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
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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 @ 4:15 pm, Phil Speck Said:
Folks, this is totally false on many fronts. I just had the same exact issue with my machine. Apple uses a tired flat rate system. Spill damage is considered tier 4 with is around $700 and they will fix anything under that flat rate, unless the cost would exceed a new machine. In my case that is exactly what I had to do as the damage was too extensive. The $300 is totally incorrect and false. Also to get a letter from apple.com its pretty easy to spoof any email address and last time I checked, Apple has an executive relations department. Steve does not send email to anyone. Please use common sense here people, this screams of false.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 4:17 pm, Jando Said:
Send a copy of the response to the Associated Press, that will get some attention. Wrong, just wrong!
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 4:19 pm, Shadymanny Said:
Duh…it is water damaged. What does he want? I think its an appropriate answer, I would tell him the same.
That’s what happens when fanboys bathe with their macbooks.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 4:26 pm, Jiminy Cricket Said:
This guy is an idiot. The only reason he doesn’t want to pay upfront is because he’s afraid the assessment might reveal that the damage isn’t worth fixing. What incentive does Apple have to comp him the estimate if they (rightly) suspect he’s just going to run away when he finds out how much it’s going to cost?
The customer is not always right. Kudos to Jobs for not putting up with his jackassery.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 4:34 pm, Dave Said:
Sorry BGR… slow news day or what? Post the complete e-mail with RFC headers and maybe I’ll believe this garbage.
Even so, real or not, Apple’s going to reward your loyalty for being an idiot? Go pull the same stunt with Dell or HP and they’ll likely charge you the same.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 4:46 pm, subzerohf Said:
I agree with “Steve”. Water damage is the worst kind of all damages. Mr. Naive gets his lesson: do not complain over your own stupid mistakes.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 4:48 pm, zac Said:
Water damage is easy to fix if your not a fucking moron:
1: check the lcd and replace if bad
2: replace the mobo
3: check and replace bad modules
4: put it back together
5: charge for the new parts a labor
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 4:58 pm, Vic Schmidt Said:
I’m afraid I have to strongly disagree with your assessment of Apple. I am on my SEVENth Mac computer, and have had SEVEN iPods of various ilks in the house hold, not to mention various other items (Airport Cards, Hard Drives, etc, etc.) I have NEVER been treated badly by Apple. Most recently I took my 1st Gen 20″ iMac G5 to the Genius Bar at my local Apple Store, explained the issues I was having with it, and the Genius plugged it in and Booted up. To my amazement, it booted right up. (I was unable to get it to boot at or or improperly over the entire previous week-end). He could not get it to do ANY of the things I reported it had done. He said “It sounds like a Logic Board issue”, we have one in stock, and it should be ready to pick up in a couple of days - your Apple Care Warranty expired about a month ago, but we won’t charge you for this…”
In short, they ran my machine for several days trying to get it to fail or do any of the things I’d said it was doing, and it worked flawlessly that entire time, NEVER failed once. They STILL replaced the Logic Board at a cost of $ 656.00, and didn’t charge me a single penny…
They’re the BEST!
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 5:20 pm, KenC Said:
One, it’s very clear what the repair process is. The laptop has to be assessed. This assessment costs money. It’s standard operating procedure at all the mfrs to charge an upfront fee for this assessment.
Two, the true complaint from the letter is that the person doesn’t want to pay upfront, but wants a free assessment before deciding what to do. No mfr does that other than Apple. You can go to an Apple Store and you might get a rough assessment, if it’s something not too serious, but most likely it will have to go to a repair center. They will charge you an upfront fee.
Three, the complainer threatens that he might not buy another Apple computer if he doesn’t get his way.
Four, BoyGenius and most of the responders have never worked customer service. The RED FLAG is the THREAT. When complainers threaten, then they get what they deserve. The threat is NOT REASONABLE under any circumstances.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 5:29 pm, Nugget Said:
this is totally not true because a water damaged item, would not even get quoted 300 dollars. My experience with apple is a out of warranty fix from their depot, that has failing parts with no water damage is 300 dollars. I seen the customer next to me get whats called a “Tier” quote which was over 1000 bucks, no where did the person working at the apple store say 300 dollars is a down payment and we don’t guarantee the computer will be fixed. This story sounds more like a best buy letter than an apple letter, and steve jobs answering a letter to someone bitching like that, the response is funny but fake.
LESSON IS DONT USE YOUR COMPUTER AS A BOOGIE BOARD. morons pay alot of macbook pros and eat drink or use the rest room with their computers
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 5:31 pm, King Mook Mook Said:
@Phil: And you are so clever that you don’t start your sentences with a capital and you do not even use punctuation. You are a clever man.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 5:38 pm, Yaweee! Said:
As if Apple ever cared about its customers? They are historically known for screwing over early adopters of their products, often dropping the prices of their products significantly after the 30-day return policy (iPhone would be most recent example) and then feeding you a “reimbursement of Apple dollars” to make you feel happy. Yes, because buying more Apple products is really worth the hundreds of dollars you just lost by “wanting to be first”.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 6:05 pm, wesrubix Said:
Bravo Paul!
AGREED!
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 6:07 pm, Dr. Tim Martin Said:
The response was quite appropriate. If they machine is under the 30-day warranty or had purchased AppleCare then the customer would merely submit the machine for repair. Since it is user induced he would be charged hardware fees. Obviously the machine is not within the warranty stage and the owner is trying to get a free technical assessment of the damage he has done to his machine.
