Last night, I finally called Apple about Sarah’s messed-up nano. Some of you may remember that I had purchased her a black one after she fell in love with my green 8GB, and we even got it personalized with her name and the phrase “World Domination” – because that’s Sarah’s goal. 
So let me catch you up on the part of the story that I haven’t shared: while we were on our Mobius trip to Amsterdam, her nano got sick. It started resetting itself spontaneously, and it would no longer play or display a normal screen. We did every reset sequence known to man, including toggling the hold button twice, pressing and holding the menu and center buttons, and redoing the toggle bit and then pressing and holding the center and play / pause buttons. I tried doing a “Restore” through iTunes, but the nano would never stay connected long enough to accept it – even though when it would connect it seemed to be trying.
While still in Amsterdam, Sarah showed her nano to Jenneth and Vincent, who both agreed that the only options available were to either take it to the Amsterdam Apple Store we had seen off one of the tram stops (where Vincent assured me that they would just swap it out for a new one), or send it back to Apple when we returned to the US.
Sarah wanted to wait until we returned, since her nano is personalized; I agreed that we should do that.
Since I had an 8GB touch which Johan from Neuros had sent me for testing with their OSD, I was able to let Sarah borrow that gorgeous bit of electronics, which (of course) lessened the urgency of getting her nano fixed. But obviously I needed to get it done, and last night I finally decided to make the call.
First I pulled up the email which held the receipt for the nano; it had been purchased September 30 (ha – on Gear Diary’s birthday!), with delivery slated for October 9th.
Side note: the trip to Amsterdam was in late November, so she got almost two months use of the nano before it fritzed. It’s my fault that I waited another two months before contacting them, but we are obviously still well within the one year warranty period.
From this email, I got the 800 number to call Apple Customer Service. Once I had selected a few menu options, I was transferred to their Technical Support Line.
When my tech answered, I read him the serial number of my nano, and he told me that it was not showing up in their system, but that was okay – he had some simple steps he would like me to try.
We went through each of the resets I had previously attempted, and each time the nano’s screen would show the Apple (indicating a reset), and then it would either gray out completely or it would show the color menu for a moment and then gray out; over and over, the nano would continuously reset itself, showing that dratted apple.
I tried to tell the tech that I had already done all of this, but I was also willing to humor him and go through it all again. I know the drill, and I know they have to at least try.
We did each sequence twice, with the same results.
Then he asked me to connect the nano to my computer, which I did. When the nano was not immediately detected, he asked if I was using an Apple nano USB cable; I said of course. He said there had to be a problem with my USB cable, to which I said that wasn’t possible – I am also using the same nano cable with my other nano, the touch, and my iPhone – it works perfectly.
The problem was obviously with the nano, and that seemed to stump him for a moment.
He then insisted that I didn’t have the latest version of iTunes installed; when I told him it was 7.6.0.29, he acknowledged he was wrong. I once again told him that I had other iPods and they were all up to date and syncing fine. My problems were with the hardware of this one particular nano.
He kept telling me we needed to try one more thing.
I kept asking if he could just give me an authorization to send mine in for repair. To which he would reply – “okay, but after we try one more thing,” which I humored him on no less than five times.
But I was getting frustrated, and honestly – more than a little bit pissed. It was obvious to me that he was reading from a script, and he was disregarding everything I said if it did not fit within his script’s confines.
So back to trying “one more thing”: Miraculously, during a connection through my “faulty USB cable”, the nano finally showed as a disk on the computer, and so he told me we were going to change the name of the drive. I wasn’t going to argue with him, so I did it – we changed it from G to V.
Then I had to reset my laptop. When my computer finally rebooted (I had at least five programs running, as well as windows for a current review open at the time, so it was a bit inconvenient and it took a while), the nano again took its sweet time being recognized, but it did eventually show as drive V. I never saw the point of that particular exercise.
During one of the nano’s sporadic moments of recognition in iTunes, we attempted a “Restore”. This time we got a 1416 error along with a message that the nano was “corrupted”.
He wanted to try one more thing again, again I told him this was not a problem of the nano connecting to my computer, it was a problem in and of the nano itself.
“Just try one more thing” he said, and once again I humored him.
Oh, if I only had a recording of that conversation…
The next thing he wanted to try was to format the nano through Windows. After assuring him that it was showing as a Fat32 device, I started the format…and my freshly restarted computer froze.
When I told him what had happened he. started. laughing.
