I am sitting here listening to Arlo Guthrie's "Alice Restaurant" as I write this tale of woe...the song seems an appropriate epic song to enjoy as I share the sad tale of my defunct Apple IPOD Touch. As luck would have it, my new favorite toy which I acquired this past March (2011) gave up the ghost, ceased working less than 24 hours after the passing of Steve Jobs.
Having the extended AppleCare Protection Plan, with tears in my eyes, I got on the phone and called Apple Tech Support knowing they would resolve my problem for me as they had always done in the past. After sitting around on hold for close on too 20 minutes I was connected to someone in tech support who walked me through various attempts to resuscitate my beloved IPOD Touch, but alas, it was not to be, the technician basically informing me that my IPOD Touch was dead, the music on it (that unfortunately was not synched to my new laptop) gone.
The good news in this tragic story is they would be sending out a pick up request, and once they received my dearly loved IPOD, they would be sending me out a brand new working one. The tag was supposed to be here last Friday, and today or tomorrow I should have had my new replacement IPOD Touch...the keywords in that sentence being SHOULD HAVE.
Enter Murphy's Law (being nice) or blame it on an inept employee, as of today, October 12, 2011 I am still waiting on said pick up tag, so I took it upon myself to get on the phone, sit on hold again for close on too 20 minutes to check on the status of my repair ticket. A nice friendly female voice finally gets on the line, and after explaining to her the entire story in four part harmony she asks if she can transfer me to someone else that can help me in resolving the problem with my repair order.
Enter one Brett Shaff in Apple's Customer Support Center...After a wait of around five minutes, I was transferred to this gentleman, and again in four part harmony explained the situation to him. He asked a few questions, and after giving him the ticket number he tracked down the root of the problem...for whatever reasons, the person who wrote up the original ticket has put a hold on it as the computerized system Apple uses was unable to verify my address...although Brett did verify that the address they had was 100 percent CORRECT. Brett was also somewhat surprised that no one (either by email or phone) had gotten back to me to resolve this problem or glitch, and told me he was going to see what he could do to expedite a resolution to the situation for me.
More time on hold...Brett comes back and informs me that his phone call was fruitless, and he was told to send a recap of the problem via email to his contact IN INDIA! As you can imagine, I was not finding much solace in knowing my customer service issue was now getting more convoluted and international in scope. I give Brett credit...he did his best, tried really hard, but the bottom line was simple, "I would not be seeing my IPOD Touch today, tomorrow, or for that matter any time this week.
Not satisfied, I contacted Apple Corporate Headquarters where after again being put on hold I was passed through to one RW (that's right, I was not given a real name, just initials) who asked me to let him look into the issue for me, as he wanted me to again be a happy Apple camper. This said, he put me on hold...something that would occur numerous times during my conversation with him as he researched and sought out answers and solutions.
The bottom line according to RW was simple...Apple made a mistake, and he would be issuing a new call tag, sending me out the pickup box that should have been in my hands last Friday. IF EVERYTHING GOES RIGHT he informed me, I would have my laptop before the end of next week...that's right, the Apple IPOD Touch I was supposed to have today or tomorrow might be here by the end of next week IF I AM LUCKY.
At this point, I have some three hours of time invested in this process, and even assuming no further errors or mistakes on the part of Apple, I will be able to wash my hands of this sad tale sometime next week with a time investment of about four hours worth of angst and frustration. Perhaps it is just pure chance, but never in all my involvements with Apple during the Steve Jobs years did I have these kinds of problems with Apple Customer Support. Let's hope my experience this time around is an exception to the rules, rather than a insight of things to come. I have to admit here, that the Apple IPAD I am coveting, have been saving up for needs perhaps some more consideration...RW said he would be contacting me next week to see if I got my new IPOD, and make sure it was working properly, and at that point in time would see what Apple could do to restore my confidence in the company...I will keep everyone posted on the progress of that conversation.
Having the extended AppleCare Protection Plan, with tears in my eyes, I got on the phone and called Apple Tech Support knowing they would resolve my problem for me as they had always done in the past. After sitting around on hold for close on too 20 minutes I was connected to someone in tech support who walked me through various attempts to resuscitate my beloved IPOD Touch, but alas, it was not to be, the technician basically informing me that my IPOD Touch was dead, the music on it (that unfortunately was not synched to my new laptop) gone.
The good news in this tragic story is they would be sending out a pick up request, and once they received my dearly loved IPOD, they would be sending me out a brand new working one. The tag was supposed to be here last Friday, and today or tomorrow I should have had my new replacement IPOD Touch...the keywords in that sentence being SHOULD HAVE.
Enter Murphy's Law (being nice) or blame it on an inept employee, as of today, October 12, 2011 I am still waiting on said pick up tag, so I took it upon myself to get on the phone, sit on hold again for close on too 20 minutes to check on the status of my repair ticket. A nice friendly female voice finally gets on the line, and after explaining to her the entire story in four part harmony she asks if she can transfer me to someone else that can help me in resolving the problem with my repair order.
Enter one Brett Shaff in Apple's Customer Support Center...After a wait of around five minutes, I was transferred to this gentleman, and again in four part harmony explained the situation to him. He asked a few questions, and after giving him the ticket number he tracked down the root of the problem...for whatever reasons, the person who wrote up the original ticket has put a hold on it as the computerized system Apple uses was unable to verify my address...although Brett did verify that the address they had was 100 percent CORRECT. Brett was also somewhat surprised that no one (either by email or phone) had gotten back to me to resolve this problem or glitch, and told me he was going to see what he could do to expedite a resolution to the situation for me.
More time on hold...Brett comes back and informs me that his phone call was fruitless, and he was told to send a recap of the problem via email to his contact IN INDIA! As you can imagine, I was not finding much solace in knowing my customer service issue was now getting more convoluted and international in scope. I give Brett credit...he did his best, tried really hard, but the bottom line was simple, "I would not be seeing my IPOD Touch today, tomorrow, or for that matter any time this week.
Not satisfied, I contacted Apple Corporate Headquarters where after again being put on hold I was passed through to one RW (that's right, I was not given a real name, just initials) who asked me to let him look into the issue for me, as he wanted me to again be a happy Apple camper. This said, he put me on hold...something that would occur numerous times during my conversation with him as he researched and sought out answers and solutions.
The bottom line according to RW was simple...Apple made a mistake, and he would be issuing a new call tag, sending me out the pickup box that should have been in my hands last Friday. IF EVERYTHING GOES RIGHT he informed me, I would have my laptop before the end of next week...that's right, the Apple IPOD Touch I was supposed to have today or tomorrow might be here by the end of next week IF I AM LUCKY.
At this point, I have some three hours of time invested in this process, and even assuming no further errors or mistakes on the part of Apple, I will be able to wash my hands of this sad tale sometime next week with a time investment of about four hours worth of angst and frustration. Perhaps it is just pure chance, but never in all my involvements with Apple during the Steve Jobs years did I have these kinds of problems with Apple Customer Support. Let's hope my experience this time around is an exception to the rules, rather than a insight of things to come. I have to admit here, that the Apple IPAD I am coveting, have been saving up for needs perhaps some more consideration...RW said he would be contacting me next week to see if I got my new IPOD, and make sure it was working properly, and at that point in time would see what Apple could do to restore my confidence in the company...I will keep everyone posted on the progress of that conversation.
