When a Favorite Company Breaks Your Heart
My family owns five iPhones, two iPads, an Apple TV device, and at least 10
Apple computers. We buy AppleCare service, just in case. So when my wife's
iPhone stopped working on Saturday, we thought we could count on Apple to fix it
before she left for a week of business travel across the U.S.
We were wrong.
In the spirit of complete disclosure, my wife dropped her phone last November
and the screen cracked, but it has worked well ever since, at least until this
weekend when it wouldn't power on or charge.
On Sunday, we drove an hour to visit the Apple Store in Providence, Rhode
Island. Our Apple "Genius" quickly decided to replace the phone, rather than fix
it.
Unfortunately, the store didn't have any white iPhone 4s. We offered to take
a black one. The Genius said, "We can only replace your phone with the exact
same phone."
My wife offered to interrupt her business day to pick up a replacement phone
at an Apple store on Monday afternoon in Chicago, the first stop on her week of
travel, but apparently they don't have any white iPhone 4s there either. She
offered to do the same on Tuesday in San Francisco, and stop in the store there.
Guess what? No white iPhone 4s in San Francisco.
Too top secret to explain to a customer?
Sunday night, I called AppleCare, pointed out that Apple appears to be out of
stock on this phone across the country, and again asked them to replace the
phone with an equal or better model. "We can't," said two different service
representatives, and refused to explain further.
Note to fellow customers: if the best explanation a company can offer is "we
can't," it means that if they told you the real reason, they would sound
heartless, greedy, or stupid.
Apple offered to Fedex a phone to my wife's hotel to arrive "within one to
three business days." Unfortunately, she is staying in Chicago for a night, then
in San Francisco for two nights, so a vague arrival date didn't work.
You or I could walk into any Fedex office and arrange to get a package
delivered the next day, but apparently Apple does not know how to do this.
Is it illegal to upgrade a customer?
Far too many companies operate in a heartless manner. They rely on
bureaucratic policies and nonexistent laws to put profits over people. For
example, the first AppleCare rep I spoke to Sunday night said that it was
illegal for Apple to replace a phone with a better phone. I'm not an attorney,
but I've never heard of a law that protects customers against being treated with
respect and consideration.
In the hour we spent in the Providence Apple Store, countless people walked
out with brand new iPhones. They represented new purchases. We did not walk out
with a new iPhone, because we were just loyal customers with a prematurely
broken phone.
Here's the sad reality: once you buy from some companies, your value goes
down... way down.... even if you used to be a raving fan.
Yes, I'm ranting
I know this is a bit of rant, and for that I apologize. But when companies
act stupidly, someone needs to call them out. Today, it was my turn.
_____________________________________________________
Bruce Kasanoff is co-author with Michael Hinshaw of Smart
Customers, Stupid Companies. Bruce also has free ebook guides
available at Kasanoff.com.
To see more of Bruce's articles on LinkedIn, click the
"follow" button below, or follow@NowPossible on Twitter.
Image credit: Jmcdermottillo/Shutterstock
My family owns five iPhones, two iPads, an Apple TV device, and at least 10 Apple computers. We buy AppleCare service, just in case. So when my wife's iPhone stopped working on Saturday, we thought we could count on Apple to fix it before she left for a week of business travel across the U.S.
We were wrong.
In the spirit of complete disclosure, my wife dropped her phone last November and the screen cracked, but it has worked well ever since, at least until this weekend when it wouldn't power on or charge.
On Sunday, we drove an hour to visit the Apple Store in Providence, Rhode Island. Our Apple "Genius" quickly decided to replace the phone, rather than fix it.
Unfortunately, the store didn't have any white iPhone 4s. We offered to take a black one. The Genius said, "We can only replace your phone with the exact same phone."
My wife offered to interrupt her business day to pick up a replacement phone at an Apple store on Monday afternoon in Chicago, the first stop on her week of travel, but apparently they don't have any white iPhone 4s there either. She offered to do the same on Tuesday in San Francisco, and stop in the store there. Guess what? No white iPhone 4s in San Francisco.
Too top secret to explain to a customer?
Sunday night, I called AppleCare, pointed out that Apple appears to be out of stock on this phone across the country, and again asked them to replace the phone with an equal or better model. "We can't," said two different service representatives, and refused to explain further.
Note to fellow customers: if the best explanation a company can offer is "we can't," it means that if they told you the real reason, they would sound heartless, greedy, or stupid.
Apple offered to Fedex a phone to my wife's hotel to arrive "within one to three business days." Unfortunately, she is staying in Chicago for a night, then in San Francisco for two nights, so a vague arrival date didn't work.
You or I could walk into any Fedex office and arrange to get a package delivered the next day, but apparently Apple does not know how to do this.
Is it illegal to upgrade a customer?
Far too many companies operate in a heartless manner. They rely on bureaucratic policies and nonexistent laws to put profits over people. For example, the first AppleCare rep I spoke to Sunday night said that it was illegal for Apple to replace a phone with a better phone. I'm not an attorney, but I've never heard of a law that protects customers against being treated with respect and consideration.
In the hour we spent in the Providence Apple Store, countless people walked out with brand new iPhones. They represented new purchases. We did not walk out with a new iPhone, because we were just loyal customers with a prematurely broken phone.
Here's the sad reality: once you buy from some companies, your value goes down... way down.... even if you used to be a raving fan.
Yes, I'm ranting
I know this is a bit of rant, and for that I apologize. But when companies act stupidly, someone needs to call them out. Today, it was my turn.
_____________________________________________________
Bruce Kasanoff is co-author with Michael Hinshaw of Smart
Customers, Stupid Companies. Bruce also has free ebook guides
available at Kasanoff.com.
To see more of Bruce's articles on LinkedIn, click the
"follow" button below, or follow@NowPossible on Twitter.
Image credit: Jmcdermottillo/Shutterstock
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