Hi
It is nice to see the good comments about the Apple customer service, I am not sure why they went so wrong in India.
I have recently faced some problem with the iPhone 3G, 16GB, and was totally frustrated with how the customer service have behaved. Please let me know if there is a way to resolve my problem. This is the first Apple product I have purchased, I respect Apple as a company, and I don?t want that this should become the last Apple product I ever bought.
Last month my iPhone got immersed in water and it stopped working. I took it to the Vodafone store (sector-18, Noida, India) on 26th June, 2009. The customer service executive called the service centre and confirmed to me that water locked repairs are not covered in warranty and it may take upto INR 10000 to repair this. I agreed to make this payment. I was told that phone will go to Bangalore, and I will get it maximum within 3 weeks. I was told that I will be informed about the status.
Surprisingly no one called me for 3 weeks.
I went to the Vodafone store, Sector-18, Noida on 18th July, and there I got my one of the most frustrating customer experience. I have sent the mail to Vodafone and apple in which I have mentioned the names of executives, I am not writing the names in public forum.
First they simply kept on waiting me for about 1 hours. After repeated reminders they started looking into the matter. First I was told that phone has not yet come from Bangalore, and it will take time, I should contact them again. I insisted to check the status and tell me the date when I should check. Then they tried to check something, and then told me that Water locked phone cannot be repaired in their apple service centre, and the phone came back from Bangalore on 3rd July itself !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now this is the height.
If water locked phone are not repaired in India, then why they have told me that it will be repaired (after talking to service centre).
If phone came back on 3rd July itself, then why they have not informed me till 18th July ??? In this duration I received several calls from Vodafone for reminding me about the bill payment, and for getting a new connection etc.. I am not sure why they were not able to call me to inform about the status of my phone ??????
Then, the executive told me that if I pay him Rs. 10000, then he will get it repaired from grey market shops. This is another height !!!!!!!!!!!! Vodafone is the authorized centre where we are supposed to get the phone repaired, their executive is saying they cannot get it repaired in the authorized centre, if I pay him money then he will get it repaired from non-authorised shop ???
Should I give him my expensive iPhone to get it repaired from grey market shop ??? It was one of the most expensive phone available in Indian market at that time, I purchased it for about US$800
The ordeal is not yet over. He returned the iphone to me without asking me to sign on the customer repair request form. I asked him to give me the customer request form, so that I can take the photocopy which I can show to apple. Surprisingly, He behaved in a very unprofessional way, and refused to give me customer request form. I told him that I have not yet accepted the iphone back by signing on the form, hence he should return the form to me. He simply refused, seems like he wanted to destroy all the records about the iPhone coming for repair. They gave me the photocopy only when I refused to move out of the store.
I asked them how to escalate the issue, I was told that there is no process to escalate and they cannot give me any contact number where I can talk. So, customer is simply left at the mercy of such executives, or write their frustration in several internet blogs etc..
My question to Apple and Vodafone is:
- Can I get my phone working now, or should I forget about it.
- Can they do something to improve the customer experience at their customer service counters. Whenever I have gone to Vodafone store, I have seen someone fighting to get their genuine work done.
Regards,
Umesh
It is nice to see the good comments about the Apple customer service, I am not sure why they went so wrong in India.
I have recently faced some problem with the iPhone 3G, 16GB, and was totally frustrated with how the customer service have behaved. Please let me know if there is a way to resolve my problem. This is the first Apple product I have purchased, I respect Apple as a company, and I don?t want that this should become the last Apple product I ever bought.
Last month my iPhone got immersed in water and it stopped working. I took it to the Vodafone store (sector-18, Noida, India) on 26th June, 2009. The customer service executive called the service centre and confirmed to me that water locked repairs are not covered in warranty and it may take upto INR 10000 to repair this. I agreed to make this payment. I was told that phone will go to Bangalore, and I will get it maximum within 3 weeks. I was told that I will be informed about the status.
Surprisingly no one called me for 3 weeks.
I went to the Vodafone store, Sector-18, Noida on 18th July, and there I got my one of the most frustrating customer experience. I have sent the mail to Vodafone and apple in which I have mentioned the names of executives, I am not writing the names in public forum.
First they simply kept on waiting me for about 1 hours. After repeated reminders they started looking into the matter. First I was told that phone has not yet come from Bangalore, and it will take time, I should contact them again. I insisted to check the status and tell me the date when I should check. Then they tried to check something, and then told me that Water locked phone cannot be repaired in their apple service centre, and the phone came back from Bangalore on 3rd July itself !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now this is the height.
If water locked phone are not repaired in India, then why they have told me that it will be repaired (after talking to service centre).
If phone came back on 3rd July itself, then why they have not informed me till 18th July ??? In this duration I received several calls from Vodafone for reminding me about the bill payment, and for getting a new connection etc.. I am not sure why they were not able to call me to inform about the status of my phone ??????
Then, the executive told me that if I pay him Rs. 10000, then he will get it repaired from grey market shops. This is another height !!!!!!!!!!!! Vodafone is the authorized centre where we are supposed to get the phone repaired, their executive is saying they cannot get it repaired in the authorized centre, if I pay him money then he will get it repaired from non-authorised shop ???
Should I give him my expensive iPhone to get it repaired from grey market shop ??? It was one of the most expensive phone available in Indian market at that time, I purchased it for about US$800
The ordeal is not yet over. He returned the iphone to me without asking me to sign on the customer repair request form. I asked him to give me the customer request form, so that I can take the photocopy which I can show to apple. Surprisingly, He behaved in a very unprofessional way, and refused to give me customer request form. I told him that I have not yet accepted the iphone back by signing on the form, hence he should return the form to me. He simply refused, seems like he wanted to destroy all the records about the iPhone coming for repair. They gave me the photocopy only when I refused to move out of the store.
I asked them how to escalate the issue, I was told that there is no process to escalate and they cannot give me any contact number where I can talk. So, customer is simply left at the mercy of such executives, or write their frustration in several internet blogs etc..
My question to Apple and Vodafone is:
- Can I get my phone working now, or should I forget about it.
- Can they do something to improve the customer experience at their customer service counters. Whenever I have gone to Vodafone store, I have seen someone fighting to get their genuine work done.
Regards,
Umesh
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