Apple has always fascinated me for the products they come up with. I own a MacBook pro and this is my third one in a row. Macbook pro has been my only choice of workstation until my recent broken experience with Apple support.
Here is what I learnt from my experience interacting with different touch points of Apple support.
3rd party Apple authorised service centers
This was the first touch point, and my observation has been that the engineers were not empowered enough on decision making front. It felt as if they had a rule book from Apple to follow and anything outside it would be too much of a risk to take. Customer experience starts to deteriorate once the case involve complex decisions, like in my case the current issue had to be analysed in context with the previously reported issue and the engineers were not ready to do that. One of the engineer even said “If I accept this case and Apple rejects it, my reputation with Apple is going to get spoiled. Talk to Apple support, if they approve I will take it up”.
Unfortunately this was the only touchpoint through out the journey, that involves face to face conversation (which was supposed to have the best emotional connect). Having a disempowered team to front face the customer didn’t feel like a wise design.
Apple support (phone support)
This was the team, I was asked to get an approval from by the service center engineer. This was a phone support team. The first line of advisors just gather and radiate information. My case was forwarded to a senior support team. I already started feeling tired having to explain the issue to the third person but with no hint of getting help.
To my surprise, the senior support advisor sounded like somebody who could help and was able to connect the dots for e.g. the context of my previous case. The case was documented by the advisor based on the details I gave over the phone. While I was expecting a decision at the end of the conversation, I was told the case will be forwarded to the international engineering team for the decision which made me to realise the support advisor was still not the decision maker but just a coordinator.
International engineering team
This team decides the outcome of the case, yes finally! The inputs to the engineering team seem to be the pictures of the device and diagnostic test results captured by the service center engineer and the case notes captured by the support advisor, none of which you get access to.
I also learnt that, once the decision is made by the engineering team it stands final and cannot be taken back to them for any further clarifications.
The possibility for the Apple engineers to make the right decision on a single shot, just with the pictures, diagnostic test results and case notes, with out manually inspecting the device or speaking to the device owner for clarifications, still puzzles me! Imagine when you go to a hospital, the nurse asks you certain questions and the doctor writes the prescription without talking to you and you don’t get a second chance on clarifications.
The dead end
What happens if you are not satisfied with the decision ? The process stops there and accepting the outcome is the only way out! While the case can be reopened, the response to any further questions will be “We have received the final decision from the engineering team on this case and we are sorry that nothing can be done on this case further”.
Surprisingly there isn’t a grievances/escalation contact to express dissatisfaction. Anyway at this point, one wouldn’t have the energy to take up things further! Thats where the company wins the support case but loses on the customer satisfaction and trust.
If details interests you, here is a detailed log of my interaction with Apple support teams
My macbook pro is covered under Apple’s extended warranty at this moment.
July 18
1/ Took my laptop to one of the premium Apple authorised service center in Chennai related the below issues,
- MagSafe adapter intermittently wouldn’t charge my laptop
- On such occurrences, it would start charging if unplugged and connected back a few times or if flipped and connected.
- The magSafe adapter box and the connecter would over heat when connected.
2/ The service center engineers denied to take up the case quoting the issue was not reproducible and if they take up a case which eventually gets rejected by Apple, their reputation with Apple will be on stake. And they wouldn’t proceed further unless I get a go ahead from Apple support.
3/ Apple support didn’t take up the issue either, but gave me an assurance that, incase any related issue crop up in future, the current reported issue will be taken into consideration and the notes recorded against the case will facilitate the same.
Dec 18
1/ MagSafe adapter charging issue that was happening intermittently suddenly gets worse.
2/ Ran the hardware diagnosis test that comes bundled with my macbook pro by pressing D on reboot. Surprisingly all the tests goes green without identifying the issue.
3/ Took the device to the same service center. Warranty was denied for the repair quoting burnt MagSafe adaptor connector pins. They wouldn’t consider the previously reported related issue. I am told, the only way out is to get an approval from Apple support on the warranty cover.
4/ Apple support escalates the issue to Apple’s engineering team. Pictures of the adapter’s connector pins and the diagnosis test reports were sent to Apple’s engineering team overseas by the service center’s engineer in India.
5/ Apple engineering team comes back with the reply that “the problem might have occured due to liquid spill or debris into the connector and the repair cannot be covered as it falls under the category accidental damage category”
6/ Apple support team denies to go back to the engineering team the second time, quoting “The final decision has come from apple engineers, and there is nothing that can be done further”
7/ I get hung up by the Apple support advisor on being persistent to get answers to the below queries. My case gets closed by the advisor
- How did Apple engineers confirm the previously raised issue related to the MagSafe adapter did not lead to the current one ?
- Were the Apple engineers speculating the possibility of electric short due to liquid spill or debris, as they did not get a chance to physically inspect the device ?
8/ My request to reopen the case gets accepted but I am told, nothing can be done further as the final decision had been made by the engineering team. I still do not understand the process of reopening a case while nothing can be done further!
9/ When asked about the grievances or escalation contact, I am asked to submit a feedback on Apple’s feedback page. The feedback page doesn’t have a section for support and explicitly states I shouldn’t expect a reply.
With no more options to try, I have convinced myself to buy a new MagSafe adaptor and take up the paid service to repair the laptop power port.
And after a long time I am now exploring other options available for my next workstation.