Apple doesn’t care about its customers
We here at BGR love Apple products as much as the next guy, but we think this crossed the line a little bit. Thanks to tip from a close friend of the Boy Genius Report, we’ve uncovered a truly amazing exchange between Apple and a customer. The customer, an owner of a recently water-damaged MacBook Pro, called Apple customer care to get information about repair costs. Accepting full responsibility for the water damage, the customer was still subjected to confusing and contradictory information about the repair. Frustrated with his experience, he took matters into his own hands, emailing sjobs@apple.com (a widely acknowledged direct line to high-level Apple customer care). The customer’s email is as follows:
Dear Steve Jobs,
I wanted to write and express my concern about some recent problems that I have had with Apple Care. This week, my MacBook Pro unfortunately sustained water damage. I understand this is entirely my fault but it is still something I would like to get fixed. After three or four calls I was finally able to get a straight answer. While I was happy to get a straight answer, I was not at all happy with the answer. It is very worrisome to me that the only way to get my computer fixed is to pay almost $300.00 up front with no guarantee that this will fix the problem. I was horrified to learn that their is no system to assess the problem and bill once all damage is known. I am reluctant to put money into a problem that could easily grow. I have had three Apple computers in a row. I love using them but I am not sure if my replacement will be one. I feel powerless in the situation and the whole experience has turned me off of the Apple company.
Sincerely,
Xxxxxx Xxxx
Reasonable? We think so. Shortly after, the customer received the following response:
Xxxxxxx,
This is what happens when your MacBook Pro sustains water damage.They are pro machines and they don’t like water. It sounds like you’re just looking for someone to get mad at other than yourself.
Steve
We find that response totally comical! Don’t you? While we’re guessing Steve Jobs himself wasn’t on the other end of this, it’s certainly a direct response from the @apple.com domain, which is only available to employees of the company. This means that someone directly representing Apple was responsible for this stunt. Come on, Apple. Seriously, this isn’t a good way to treat your customers, though you do get major points for the witty and comical response.
UPDATE: Full email after the break!
From: Steve Jobs <sjobs@apple.com>
Date: March 27, 2008 6:53:46 PM EDT
To: [email removed <xxxxx@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Apple Care Concern
Delivered-To: xxxxx@gmail.com
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Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of sjobs@apple.com designates 17.254.13.22 as permitted sender) smtp.mail=sjobs@apple.com
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Message-Id: <BFAB10EC-E8C6-4018-80DC-A772B6694097@apple.com>
In-Reply-To: <B42B0DBE-EE24-4879-ABC8-940D419906AA@gmail.com>
References: <B42B0DBE-EE24-4879-ABC8-940D419906AA@gmail.com>
X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.919.2)
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Xxxxxxx,
This is what happens when your MacBook Pro sustains water damage. They are pro machines and they don’t like water. It sounds like you’re just looking for someone to get mad at other than yourself.
Steve
On Mar 27, 2008, at 3:01 PM, Xxxxxx Xxxx wrote:
Dear Steve Jobs,
I wanted to write and express my concern about some recent problems that I have had with
Apple Care. This week, my MacBook Pro unfortunately sustained water damage. I understand
this is entirely my fault but it is still something I would like to get fixed. After three or four calls
I was finally able to get a straight answer. While I was happy to get a straight answer, I was
not at all happy with the answer. It is very worrisome to met that the only way to get my
computer fixed is to pay almost $300.00 up front with no guarantee that this will fix the problem.
I was horrified to learn that their is no system to asses the problem and bill once all damage is
known. I am reluctant to put money into a problem that could easily grow. I have had three
Apple computers in a row. I love using them but I am not sure if my replacement will be one.
I feel powerless in the situation and the whole experience has turned me off of the Apple
company.
Sincerely,
Xxxxxx Xxxx
On Mar 28, 2008 @ 12:55 pm, Tu Said:
While it is comical, hopefully this is not a true reflection on their values and culture at Cupertino. Heads going to roll because I hope this is not a response from Steve-O himself.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:01 pm, Will Said:
Comical or not. It is lame to only offer comment and no response to any of the obvious issue the Apple customer is having with Apple Care.
This sort of upity Starbucks attitude will maybe be steps in the direction of a previous fortune once told about a back lash…
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:04 pm, E Said:
I am a bit shocked that an e-mail like that would actually come from Cupertino….Hopefully some higher up catches wind of this and drops the hammer on the employee who wrote the e-mail
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:04 pm, bigbmc26 Said:
That’s exactly why I don’t buy products from Apple, lol! Overpriced products from a company that only wants your money and doesn’t care about you!
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:08 pm, cliosguy Said:
same here, the ipod touch was the last thing i ever gonna buy from apple
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:11 pm, Olivier Said:
I am not specially Pro or against Apple but for this specific case the answer from apple is maybe not the most polite but I think they are right !
Try to ask a company who extract data from damaged hard drives for example. You have to pay a fee in advance in order to do an estimation.
