Does anyone have tips or experience on how to reach an Apple Support Tier 3 advisor? I am having a problem being charged $634.94 for “not returning a damaged IPhone within 45 days” when in fact I did return it and they then sent to back to me without explanation. Any suggestions on my situation would be appreciated. Here is the background...
In November 2020 my son’s iphone 11 was damaged beyond repair so we called Apple Care. They agreed to send him a new phone with the understanding we would return the old damaged phone within 14 days in the box they sent us. They wanted us to turn off Find my Phone but the phone was so damaged we could not figure out how to do it so I returned it as is. A month later (Dec 30 2020) I get a box from an address in Carlisle PA with the damaged phone and a packing slip with no info other than our address and the address of the site that returned it. I received no explanation from Apple, no phone call, no emails. I emailed the Apple Support asking why it was returned to us and if we needed to do anything. No response. Since I was not charged for anything I did not follow up further and kept the box and damaged iPhone in case I heard from them and they wanted it back.
Fast forward 3 months to March 10, 2020 and I get my credit card Bill. It has a charge for $634.94 from Apple dated Feb 8. I contact Apple Support and am told the charge is because I did not return my iPhone within 45 days. After much aggravating discussion with a Tier 2 Senior Advisor they final agree to provide a refund and tell me it will appear on my next credit card bill. Just to be safe I also contact my credit card to dispute the charge and they agree.
Fast forward again to last Monday, May 24, 2021 and my credit car company says they are putting the charge back on my card because Apple has denied the refund. I call Apple Support and talk to a new Tier 2 Senior Advisor. He tells me he will be taking charge of the case and will research and call me in a couple of days. I also find out that while the last advisor did agree to give a refund, the refund department disagreed so this is why the refund was denied. I told him I would like copies of the info related to this but he tells me they are not permitted to provide those. He gives me a direct link to contact him. Yesterday he calls me and says they are still denying a refund and gives me the same reason the first advisor told me, saying that it was not returned within 45 days. I tell him this is not acceptable, that I did return it with 45 days but they returned it to me without contact or explanation and that due to Apple’s lack of communication with me I had no way of knowing what they expected of me when they returned it. By the time I found out I had been charged it was already beyond the 45 days and would have been impossible for me to comply. He told me he will research more and call me in a couple of days with possible resolutions. I told him the only acceptable resolution is a full refund, I will gladly return the phone to him because I still have it, and that if he cannot do this then my expectation is to be turned over to a Tier 3 advisor. He told me if he cannot give a refund he would give me a new case number and I could call back to Apple Support. I told him this was not acceptable and that he would need to turn the call over to someone in Tier 3. Of course he was very noncommittal and now I am awaiting his response on Friday.
Has anyone had an experience like this? Does anyone have tips on how to get through to Tier 3 level advisors? They are still reading off a script and being completely dogmatic about this but I strongly feel this was largely caused by Apple’s lack of communication and they need to make good on it. Any suggestions or advice is welcomed.
In November 2020 my son’s iphone 11 was damaged beyond repair so we called Apple Care. They agreed to send him a new phone with the understanding we would return the old damaged phone within 14 days in the box they sent us. They wanted us to turn off Find my Phone but the phone was so damaged we could not figure out how to do it so I returned it as is. A month later (Dec 30 2020) I get a box from an address in Carlisle PA with the damaged phone and a packing slip with no info other than our address and the address of the site that returned it. I received no explanation from Apple, no phone call, no emails. I emailed the Apple Support asking why it was returned to us and if we needed to do anything. No response. Since I was not charged for anything I did not follow up further and kept the box and damaged iPhone in case I heard from them and they wanted it back.
Fast forward 3 months to March 10, 2020 and I get my credit card Bill. It has a charge for $634.94 from Apple dated Feb 8. I contact Apple Support and am told the charge is because I did not return my iPhone within 45 days. After much aggravating discussion with a Tier 2 Senior Advisor they final agree to provide a refund and tell me it will appear on my next credit card bill. Just to be safe I also contact my credit card to dispute the charge and they agree.
Fast forward again to last Monday, May 24, 2021 and my credit car company says they are putting the charge back on my card because Apple has denied the refund. I call Apple Support and talk to a new Tier 2 Senior Advisor. He tells me he will be taking charge of the case and will research and call me in a couple of days. I also find out that while the last advisor did agree to give a refund, the refund department disagreed so this is why the refund was denied. I told him I would like copies of the info related to this but he tells me they are not permitted to provide those. He gives me a direct link to contact him. Yesterday he calls me and says they are still denying a refund and gives me the same reason the first advisor told me, saying that it was not returned within 45 days. I tell him this is not acceptable, that I did return it with 45 days but they returned it to me without contact or explanation and that due to Apple’s lack of communication with me I had no way of knowing what they expected of me when they returned it. By the time I found out I had been charged it was already beyond the 45 days and would have been impossible for me to comply. He told me he will research more and call me in a couple of days with possible resolutions. I told him the only acceptable resolution is a full refund, I will gladly return the phone to him because I still have it, and that if he cannot do this then my expectation is to be turned over to a Tier 3 advisor. He told me if he cannot give a refund he would give me a new case number and I could call back to Apple Support. I told him this was not acceptable and that he would need to turn the call over to someone in Tier 3. Of course he was very noncommittal and now I am awaiting his response on Friday.
Has anyone had an experience like this? Does anyone have tips on how to get through to Tier 3 level advisors? They are still reading off a script and being completely dogmatic about this but I strongly feel this was largely caused by Apple’s lack of communication and they need to make good on it. Any suggestions or advice is welcomed.
