Yesterday, I had an issue with spotlight indexing on my computer, so I decided to call Apple Care. Long story short, I was on hold for nearly 3 hours, and still never managed to reach tier 2 support (the people I really needed to talk to). I understand that AppleCare has recently gotten much busier because of Leopard, and that this is not a usual occurrence for Apple, but it was still ridiculous. I can understand 15 or 20 minutes, but not 3 hours!!
In any case, I decided to send an e-mail to Steve Jobs. From the time I worked at Apple, I know that he does actually read his own e-mails, and often responds directly back to you, or will forward it to the correct place. Well, I've never done it before, but I thought I'd give it a try. I wrote a decent length e-mail, explaining why I was so frustrated that I had to wait for so long, and how bad it would look for those people who are calling AppleCare for the first time. In the past, I have convinced customers to purchase AppleCare probably hundreds of times, but I would feel bad if this was the service they got from it. It was so easy for me to recommend because, before leopard, wait times were usually 2 minutes max! Really, although I'd heard he did actually read all of his e-mails, I didn't think I'd get a reply.
However, at around 3:00 this afternoon, not even 24 hours after I sent the e-mail, I got a phone call from a lady who works in the Apple executive office!! She said that she was calling for Steve Jobs, he read the e-mail, and requested her to call. She listened to why I was frustrated, explained what is going on with AppleCare, and was actually helpful! After 3 hours on hold yesterday, I did finally figure out the solution myself. But, she said that if I had any problems again, especially since I am out of the country and going to an Apple Store is not a possibility, to call her directly and she would put me straight through to a product specialist (tier 2), or even the person above that, if necessary (the highest level of support they have, usually reserved for businesses).
It would have been neat to get a response directly from the Steve Jobs directly, but I know he's probably way too busy to actually call someone and handle a problem like mine, which is fine. The e-mails that I have seen him send to people are usually very short or something with a definitive answer. But, I'm still very impressed that he actually read the e-mail so quickly and made sure it was handled. You don't get much better customer service than that!
7 comments:
Did the they solve your problem with spotlight and indexing?
How's that? Thanks ; )
Did Jobs read the email to start with? Surely his Inbox is filtered down, and then - probably because it was well written, clear cut and simple to resolve - he was given it. Also, could I ask - did you mention that you were an ex-apple employee? If so, no doubt that helped! On my last cynical note: 1) Look at all the free publicity Apple is getting with your story!
2) Why on EARTH - after THREE HOURS - could no Apple support guy put you through to tier 2? Astonishingly incompetent. If I was Jobs I'd be worried about what was going on.
And before you think I am an “Anti-Apple” – I love them, and have various systems and ipods etc!
I actually fixed the problem myself...by limiting what spotlight could index, and then gradually putting it back. The problem wound up being the indexing of torrent files, while they were downloading. But, I now have the number to the woman in the executive office to call if I have further problems.
Yes, I did mention that i was an ex-apple employee. But, I've heard of him directly answering people's e-mails that were not employees and while I worked there, I had heard that he does actually read all his own e-mail. Yes 3 hours is a very long time, and I was not at all happy, but the iPhone and especially Leopard have caused a huge increase in call volume. They can't just hire and train more support people overnight. They did try to put me through to tier 2, but that's actually where I spent most of my time on hold. Like I said though, they did respond to my concern and I now have a means to get through to support much quicker.
I'm still not happy that calling applecare takes so long, but it was very nice to get such a prompt response back when I wrote the e-mail. Of course I want things to be better, but it's nice to know they're at least listening.
Some fair points you make there (both about problems and good things!). I would just say it's not really excuse that they dont have the support volume in place. Sure, you cant have people over night, but has 10.5 or the iPhone not been expected? They didnt just happen overnight. Indeed, fairly unsually both products were announced months prior to launch so we can't even say that it was all under lock and key and no training possible to 'outsiders'. The 'solution' of having a direct line to her, while fantastic for you, isn't scalable. Finger's crossed my new iMac doesnt go wrong on me! But, after all that, Im pleased you've sorted it out! :-)
Of course that solution is not scalable, but my point was just that I had an issue and they addressed it, for me, and did so quickly. It's nice to see that while things aren't perfect, they at least still make an attempt to satisfy and respond to their customers. Also, if I was in the US (I'm currently out of the country for school), this would not have been nearly as big of a problem, because I could have just walked into an Apple Store and had a genius fix it for me.
Don't get me wrong..this is a problem and I hope Apple is really working to fix it, as the woman said they were. But, there isn't another computer company out there that offers phone support for the hardware, much of the software, and the operating system, all in one place, or that has a retail location that you can just walk into and get help. I'm sure you'll be very happy with your iMac.
Just out of curiousity, did you call back and tell them what you had learned about the problem? There would not have been any wait then; all they would need to do is update your trouble ticket.
That could speed the response to someone else with a similar problem.
Yes, I did let the lady who called me know that I had fixed the problem, and I told her how I did it. However, she was not tech support, so I'm not sure if she did anything with the information I gave her.
Interestingly though, she called my Skype number, and I have no idea how they got that number! But, I'm glad she did!
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