I am disappointed in my recent Apple Service experience. The Airport Extreme I bought at the end of January has died. The connection drops intermittently, requiring a reset several times through the day. I attempted to fix the problem with firmware updates, software updates, and re-setting up the network several times. There is no new interference source, we don’t use cordless phones at the house, but I tried setting the channel on the wireless frequency. After each reset, the device works for an hour or so, then quits responding. I became convinced the hardware was failing, and I contacted Apple Support on the phone, as it’s only been about 60 days since I purchased the device.
The first Apple Support expert walked me through the process of resetting the device, and changing the wireless channel (again), but told me the problem was likely hardware. He acknowledged that he was not providing me any resolution steps that I had not already performed myself, using the available online documentation. He said, though, that he couldn’t advocate replacement until I had called “a couple more times” for the same problem. He told me to call back when it failed again, and talk to a different agent, who would document the problem as recurring and then be able to recommend that I go to the store and switch out the device for a new one.
I left on a business trip for a couple of days, and came home last night. Had to reset the device last night, then again this morning. I called Apple Support again, went through a few diagnostic procedures, and the expert told me to take the device to the store, where he would make me a Genius Bar appointment, so the Geniuses could test the device. If the Airport was determined to have failed, the expert told me the Genius at the store would just switch out my device. The expert made me an appointment for me at the closest Apple Store, which is 40 miles from my house.
On the way to the store, using my iPhone, I could not locate my reservation online via my AppleID. I called the store, to try to adjust the time of the appointment, and they told me that a Personal Shopping appointment had been made for me, rather than a service appointment. The next service appointment time was 4 hours away. Because I was nearly to the store, having driven for nearly an hour, I agreed to take a “squeeze-in” appointment rather than turning around and coming back in several hours. When I got to the store, I waited for about an hour for a slot to open up at the Genius Bar.
The Genius looked at my device, ran some diagnostics, and told me the device hardware had failed. Because the Airport was not a serviceable product in the store, they’d have to replace the device for me with a new one. He said he didn’t have any devices there at the store, so I would have to return in about two days (another 80 mile round trip), when he had received a new device to give me. He said the unit would be a new unit – no different from the ones on the store shelf. I asked whether he could simply exchange the unit for one from the store shelf. The Genius indicated that although I would be getting a new unit, the store inventory was already in the POS system, so for “accounting purposes”, he had to get a service unit. Because the store does not keep an inventory of Airport Extreme service units, he’d have to order one. He agreed the policy seemed frustrating, and seemed to be for the convenience of Apple’s accounting systems, so went to get a store manager for a different answer.
I spoke with the Store manager, who tried to explain that though the service unit would be exactly the same as a unit on the shelf, the Genius Bar and repair area were “a separate part of the business”, and the inventories could not be mixed. She then said the warranty policy was very clear, told me it’s available on the website and printed in “a bunch of places”, and that a service unit was my only option. She tried to offer me another option, having Apple Support mail me a device, but she and the Genius differed on whether I’d have to send in my unit first, and be out of it for a week or more before receiving a replacement. Because the unit still functions as an Ethernet hub, and because I work from my home, I could not be out of the unit for that long. She called Apple Support, and clarified that if I was willing to provide a credit card number, I could receive the new service unit with a period of time to return the failed device. She further said I should not have had to come into the store, and that Apple Support could have simply initiated that process with my earlier phone calls. I left the store, frustrated, and called Apple Support on the way home. We started the process of receiving a replacement service unit, to be sent to my home.
So – as it sits now – I’m waiting on a replacement device. It’s been over a week since this started happening, three days since I first called Apple about my issue, I wasted three phone calls, an afternoon and 80 miles in the car, and my wireless connection still doesn’t work.
Over the past 12 months, I’ve purchased a 17″ MacBook Pro, a 24″ iMac, a 13″ MacBook, an Airport Extreme, an Airport Express, an iPhone, an iPod touch, an iPod Nano, and any number of iTunes and apps from the AppStore. Apple purchases rival what we spend on the grocery bill at my house. I’m clearly a fan of the brand. I’m actually not disappointed the hardware failed – that happens. A similar warranty replacement experience with my iPhone was handled quickly, with one call to Apple Service, one trip to the store, and a replacement device issued directly from the store. That experience reinforced my favorable opinion of Apple. This experience, regarding the Airport Extreme, was handled poorly. Each of the five people with whom I spoke had different messages about this hardware failure, and about the process I should have followed to get the issue addressed. They all seemed friendly enough, but none of them was really prepared to address my issue in a way that was designed to satisfy me. Each of them was fairly committed to the Process *they* were following, and didn’t seem to want to understand *my* frustration, or what it might take to satisfy me – only to satisfy “the Process”. I’m disappointed – it’s less than I expected from Apple.
