- - The Nexus of Substandard Quality Control and Disrespectful Customer Service
Animaniac 07-23-2007 06:11 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nexus of Substandard Quality Control and Disrespectful Customer Service
I'm posting to get my story out there. Given that there appears to be systemic poor treatment, I'm sure there are others out there who have had to deal with similarly disappointing service from Apple.
I purchased an iPhone on June 29. I absolutely loved the device. That is until I had to deal with Apple's substandard quality control and disrespectful customer service. After two weeks of use, I discovered air bubbles inside the screen. Clearly this is not a damage I could have caused, and I thought, "No problem, I'll just take it back." Little did I know that it wasn't going to be that easy.
I took the phone to a local Apple Store and showed them the defect. The mac genius saw the damage and was happy to replace it for me. I thought, "Sweet! This was easy." It was too easy. They opened a new replacement in front of me, and there were a number of scratches on the chrome. I expressed my disappointment, and the mac genius agreed that the damage was significant but he was not able to replace it with an undamaged phone. The scartches was "within spec." Really? For $600, I get a scratched up iPhone? Since when is a damaged product sold as new at Apple? Since when is a customer, a lifelong Apple customer, essentially told to "suck it up?"
I asked to speak with a manager and he comes over and hopes to get me to leave by being aggressive and intimidating. He says he doesn't see any damages, even though the scuffs are as plain as day. This is simply insulting to my intelligence. It shows a complete lack of respect for the customer. This iPhone may have come out of a new box, but it was clearly manhandled. I am told that all that can be done for me is to offer me a refund. So it comes to that? Instead of giving me an iPhone that meets a sensible quality standard, Apple would rather not have my business.
A week after returning the phone, the bad taste left in my mouth was still fresh, but I began to think that my awful experience at this particular Apple Store was just a fluke. Surely I would be valued as a customer at another Apple Store. With high hopes, I purchased a new iPhone at a different store. I still held my high expectations of Apple product quality, and I believed that I would be happy with my purchase. Again, I was wrong. As I take the phone out of the box, I accidentally hit the sleep/wake button bringing the iPhone screen to life. Before focusing on anything else on the screen, there stared at me a bright, green dead pixel. I usually don't mind a dead pixel, but this was like a pulsating, oozing zit on the screen. I think we would all agree that the screen is the most important part of iPhone. After paying $600, I'm not going to live with a defect in the primary component.
I had no choice but to take the phone back to the Apple store and hope that Apple would see to my satisfaction as a customer. The mac genius at this store hemmed and hawed about this being an issue. Again, since when does Apple decide what should make me, the customer, happy? Where's the spirit of customer service? Eventually the mac genius speaks to his manager. They "make an exception" for me and agree to replace it. I'm relieved and begin to again think that Apple is has high quality control, my experience is a statistical outlier. iPhone number four couldn't possibly have any issues!
Well, as you might have guessed, iPhone #4 was defective as well. This phone had the worst case of washed colors and white-dots. Even in the bright daylight of the Apple Store and the screen set at the default 50% brightness, the dots were clearly visible. This time, the mac genius clearly wants me to just leave, and he tells me that he doesn't see anything. That was a flat out lie. Again, thanks for caring what the customer thinks! Thanks for showing that you value my business! After pushing him further, I get to speak to the manager. This time she says that I either have to take the phone with the glaringly bright dead pixel or the phone with the white dots and poor colors. Since when is the customer, paying the full $600 for a phone, given an either-or choice between two defective models? Unbelievable. I wouldn't back down, and the manager then compared her iPhone with the one displaying white dots. The dots were obvious, but she claimed that she doesn't see a thing! She tells me that all LCDs are imperfect. What? Is this 1997 or 2007? I can get a perfectly pristine LCD monitor from Dell for the price of an iPhone!
It ends the same way. I'm told that I can get a refund. Apple would rather reject my money than allow me to purchase a defect-less iPhone. How arrogant could a company be? Does Apple no longer value customer service? It looks like Apple would rather lose business than provide a quality controlled product. Apple would rather disrespect an early-adopting customer than ensure his satisfaction. I've never seen such an egregious display of anti-customer behavior. Even Dell provides better quality control AND customer care! Imagine that! There's no reason for four phones in a row to be defective. There's no reason Apple costumer support should treat me with contempt! What's worse is that they simply don't care. Apple customer service is instructed to say that it's all "within spec." Well, Apple, if you're going to tell me to "**** off!" then back at ya. **** off, Apple. ****. OFF.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram