Apple - rubbish customer service (warning long and ranty)

[MollieO]

Ds dropped his 3 day old Ipod touch 4 today. From a height of about 2ft - I saw him do it. I didn't think anything of it until ds picked it up and started sobbing. The screen was shattered. I was surprised as I've had two iphones and dropped them from higher with no ill effects. The ipod was also in a protective case and it landed case side down (ie screen side up).

Booked an appointment today at the Genius Bar at Apple on Regent Street. The person I saw said he sees loads of these every day all with shattered screens. When I queried why they weren't as robust as iphones I was told that Apple sell loads every day and it didn't matter that they shattered so easily!

It will cost £82.50 for a replacement ipod. The screen cannot be fixed. The entire ipod has to be replaced. There is no other option. It is not covered by the warranty. There is no warranty I can buy that would cover it. The appointment was supposed to be for 10 mins. We were done in 2. The ipod couldn't be replaced in store because it has an engraving (from Father Christmas!). I have to send it off but he didn't know the details - he told me to check on the website!

His manner was so offhand that I thought I'd ask on my way out about giving customer feedback. I was introduced to a manager who confirmed everything he said but apologised for his manner.

I asked the manager about how I send the phone away for replacement, how long it would take etc. She said she didn't know as she had never known anyone do this.

I went to the store tonight to buy an Ipad as well as to sort out ds's ipod. I left empty-handed but with a conviction that I won't buy an Ipad and I won't replace my iphone with a new model when my contract is up next month.

The thing that surprises me most is there is no insurance I can purchase that will cover a cracked screen and Apple employees acknowledge that the Ipod Touch 4 is particularly fragile. I will pay to replace ds's this time but if it is dropped or damaged then that is it. That and the lack of helpfulf customer service means my relationship with Apple is at an end.

I still dont understand why if you paid £154 for it, then replacing the whole thing only costs £82.50?

Should add that clearly everyone else with broken engraved iPods exchange them for non engraved replacements. Even though apple did the engraving.

The store just called to apologise and also to confirm they have no clue about on line repairs. It maybe that I'm unlucky that every single contact I've had with Apple over this issue has been poor.

The store also said the info I'd been given by the online people was incorrect!

Store said that iPod touches, iPhone 4 and iPad are all sealed units and therefore cannot be repaired if the glass screen breaks. My next purchase definitely won't be an iPad or an iPhone. Simply can't afford it! Apple in the US do provide Apple Care Plus which includes accidental damage cover - up to two replacements in two years. Not available here and no info on any plans to introduce it here.

Cats the cost is the standard 'repair' charge whether or not they actually repair or replace.

"Should add that clearly everyone else with broken engraved iPods exchange them for non engraved replacements."

Not "clearly". Ours with the cracked screen has been replaced online with a new engraved one with the text originally chosen. I do not understand what is your problem with online repairs/replacements.

I am sorry you had bad experience with Apple, ours was excellent throughout the years...

My problem is the lack of knowledge - the information provided by the store was incorrect (according to the on line rep) and the information provided online was also incorrect (according to the store rep that called this afternoon). It's not rocket science. I doubt I am unique in going to the apple store in the expectation that my engraved Apple product can be repaired. Although, according to the manager I spoke to, I must be where the Regent St branch is concerned .

I can't fault apples customer service from my own experience - I dropped my iPhone that was 6 months old and smashed the screen and they replaced it for free. That said, it cost 4 times as much as a touch. Protectyourbubble does gadget insurance, I have never used this company and only know them from their advertising. However they do seem to cover accidental damage from looking at their site and cover for an 8gb touch is £3.76 a month so may be worth looking at in future.

It's a shame you feel so let down by their service. Not sure you'd be as disappointed if say PCWorld had given you duff advice. Or Comet/Currys.

Thing is, they are such big organisations that you are bound to get some members of staff whom are not totally clued up or lack customer service skills.

One things for sure though....i won't be getting any products engraved!

Lastly, before you swear blindly off Apple products consider what sort of response you'd have got if you had purchased say a SGS2 or a HTC phone? Would you have a HTC/Samsung store to return it to? Would your local Phones4U be able to replace your phone or would they send it off too?

You are holding Apple to an extremely high level of customer service which you have every right to do. But don't forget that this is not available with others either.

Thanks smaths. I'll have a look at that and see what they cover. I could have bought a payg Iphone for £400 but thought that was a ridiculous amount of money to pay for a child, however we are now at £250 for one Ipod! The big difference being the phone would have been covered on my bank account so having it broken wouldn't have cost any extra and it could have been used as a phone in a few years when ds is old enough to have one.

niceguy I can 'forgive' the lack of customer care it is the lack of knowledge that I didn't expect especially from someone at manager level. Even the person who called me to follow up on the online 'how did we do' survey I was emailed and completed gave me different advice to that I'd got in store and over the phone from the online section.

