Apple customer service is outstanding!

So I recently bought my first MacBook which was a 2019 MacBook Pro 15 fully specced out with an i9-9980HK, 32GB RAM, Vega Pro 20, 4TB SSD. I thought since I a switching to Mac completely, might as well get the best of the best.

Yes I did hear the rumor about the MBP 16 and that was what I would've preferred because for me, my laptop is my main and only computer so the bigger the screen the better but I wasn't willing to wait for God knows when they actually release it.

1 month later, out of nowhere, the MBP 16 was released and immediately went on sale on Apple's site. I felt bad knowing that I just spent north of 7000 USD for a laptop that is now last gen and the MBP 16 has better a better graphics card, thermals, keyboard, speakers, mic, etc.

Anyway I just tried to ignore it and enjoy my MBP 15.

I then tried my luck calling Apple Customer Care in Dubai (I bought my MBP 15 from the US Apple Store) explaining the situation that I am a new Mac user and I feel bad about the situation. It's been 45 days now since I bought the MBP 15 so I was far off the return period. The customer service agent told me to contact Apple - USA as that's where I bought it from and they might make an exception.

I called Apple USA and explained the situation to the customer service agent who was very helpful and told me even they as employees were surprised with the sudden release of the 16 inch MBP it just popped up on their site suddenly and put me on hold for a few minutes.

She spoke with her manager and looking at the situation as to how I felt horrible spending so much money on my MBP 15 only for it to be yesterware in such a short time, they approved a full refund for my MBP 15 and didn't even charge me any restocking fees.

I then was able to order a new MBP 16 with BETTER specs (in terms of the GPU, I was able to get the Radeon Pro 5500M 8GB) and double the RAM to 64GB and it actually ended up being cheaper than my previous MBP 15!

I was just trying my luck with Apple but I was surprised to see this kind of customer service and understanding to my situation. I know Apple products are usually over-priced be it a phone or computer, but their customer service is superb!

 

First time owner gets good privileges in the States. They'll do anything to make a customer happy!
But don't believe the employee's words of not knowing MBP 16 since non-Apple and Macrumors already spilled the milk about MBP 16.
Keyboard, Display, Graphics(the most exciting one in recent years 5yrs+), bigger RAM and SSD are most welcome aspects.
The customer support here is horrible!

I think you're just lucky! Usually with me, whenever I buy a new PC/laptop/Phone etc.. new one with improved or revamped specs comes out next day with lesser price and usually I get NO! We can't accept used Goods/electronics.

 

Well, many of us were expecting the 16 to be released no doubt. It was just "delayed" in terms of when it was supposed to come out (rumors of course). There were many rumors and even code in the macOS updates depicting the 16.

However, I am glad they did this for you. That was a great offer for you. 45 days, I don't know of any other company that would have done that. Maybe Dell but probably only if your computer was a lemon lol

You did better than this lol: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/how-apple-refuses-to-fix-my-5000-macbook-pro.830596/

 

This is something Apple has done for many years. I haven't needed to use the service, but I have helped others request it from Apple, and Apple has done this every time. And yes this is in the US - right down the block from Apple HQ.

It's only supposed to be done for up to 30 days after your purchase, but most of the time Apple will honor a return / upgrade to the new model. Such new hardware can be "cleaned up" and resold as refurbished by Apple.

Outside of the few happy outcomes, there are plenty of nightmare scenarios posted on youtube about Apple Support, and websites that take complaints from Apple owners as Apple deletes them from their support forums:
https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-stores-suffer-from-customer-complaints-long-wait-time-2018-3
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.apple.com
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/computers/apple_store.html?#sort=recent&filter=none
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/computers/apple-macbook.html?#sort=recent&filter=none
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/computers/apple_iphone.html?#sort=recent&filter=none
https://apple.pissedconsumer.com/review.html

Going in to those nightmare scenarios Apple Support seems just as friendly and cheery all the way through until the sad drawn out outcomes arrive, so don't be fooled by Apple's well oiled support machine - it's not there to help you it's there to help Apple.

Read forums, reviews, watch videos and make yourself aware of problems early on so that you can either dump the product - or get it RMA'd by Apple through ways that have worked for others - or learn how to participate in class action lawsuits on consumers behalf - why it's important to read such postings so that you aren't blind sided by the problem down the road.

