June 2, 2009 81 Comments

Be There For Your Customers

Dear Apple: go to Hell.

My laptop is falling asleep lately and not waking up. I called the Apple Store number and was told I have to book on the web. Great, except that my laptop is offline. So, I go through the phone tree a few times, finally reach a human, and then beg for a sense of how busy they are. Answer: very.

Okay, so staffing is staffing. I understand you’re busy today.

But the “must book appointments online” bullshit? Why? I’m pissy about this. I’ve been a customer since 1984 (first Mac). I’ve got the stupid iPhone. I buy all your toys. I tell other people to buy your toys.

You’re forcing me to a website because it’s more convenient for you?

GFY, Apple.

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http://www.socialmediaguy.com Yianni Garcia

You tell Apple what's up! Reading your blog is such a treat because not only do you right incredibly insightful and useful stuff for the digital marketing crowd, but once in a while you'll you'll post something that make me think, “I know right!!!”

Apple, get your shit together with online Apple Genius booking.
Wallace

Be there for your customers should go a step further and say be *where* your customers are. If your customers are calling on the phone, it's okay to mention the website to the 0.3% who haven't heard of the Internet. For everyone else, there is probably a good reason they are calling on the phone.

I had a similar situation with AT&T DSL. My modem died and when I called the support line, the recording said that I could get faster service if I reported the outage online. WTH? Did that really make sense to the CSM that wrote the script? It also took over 4 minutes just to get through their phone tree to reach a live person. I feel your pain, Chris!

People – you optimize your website. Now take it a step further and look at the top reasons customers are calling your support line. Pick up the phone and pretend you're one of those customers and navigate your own phone tree. See how much pain it causes you and fix it.
http://twitter.com/steveames Steve Ames

Phil, how much?

We're really at the mercy of the large corporation, aren't we.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Montgomery/516944536 Kevin Montgomery

Chris,
My apple died while I was on the road. i used it everyday to upload videologues live from the road. I went to a shop in Belfast and he said the logic board was gone.
Short story-I called apple. I never buy the warranty on any product I buy. My belief is that a product should work, and if it doesn't…..the company should replace it.
I was told it was six months out of warranty, and since I did not have applecare that there was nothing they could do.
I'm a musician…..with videos on CMT, GAC, VH1 Country…….Top of the Pops 2, and was on a tour doing press everywhere. I explained that I needed my laptop that I paid for………..to help me do my work, and that I “loved” Apple, and wanted to “continue saying nice things about Apple in the press”………..
Basically, I went through three different levels of people at Apple, and finally was told that they would not fix my computer for free.
I asked the lady to repeat that she could not and would not be able to help me, and then i hung up the phone on her.
I got a call back in 15 minutes from “Fred” at Apple that said he had heard the whole story, and wanted to see if they could “work something out with me”……………which they did. A few days later I took it into the Apple store in Nashville and they fixed it for free.
Moral-be the squeeky wheel. With your social media influence……you should be able to get it done quickly. Remember though……the key is to be nice, and positive about the company while letting them know that you are unhappy and have a bugle to spread the word to the masses.
Good luck,
Kevin
http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Montgomery/516944536 Kevin Montgomery

Chris,
Oh, the next story that comes to mind is my power chord for my Macbook Pro melted near the “brains” of the adapter………..I called them and they said there was a six week wait on the chord.
Again, I explained that was not acceptable, and very nicely said it almost burned my house down.
i got my chord the next day in the mail.
Apple can be cracked.
Kevin
http://twitter.com/bluehelmmustard Chad Mustard

I'm surprised that Apple hasn't commented on this post yet to quell the negative comments. Your blog is a pretty big one to ignore. Even a “progressive” company like Apple still doesn’t really get the power of social media.

