Have y’all ever gone through the fast food drive-thru, with a carload of kids squealing in the backseat? And, you ordered a bagful of burgers, fries and some chicken nuggets for Junior (because he’s been driving you nuts begging for them for thirty minutes)? And, you pay for your order and get back on the highway and you drive away? And, five miles down the road, you discover that Junior’s chicken nuggets weren’t in the bag? Do you know how he starts to wail and moan at the top of his lungs? And, do you know how your start to curse the goofball who gave you the wrong order?
I’m wailing and moaning like Junior right now. I’m also cursing the goofball who gave me the wrong order!
A few days ago, I told y’all that I had bought myself a new Apple computer. The Dell pc that I had been using was on its last legs, and I was getting tired of it crashing all the time. My son urged me to get an Apple, because he assured me that if I had problems the “Apple Geniuses” could help me solve them. That’s what they call the tech support at the Apple Stores.
I don’t think they call the sales people that.
Yes, they toot their own horn at Apple, and right now they’ve hit a sour note with me.
On the day I bought my computer (at the Apple Store at Willow Bend, in Plano, TX), the young pup salesman brought me the box with my new MacBook Pro, and another box with the “Protection Plan,” an extended three year warranty (because we don’t have luck with computers!) that I purchased. I paid a pretty penny for it, too. Well, put it on my credit card is what I did.
I’ve spent the last several days just trying to figure out how it works, but I had been liking it well enough. I’m not terribly sold on it yet, but I’ll admit that I haven’t had time to try out all the “bells and whistles.”
Tonight, I tried to install the Protection Plan, but couldn’t get it registered. We had to call “Apple Support.” I didn’t find that they lived up to their name.
I reached a gal who had a thick accent (I’m assuming she was not in the United States). Y’all might be aware that I have a pretty thick Texas accent of my own. We didn’t understand each other very well at all. Half of the time, one or the other of us was saying, “Could you repeat that please?” OK, I admit that I was saying, “Do whut?” but it means the same thing. The other half of the time, I was on “hold.” That’s another way of saying, “ignore.”
For almost an hour.
Then, my “Support” person informed my that I had bought the wrong protection plan. Excuse me lady, but let’s re-phrase that, I bought a MacBook Pro, and was given sold the Protection Plan for a Mac Pro. How could this problem be solved? She explained that she could charge me for the correct plan and register it for me. However, my refund for the plan the store sold me would not show up on my credit card for two to three billing cycles!!!
What kind of racket is that? I don’t want to pay interest on $269 and some change for three months!
I told her, “Thank you very much, I’ll deal with the store.”
So, I called the Apple Store at Willow Bend. Now a very polite young lady at the store asked me if I had opened the box with the disc in it. Yes, of course I did. I was installing the protection plan they sold me for my computer. In a sad voice she said, “If it’s been opened, we can’t give you a refund, it has to come through Apple Support.”
What the…?
I explained, “This problem is not one that I created. YOU sold me the wrong plan. This is YOUR mistake not MINE. I didn’t pick that off the shelf, your salesman handed it to me as the plan for the computer he sold me.” She spoke to a manager, and arranged for me to take the computer to the store tomorrow, and one of the Apple Geniuses will install the proper protection plan. Of course, I have to drop everything I had planned for tomorrow to drive a seventy-five mile round trip AND they are going to charge me for the new plan AND I might not get my refund for two to three months anyway.
Tomorrow, I’ll update this post and let y’all know how it went. I’m hoping that the store does right by me. I’m hoping that I get to come home and learn to enjoy this new Mac Book Pro (fortunately, I haven’t put many files on it yet).
If they aren’t going to make it right, do y’all think I should call American Express and dispute the claim for that $269? Tell me what you think.
AND, if you are buying a new computer any time soon, double check that bag, or you might end up wailing and moaning.
Like Junior and me.
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Shelly,
Tell them you’re not charging them for the gas & phonecalls because of ‘their’ mistake…so they shouldn’t charge you for the new plan…just cancel the old plan and they should install the new free of charge…that way you don’t have to wait for a credit.
Use your many charms and if that doesn’t work….tell them they don’t need bad advertisement which you will surely give them. Throw a tantrum if you have to…..tell them you’re old and arthritic given to mad rages..and you’re easily provoked.