Also, seasonally Apple will push to get negative reviews and comments removed outside of their normal site controls to improve Holiday Sales:
https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/11/21/apple-pulls-all-customer-reviews-from-online-apple-store

So what I am saying is to know what Apple will help you with - stuff that doesn't cost them much and benefits them - and to keep your ear to the ground for owners reporting problems with your new Apple product that Apple may not be so kind in supporting.

It's easy to get consumed by the "Apple Reality Distortion Field", being aware enough to have rational thought while influenced by it is very difficult and takes years of practice and serious effort.

The Sneaky Ways Apple Stores Get You To Spend More Money
Dec 10, 2019
Business Insider
Apple stores were the most profitable retail stores per square foot in 2017.

Spoiler: more...

The design of its stores is a core part of Apple's brand. When you go to an Apple Store you can try out all of Apple's products like the iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or the iPad Pro with Apple Pencil. Using all of these devices keeps customers in the store for longer, and the longer customers spend with a product the more likely they are to purchase it. When you're ready to check out there are no lines and no cash registers. You can use Apple Pay or quickly check out with an employee. From the outside, the glass walls allow anyone walking by to look in and feel like they are missing out on something.

Apple is a leader in retail, but the smooth Apple Store experience might be changing. In the past year, there have been reports of long wait times and overcrowded stores. Apple might have to rethink its retail strategy if it wants to keep its store's reputation.

 

I agree Spartan, When my son was in his first year of university, he went to a party and destroyed his iphone 6s. We sent it back to apple after calling them to get a quote on a new screen. We agreed to the price, but then while on the phone with apple, the agent said your screen is covered no charge. Got the phone back which was a brand new phone since his was full of scratches on the back and the new one was NEW looking. Top notch service. Can't say the same for Asus however. which is why, while they have awesome looking devices with alot of features I want, I will never again buy an Asus product of any kind. While in the warranty period of my vivotab RT three of them developed ghost touch issues, and asus did nothing.

 

Small world, Apple did the same for my daughter's iPhone. They pulled me aside and said they can do this only one time, so here's a case for your daughters phone - and I told her she needed to protect her phone or it's going to get expensive to support her iPhone habit.

There are some things that Apple will do that are great. There are far more things that Apple screws up and refuses to take responsibility for and many people get hurt. Apple usually comes around, but there's a long turn time and you can waste a lot of time and money waiting for Apple to figure it out.

Overall Apple products are overpriced, under-powered, and not worth the potential trouble for what you pay as a normal person.

Can you own them and live with them? Sure, but there are more cost effective alternatives.

As a single person supporting yourself I always recommend owning more than one computer / laptop that can handle your workload, and rotate using them to even out the wear. If you can afford it, have 3 computers - leaving one up and one configured as a spare.

That's the worst part of owning a failing Apple Computer, it's so expensive you can only afford one at a time, and when it goes wonky, you're out of luck - any downtime for repair is time you can't use your main computer.

IMHO, if you can only afford one Apple Computer, buy 2 or 3 PC's.

 

Well bad news man, there was a little bottle of water next to my MacBook and my 3 year old daughter was playing with a ball, she threw the ball at me and the bottle spilled on the laptop's keyboard and it shutdown immediately and was fried.

took it to Apple Store in Dubai Mall and told them it was water damage which IS covered under my Apple Care+ and they had no problem replacing the laptop as they told me fixing it would cost them a lot of time and money so they will just replace it. GREAT! BUT, it's been 2 weeks and they still need another 5-10 days to get my replacement. That is horrid as I am without a laptop for such a long time. Dell's next day business support would've had my laptop replaced or fixed within 1 or 2 days max.

I am thinking of selling this laptop once I get it, they did something SO right letting me upgrade but then their so called Apple Care+ was very disappointing in my experience. Also taking appointments with them usually has a 1 week waiting time so I just walked in to the store and had to wait for 4 hours before someone from the Genius Bar would meet me

 

Seriously, if you like Apple hardware, I know I used to use it almost exclusively until Apple shrunk them and they thermal throttled on my usage, I suggest doing what I did and have several of them ready to go.

I've dropped water on keyboards and had component failures too. When that happens I get my backup out, restore it to my backup laptop or desktop and keep going, then when I get a chance I take it in for service - I have several Apple Stores close by.

For me I've found PC's work fine for what I need to do, and I have a lot of $ saved and time saved over the years making that choice. Linux is nice too.

I've supported many clients with herds of Mac desktops, Laptops, and Servers (yup) over many years (decades) and as long as you have plenty of spare hardware ready to go they seem to work fine and for the most part they run great.

