iPhone 6(S)/Plus Battery replacement: poor Apple customer service

[CaCohen0509]

Wait a minute:

• OP made an appointment with Apple to change the battery.
• Short before coming to the appointment OP confirms the appointment for a battery change via the telephone and gets confirmation by the Apple store.
• OP arrives at the appointment: No battery, nada, come back in X days (maybe months).

How can this be good customer service? How can Apple not do much more than they did? They simply did not keep their appointment. They let people (who called beforehand for confirmation) come to the Apple store for nothing. They failed to call the OP to save him a trip to the store.
How can you defend this? Is it so hard to admit that Apple royally screwed up this one?

These are not cheap $100.- phones bought at the flee market. Premium prices are paid for iPhones. With premium prices comes great responsibility and a premium service.

No excuse: Appointment is appointment, a confirmation is a confirmation. Bad Apple. Bad customer service. Apple made the offer about the cheap battery replacements. If they can't keep them it is entirely up to Apple.
BTW you are a little late to the apology game. Lot's of people where already in the defensive for Apple in this thread. Did you read the posts? Or did you decide to step in and start the whole discussion all over again.

I’d like to know when did making an appointment, regardless of what you’re coming in for, guarantee you to have that part. Apple has never operated that way in the past and I don’t understand why people expect this now. I guess in reality the people who are coming in to the stores for the media hyped battery replacements are walking into this for the first time and have never been through an appointment regularly where maybe a display part wasn’t in stock or any other part. It’s so easy to shout bad on Apple because they couldn’t service millions of batteries at a time. But damn they’re trying hard to see that everyone gets serviced. If you recall this “program” wasn’t even supposed to go live until the end of January I believe but they jumped the gun and got the ball rolling early.

In the end I suppose all these phones and batteries will end up in a land fill anyways.

Cheers

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

I’d like to know when did making an appointment, regardless of what you’re coming in for, guarantee you to have that part. Apple has never operated that way in the past and I don’t understand why people expect this now. I guess in reality the people who are coming in to the stores for the media hyped battery replacements are walking into this for the first time and have never been through an appointment regularly where maybe a display part wasn’t in stock or any other part. It’s so easy to shout bad on Apple because they couldn’t service millions of batteries at a time. But damn they’re trying hard to see that everyone gets serviced. If you recall this “program” wasn’t even supposed to go live until the end of January I believe but they jumped the gun and got the ball rolling early.

In the end I suppose all these phones and batteries will end up in a land fill anyways.

Cheers

Apple has never operated that way in the past and I don’t understand why people expect this now.

How do you know? Do you know something other people don't? Have you been to all Apple stores?

In this case Apple did operate this way (unless you accuse the OP of not being truthful). No point denying that.

I’d like to know when did making an appointment, regardless of what you’re coming in for, guarantee you to have that part

So basically, what you are saying is that Apple never has to keep it's appointments about changing parts? Since when is an appointment something someone does not have to keep?

An appointment was made with the Apple store to change the battery. Also the appointment was confirmed by phone by the OP, short before going to the store, to change the battery and acknowledged (also by email) by the Apple store. (This is repeated over and over again in this thread, there is even a screenshot of the confirmation). If you say that this does not guarantee Apple to have that part there is something wrong with the way Apple communicates and handles it's stock. In short: The Apple store did a promise they did not keep.

In the end I suppose all these phones and batteries will end up in a land fill anyways.

What has that to do with anything?
The problem in this thread is here and now. Everything will end up in a land fill eventually, does that mean: nothing is important?

It’s so easy to shout bad on Apple because they couldn’t service millions of batteries at a time. But damn they’re trying hard to see that everyone gets serviced. If you recall this “program” wasn’t even supposed to go live until the end of January I believe but they jumped the gun and got the ball rolling early.

Why so determined to defend Apple? The OP makes a justified complaint about customer service. Yes that is a 'bad Apple'. There are 'good Apples' too, but not in this case. This thread is not about millions of batteries. It is about less than optimal customer service for the OP. And yes, nobody denies Apple is trying hard. But if Apple can't live up to it's promises it should never make those promises in the first place. No need to defend them, Apple is perfectly capable of defending itself.

Thesis:
You make a reservation with a restaurant, the restaurant confirms it and you confirm it by phone again short before your arrival. The restaurant even sends you an email to confirm your reservation. On arrival the restaurant says: 'Oh sorry there is no table available due to the high amount of diners. Try again in a couple of months'. Would you also defend the restaurant?

 

[lazard]

I’d like to know when did making an appointment, regardless of what you’re coming in for, guarantee you to have that part. Apple has never operated that way in the past and I don’t understand why people expect this now. I guess in reality the people who are coming in to the stores for the media hyped battery replacements are walking into this for the first time and have never been through an appointment regularly where maybe a display part wasn’t in stock or any other part. It’s so easy to shout bad on Apple because they couldn’t service millions of batteries at a time. But damn they’re trying hard to see that everyone gets serviced. If you recall this “program” wasn’t even supposed to go live until the end of January I believe but they jumped the gun and got the ball rolling early.

