miscellaneous adventures in technology & entrepeneurship

Laymans Guide to the Apple Store Repair System Bureaucracy

January 8th, 2009 Posted in Technology

Three weeks ago, I wrote about my recent experience of trying to get my Macbook Pro repaired at a local Apple Store as a customer with an extended warranty. I rely on this machine five-days a week as my work machine, so my goal was to drop it off on Friday and pick it up on Monday. Well, boy was I naive to expect that they would be able to repair my MBP promptly. Hey Apple, here in America, you know, your target market, businesspeople work five days a week. It took me 5 trips to the Apple Store, 2 hours in line, 4 appointments, 9 phone calls, and one irrate rant in the middle of the W 14th st. Apple Store to get my Macbook Pro fixed.

During the last dropoff, my computer was fixed and ready for pickup within 3 hours.

The key to a prompt Apple Store Repair is a little assertiveness, stern demeanor, and a little knowledge of how to push their buttons.

These are my key takeaways from this whole plight:

If you can afford to be without your machine for a week or two, call the Apple corporate HQ - Their support number is 1-800-MY-APPLE. Their phone-support representatives are actually pretty helpful.

If you can’t be without your machine for an entire workday, then it gets a little more tricky.

Harass, harass, harass - Call every hour until you have an ETA on your repair.

Take names. - You’re likely to get passed from support-rep to support-rep. They will promise to call you back. They won’t. The majority of Apple store employees have the work-ethic and demeanor of undergraduates who’ve just taken a few rips of their bong. Take names. Let each person know that if your question isn’t successfully answered or if your requirements aren’t clearly documented, their supervisor WILL hear about it.

Be prepared to write a complaint letter. - You’re likely to get passed from salesperson to salesperson. Take names. You can even use my complaint letter as a template if you’d like.

Make it KNOWN you aren’t happy - In the end, it was an irrate encounter with a manager at the W 14th Apple store that got my MBP repaired. Be prepared to cause a scene if you need to.

My hope is that my plight saves you a few hours of your time when dealing with the Apple Store ‘Genius Bar’. I sure would’ve liked to know I needed to be more assertive when I began my quest to repair my MacBook Pro.

Comments or other tips welcome. Apple fanboys need not apply.

EDIT: Let me be clear that I am not advocating being rude to Apple Support Techs for rudeness sake. Assertiveness needs to be selectively & politely applied. Constructive Discussion on Apple Support Bureaucracy Below.

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