Anyway, my rant here is about Apple Customer Care. Typically I love there guys. They call you immediately upon request (or when you schedule a call). And they've usually gone the extra mile and spent as much time as necessary to resolve my problems. But I recently had a horrible experience with them.
A little background. I haven't been very impressed with Apple's iCloud. PhotoStream doesn't keep up with my uploaded photos, my documents don't always sync. Andthen there's iTunes. Apple has been making changes that sound good, but the xecution has been somewhat bumpy.
A couple weeks ago I was trying to copy some music from my iMac's iTunes library to my Android phone. In doing so, I founda lot of my music wouldn't copy. After researching for about an hour I found that some of my music was marked as "protected." WTF? I purchased most of the music after Apple lifted the DRM protection. At the time I also paid to have my earlier purchases upgraded. Some of the songs that would't copy were even ripped from my own personal collection.
Unable to find a reolution, I went to Apple's Support page. I go through an automated support tree for iTunes that finally spits me out on a page saying I need phone support. I click the option for an agent to call me now. My phone immediately rings. But then the frustration begins.
The person who calls is a screener. She has a hard time understanding my phoenetic alphabet (alpha, bravo, charlie, delta) - I have to use simple words like "apple, ball, cat..." Her primary job seems to be to sell me the $170 AppleCare plan for my iMac. I try to politely decline explaining my iMac is fine, I just have a quick question about iTunes. I finally have to get short with the girl. She finally transfers me to someone she assures me can help. Wrong!
The person I talk to tells me she absolutely can't help and gives me a URL for Apple's Express Lane support. Sigh. OK, I hang up and enter the URL. Turn out to be the same page I started on before. I answer the same questions the same way with the same result. Once again a screener calls me back immediately. Before he can start the sales pitch I explain I've been there and done that. I don't want AppleCare, I just want my iTunes question answered. He starts the pitch anyway. Finally, he agrees to transfer me someone he promises can answer my question. But the dude tells me he's sorry, but he ansolutely can't help me. He tries to send me back to the Express Lane. Now I'm frustrated and getting angry. He tells me I must not have done it right. He walks me through the process until I get to the email support page.
Frustrated and very angry, i fill out the email form. Several hours later I get a response from "Kelly" who tells me most questions can be answered on the Web. You guessed it, through the Apple Express Lane. I reply that I've been down that lane twice now. I explain my issue in more detail. I get more unhelpful answers through several more email exchanges. Finally I give up and find an answer on my own. I never did get a follow up email from Kelly or amyone else at Apple. As far as they know I'm still out there with several hundred protected songs in my iTunes library.
So even the best can be the worst. How any company, large or small, can provide this kind of support is beyond me. They try hard to sell me something I don't want or need. The promise to transfer me to some who can help, then shuffle me off to someone else. If they had spent half as much time actually trying to help me, I probably would't be writing this rant.
Demand bette.
Posted with Blogsy
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