One of the important hacks I learned early on is to not use the builtin keyboards on laptops or portable computers. It cuts out a lot of downtime when keyboards / trackpads go bad.

Also, Sippy Cups or Cups with a top. Seriously. The whole family moved to them after my daughter did the same kind of computer spill. We actually got to like them.

Also, run the power cable up through the middle of the table so that there are no cords for the little ones to trip over or grab on to. After 3 screen replacements my friend with little girls that kept knocking his laptop off the table finally routed the power from the lamp over the table, no more broken screens.

Also, you bought the latest and greatest Apple laptop... it's not a surprise they don't have spares to replace your laptop with. If you can find one, buy another one and swap over your data and keep the repaired laptop as a spare, or ask Apple to refund you for the first one as you found your own replacement - check with them before actually doing this.

Good luck.

 

This is one of many... What's the longest you've waited for parts? 17R4

Don't count on that you will be saved the day after.

 

I’ve never owned an Alienware but we have used numerous Latitudes/Precisions that we’re “used” as my fathers company upgrades like every two years or so, those are built to last in my experience with many of the laptops from my dad’s company some as old as 6-7 years and some were heavily abused by prior users. I’ve had a Latitude D620 which I received like 5-6 years after it was used by my dads company. I was abroad and used it in a rural area where summer temps can be 100-110+ degree ambient in a building without AC and the Dell was the only one that didn’t have issues after like 2 years.. Along with an other guy with an old D630 if I recall.

Dell service is probably the best I’ve seen on the PC side. I don’t know any vendor that would give a $1,200 fully loaded (in 2017) next gen model 7577 (4K/512GB SSD/1TB HDD/16GB RAM/GTX1060 for complaints about uneven core temps on a $600 previous gen refurb low end spec model 7567 (1080P/1TB HDD/8GB RAM/GTX1050TI. They shipped it in 2 days after I asked for a better unit, after two complaints (2-3 weeks repair/return) on the 7567. Even in during the repair process they’d intermittently call to update the progress and what was being changed.

Also they never card that I upgraded the WiFi card or SSD on the old one, infact they mailed the upgrades separately and added a free HDD in the unit as that was secular for the SKU.

I’m sure there are those with issues and some problematic models but in general at least in states they’re among the best. Most our personal ones are refurbs from Dell Outlet but look brand new.

Also note that forums will be skewed more toward those who have issues because the happy ones won’t bother going to issue forums. Dell in my experience is also less likely to delete unfavorable threads vs some others I’ve seen, ie Apple.

On the PC side Dell/Lenovo would be the top picks for support. Asus has decent hardware but QC issues and almost non existent support in my experience. Apple support has been good as well so far for me.

 

@Papusan @hmscott @custom90gt

So it's been 3 weeks since I've given my MBP 16 to the Apple Store. I thought I would get a call anytime now to receive the new laptop right? Wrong. I got a call today from a lady saying she needed my credit card details to pay $250 USD. I said why is that? I thought the replacement is under the Apple Care+? She says even if you had an iPhone and broke the screen there is some amount you have to pay, without Apple Care you would pay much more so for this laptop replacement, you only pay $250 USD and you get a brand new one. I was like fine, here's my darn card details.... now what?

She's like, now we place the order for you. I'm like PLACE THE ORDER? After 3 weeks of waiting now you wanna make a new order? So basically, it took them 3 weeks to get the approval, and now they are placing a brand new order and I have to wait another 3 weeks till it is built and shipped from China! God!! this is making me furious.

 

Yeah, it's pretty much how it works with Apple. They stretch you out over time, swap people supporting you in and out randomly - so you have to explain the whole thing over and over and over - it's Apple's way of "tenderizing" the customer so that they will go along with whatever Apple ask's for or does.

That's why I post those users video's reporting their problems, solutions they've used, and how they made it through to a successful refund, replacement, or repair.

You need to have lots of knowledge of the tricks used by manufacturers - what does and doesn't work - and how to not offend or reduce the possibilities for your resolution.

Remain calm and collected and take advantage of the opportunities provided - as you may not get someone back on the phone or email for a long time again before you can take action - you did the right thing.

Yup, there is a "deductible" for most laptop / cell phone insurance / support these days. Apple is likely still cheaper than others.

ATT wanted $125 for a battery replacement for my S7 Edge - even though they would only swap phones and not actually fix my phone - possibly giving me a refurbished phone that has more wear than my phone. And, I had been paying for the accidental / repair insurance monthly for several years.

