Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple
Working in AppleCare
Ever wonder what the AppleCare rep you're talking to really thinks about you and your problem? Well, after reading this you might not want to know. Adam Knight has recently left his job in AppleCare for greener pastures and he has written a lengthy post about what it was like. It seem that there was little room for advancement (though I think this isn't a slight of Apple's, rather a common Tech support dilemma).Adam still likes Apple, he just doesn't want to work for them anymore.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ig89 said 11:37PM on 5-12-2006
This doesn't appear to have much to do with AppleCare specifically. The guy found himself at a dead end and needed to get a new job, and chose to blame other people for his bad experience at his last job. Sounds pretty common to me-- I'm working on my resume right now...:)
Reply
tyler said 12:05AM on 5-13-2006
I am dumber now, having read that...
Reply
Jamar said 1:30AM on 5-13-2006
AppleCare is absolutely awful compared to Sony's warranty. For about the same price as AppleCare, I get a warranty that will repair my computer in the event of impact, water damage, or fire damage (practically anything except loss or theft). THIS is the kind of support I expect if I get an Apple. If you think I'm lying about Sony's warranty, just look here- http://www.jp.sonystyle.com/Guide/Three_y/index.html
(Yes, I go to Japan a lot, and Sony's US warranty doesn't cover this much- I am NOT going back to Apple after my horrendous experience with AppleCare- they lost a screw that held the LCD panel on while repairing my PowerBook, and now I have to get the screen repaired because they refuse to admit that they did it, and part of the screen bezel broke off as a result. Back to buying Japanese Sony laptops for me- thank goodness for Mac OS x86)
Reply
Onger said 6:50AM on 5-13-2006
To Jamar:
I don't know about ApleCare but I received a Sony Vaio as a gift 2 years ago and promptly registered it at the Sony site that day. Next week, the A drive stopped working, and verified its condition with the tech support over the phone. (I had to wait several minutes to finally get through.) I was asked to send in a copy of the receipt in order to receive a new A drive. Naturally, the giver did not have the receipt by this time. I again called the help line, who was told by his supervisor that they could not help me. So now I am stuck having to buy an A drive even though the PC is supposedly under warranty. I keep on thinking "What if it were something else that was defective and more expensive?" What use is registering the computer if I cannot get help, other than giving Sony my personal info, like age, occupation, address, etc. I have had problems with other Sony products, and now this lack of support just confirms what a poorly run company this is. I will tell my friends and people at work, where I have a lot of influence about purchasing, never to buy Sony products.
Reply
James Legg said 7:53AM on 5-13-2006
Sounds like the joys of technical support work to me, you get good at your job and it becomes boring, and telling people 12 times a day how to do the same menial task makes you jaded. You move on to something different. Happens to most support personnel after long enough, doesn't matter what company.
Reply
Jamar said 9:27AM on 5-13-2006
To Onger- If you bought your laptop outside Japan, then yes, stay away from Sony, but if your laptop is made in Japan (if you buy it from Japan), then there should be no problems like you had with their US support. I took avantage of the trips to Japan I have to take every so often to get a laptop, get accessories, get it fixed, and etc, because of the problems I had with US support. Now, it sounds like you are outside Japan, with your horrible description of Sony's service, so if you do go to Japan, and get a Sony laptop there, then you can say something about what I mean (I am sorry that I implied that I thought that their support was great across the board the first time.)
Reply
Pinoy Mac Lover said 11:09AM on 5-13-2006
The first time I had to call Apple Care (customer care to be specific as my issue wasn't a technical one), I ended up getting very disappointed. I was asking if they could do something about the status of my brand new iMac G5 which had been in the service center for over a month! The lady on the phone (who was actually rather pleasant) told me that she had talked to the reseller already and was trying to work on getting me a replacement unit instead. I was happy at first, but after that call, she never bothered to get in touch with me again (making me think that she only said to get me to hang up). I contacted her again after a few days but she never returned any of my messages. My Mac was eventually fixed (logic board was replaced) and I didn't have to pay a single cent because it was still under warranty so it wasn't a complete nightmare. But, needless to say, I was utterly disappointed at how their customer care agent handled my problem. But in the end, you can't really generalize as to whether a company's support service is horrible or not. People will have different stories. It all depends on many factors such as the nature of your problem, and even the specific support agent who answers the phone (some are better than others, some are rude while others are corteous). Fortunately, I've only had that one major problem with my Mac so I just do what I can on my side to keep my machine running smoothly. Hopefully it will be a loooong time before I have to call any of them again.
Reply
John Muir said 2:16PM on 5-13-2006
Nice essay. Very true from what I've heard and can imagine. Hope his business risk pays off.
Reply
Fellipe said 12:45AM on 5-14-2006
I had the same experienced as you did Pinoy Mac Lover. I was having issues with my MacBook Pro, as many of us have had and I contacted apple. They promissed me something that later was confirmed to be untrue, meaning I was lied to. I called the representative numerous times and sent him several emails, but never heard from them again. Since then I have sent my MBP in 2 times! It's almost fixed though. I have to send it in for the third time so they can do something about the ac/dc switch or somethinb because it sounds awful! Anyway, tech support can sometimes be annoying, but if you have patience, then your problems will be resolved.
Reply
SubGenius said 12:09PM on 5-15-2006
Understanding the difficulty of training and retaining qualified support personnel, I believe it would be in Apple's best interest to make more of their training materials available for FREE.
I often tell people that the .Mac Learning Center is worth the price of .Mac alone.
Those video tutorials if made widely accessible to every Mac user could save Apple millions of dollars in support costs. When you buy a new Mac there should be a training DVD in the box that includes the hundreds of training videos found on .Mac.
Not only would Apple have fewer support costs but their users will be able to use their computer to a much higher degree. Win-Win
Reply
David said 1:12PM on 5-15-2006
I think most jobs are dead-end. Generally the only way to get a raise or expand your horizons is to leave.
Reply
katiebakes said 9:50PM on 5-17-2006
it looks like adam took the text of his post down. does anyone know a link where i can read it? i came to this discussion a little late but i'd love to see what he wrote. thanks!
Reply
Adam Knight said 3:39PM on 5-22-2006
It's back up now, along with two stories to explain it...
Reply