I drove my car into the lake. I had it towed to a mechanic and I asked him to look it over and see what damage was incurred. The mechanic said the “looksee” would cost $300 and there was no guarantee that any resulting fix would be complete. Customer gets pissed off and writes whining letter to owner of the Garage Repair. GROwner writes back and says “live with it or take your car to someone else”.
And we’re supposed to side with the car owner on this one? Not likely. He’s lucky to have received a response from Steve in the first place much less one as nice as Steve provided. That MBP owner would have gotten a WTF letter from me.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 6:10 pm, Wifiguy Said:
On second thought if it was SJ he would have would have told the poor sap that he should have backed up and just buy another Mac, cut throat salesmen Jobs is.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 6:26 pm, John Said:
Most of you guys are over-reacting. It is very reasonable that the repairs might not be complete fix to a problem but receiving it and attempting to repair or inspect the notebook does incur costs which the customer is responsible for.
Apple not caring about it’s customers is a load of crap.I don’t think an individual company has treated me as well.
They have upgraded my shipping countless times, repaired at no-cost an absolutely wrecked Mac mini that was out of warranty, handled shipping costs for 2 iPod repairs even though I had already used a free ship already.
All is good.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 6:59 pm, john Said:
This is a pretty irresponsible post headline “Apple doesn’t care about it’s customers” While its a matter of opinion there is a reason so many people use Apple products–they focus on the customer better then anyone. If I were Apple’s legal department, I’d give BGR a call for posting some fake email from Apple and claiming it was Jobs.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 7:47 pm, joey Said:
its not fake. remember when SJ said to that girl who wanted his photo, “That would be rude.”? SJ is tough love, baby.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 8:59 pm, Geoff Said:
standard fair to charge deposit on repair work 300 upfront isn’t bad HP charges 400 in Canada, and balance if it exceeds 300 to be paid upon completion. Why is the customer whining to higher ups anyways, it is what it is. There is alternatives to get it fixed. I kinda agree with apples response the person just wants to rag on someone for their own stupidity. Repairs sound a lot cheaper then new mac pro. Could just replace with an eee pc and chuck it when they drop it in the tub and never worry about repairs again.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 9:08 pm, Nic Said:
I used to work for an iPod accessory maker. I used to get similar calls and emails nearly everyday.
So I feel he got the deserving response for a hostile and idiotic customer! He spoked to three or four different reps who surely told him there was no fixing it. He probably became frustrated and started to write what he believed was “The Letter” to illicit the response he wanted.
BUT he got pwnd!
Admission of guilt followed by a threat.
. . . this is entirely my fault . . . I was happy to get a straight answer . . . I am not sure if my replacement will be one (a Mac) . . . the whole experience has turned me off of the Apple company.
Is his money worth the head ache. Count him as a lost and part ways.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 9:10 pm, ppcmd Said:
Typical of Apple arrogance and attitude towards customers. The friggin point here is Apple does not, BUT, certainly should offer an option where by they look at a computer and offer some estimate on the repair cost. I can say it should not cost $300 to check it out and even if they do it should be applied to over all repair if the customer chooses to.
I have a MBP that is about 16 months old and in the last 4 months Apple has had to replace the logic board (that would be everything inside) they also replaced the Superdrive and the interconnect cable. Turn around time 3 days, that was 1 day each way to ship and 1 day to repair (not bad), but then just a couple of months later both fans went. So I now have a pretty much new laptop but how long will these parts last?
Oh and MAC OS X locks up just as much (as in the spinning beach ball) as WinXP on my MBP go figure. Also I get more crashes due to kernel panic that causes the grey screen of death and loss of everything you were working on. I say as Apple gains market share they are gaining sloppy QC. as well.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 9:21 pm, Nic Said:
BS! My MacBook (early adopter, bought one week after its intro) has been through it! I have abused it in all sorts of ways. Dropped it out of a moving car being one example. I have been out of warranty for about 9 months. I took it in two weeks ago for all the chips, scratches and abuse (cracked my case) I have put it through and was forthright about my stupidity. Long story made short, Repaired to like new.
NO CHARGE!
That has been my experience. I’ll draw from that experience to make my judgment. Anybody else?
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 9:31 pm, pheer6224 Said:
Steve Jobs: my anti mac.
does that guy look like a bond villan to anybody else, or is the rest of this planet just brainwashed?
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 10:05 pm, Alex Said:
I’ve had nothing but problems with getting things repaired by Apple. This is my first Macbook and after a month the HDD fails and they just treat you like crap.
Eventually, two months later the laptop is finally returned - two months? I mean come on.
I’m just glad I kept my desktop computer as a PC.
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On Mar 28, 2008 @ 10:06 pm, SnappyPenguin Said:
This person probably went into the apple store and was told that they have to pay for being careless. So instead of owning their problems, they try to get out of it by writing good-ole-Steve who gives people computers for free because they bitch and moan. Now that they didn’t get the response they want and they submit it to blogs to get more needless attention….
Does anyone ever read warranties? Apple’s is clear. The warranty doesn’t cover you being a douchebag with a $2000 computer. Take it to your insurance company assuming you have Homeowners insurance.
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