I instead traded in the S7 Edge phone for $340 ($40 trade in + $300 Upgrade offer) and upgraded to the Note 10+.

I don't think you could have negotiated a cheaper "deductible" these days, but I did it once for my daughter with an Apple iPhone - they tried to charge me way back then (years ago now) but waived the charge when I complained. Same deal, it was on Apple Care.

So back to your situation. At the time you gave your Macbook to the Apple Store they should have told you there might be a charge for repair, at least they used to. Even when you are on Apple Care there are often charges. If it's a recall / known problem that Apple is fixing for free there is no charge.

Please keep us up to date on how it works out.

 

Well the lady at the store who received my laptop initially told me that I would have to pay $90 USD only for parts. Then she was like wait a minute, this needs a whole laptop replacement as it's a new laptop we don't have any parts here in Dubai so we will just change it for you and no need to pay anything. I'm like oh perfect! but the lady I spoke to today was surprised and said no way, there is ALWAYS a deductible so I was like whatever let me get this over with.

Maybe I could give them a call tomorrow and make a complain perhaps they can waive it off as I am really tight on money.

 

It depends on the situation how you can ask for compensation for the unexpected excess charge. In store I've gotten Apple to give me an 8GB iPod as compensation for a problem before, but I turned it down because I already had that one. I ended up getting a discount on something else.

A store gift certificate or credit is also possible - especially if you are about to purchase something right now and they can complete the transaction without additional paperwork.

But, you are working with Apple on the phone, so that is tougher if they are in another location - unless they are calling from your Apple store support office - backroom people - same for the Apple Business group that work out of the same showroom.

If you can find that person that told you about the $90 then waived it for a laptop replacement vs repair, then escalate it to the store manager perhaps that would work to get back the $250?

 

Wow, what a downer. Right after you praised their service this happened. Yeah I get it’s a build to order unit but then telling you 3 weeks later they’ll get the build started is a quite ridiculous, not even considering the premium pricing on these units.

—————————————————————

hmscott unfortunately the incident cost is part of the Apple Care + terms so it’s gonna be hard to fight it.

Here’s the terms at least in the US:

Up to two incidents of accidental damage, each subject to a service fee of $99 for screen damage or external enclosure damage, or $299 for other damage, plus applicable tax.

​

 

And yet Apple waived it for me, at least twice, but again that was a decade ago now, and maybe things have tightened up.

Still, you don't get it unless you ask for it.

 

Just tried calling them and there is no way. The girl I spoke to was very nice and empathetic but she told me if I didn't have Apple Care+ I would have paid north of $USD 6000 just to get the entire laptop replaced (total cost of my laptop was $7000 USD so) so paying $250 USD to get a brand new laptop with custom specs ordered again and delivered is a steal.

 

Sadly I am unfamiliar with Apple's accidental damage policy. But a quick search shows:
"Up to two incidents of accidental damage, each subject to a service fee of $99 for screen damage or external enclosure damage, or $299 for other damage, plus applicable tax "

 

that is the same thing she told me and this an international policy so it doesn't change between the US and Dubai but the thing is, so it's right, I am paying almost $299 USD (a bit less due to currency conversion) to get a full replacement

 

Well at least it's getting replaced for a much lower cost than the price of the laptop. I just hope they speed up the process for you a little bit...

 

Apple's Genius Bar handler should have told you this when you dropped off your laptop for what they knew was going to end up being a replacement (you told them water was dropped into it) - requiring the deductible.

At least we all know what's what with Apple's AppleCare policy now, it's not what it was in the beginning - and has changed many times along the way.

I have an early memory of Applecare not charging a deductible for incidents, and one of the times I got the new incident charge waived because my coverage was from before the change.

Apple's had 4 different Applecare "rules" re-writes just in this past year alone:

December 10, 2019 - Present
July 01, 2019 - December 09, 2019
March 19, 2019 - June 30, 2019
Before March 19, 2019

You'll need to click on the tab for the time period of interest to see it, no direct links.

The call wasn't going to work, I should have said that in my previous post, I've only been successful by going in in person.

Maybe when you pick it up where you dropped it off you can complain about the charge they should have warned you about when you dropped it off...maybe ask for store credit or some discount on a new purchase there and then?

 

that makes sense, I will try that when I go to collect it

 

Once you use an iPhone or in general get used to Apple ecosystem its hard to switch to another. My mom feels Android phone a bit difficult to use and comprehend after using an iPhone. So, its better to stick with Apple iPhones than Android.
Now the battery wear level is getting higher every day, so I'm thinking whether I should get it replaced or get new iPhone.