No one I spoke to sounded as if they knew what they were talking about. Contrast that with the other gadget in my life - my Kindle. Amazon's customer service and product knowledge was absolutely faultless. To the point that I will recommend a Kindle to everyone I know!

I'm off Apple products because I can't afford to buy something that seems to be particularly fragile (Apple have acknowledged that the Ipod touch 4 screen is thinner) and yet offer no insurance for accidental damage in the UK but do in the US. I'm not technical but I don't understand the lack of robustness in a product that is designed to be portable. I find BBs clunky but they seem to be impossible to break!

*DoesntChristmasDragOn Thu 29-Dec-11 09:35:57

"and in answer to the frankly dumb question, depends on the glass/mug, "

So, given that you admit it depends on the glass/mug it was not a dumb question was it? Do try not to be rude. It depends on the item you've dropped and how it lands.*

There are many different types of glass and china, electrical devices have tougher glass then a glass, also shatter proof verities and the like, you can't compare them to the contents of your kitchen cupboard, just as you wouldn't compare your windscreen to your crystal decanter.

*An iPod touch is an expensive, delicate item. It is not encased in a large plastic surround like a DS Lite so that comparison is really not applicable (besides, DS2 threw his down the stairs and the hinge broke so they are certainly not indestructible) As a iPod is so thin with so little protection it is always going to be vulnerable to breaking if you drop it. You are lucky if it doesn't break, not unlucky if it does.

I have no idea what a "creative" is.*

Creative are the masters of digital sound since 1981, chances are you have had a PC or something at some point with their chipset in it, they pretty much saturated the market and because the industry standard for PC sound in the late 90's - 00's.

Heres some reading for you
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Technology
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_ZEN

The DS is not a toy and it has a touch screen thats just as vulnerable as any other just as my Creative Zen Vision M has, just as my Samsung Tocco has, just as my PSP does, just as DPs HTC does and his Creative Zen and his Archos 5 etc etc.

Never broken anything with a screen on it in my life and god knows I've had a lot of things with screens on.

Well we've been given different advice as well just to add to the confusion.

I broke DS's i-pod touch 3 weeks ago...he was messing about with it when he was meant to be getting ready for bed and I took it off him and put it on the worktop. As I put it down it caught the glass on our hob and the bottom half of the screen shattered. DS absolutely heartbroken as am I because I did it! DH called Apple and was told on the phone to go into Genius Bar at our nearest store which is 25 miles away and they'd be able to sort it out for us...when DH asked what they'd do he was told either send it of for repair or replace it (it's 5 months old).

In the meantime he's actually been using it as it all still works but the on/off switch thing at the top(not very technical but Im sure you know what I mean!) is playing up and sometimes it won't turn on.

Anyway we make an appointment to see Genius Bar who tells us they can replace the screen at a cost of £61 (which is completely different to what you have been told) but cannot do anything about the other problem at all because once the screen cracks the warranty is no longer valid. So we could pay £60 to have the screen repaired and then still not have a fully working i-pod.

At the moment we've done nothing but am going to give Apple a call in the new year and see what they say...but just wanted to let you know that we've been given completely different information and they can apparently repair a screen.

Is your iPod touch a 4g version? The one with the camera? They changed the screen on the latest and bonded it to the glass. Ptevious ones you can repair the screen easily.

DD managed to smash her Ipod 4g within a few weeks of having it and ended up having to pay £100 for the repair/replacement.
However we are having a new problem with apple. On the replacement the main button at the bottom stopped working, took it back and they replaced it again. However DS noticed the same thing started happening with his. They wouldn't look at it at the same appointment so had to take it back under a new appointment. DS was out of the 1 year warrently but we felt that it was not fit for purpose and an inherant fault because it was the same fault as DDs.Apple said they have a leeway of 45 days on warranties but we were on something like 49 days
We have spoken to Which who feel we have a case, so have signed up to their legal service so will be persuing Apple with their help.

That's interesting niceguy. Yes it is the 4 version. Honestly puts me off buying a new iphone. I had thought it was a great idea because of face time. I travel a lot and liked the idea of being able to talk to and see ds when I'm away. He would struggle with Skype unless there was someone who could help him (which his grandma wouldn't be able to). Just seems a money spinner for Apple to change the screen to one that can't be replaced.

bruffin I think that the Ipod 4 definitely isn't robust enough for every day use when I compare it to my two iphones and the countless BBs I've had (loads of BBs as work seems to upgrade me to the latest model whether I want it or not). I'm with Which too so may well contact them to see whether others have reported the same issue.