If you want great customer service get a Dell. I had a problem with my computer and they sent a person to my office to fix it. They were in and out within an hour and my computer has run perfectly ever since.
http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

Once more, you've told me: 'drive to the store, go to a counter, check in, and see if they'll service you.' Did we have the AT&T commercials in the 1980s?
http://twitter.com/SoftwareCritics Software Critics

I'm an advocate of great customer service as I had been in the industry for quite sometime though not with Apple but pushing a loyal customer over the phone to go online and file an appointment is a lame excuse of doing what they are supposed to do. No wonder why some companies fail due to poor customer service especially on the front line end. They should have a back-end system to file the concern without you (the customer) requiring to do it online yourself or at least they should have done it for you instead with you over the phone discussing your problem. If it should have been done that way, then there would be no time wasted. Everybody's happy, they keep your business.
http://www.patrickomalley.com/ Patrick OMalley

Microsoft Windows is much worse. My Windows machines get slow after a year of use, and the warranty has long run out, so I would now have to pay for someone to tell me to reboot, clear the cache, and they don't know what the problem is (with an Indian accent).

Try a Windows PC for a couple of years, and you'll be begging for your Apple.
http://www.kaplancopy.com/blog Jodi Kaplan

Well, the monitor on my iMac turned green (for the second time) several months ago. I called, got a person right away, and he suggested I bring it in. I explained I live in NYC (no car) and schlepping the iMac to the store (and down the stairs) would be very difficult.

He said, oh, that's OK, WE”LL SEND SOMEONE! I nearly fell over.

And they did!!! I didn't even have to go to the store. They sent a tech to fix it. FOR FREE. And, he came back twice (didn't have the right part the first time), installed a new cable (which was the problem) and gave me a new screen. The service was fantastic!
http://www.carriewriterblog.com/ carrie

I've had the same experience with Apple being not great on the phone, but an entirely different story once you “do it their way” and make the appointment, or show up with your computer in person when they're not busy. This has been true both on east and west coasts. Recently, my “logitech board” died which is why I could not boot up. I brought it into the store, (Palo Alto), they shipped my laptop to their factory in Tennessee, and fixed it good as new in about a week. Since it took longer then the written estimate, the service manager didn't even charge me, and he called me twice to advise me of the status. That was impressive, and says to me they are consciously working on customer service, but I agree, it's a concept in progress.
http://www.damongudaitis.com/ Damon

Find an authorized reseller. They usually have staff qualified to do warranty repairs and they're a lot easier to deal with than Apple.

On a side note, the Genius Bar is an amazing piece of cruelty. Look! there are three people just a couple of feet away who can solve your problems, but you've got to go home and make an appointment if you want to talk to one of them.

Did you know all Apple Store staff are issued iTaser attachments for their iPhones just to prevent unauthorized contact with a genius?
http://www.christinakatz.com/ Christina Katz

I felt this same way today trying to get a real human being to talk to me at two airlines. The number of hoops on the phone tree was ridiculous. I was swearing at recorded messages by the time I was almost to the real people. How's that going for the customer service employees they do have??? Sometimes, when I'm teaching, I ask my students to cut me slack. I ask because I believe that most of the rest of the time I'm delivering extremely high quality stuff for them as a teacher. So they cut me the slack I ask for. I don't ask very often. But I'm human, for goodness sakes. What they are doing at the airlines however isn't asking for my patience, it's inviting my inner Medusa to go ballistic on them. I try really hard not to swear at people in person or online (and Chris, I think your GFY is a tad over the top) but, who knows, any day now, I might slip. :)
http://detroit.fwix.com Jamie Favreau

Well that would make me nuts too. If your computer is dead then how can you get support online? Which makes absolutely no sense!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Aries-Lukman-Tasmin/590624504 Aries Lukman Tasmin

Hi Chris, I live in a country where most of the company don't care about their customers and when the customers started to complain, they don't know how to handle the complain.

Just recently we got a case where a former patient in an International hospital here got arrested because of an e-mail that she wrote due to the poor serviced that she experienced from this hospital. How foolish was that! That's not how you handle complaint… I bet if Apple sees this article from you, they would try to fix their services and maybe creating a smarter robot :P
http://twitter.com/JennyGuerrero Jenny Guerrero

Funny you posted this…The only way I can get my Mac out of sleep mode is to shut it off the bad way :(

I'm afraid I am going to have to give in to the “must book an appointment online”
Hope your issue is resolved & someone from apple sees this & finds a better solution than this online appointment nonsense (fingers crossed..on both hands*)
http://www.netnews54.com Benson

Actually Phil, it's pretty easy to get Dell to fix something as long as you paid for the extra warranty. My Inspiron's RAM slots fragged on me a year or so ago. I called Dell's customer support and after being on hold for a little while (yeah it sucked but they've got millions of customers so I'm willing to give them some slack) and being run through the standard talking points (yes I turned the computer off, yes I reset the RAM cards) they had me schedule an appointment with a technician.