Apple should have gone for water resistant keyboards just like Thinkpads since its marketed as Pro laptop.
Apple Care+ is valid in Dubai too, even if you purchased it from that States?

 

It's an international warranty so yes it is valid that's how I'm getting it replaced. Same goe for my iPhone 11 Pro which I bought from the Grey Market so it would have Face Time as the ones sold locally don't have Face Time. I called Apple just to make sure and they assured me that the warranty IS valid.

 

Yeah my mom's iphone doesn't have Facetime since its a UAE model.

 

So, you are basically buying an insurance policy with Apple Care, and most insurance has a deductible in the event of a loss. How much extra did that cost? Insurance is nice to have, but they should not represent it as an enhanced warranty. There are some loose similarities, but an insurance policy is not the same thing as an enhanced or extended warranty.

Insurance is a contract that requires jumping through hoops and has more limitations. It usually covers user mistakes and accidents. The burden of proof is on the person making a claim to demonstrate it is a covered loss. You have to prove why you're owed money.

A warranty is a legal performance obligation that places basically all (or most) of the burden on the warrantor to deliver a product suitable for the purpose for which it was purchased that is free from defects.

 

hence the reason I don’t pay for Apple care on my mobile devices. It’s a money sham going in and coming out.

 

Very happy this worked out for you. I know there is a lot of horror stories about their customer service that I’ve seen from Linus tech tips, snazzy labs, and Luis rossman. But, honestly my experience with their customer service by phone has always been pleasant. Probably because it’s not some outsourced guy across the drink from me. But even you story feels like they went above and beyond for you. And I’m glad they did. Would be nice if others did the same.

Now if only they had a more powerful model for gaming they would scare the competition.

 

Brother @Spartan did you actually receive the new one yet?

 

Yup, a few hours ago, Apple Store from Dubai called me and told me it is ready. Went in there they had a brand new sealed MBP Pro 16 with the same customs specs that I had ordered before. They opened it and gave me the MBP only without the box or any accessories. I turned it on there to verify the specs and to ensure that the Radeon 5500M that's in it is the 8GB version not the 4GB one and indeed it was.

Just finished setting everything up, it's so fast with Mac as there are no drivers to install or tweaks. Just installed my apps like Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020, SVP (Smooth Video Project), and a few others and I was ready to roll.

All photos and documents were automatically downloaded from the cloud.

Speaking of Cloud, Apple's prices for cloud storage are insane man, 2TB for 10 bucks a month.

 

Own support and not outsourced cost more money... See, you have already paid enough (overprice) for the better support when you bought your Apple product. A lose for those who never run into problems. See... They help Apple offset the cost to help you out with problems

Want one? http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...top-in-2019-sucks.830840/page-6#post-10978754

 

Glad you finally got it. Sure took a long time. Why didn't they allow you to have the box and accessories?

 

Because it's a replacement, they give you back what you gave them, which is, the laptop without any accessories, box, etc.

 

Ah, ok that makes sense. I thought the one you returned was sent back complete. Had that been the case you would have needed the box and accessories for the new one.

 

What is this? Backwards Saturday?

 

Probably Apples next baby. And the link ain't from 1. April

 

It’ll sell. Just watch. Lol. Then again compared to the Asus mothership it is cheap.

 

Read here about apples “great” customer service. An obvious defect and no support from the almighty fruit.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7995345

 

Why I may dump Apple in 2020 - and why you should consider it too zdnet.com | Dec 31, 2019

 

Agreed. I am slowing moving towards getting a pixel phone, and surface go to replace my ipad and iphone. I have been using my galaxy tab a 8.0 and I am enjoying it. Even apps on android work better than iOS now. I have a classifeds app on my ipad and galaxy, the android version is smooth, works better and is more logically laid out. The iOS version is buggy keeps freezing and restarting. This only started with 13, 12 it was fine.

 

But hardware wise iPhone 11 is very good and hefty upgrade for 6/6s users. For 7+, I'd wait couple of years though!

Don't forget to buy it from your carrier because Pixel sells in different variants in USA,EU, India etc with some LTE bands disabled or feature GIMP'ed!
Android 9 and 10 are almost close to iOS 10/12 with stellar battery life and customization!
I dare say iOS 13 is crap and worse than iOS 11.x. I always was unlucky with number 13!