Do you really think that any company are willing to pay investigations for damages caused by their customer outside of the warranty ???
stop believe in Santa !
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:11 pm, james Said:
Unfortunately this happens everywhere, especially at worstbuy. Store employees don’t know anything, and making calls to customer service doesn’t help either. Your issues get escalated to the top where there is someone even more stupid to help you.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:13 pm, Nate Said:
I’m not a fan of Apple’s current hardware, as it’s poorly engineered IMO. I’ve never had any issues with Apple’s customer service, though.
This email is a bit of a surprise, knowing why people email Steve, I kinda think the emailer got what he/she deserved.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:15 pm, Daren Said:
The is no way Jobsy said that …………im having a hard time beliving that
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:20 pm, john Said:
300 bucks seems a reasonable price to pay given they are prolly going to have to replace the motherboard.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:27 pm, Galvatron Said:
@ all apple fanboys: Hello! mcfly! wake up an stop living in denial over welming evidence even then you deny it
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:29 pm, Michael Said:
Worked for AT&T and HP and seen many a water damaged phones and computers. Not guaranteeing that a certain action will fix a water damaged device is pretty standard in my experience (esp when dealing with cust serv). Its not like a crashed hard drive or dead fan, swap em and you’re good. Water can short things out that you don’t realize and not cause problems till well after you thought the problem was fixed, even months after. It is next to impossible to access the affect water has on something like a laptop. Sucks? Yep, but its the way o the world. Fix what you can and cross your fingers
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:34 pm, Sharr Said:
It does sound like it was jobs, naturally hes an arrogant guy you can read about him online…
And the customer got the answer they deserved.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:34 pm, Paul Said:
While i think the email response is one of the worst customer service answers i have seen, the charge is reasonable.
They are billing you ahead of time for time and/or material to crack open, inspect and troubleshoot the machine. I do not know whether or not AppleCare should have covered the expense of this troubleshooting. But, if NOT, then the $300 is a somewhat reasonable (albeit a bit high) cost for this work. I would imagine, that had you let them repair the damage, the $300 would be deducted from the cost of the entire repair bill.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:36 pm, Phil Said:
Hello??!!?? you got water on the product. THERE WILL NEVER BE A WARANTY THAT COVERS THAT. Im glad they sent him that, hes an idiot. why do people expect so much for their own mistakes?
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:37 pm, JJLO Said:
Every manufacturer has gotten an email like this at some point in time. You all know that Steve Jobs did not and would not send a email worded the way it was. You can’t paint a broad stoke and say that this is what you get from Apple or any other manufacturer. As the guy stated it was his fault that the Pro was water damaaged. I am also sure that in the past many consumers sent stuff in to be repaired and did not like the cost and probbly refused to pay. So Apple is stuck with a box they have at least spent some time and resource on. He does not have to pay the $300. He can keep his water damaged Pro as far as I am concerned.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:42 pm, sublicon Said:
i call bs.
also, if the person is smart, they aren’t going to go to Apple to get anything repaired. you find a third party repair shop like DT&T to get it taken care of . . and cheap, too.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:43 pm, B Said:
Whether or not the $300 “down payment” is reasonable is not the point. You never, EVER treat your customers like that. What kind of a response was that?
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:48 pm, JJLO Said:
There is always a bonehead customer service rep in EVERY crowd. Weed them out when you find them. CS jobs are easy to get, but the job is certainly not for everyone. That is why turn over is high. This person will probably be gone or is gone by now. But as you can see the damage has been done rightly or wrongly.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:54 pm, cliff Said:
apple makes great products but this type of things needs front page attention. just because you make great products and you have zombie like following, doesn’t give you the write to get snarky with customers. there is a certain level of professionalism that jobsy lacks.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 1:59 pm, Michaele Said:
I don’t believe the response is from Jobs. It’s a wise ass employee who thought they were being funny. Odds are a lot of people have access to that folder on the apple mail server. My guess is a head will roll now that the response has picked up some publicity.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 2:00 pm, Mike Said:
Phil, are you slow?
He knows it wasn’t under warranty, he just wanted to pay to have it fixed. This is all about him getting horrible customer service on HOW to go about getting it fixed and the results. ($300 for possibly no results)
He’s not saying it’s Apples fault they don’t cover water damage, he even said that. Read the article FFS.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 2:02 pm, Tyler Brock Said:
This e-mail is fake. Also this J-Bag should just pay the $300, which is reasonable for being such a moron, and STFU.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 2:07 pm, rjm Said:
Although, I will admit, there was a high-snark-level in the reply, I don’t really understand why everybody is so appalled. The owner is responsible for the damage, and there is no guarantee that $300 could repair the notebook.
What do you expect Apple (or any other corporation) to do in this situation? Give away freebie replacement products to their careless customers?
In my experience water and electronics do not mix.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 2:13 pm, ROLF Said:
Drink more water u dumb poo-bag.
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