I recently visited the Apple store to exchange a defective power adapter which was still under warranty. I still have the defective adapter, as it has now cost more time and effort than it was originally worth.
What I have lost is time, money, and trust in the ethics of the retail store. What I have gained is disdain for their tactics and a sick feeling every time I hear “Apple Store.”
Why don’t I just dump my MacBook Pro and go with a PC? Because my employer uses Mac-based programs and hardware and I don’t see my building replacing 300+ machines any time soon. Whether “fanboy” or “hater,” my use of Apple products for work will change very little. However, my personal purchase plans have already changed and I hope others might be spared some of the inconvienience and inepttude I experienced in my last visit:
Rather than complete a simple warranty exchange, they want me to make an appointment to drive back to the store to exchange a defective power adapter that is well within the one-year warranty. Seriously. They actually wanted to put me on “Standby” and expected me to hang around for 2-3 hours in case a “genius” became available to evaluate my power adapter and determine why it doesn’t work.
I don’t really care why it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. My warranty says that it should work (for at least 5 more months). It doesn’t work.
After skipping us and having a lengthy conversation with two other people, the concierge finally addressed us. I showed her the power adapter and the receipt. She asked if I had my MacBook Pro with me, though it was obvious that I did not. She then said that the service department would need to attach the power adapter to the machine to see whether the problem was with the adapter or the laptop. I told her that I have already done that and that all other appropriate power adapters can be used to both power and charge the laptop, but the defective adapter does not work to charge the battery on other laptops.
She was clearly confused by this and circled us to get to her scheduling computer, where she entered my name and email address. She then told me that she could schedule a time for me to come back to the store – two days later to have a “genius” evaluate my adapter. She also explained that she has taken the liberty of putting me on “standby” in case there is a no-show or the “geniuses” get ahead and can work me in.
Seriously? I have a defective item that is under warranty. (I didn’t have to make an appointment to purchase the adapter.) They don’t even have to look it up in the big ‘ole database – I also have the receipt. I have placed the defective item, the receipt, and the original paperwork, inside the original (and quite perfect) packaging. All they have to do is go find a box that looks just like this here purty box and switch ‘em. Heck, I’d even sign my name on one of those little ‘ole return forms that some of those not-very-customer-friendly chains require – I’m not difficult.
I didn’t even say any of the stuff in the paragraph above. Instead, I said that it seems ludicrous to go through all of that just to exchange a defective item that is clearly under warranty.
The concierge double-checked with her manager and then explained to me that a power adapter needs to be fully evaluated by an Apple Genius because “the service department has parts” and they need to look at it because “they have the parts.” I reminded her that a power adapter does not have replaceable parts and that I don’t need to have it evaluated, just replaced. There is nothing to fix – they just need to exchange it. She told me that a “genius” would have to see it, since they have the service department and the parts.
On January 7, after reading the initial comments, this section is being set apart to add emphasis. I have no disagreement with a company that wants to check a device for misuse – I even say that further down. The part of the experience that was infuriating and unforgivable is here:
Again, I said that it is ridiculous to take this much time to replace a defective item that is under warranty and I turned to leave. She asked about scheduling a time with a genius and I told her (again!) that it is ludicrous to take this kind of time to make a warranty exchange.
As my husband and I tried to leave the store, she followed after us, asking if she could get her manager and whether I would talk to her manager. She then raised her voice, called out my name several times, and loudly asked whether I would be willing to talk to her manager.
Since our quiet discussion at the back of the store was being turned into a very public display in the middle of the store, we stopped and agreed.
Rather than exchange a defective power adapter, they wasted an amazing amount of time having a manager come out to explain to me that they need to evaluate the problem and fill out a report about the problem so Apple can see and correct the problem in future devices.
I asked why they need to perform this evaluation while the customer is in the store and she told me that if they just take an item off the shelf and exchange mine, the defective adapter will not go through the service department, but will just be thrown out and Apple can’t solve problems that way.
Seriously?!?!?