In the end I suppose all these phones and batteries will end up in a land fill anyways.

Cheers

It's still a stupid way to operate. Someone calls to confirm their appointment to replace their battery. If they don't have any batteries in stock, then tell him over the phone that there's no batteries in stock and reschedule his appointment. Hardly what you'd expect from a company known for it's customer service.

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

It's still a stupid way to operate. Someone calls to confirm their appointment to replace their battery. If they don't have any batteries in stock, then tell him over the phone that there's no batteries in stock and reschedule his appointment. Hardly what you'd expect from a company known for it's customer service.

Agreed. And Apple even confirmed the battery replacement by email.

 

[bookofkils]

I sent in my iPhone 6, which I bought in September 2014 when they first came out, for the $29 battery replacement. I have never had any work of any kind done to the phone. It is in excellent condition. They sent the phone back without replacing my battery. Their email reply read: "Your product arrived at our repair center, but our technicians weren't able to process your repair request. We’re sending the product to you along with a letter that provides more information. If you have questions about the letter, feel free to Contact Apple Support to review your options. Be sure to use the same Repair ID. We apologize for any inconvenience." The letter accompanying the phone on return said that their technicians performed "complete diagnostic tests" and "confirmed that it now meets Apple specifications for performance, usability and functionality." Apple claimed it would replace all batteries, regardless of the condition, correct? That is, of course, as long as the phone hadn't already received a battery, or been tampered with, etc etc. Anyway, I contacted Apple today by chat to lodge a complaint. Here is part of my chat transcription just an hour ago after I contacted Apple to make a complaint about my iPhone returned without a new battery:

Frank: Due to the availability of the parts, the device was returned un-repaired and your hold will be returned to your credit card as well.

Frank: What we can do here to move forward, however...

Frank: Parts should be available in the future. We have a few options. Is mail in repair the method you prefer, or is heading into an Apple Retail Store an option as well?

James: Mail in.

Frank: What I can do is attempt to set up the repair again here, however if it prevents me from doing so due to part constraints we’ll need to get you in touch with an Apple Care Advisor from our phone support team. They would be able to take ownership of the case, and attempt the set up the repair at a later time and reach out to you once successful.

James: Forgive my exasperation but...I was going to be charged for a repair that was promised but not made and wouldn't have taken place unless I contacted Apple? And now you don't know if the battery is even available?

Frank: That is correct.

I was finally told I'd need to speak to an Apple Adviser on the phone. Initially, she told me that Apple had determined my 3 1/2 year old phone's battery was fine and that I'd been denied a replacement. She essentially said it was Apple's call to determine if I was allowed to take part in the $29 battery replacement program. I asked her if Apple's announcement that the company would replace phone batteries regardless of condition was untrue. The response was vague, but after a few back and forth's, she told me she would run my case by an advisory board to see what their response was. "They" agreed that my battery should be replaced but I'd have to drive 45 miles to the nearest Apple store to have the repair done...in about two weeks. The alternative was to mail in the phone but that that might take 10 days.

Very frustrating experience from a company I've purchased products from since 1985. I will say, however, that the people I chatted with or talked to on the phone were quite polite and tried to be helpful. Still.

 

[mcarthon]

You think it's Apples goal is to 'discourage' customers after offering a new battery replacement program? They have a policy set in place, demand is high for the battery replacements and appointments fill fast depending your location. And you think Apple is trying to discourage customers from taking advantage of the battery program given the circumstances ? Your comment isn't logical.

The whole reason this is happening right now is because Apple was shady AF with their battery details and throttling. The battery program is only for a limited time so I can easily see them trying g to discourage people. Why should they get the benifit of doubt after already being shady in the first place. For years...

 

[Pez555]

Common sense would indicate that these batteries will be in short or out of supply due to the demand. It has only been a week or two. I would have called the store to ask if they had a battery before driving to the store.

You can get as mad as you want but I can not see this being Apples fault. If you think Apple is still making money at $29 for materials and labor . . . .well that is sad.

Why should it be on the customer to find out? Apple prides itself on customer service. The onus is on Apple to inform customers if there is short or no supply of batteries.

 

[LennyFL]

The Exact same thing happened to me. I called applecare and told them I wanted to replace the battery. I wanted to sell my iphone X and go back to the 6+. They then made an appointment to replace the battery at the Tampa store. I went in on Jan 2nd thinking they had the battery but they didn't.

They told me it would be one week before the battery would be in. I asked why they made the appointment if they didn't have the batteries and the rep said he didn't know. I was pissed It's a one hour drive to the store I wasted 3 hours. I forgot to say they were late, 5:00 appt saw me at 5:55.

Well it's now over two weeks later and still no battery.

I've since sold the X and have gone back to the 6+.

 

[crutchman]

My only issue with this battery issue is, why is there no tracking mechanism for customers to log into a website to track where their product is in the repair queue? It could be simple as a computer inventory management system. I don't think that would be an impossible task for a technical giant like Apple to come up with.