That’s when I lost my cool: “Look, this isn’t funny, I have been telling you that the problem is with the nano itself; tell me now how to send it in to you, or let me speak to your supervisor!”
I kid you not, he said “okay, if you will try one more thing. If that doesn’t work I will tell you how to send it in.”
I told him NO. Imagine my gritted teeth as I said “get. your. supervisor. for. me. NOW.”
So he asked me for the serial number again.
This time he was able to find it in their system, and he said I would be getting a return box in the next five days. I was given a case number and a repair status number.
Why is it that people won’t listen? I understand having flowcharts and scripts for “if this, then that,” but it was as if this tech didn’t listen to anything I was saying – and I refuse to blame my poor customer service experience with Apple on the fact that English was obviously this tech’s second language.
When we finally ended the call, 59.22 minutes later, I was so frustrated and angry that I vowed until I live in a town with an Apple store I will never buy an Apple computer. And it pains me to say that, because I truly do want one. 
Sadly, I’ve dealt with customer service experiences like that from several major computer manufacturers, as well as from service oriented companies and a variety of other types of companies.
Drives me nuts especially with ISP’s. No, the NIC in my computer didn’t just go bad. Three other friends of mine also had the same problem at the same time. No there’s no thunderstorm, your service is just broken. (I won’t rant about that experience.)
Ooh, I’ve had Compaq/HP “techs” do that to me.
Fortunately, I haven’t had to make a warranty call since about a year before I sold my (final) iPaq 5550.
The funny thing, though, is that there is/was one senior tech that, when I got him, I knew the problem would be diagnosed right away and I would be getting a warranty replacement unit within three business days. I eventually started recognizing him by voice.
I shudder to think.
I mean, this experience was over a $200ish digital music player. If I had gone through this for a laptop or computer, I can’t imagine what other hoops might have been presented for me to jump through. I would probably also have a bald spot on the side of my head from pulling out my hair.
One bright spot: When I bought my Toshiba X205 at Best Buy, I also purchased the 2 year BB warranty. I don’t care if I overpaid by buying their warranty (as some might point out). I like the idea that if anything goes wrong I can just take my laptop in and drop it off for service or replacement. I will not have to jump through any hoops or hope I will be allowed to send my computer in for repair.
Grrrr!
Wow, that’s awful – sorry to hear it was so needlessly hard, and I bet frustration was at boiling point – I would not have managed your level of patience.
Funny (not your reboot error, that is NOT funny – easy Judie) – just read James Kendricks’ post earlier today about having an exceptionally good experience with one of the Geniuses at an Apple Store.
“James Kendricks’ post earlier today about having an exceptionally good experience with one of the Geniuses at an Apple Store.”
Yep, which is why I have decided that being able to take the item into the store is the only way to go, when it is at all possible.
I’m really surprised that you had this kind of experience with Apple. My trips to Apple Tech Support have been nothing but helpful. I hope this is the odd time out…
Judie…you were TOO nice! I become “scary” (my kids and husband’s word) when I am on the phone or in stores talking about product service. Nice doesn’t always get results (unfortunately)
I always try the nice route first…. but don’t hesitate to go the other route
Susan, I thought my head was going to start spinning around when I demanded he get his supervisor the second time. I suspect that the tech sensed it, too – because that was the first time he took me seriously about giving the info to get the nano sent in.
Anyway, I knew when I posted this that there would be those with perfectly good experiences to counter my tech call from hell. I hesitated even posting anything at all, because in the end I am sure it all more or less balances out.
But what promoted me to write was getting an email questionnaire about my call experience this afternoon.
Maybe if some of these service calls weren’t routed to a far away land the results would be better? Just a thought.
Just wait… In a few years, those calls will be going interplanetary. Then we wouldn’t have the problem of getting someone from the other side of the planet when we call for tech support.
Honestly, I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one that has experiences like this – there are times that it seems like I have some sort of curse when it comes to calling in to tech support.
My experiences with Apple have thus far been good, particularly in the stores, so I can relate to your idea of not wanting to make a computer purchase unless you are within driving distance from an Apple Store.
I gotta admit, you have more patience than I do – I would have given him 2 “one more things” and then been on with a supervisor. If he had laughed at me, I would probably have gone ballistic.
I have found that even if I am not actually recording a call, simply TELLING them that I am will usually get a supervisor on the line pretty quickly. I have also found that if I reached a bad rep, trying to get them to transfer to a supervisor is tough, and I’m better off calling back (which can be a tough decision after a long hold time to get to a person in the first place) and speaking to a different person and starting off telling the new person about being treated badly. This often makes the new person try harder.