The tech came to my office the next day and worked on my laptop while I kept plugging away on work-related stuff. I didn't have to take my computer to the Apple Store, the dude came to me, had my laptop in fighting shape within 90 minutes and the cost to me was zilch. I'd say that qualifies as pretty good service to me, especially for business travelers who need a fast turnaround.

I'll go back to lurking over in the corner now.
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http://www.facebook.com/people/Benoit-Octave/593834327 Benoit Octave

Hello boy,
I got a similar problem last year and went straight to an Apple store in Orlando… Problem fixed 30 minutes later… Why bother with customer service online or on the phone since you'll have to go and show your Mac to a store anyway… ??? And no need to “befriend” a Mac Genius;)
http://www.pacD.tv/ Jeff

I'm sorry I don't work there any more. YOu could have called my cell…..
http://janpedrano.blogspot.com janpedrano

jjajjaj, hilarious Chris! , specially the “GFY” part. I'm pretty sure that a couple of Apple people are going to go nuts after they find this post, LOL!
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http://twitter.com/wheeldog Zed

REALLY? Book appts. ONLINE? You know, I want a Mac, really bad. I have an iPod but I didn't buy it, it was a gift.
And now you have scared me a bit. Why would I spend 1500.00 on the laptop I want if , when it won't work, I have to go to the library to get online to book an appt? If I spend that kind of money on something NEW I want a 1 800 number to call and I want someone to pick up the phone PRONTO. Maybe I'll stick with HP
http://twitter.com/wheeldog Zed

Oh…and… the Mac store is way across town, in another town actually, and it's in this town center that you have to park a half mile away and walk. Seriously. I think I'll stick with my HP
http://blog.userglue.com/ Russ

I now share with you the horrendous treatment of me, by Apple when purchasing my iPhone–had THREE DUDS in a row.

http://is.gd/QQJ0

Couldn't believe an employee yelled at me, in store, in front of my kid.
edwardboches

I don't work for Apple, have owned one or two (or in case of iPhones and iPods four) of everything they make and have never had trouble with service, even when I didn't have the paid insurance thing. So I hope your experience is the exception. But since you have so much influence wanted to put in a plug for the brand. Besides the Mac Genius, their 99.00 dollar a year once a week private lessons are perhaps the greatest service a brand has ever created for its customers. Good for customer and smart for brand in building loyalty. Got my 78 year old Mom to become a Mac lover. A little off message here, and agree that service is more important than ever (especially in the age Twitter and blogs where anyone with a Mac, or even a PC for that matter, can influence perceptions about a brand. But there are culprits out there far worse than Apple.
http://www.copycraft.com/ Cory Rogers

I understand your frustration but I just had a really good experience with Apple.

Trackpad and keyboard had a short. Went on apple.com supplied my serial number. Setup a troubleshooting call, couldn't fix it over the phone and we don't have a Apple store in my area so they overnighted a box to me and they paid to have it sent next day to their Apple center in Houston. They got my laptop the next day, had it fixed and shipped back out the same day.
J.T.

Who only has access to ONE internet-capable computer? Talk about an artifact from the 1950s.

Hells bells, man. I'm a poor law student, yet I have my macbook, my old PC desktop, my girlfriend's macbook, and my blackberry available for net use on demand. Additionally, I have no fewer than five friends that would make their computer(s) available with a bit of notice. And let's not forget the homeless man's alternative: the public library.

Telephone operators belong in black-and-white movies, not in modern discussions of customer service. Don't be too hard on Apple. They can't be expected to appease every rotary-dialing Luddite out there. a-wink.
http://www.apxalarm.com/about/mission Burglar Alarms

Good post, but a bit brief. Should break it into parts and go into more details. That is what i feel. Any i like your post very much. Thanks for sharing and wishing you all the best. Keep blogging.
http://www.apxalarm.com/about/mission Burglar Alarms

Good post, but a bit brief. Should break it into parts and go into more details. That is what i feel. Any i like your post very much. Thanks for sharing and wishing you all the best. Keep blogging.
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Be There For Your Customers

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