Don’t take no for an answer…and let us know!
I’ll just tell them I’m menopausal, and that should do it
Actually, I blogged about it tonight, because I want to direct them to the site, tell them I have a page rank of 5 on Google (so if anybody Googles their store, I’m gonna be high on the list), and tell them not to make me want to change my tone. So far, I’ve been polite. But, I am NOT amused at having to stop what I had planned to do for tomorrow!
I like your strategy, blog about it, tell them you have and use that as leverage! You Rock! If that doesn’t work, go with the menopausal line…that should do it!
BTW: Got the package, working on the afghan now!
If I were you, I’d give your credit card people a phone before you go, as you may have some form of insurance that will protect you on this. Either way, definitely kick up a big fuss, and appear completely inflexible. Know what you want before you go in and stick to your guns. Sorry for a book plug – but in Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway, Susan Jeffers talks about asserting yourself at retail establishments. She relates a dispute she had with taking something back to a shop, and every time the sales person tried to back out of giving a refund, she stated “I understand what you are saying, and I want my money back.” She just kept repeating that as a response to whatever the salesperson threw at her, and eventually, through sheer exasperation, I expect, the salesperson gave up and refunded her her money. Never tried it myself, but it may be worth a shot!
Good luck and let us know how you get on with it.
I agree with you. That’s just insanity! If the salesman makes a mistake (and obviously he did because you have the wrong stuff in your hand), then the store should fix it and/or Apple should be overnighting the correct thing to you with a return envelope for the one you were given in error. That’s just common courtesy.
I haven’t need to call Apple for any reason, but the geniuses in our local store are pretty good. They even offer classes there on the software that comes with the Apple.
Now if I could just get my cable modem to stay on
Don’t let them get away with it, Shelly. Stand your ground. Apple is too good a product to not use, and there is no excuse for any business not to fix problems they created. Jessica is right, make them overnight it. And tell them you are blogging… and you know what, if they don’t resolve it, I’ll add a note and link to your post. My ibook gave up and I WAS buying a Macbook soon, but if they can’t treat their customers any better than PC users get treated, you may as well just buy THREE WINDOWS laptops for the price of one Apple and just make them disposable. I may just do that myself. I can buy them one at a time and save the interest until the next one shows up on my credit card. I am sick of employees not doing right by the customer, Apple or not.
That bites!!! It is THEIR fault – THEIR mistake – THEY should be doing back flips trying to correct it and do right by the customer! PERIOD!
Ah, the lost art of customer service. Unfortunately it seems more and more companies are now offering a brand new form of customer dis-service instead. Good luck at the store, I hope it all goes well for you.
Yikes! Good to know. I miss the good old days when proper customer service was just a given whereever you went. Now a days you have to shop around for stores that value their customers…
I hope it all works out for you!
Definitely inform them of the fact that you are blogging on the subject and they are mentioned by name.
Having said that, I’m not long on a whole lot of sympathy Hon if only because I’ve been through the Microsoft Mill. Have you ever looked at their “HELP” pages? Don’t even bother trying to call anyone. They charge you for that and if it turns out to be their fault they will eventually credit your card … maybe someday, but it would probably be better to just establish an account with Geek Squad. They charge to, but at least they are human beings.
The pitiful wails about VISTA literally jump off the thousands of users talking to each other on the Microsoft web page because no one from Gates and company actually does anything once a box leaves the factory.
At least you have a place to go and a human being to talk to.
I am so sorry you have to deal with this. I would definitely call your charge card co. and file a complaint. I would then suggest you take the computer back and get your money back. Then go over to Circuit City and talk to a Fire Dog Tech. (My son works for Circuit City & he is a Fire Dog(-: He does installs and repairs etc.)They can help you get what you really need and they will get it all set up for you too. When you have a problem they do house calls too! Can’t be any easier then that(-: Well you did ask…(-: Just had to give you my two cents worth(-: I am not an Apple user. And I hate the idea of calling someone that is not in our country to help with a problem. Good luck and keep us posted of your success!!!
ohhhh…I don’t need to hear this… I’ve had so many problems with Vista that I’d pretty much decided to go iMac next time. Bleh. Hope it works out for you!