If you are a retailer and you have some kind of moronic policy on returns, at least give your customers the courtesy not to treat them like they are the morons. Maybe you are a cell phone company and you need to check the little magic strip to see whether I have dropped it in a toilet; Maybe you are a car dealer and you need to look for damage to the frame; or maybe you sell power adapters and you need to check to see whether my cat has chewed a hole in the wire or whether I dropped the connector into a cup of hot chocolate (yep, I did that once – different adapter – it still worked.) Whatever your needs, making up silly lines about the service guys having the right parts for your AC adapter or saying that the company needs to keep you there to determine the nature of the problem in order to save all future customers from this problem does nothing but show disdain and a total lack of respect for your customers – aka, your former customers.
The Apple Store at West Town Mall in Knoxville chose to let me walk out of the store with the defective device, rather than do the right (and SIMPLE) thing.
BTW, I wonder whether they consider the far-reaching effects of word-of-mouth. I really don’t want to get into a big, long formula, but a little simple addition of only our public social-networking contacts leaves this tale of customer couldn’t-care-less-ness reaching about 996 direct contacts on Facebook and Twitter. I have talked to enough co-workers to put this number well over 1,000.
I am hoping those 1,000 people tell their 1,000 contacts to avoid the West Town Apple Store (if they can’t avoid Apple all together!).
thats wrong. when i went in to get my mac looked at for a super drive replacement (with an appointment) they said i dropped it because there was a little scratch in the OPPOSITE corner and they wouldnt replace it. i had my power adapter with me that was working just fine, only i taped the clear plastic to it so it would stay looking new and the wires were exposed only a millimeter at the base. they saw that and immediately asked me if i wanted a new one. they opened a new box, took it out and gave it to me. they just put my old one in the box and threw it somewhere… yet they wouldn’t replace my super drive?
next time do what i do… go to an apple authorized repair center, not an official apple store. apple will pay the repair center for every repair made under warranty so they will fix your problem immediately. my super drive was fixed in 3 days at a repair center, it was covered under the warranty still, and i didnt pay a dime.
Apple is a great company, but the further away from Steve Jobs you get, the more the peon employees like to think they can harvest his power… its sad
Great points, TailS MeDiA! Thanks for the heads up on the Apple authorized repair center. As we were driving away, I asked my husband what he thought might have happened if I had taken it to another Apple reseller in town. I might still try that — just for fun.
Sounds like you tried to bring a product to the Apple Store for warranty service without making a Genius Bar appointment. While this was probably a misunderstanding between yourself and whatever retail employees you talked to, they were likely trying to schedule one of these appointments for you. Depending on when you came in, all the appointments could have been booked up for days in advance – it would have been unfair to OTHER customers who had booked an appointment to just squeeze you in somewhere, though it sounds like they put you in some standby line too just in case.
You can’t expect to walk into any retail store, grab a random employee, tell them “THIS DON’T WORK” (without expecting to test it for themselves, no less), and get a replacement automatically – you have to talk to the service and warranty people. In Apple Stores, that’s the Genius Bar. If you didn’t make an appointment, you probably aren’t going to get squeezed in that same day especially at a busy store.
Hi, Bryan. I never asked to be “squeezed in” and didn’t expect to be. I also wouldn’t expect to walk into a retail store and grab a random employee for a warranty problem! It is reasonable to expect to walk into a retail store, speak with a customer service person or a manager, and get some kind of reasonable answer.
I had no reason to take up the time of a Genius, who had hardware issues to deal with, when I only had a defective accessory.
I don’t want to throw water on your argument, and I agree that you should be able to leave the device for service, had your adapter been burned out by repeated use with a faulty power component in your laptop, replacing the AC adapter wouldn’t help.
As convoluted as their methods may seem, they really were trying to help. ANybody else that reads this might do well to take the laptop and the adapter in to their technician of choice for any power related problems.
Good luck with your future computer purchases, whatever platform or brand they may be.
As it states on apples website to get any service about warranty you need to schedule an appointment or call AppleCare. I hope your new pcs powercord doesn’t break, trying to get a replacement through those companies is even more of a headache.
