Laptop Back from Repair. Surprisingly Bad Customer Service.
Well that fast. After I took my computer to the Apple Store last Friday for repair I thought it wouldn't be back from the shop until Thursday. I got a text message today around 3:15pm that it was back at the store, fixed, and ready for pickup.
I decided to wait a few hours before driving to the store. Meanwhile I already started composing in my head the glowing review I'd write about Apple's customer service, with how their repairs were so speedy and everyone who assisted me in the process was highly trained and took responsibility immediately without making me argue to get warranty coverage. Then I had a series of bad interactions at the store.
First, the door greeters were busy lip syncing songs on their headphones. They were so into their music they didn't notice I was looking at them, speaking to them, and waiting for a response. "Go sit over there," one of them finally said. Then when I sat where indicated, "No, not there, over-there over-there!"
After a few minutes another staffer came out with my computer. He had me sign for the repair and then disappeared. "Hmm, I should verify the computer works before I leave the store," I thought to myself. It's a good thing I checked- because it didn't. My password wasn't working, and there was no documentation about what it was changed to.
I flagged down another staffer, interrupting her from reading her Instagram. "I just got my computer back from repair, and my password has been changed," I explained. "I don't know what the password is now."
"Let's see," she offered. But then quickly argued, "They don't change the password."
We went back and forth a few times about how, no, really, I do remember my password and had tried (and failed) multiple times to log in already. She told me we'd have to reset it and went back to reading her IG while my computer reset.
It took a few minutes and a few reboots to complete the password reset process. The whole time I was splitting her attention about 50/50 with her social media.
During one of the waits I asked her to explain the way the repair was documented on the invoice. "This description of the problem sounds like they're saying I dropped or somehow caused severe physical damage to the machine," I explained.
She looked at the invoice briefly and, instead of explaining what the failure code meant or admitting that she didn't know, mocked my question. "Well, did you pay for it? ...No, you didn't. So obviously we don't think you dropped it, because if we did we wouldn't fix it for free."
Next I tried opening some picture previews to ensure that the display was fixed. When I tried opening an image file on local SSD the system hung with the spinning hourglass icon. No files would open in preview. I called the staffer's attention away from IG again and asked her for help.
"Oh, you're probably running too many applications," she shot back.
"I'm literally not running any applications. You just saw me reboot this machine."
"Okay, let's open your Activity Monitor and see what you're running."
"I'm literally not running any-"
"Well, you're running a Window Server," she said, seizing on the first name on the list of services. "That's your problem!"
"I'm not running any application called Window Server," I explained. "That's a built-in part of MacOS-"
"Hey," she interrupted, "It's your computer. I don't know what you're doing with it."
"I'm telling you, it's a part of MacOS, which you should know- You know what, nevermind, I'm good." I closed my computer and walked out of the store.
I decided to wait a few hours before driving to the store. Meanwhile I already started composing in my head the glowing review I'd write about Apple's customer service, with how their repairs were so speedy and everyone who assisted me in the process was highly trained and took responsibility immediately without making me argue to get warranty coverage. Then I had a series of bad interactions at the store.
First, the door greeters were busy lip syncing songs on their headphones. They were so into their music they didn't notice I was looking at them, speaking to them, and waiting for a response. "Go sit over there," one of them finally said. Then when I sat where indicated, "No, not there, over-there over-there!"
After a few minutes another staffer came out with my computer. He had me sign for the repair and then disappeared. "Hmm, I should verify the computer works before I leave the store," I thought to myself. It's a good thing I checked- because it didn't. My password wasn't working, and there was no documentation about what it was changed to.
I flagged down another staffer, interrupting her from reading her Instagram. "I just got my computer back from repair, and my password has been changed," I explained. "I don't know what the password is now."
"Let's see," she offered. But then quickly argued, "They don't change the password."
We went back and forth a few times about how, no, really, I do remember my password and had tried (and failed) multiple times to log in already. She told me we'd have to reset it and went back to reading her IG while my computer reset.
It took a few minutes and a few reboots to complete the password reset process. The whole time I was splitting her attention about 50/50 with her social media.
During one of the waits I asked her to explain the way the repair was documented on the invoice. "This description of the problem sounds like they're saying I dropped or somehow caused severe physical damage to the machine," I explained.
She looked at the invoice briefly and, instead of explaining what the failure code meant or admitting that she didn't know, mocked my question. "Well, did you pay for it? ...No, you didn't. So obviously we don't think you dropped it, because if we did we wouldn't fix it for free."
Next I tried opening some picture previews to ensure that the display was fixed. When I tried opening an image file on local SSD the system hung with the spinning hourglass icon. No files would open in preview. I called the staffer's attention away from IG again and asked her for help.
"Oh, you're probably running too many applications," she shot back.
"I'm literally not running any applications. You just saw me reboot this machine."
"Okay, let's open your Activity Monitor and see what you're running."
"I'm literally not running any-"
"Well, you're running a Window Server," she said, seizing on the first name on the list of services. "That's your problem!"
"I'm not running any application called Window Server," I explained. "That's a built-in part of MacOS-"
"Hey," she interrupted, "It's your computer. I don't know what you're doing with it."
"I'm telling you, it's a part of MacOS, which you should know- You know what, nevermind, I'm good." I closed my computer and walked out of the store.