It seems to me that tech support is a hit or miss proposition, not matter who it is or what product they are supporting.
JD, you brought up some really good points: Next time I have to call anyone for support (I actually shuddered as I wrote that!) I will tell them that I am recording it, and I will consider calling back if everything goes to hell.
But man once I am already in the midst of it all, the idea of having to start over just kills me.
It’s the luck of the draw sometimes! I went into my regular AT&T store three months ago to have my cell plan adjusted because I didn’t need the third family plan phone line, 2100 minutes or unlimited messaging since my daughter had moved out of state where AT&T wasn’t readily available. My regular contact wasn’t available, so I got a new hire. She was sweet, but a little “spacey”.
So I paid my big December bill, thinking it was all of the prorated billing and adjustments in November. This month, I got another whopper bill. So I called AT&T and since I’m on a business plan, I got transferred to Ms. Betty Green who was simply exceptional and very helpful. She had this compassionate grandma tone about her. Anyway, she couldn’t believed what happened – the AT&T store “space cadet” had setup all of my lines as primary accounts, with each having 2100 minutes and all of the full packages and retro back to October! So I had accumulated 8100 rollover minutes from a downgraded 700-minute plan! That’s 135 hours of talk time – or the equivalent of reciting Wikipedia.
Anyway, all of adjustments were made; I got some bonus stuff like unlimited data, free text messaging and credits on my account. After praising her for exceptional customer service, I got Betty’s supervisor on the line and asked him to publicly praise her.
I promised to blog about this experience on my WonderDawg blog, so hopefully this will suffice! Thanks Betty Green – you ROCK!
Service does vary from store to store and by whom you’re dealing with. I’ve seen some real jerkazoids with potty mouths at Target, Best Buy, and steakhouses ready to bust an artery. What a shame to be a jerk busting on a clerk… I’ve been in line at a store and when a guy gets mean and cussing on a female customer service rep, I jump in and get all super dad on the guy. No one has the right to cuss a girl out; dude, she’s someone’s daughter.
Whew, I feel better now.
“I’ve been in line at a store and when a guy gets mean and cussing on a female customer service rep,”
There is never any call for that.
I worked in retail for a few years in the early 90s, and I have nothing but empathy for those who have to deal with the public…which is probably why I kept letting the tech lead me with the “try one more thing” bit.
I just hate being mean.
There is nothing I hate worse (except the dentist
) than having to call back to tech support. Unfortunately, I’ve had to too many times. A few times because I really could not understand what language the person on the other end of the phone was attempting to read from a page, but mostly because of bad support.
I’ve learned to always ask the person I’m talking to their name at the very beginning of the conversation, so I can call them by name. As a conversation point, I also ask them where in the world they are. (Even if it seems like they are in the states.) I always ask this in a nice conversational way right at the beginning, as a way of being polite, as well as to get their name and the location of their call center in case I need it later.
By doing this at the beginning of the call in a friendly manner, they now know that I know their name and their call center as well, which sometimes helps because they can’t avoid giving me that information later if a problem arises.
Besides, if they know I know who they are, they usually work harder, because they know I can identify them if something goes wrong.
As for recording calls – just to keep things all on the legal up and up, make sure you record their disclosure that their calls “may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes.” That will cover you in any US court if you record a call without telling the call center person that you are recording them. You can use the “I’m recording this call” info later if it becomes necessary as leverage to get you to the next level.
I’ve sort of been on both sides of this one, as I’ve worked in Tech Support at a few big multinationals (once for MS directly) and in more recent years I’ve been an IT consultant and spent long hours on calls to support at Dell, Microsoft, others. I agree that it is very hit and miss – there are some great techs out there, doing pretty stressful jobs with a high burnout ratio, and some real bad ones too.
One thing that used to burn me up at the last Support call center I worked at was that *all* the emphasis was on what I would call the ‘Disneyworld Principals’ – smile while you are on a call, it can really make a difference, ask the user how the weather is, what sort of movies they like, what his pet’s favorite color is, and all that sort of nonsense – and very near zero emphasis on knowing what the ____ you’re doing. I had come from a much better environment where they realized that solving people’s issues usually worked better than snuggling up to them. I think courtesy is important, but all the way beyond courtesy crap most call centers preach results in really crap support a lot of the time, I reckon …
I haven’t had too bad an experience with Apple support. I need to send my MacBook Pro in for repairs (as soon as I can spare it!), so we shall see how well they do.