Hi, George. Thanks for checking the website warranty info for me, but since this is just the power adapter, and it was purchased individually, it falls under “accessory” warranty, rather than “hardware” warranty.
Wow. Definitely sounds like a customer service nightmare. I’m an Apple fanboy, and I can’t even defend that. But as someone who has just recently come back to the Apple fold, I can tell you emphatically that the alternative is much worse. You won’t find better customer service with any PC company. Just don’t make a decision you’ll regret because of bad staff at an Apple store. Keep the faith!
Thanks, Joseph! I have been called an Apple fanboy quite often and have used Macs in my workplace for around 15 years, so I couldn’t give them up if I wanted to! The brick-and-mortar retail store is another story. I have talked to some hard-core fanboys (and fangirls) this week and some of them won’t walk through the doors of Apple store. I was really surprised.
I have also had experiences with some of the PC retailers, but I don’t want to lump them all together, as some of them are quite outstanding!
As for taking sides, I will continue to say that a computer is a computer and platform will continue to lose importance.
They did exactly that. The right thing. The accessory (and every other product) is under warranty for any problem comes up and is manufacturer’s fault. If the problem is caused by the buyer, it surely is not covered by the warranty.
So, what happened at the Apple Store, was just that. They wanted to check if the problem was caused by you or not. Maybe some coffee was spilled accidentally on it.
And instead of agreeing to that procedure which is the right one, you demanded that the part was replaced immediately! Following that logic, I could bring my iMac to the Store and demand a new one because it is under warranty and say, as you wrote above:
“I don’t really care why it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. My warranty says that it should work (for at least 5 more months). It doesn’t work.”
I wonder, if you had a company of any kind, would you replace the defective product without checking it first;
Thanks for your comments. I think your last sentence sums up the problem nicely: “defective product.”
I see apple tech support as calling a dr. Or mechanic. You could come in at a scheduled time, or wait until there is an available person to serve you. There’s only like, 5 of them working at a time, and all they’re trying to do is two things:
1. help you and everyone else that walls into the store in a timely manner.
2. Assess the issue the right way, to assure you that not only will they fix the problem, but also log the problems so they don’t happen again.
It’s almost as if people believe that they’re intentionally trying to ruin their days.
Thanks for your comments, Ricky. If I had been going in for tech support, I could see making an appointment, but I wasn’t there for tech support. If the Apple store wants to be an appointment only business, maybe they should reconsider having open storefronts in malls.
I had a similar experience and have since ditched my MacBook Pro. The webcam in my (under warranty) laptop died. I live about 2 hours from the nearest Apple Store, so I called to schedule an appointment with the “genius bar” to get it evaluated. Good thing I called, because they were totally booked up. For that day. And the next. And the next. In fact, they had no openings for as far ahead as they could schedule (which was less than a week), so I was told I would need to call back and try to schedule an appointment sometime in the future. That’s right. I basically now had an appointment to *make* an appointment.
Contrast this with my HP workstation. The PSU in it died. I called a 1-800 number. A very helpful, friendly person walked me through the standard qustions, confirmed it was a bad PSU, and said they would send a new one out at once. I had the replacement about 18 hours later and was back online. Same story for my Dell notebook when the LCD died. Why Apple has fanbois I will never know…
Hi Jennifer,
I can so relate to your experience. I had a similar experience with the Apple Store in London. I don’t even bother trying to get small products replaced with apple now, and simply purchase another one (otherwise it is simply too big a time waste). I do miss my Toshiba laptop from that perspective … hardly anything ever went wrong, and when it did, they replaced or fixed it very easily. Apple has a pretty cool laptop but their service is unbelievably bad.
Cheers,
Angela
Wow, most of you commenter must work at Apple. You don’t need the computer to check if a power supply is working.
You could hook it up to another mbp. You could plug into the wall and hook a multi meter up to it. If the power supply tests good, it’s the laptop that’s the problem. If the power supply tests bad, you swap it out for a new one. This isn’t exactly rocket science.
As for me, I’d have walked out of the store too. Sounds like the store used the old… lets cover up our lack of common sense, with we must follow company procedures excuse.