Apple support - What utter ****

They do charge money for appointments if your out of warranty, but most of the time they just waive it anyway.

I have had countless out of warranty 'appointments' and I haven't been charged. Are you confusing the appointment with the subsequent servicing they may do?
 
when i was on holiday a few weeks ago the bus driver got a bit enthusiastic with the brakes and sent me flying into a metal railing. i later on found out that i had bashed my phone. the touchscreen control was inconsistent and the colours were wonky as well.

As soon as i landed in the UK i booked an appointment in the apple store. however in my dazed confused jet lagged state i managed to book the appointment for that very day, whilst i was sleeping. so the next day when i went to the store for my £250 repair they knew nothing of me :( however they said they might have enough time to squeeze an appointment in, and they did, i was informed that the screen would need replacing, i clenched my but for the price, but it never came. instead i was told to go and get a coffee and by the time i came back it would be good to go.

and it was.

this is probably the 4th or 5th time I've had to use the apple store for issues and its a similar outcome every time.

you just got very unlucky.

end.
 
It is only horrible when you are trying to do outside what it is designed to do.

It does what it is designed to do very well.

iTunes is the single worst piece of software I have ever used. I always heard people saying how amazing it is on on OSX, and now that I have a rMBP its is still near useless, it crashes all the time, always freezes, finds it impossible to figure out which podcast I listen to, I get pop ups all the time saying how I don't listen to a podcast that I listen to right away as its released.
 
iTunes is the single worst piece of software I have ever used. I always heard people saying how amazing it is on on OSX, and now that I have a rMBP its is still near useless, it crashes all the time, always freezes, finds it impossible to figure out which podcast I listen to, I get pop ups all the time saying how I don't listen to a podcast that I listen to right away as its released.

I've never had these problems with iTunes on my MacBook Pro or my MacBook Pro Retina.

I had problems when I used iTunes on Windows, but never, ever on OSX.
 
They do charge money for appointments if your out of warranty, but most of the time they just waive it anyway.

I think you're confusing Apple Retail with other 3rd party authorised service providers.

As I said, Apple Retail have never, ever, charged for appointments at the Genius Bar.
 
That's unfortunate to hear that you had issues OP. I've never had anything but excellent expereicnes with Apple Support, and +1 for paying for genius bar appointments - that is just wrong - it doesn't happen at Apple Stores.
 
I had to spend four hours this morning to arrange a swap out of an iphone..
From experince, their support is catered and suited for personal queries but for businesses its a bloody pain.

Unfortunately my b2b accounts manager was off work today; so I couldn't moan to her about getting it done. Bare in mind that as a company we order millions of pounds worth of goods per year via charging our account, but they can't place a holding charge onto it and needed a credit card, as we both agreed the phone was faulty within 5 mins of the call.

I've already emailed my account manager to get us to the self service status so I don't have to jump though hoops to get a swap out.
 
A pal of mine works for a company that does lighting and sound for big events and he is forever banging on about his Apple business account. I'm assuming it's pretty awesome?
 
yeah we get discounts for their stuff that no other sellers can match, cos we are basically getting it for the same prices as the shop that resell it, the only time it really differs is when its end of line stuff that they can buy in bulk.

But like I said; as a personal user I don't mind going to the apple store and swapping my phone out but as a server engineer, I don't want to be out of the office for 2 hours during work time or use my credit card when I'm have to trust the word of end users.

I used to have GSX access with a previous employer but that was a fair few years ago (pre iphones/ipads). I've not bothered setting it up with this employer yet, also my ACMT has ran out; but if it takes me four hours to swap an iphone; I'm going to moan like mad each time.

I'm sure a lot has changed since I've used it last; they used to send out the tools for the job as well as the part; won't be surprised if they stopped that now.
 
Have an issue with an iPad Mini which probably fits in nicely to this thread and so thought I'd raise a question here.

My other half's 15-month old iPad Mini's home button has broken. Seems to be stuck and doesn't respond. Unfortunately she didn't buy Applecare on the device.

We took it into out local Apple store today to see if they would help or whether repairing was an option. We were directed to the Genius bar where unfortunately they were fully booked and had no appointments on offer until Monday. As the lady was standing there we did ask if was worth booking the appointment and whether repairing the iPad was an option. The lady responded saying that they don't repair iPads and as it was out of warranty the only option was to buy a new one.

This has taken me back a bit becuase whilst I understand the line for Apple's policy and response, it feels a bit cheap to leave the customer hung out to dry in this manner on a £400 product. I'm not sure I'd stand for this in another retailer and whilst this might be bad luck it's made her immediately question buying an iPad again.

Anyway I just wondered if people thought it's worth pursuing with Apple Retail and booking a Genius appointment to see if we get a more helpful response? The other option that springs to mind is to pursue via Twitter (I appreciate this is naughty but generally have witnessed far better CS from companies when either we or friends have used this process).

Thanks in advance for reading.

EDIT: Scratch the Twitter idea - it appears Apple doesn't maintain a Twitter presence.
 
Last edited:
Book an appointment at least and you'll find out. When I've been in the person on the Genius Bar probably was probably giving a standard response without thinking about the individual problem because people come in with all sorts trying to get it fixed.

A friend of mine got their iPhone replaced outside of warranty because it had a faulty Home button.
 
Just had my third power cable replaced, after 3 years 2 months. No charge.

It's ridiculous they keep breaking but still. Good service
 
Thanks all (and specifically for the link - momo56).

It was purchased from an Apple store. Armed with this new information we'll see how this go after a genius appointment.
 
The 25 pound charge is a new thing, if you try to get out of warranty telephone support, you have to pay it. They might waive it though.

They never charge anything for booking genius bar appointments. You were in the wrong part of the website unfortunately.

As for the fact of "They should have helped me then and there!", they were probably too busy. Imagine being the last customer of the day who actually DID have an appointment, but then you'd need to wait an extra 30min because some jack*** cut in front of you without an appointment just because he expected service. Don't take it personally, but to get service in most places you do need an appointment, like speaking to a lawyer etc. I'm sure they'd have helped you then and there if they had time.

I've got nothing but love for their customer service. I've got my opinions of the products too which are a bit less rosy, but that'd be offtopic.
 
Back
Top Bottom