hour and a half on the phone, a two-hour round trip to Kingston and an hour waiting in the Apple store, I was told that I should have phoned for an appointment and that they haven't got time to 'discuss my needs'. I did call you, and there's no need to discuss my needs, you just need to replace my phone with one that works. So I'm still left with a broken iPhone, and I'm off on holiday on Friday. Great, thanks Apple.

[ewenm]

I still don't understand why you've accepted being fobbed off by O2. Your contract is with them isn't it or did you get a sim-only deal from them and get the iPhone yourself from Apple?

[Petrolhead_Rich]

goto the O2 store locally to you, or call O2 and demand their immediate help or threaten to terminate the contract on the grounds that they have not honoured their obligations (i.e. to provide a device to use their service and warranty/support for that device), personally i wouldnt have waited an hour in the store, i would have made sure no other customer purchased anything until i was seen to, mainly by making it known that O2 and the I-Phone were st and going to break, then asking why are you serving them when you havnt sorted my issue out.

Finally I would have asked for a manager and "discussed" it with them!

I used a similar method at vauxhall a few years ago to get something better than a corsa while they fixed my 2 week old vectra for the second time! If everyone in the showroom knows the products will break and they wont help, the new customers will walk, so they suddenly find it in their interest to help you!!

always worth calling from landline anyway then you can play with the device (reset it etc)

[anonymous-user]

You have been unlucky, I guess the helplines are rammed with Iphone 4 queries at the moment. Apple customer service has been 2nd to none in the 2 times I used them. 1 Ipod flooded with orange juice in daughters bag, changed free of charge!. Another faulty one changed, picked up by courier, returned a few days later. In fact I have been so impressed by their service that we are now a 2 Ipod & 3 Iphone household!