My previous three laptops have been Dell’s, and while I despise their off-shore call centre with people who CAN’T speak English, their on-site warranty is fabulous. I wish Apple had on-site warranty.
All tech support I have experienced is bad, in the last year I have dealt with tech support for Dell, Apple and Microsoft:
The Dell support was for an XPS710 (their flagship machine which comes with premier support!) and took 9 months to get sorted.
The Apple support was for a 20 day old iMac that went south, and took hours in the store to get it replaced. This was down to a bad manager who wouldn’t even talk to us, just kept going through the Genius Bar staff member who was really apologetic and tried their best. So, Judie, it can be hit or miss in-store too.
The Microsoft support was for their Xbox steering wheel and has now been going on for 5 months without a satisfactory conclusion.
You’re at their mercy, and if you lose your temper they’ll hang up on you. My feeling is that they’ve got your money already what do they care.
Good luck with your repair….
S.
It makes me glad I live near not 1 but 3 Apple stores. So far, all of my experiences in the stores have been good and I’m liking my MacBook – some days better than others of course, but being on the 3rd replacement, this one seems like it’s a keeper.
I just hope that the Mystery Apple Device (that I hope to win
) doesn’t need service!
I’ve also been on both sides of this, as I used to do tech support for a software company. One of the most frustrating things about that job was that they didn’t actually want me to help customers. They wanted us on and off the phones, regardless of whether or not we’d helped the customer with their problem. That absolutely infuriated me, and I would stay on the line to help customers no matter what. I used their glowing praise to offset my evil b*&^% of a boss coming down on me for bad stats. It angered me that they cared more about us racking up numbers than actually helping customers who had paid $3K and up for our useless software. Thank goodness I got out of that job (I wasn’t supposed to even *be* in tech support when I took it, I just got wrangled there) and now I hear the company is not doing so well!!
The tech was probably required to keep asking you to do “just one more thing” by stupid supervisors. I get really frustrated when they make me jump through hoop after flaming hoop when all I want them to do is something very simple…but it may not be their fault, and I try to remember that. Many times the supervisor can be even WORSE than the tech because they think they know it all.
Sorry you had such a bad tech support experience with Apple.
The funny thing to me is that a few years ago a very similar experience (actually worse, since it was multiple phone calls with multiple reps over weeks and weeks) with Dell caused me to switch both of our home computers to Apple.
I haven’t looked back. I wouldn’t say I was an Apple “fanboy” but I have been very happy with their products for what we need to do at home. The very few times I have called Technical Support I had great experiences. I guess it really IS who you get on the phone.
But you’d have a hard time getting me to go back to Dell…
“You’re at their mercy, and if you lose your temper they’ll hang up on you. My feeling is that they’ve got your money already what do they care.”
Yikes! I would hate to think that I could possibly get too steamed on the phone, but if I got hung up on because I was frustrated and irritated and the tech didn’t want to deal with me, I might go ballistic.
“It makes me glad I live near not 1 but 3 Apple stores.
No fair rubbing it in, JD!
I love my town, but there are definitely fringe benefits to living in a larger city.
@Jessica – too bad I didn’t get someone like you!
Funny,
I have a story about a once client who had set up her business email on MSN, ran her whole life through MSN and Hotmail and wouldn’t let it go when her business needed to get more real about IT management – can you imagine over 10k confidential industry emails sitting out on MSN?!
Finally, after three weeks of conversations with various MSN and M$ techs about the inoperable MSN/ Outlook conduit, I got a lovely M$ tech person in India to admit that the conduit did not work and was not secure. When I asked her to repeat that and handed the phone to my client she giggled and said sure. When I got the phone back I thanked her for being so honest and mentioned that it had only taken 3 weeks of calling to get someone who was so honest. So it is the Tech Support algorithm is eventually going to achieve world domination. My apologies to your daughter…but it is good to dream.
Re wanting a MAC…they’re ok…mostly different and IMO not as efficient to work with…I use both PCs and Macs now and it is a lot – for me – like the days when the Word Perfect and Word camps were in pitched battle across corporate America: mostly about to each, his own. But for the PC (XP) side…at least all my stuff can be synchronized…albeit within the rather narrow limits of ActiveSync.
“So it is the Tech Support algorithm is eventually going to achieve world domination. My apologies to your daughter…but it is good to dream.”
Sad to say, but you may be right (to a point).