Thread: I'm with Abtech - iPod's suck.

I'm pretty sure if you ask CBR929RE about how he feels about Chevy right now, he'd be on par with Biz's feelings...

Originally Posted by seamus

I'm pretty sure if you ask CBR929RE about how he feels about Chevy right now, he'd be on par with Biz's feelings...

haha I was actually kinda pissed cause I didn't wanna change the shit in the first place. Then I got pissed that I couldn't (well didn't wanna spend that much time and risk breaking shit) do it. I was ready to rip that cheap plastic grill right off.

but I digest, the guy went in to get a new battery. how hard is it to hand the ipod to a guy and give him some basic contact info.

Originally Posted by CBR929RE

the guy went in to get a new battery. how hard is it to hand the ipod to a guy and give him some basic contact info.

Exactly, I make appointments to see the doctor, not get a battery changed. Hand it over, write down name and phone number...done.

firmly believe that forcing the customer to make the additional steps of going online to schedule an appointment with tech support when you just need to have a device sent to the repair facility is unnecessary and creates no benefit to the customer. The impression is that their time is more valuable than yours. I know it's a lowly iPod (out of production, at that) but it seems to be a poor and non-straightforward way of conducting a simple transaction.

Exactly. Now what might actually be useful is if you could go online and print a return label and then just drop the item in the mail, but having to make an appointment just to talk to someone is retarded.

You would be amazed at the amount of people who go in there thinking that they have "simple" problems, when in fact it's not as simple as they think. The whole point of the Genius system is that they can fix a majority of problems right there. This way you don't need to send out the item to be repaired, and you leave with a working item. But the key is that they will want to troubleshoot it first. You may be one of the smarter ones that already knows what's wrong, but trust me as someone who has done front line tech support for many years, most people do not know what will fix their problems, or even worse, think they know and they are wrong.

This is why everyone talks to a Genius first.

In order to make sure people don't have to wait in a line, they have the appointment system. You can choose to wait around, an option given to you, until 11:45.

Here is a scenario for you... if you walked in to the store, told them you needed to get your iPod fixed, and they said, "OK... the line for tech support is right there", and you get in the line, wait the hour in it, then get help, would you have been happier? It's the same thing, except with Apple's system you know when your time is, and you don't have to stand in the line.

The other alternative would have been to call 1-800-APPL-CARE, and they would have sent you out a box to your house to send the iPod in to get repaired. As has been mentioned before, Apple's phone centers that handle US calls are all US or Canadian, and consistently get high marks for customer care.

I am an Apple apologist on many things, and customer service is one of them. They spend a lot of time and money to make sure customers are well taken care of and happy. It really just sounds like the system for some reason was just not explained, or your expectations were off, or ????.

I have dealt with support on both the consumer and enterprise level with IBM, Sun, EMC, Dell, Apple, Cisco, Juniper, the list goes on and on. The only times I think someone did better than Apple was IBM on-site service (already mentioned by Abtech), EMC On-site, and a Cisco case that went CAP. But, to get that kind of support, you spend thousands of dollars each year on contracts for it. Apple gives it to you for the price of the product.

Originally Posted by navydevildoc

You would be amazed at the amount of people who go in there thinking that they have "simple" problems, when in fact it's not as simple as they think. The whole point of the Genius system is that they can fix a majority of problems right there. This way you don't need to send out the item to be repaired, and you leave with a working item. But the key is that they will want to troubleshoot it first. You may be one of the smarter ones that already knows what's wrong, but trust me as someone who has done front line tech support for many years, most people do not know what will fix their problems, or even worse, think they know and they are wrong.

This is why everyone talks to a Genius first.

In order to make sure people don't have to wait in a line, they have the appointment system. You can choose to wait around, an option given to you, until 11:45.

Here is a scenario for you... if you walked in to the store, told them you needed to get your iPod fixed, and they said, "OK... the line for tech support is right there", and you get in the line, wait the hour in it, then get help, would you have been happier? It's the same thing, except with Apple's system you know when your time is, and you don't have to stand in the line.

The other alternative would have been to call 1-800-APPL-CARE, and they would have sent you out a box to your house to send the iPod in to get repaired. As has been mentioned before, Apple's phone centers that handle US calls are all US or Canadian, and consistently get high marks for customer care.

I am an Apple apologist on many things, and customer service is one of them. They spend a lot of time and money to make sure customers are well taken care of and happy. It really just sounds like the system for some reason was just not explained, or your expectations were off, or ????.

I have dealt with support on both the consumer and enterprise level with IBM, Sun, EMC, Dell, Apple, Cisco, Juniper, the list goes on and on. The only times I think someone did better than Apple was IBM on-site service (already mentioned by Abtech), EMC On-site, and a Cisco case that went CAP. But, to get that kind of support, you spend thousands of dollars each year on contracts for it. Apple gives it to you for the price of the product.

I had a detailed response typed and thought better of it. Disputing Apple support seems to be equivalent to a religious or political discussion and I've learned my lesson.

I'm out of this one - please feel free to discuss amongst yourselves...

Easy Beavis folks are just providing perspectives.

At the end of the day you can purchase whatever you want. I have an Aunt that insists on buying POS e-machines because everything else is so expensive. She spends HOURS more in virus other maintainance items each time one breaks (frequently it seems on an e-machine) yet she is happy so fine. Mom and Dad have a Mac and just use it (the last one went 6 years before I gave them a new one) they are also happy which is even better Feel free to never buy an Apple product as will some others. Further there are folks that feel the same way about most manufacturers.

WARNING: typed on a Mac, now bow and send Maple

I think you're all missing the point.

If I am standing in the store with a broken item, why not just take the unit from me and get my contact info (as I posted earlier)?

I understand the "genius" concept and what they're trying to do but can't the "genius" do stuff between appointments?

Biz, I have read this and I too think it is BS to have an appointment to look at an I pod. You would think they are trying to treat cancer. They could have taken the damn thing and sent it back to you fixed if you could not wait. But this falls in line with other customer service issues I have noticed as well over the past year with other services. Customer service for the most part is a thing of the past.

Originally Posted by SheepOfBlue

I have an Aunt that insists on buying POS e-machines because everything else is so expensive. She spends HOURS more in virus other maintainance items each time one breaks (frequently it seems on an e-machine) yet she is happy so fine.

She must have an ancient one I guess, since any recent e-Machine is basically a Gateway, and are actually decent machines for the price. Tell your aunt to stay off the porn and warez sites and she won't have to worry about virii...

Originally Posted by BizJetGuy

I had a detailed response typed and thought better of it. Disputing Apple support seems to be equivalent to a religious or political discussion and I've learned my lesson.

I'm out of this one - please feel free to discuss amongst yourselves...

No hard feelings man, I was just trying to show why they do what they do.

You are of course free to buy/not buy whatever product you choose, and in the end that's what companies will listen to most.