OS and Software > All Things Macintosh > [rant] Apple Support Sucks

[rant] Apple Support Sucks

I've had no trouble getting the specific rep who worked on my computer on the phone (albeit, it's a ten minute process).
Try asking politely (or get a manager if you're not getting satisfaction).
IMHO (and I'm not trying to blindly defend them)...customer support is excellent and far and away above the level of any other major branded merchandise I've dealt with (try calling HP support with a printer question!)
If you're unsatisfied, write/call Apple.com headquarters...they'll reply and address your concerns.

reply to not
Apple does like to be vague on what the problem is.

reply to not
Actually I would prefer a call and I received excellent service the 6 times over the past 8 or so years I have dealt with them. Dell, Acer and Asus on the other hand...ooofff.

I would definitely write a complain letter if you are getting the run around.

reply to not
You are very over dramatic. I as have many others received nothing but top notch customer support. You want to know what bad customer service is really like? try dealing with Netgear support after 90 day warranty.
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reply to not
I can say, without a doubt, support is pretty awesome.

They refunded 100% of my money on an Apple RAID card after I'd had it for 18 months and it constantly failed on array rebuilds after a disk failure.

They made me jump through about 40 hoops-a-fire and replace the card 2 or 3 times. But, at the end of the day, they gave me my money back because that card was utter crap.

That there is pretty good service.

reply to not
You're doing it wrong . . .

reply to ke4pym
I'm sorry, but they aren't. I've actually had great success with Dell, HP, SonicWall, you name it. I guess their support is just geared towards idiots or something. When I call you and tell you what's wrong and you have the inability to duplicate and understand the issue and then can't even put me in touch with the behind the scenes engineers who can't duplicate things either, it's no excuse. Especially when a ton of people hare the same issue on your own Apple forums, I can duplicate the same issues on several systems with my eyes closed.

Apple is just vague when it comes down to actually accepting that something is wrong. They don't admit it and they skirt the situation, especially when it's one that's affecting a ton of people. It's their M.O. and how they work. Like I said, these people won't even email you with what they want to call you and say on the phone. Why? It's not confidential info... it's a "Well, the engineers want you to do this next." Great, put that isht into an email and send it to me. Oh, we can't do that... I can however call you and tell you on the phone? Like I said.. WTF?!

Also, their support staff, even team leaders do not know as much as they should. All they do is escalate your problem to the engineers who can't understand the issue either and basically come back with the... Um, it's just you. Really? Is that why everyone else has this same issue? Is that why I can go to an Apple Store and duplicate the same problem on their own hardware on display? Ya, but you're right... it's just me.

One day this way of doing business is going to bite Apple in the ass.

reply to not
IMO, Apple has some of the best support around. I group Apple's support with Canon, Amazon and Newegg (Amazon and Newegg for Customer Service).

Some of the other computer companies and computer parts companies that I have dealt with have such bad support that I cannot even begin to describe it. I could tell some stories that are actually scary.

I just had an issue with an iMac where it would not update. A Senior Advisor worked with me for days until he finally sent me to an Apple Store, and the young lady at the Genius Bar was fantastic and solved my problem. It was a breeze.

reply to not
Sonicwall and Dell are the worst of the worst. I had a SOHO2 and 3 that were mediocre at best. Sonicwall would take forever to respond to support requests and then when they finally respond do so with canned vomit that obviously showed they didm"t read the ticket. Then there is their fee schedule, charging for EVERYTHING. If I wanted to lease a firewall, I would lease a firewall. Sonicwall makes Symantec look like Lexus in terms of support and service.

Dell is another disaster. I had 2 servers, both with 24HR on site support. Never where they on-site in the next day and more often than not the tech would miss the appointment all together; no shows were commonplace. And Dell couldn't care less about leaving my machines down for more than a week at a time as they already had my money. Never again.

Best & worst computer tech support (consumers reports)
»news.consumerreports.org/electro···ews.html

No kidding and in that 2010 CR survey it wasn't even close. Apple was far and away superior, besting 2nd place Dell in desktops by some 30+ points and 2nd place Lenovo in notebooks by over 20 points (out of 100). Given my experience with Dell I'm surprised they made it out of the single digits.

reply to not

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Nothin' left to do but smile smile smile

Microsoft Support? Isn't that Oxymoron? Microsoft does not have support unless you are willing to pay $500/hr for someone to just listen to you for an hour before you run out of Mortgage... lol

Forget that Smelly Company called d3LL

And if it is an OEM machine, the OEMs tell you to call Microsoft and Microsoft tells you to call the OEM. I had that happen with Dell too...pawning me off on Microsoft when it is clear that Dell as the OEM is supposed to provide OS support.

reply to skeechan

reply to not

reply to not
This has never been my experience with Apple support, but on the other-hand I haven't had many reasons to call them. When I have it's always been a Polite, Professional, and Timely experience.
Maybe you're projecting a know it all attitude that's turning them off. I know when I run into that sort of thing I have a tendency to be a lot less helpful ...
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Not many people know this, but I happen to be quite famous...

reply to kitsune

said by kitsune
There are a number of reasons why tech companies don't allow their advisors to send instructions via email (Apple is not the only one). Main reason is that if the tech that sends it to you, sends along instructions that are not endorsed by the company it could possibly come back and haunt them. Not to mention, not all customer are as tech savvy as you are. As a matter of fact most that call in for support are not and if the instructions sent are not good enough they could possibly make the situation worse. If there is a public facing article that they can send you with the instructions they will do so happily. As for the tech not answering the phone when you call, that's easy, they are already on the phone. They are an inbound call center and have to take phone calls. They can't very well tell the customer they are currently talking with "Could you please hold while I answer this other line to deal with another customer." If they did that to you, that's what you would be complaining about here. The same thing pertains to them calling you back at the appointed time. If they are already on the phone with another customer they can't just hang up with them to call you.
[/BQUOTE :

I get the instructions part, but a few of the calls have been nothing more than "OK, what did engineering say?" Great, thanks, I'll get back to you once I have the rest of their request together. That's not them wanting to make sure nothing gets messed up. That's them not wanting to put what they say in writing for feat that it'll come back and bite them for some reason. As a side note, they also don't and WILL NOT provide the customer with ANY notes on ANY case they've opened. They will not release those notes to the customer. That's legal guardianship right there, nothing more.

reply to not quite right