It’s been a long time since I bought my first Mac and got an iPhone not much later. I like Apple for the most part. Spent a few years with just a linux laptop/desktop, but got a M2 Macbook Air last year and, well… I say all that to say this:
For the most part, I’m pretty happy with Apple. Products are good, usable, etc. Don’t have many problems.
Because of this, and since it’s been a few years since the Mrs and I have upgraded the phone, I decided to get her one of those new iPhone 15 Pros. Bought it Sunday and was supposed to be here Tuesday.
Tuesday: No Phone
Tuesday evening comes and no phone. So I get on Apple Support Chat and let them know. When you look up the tracking number, the status shows “label printed” but nothing else– for over 48 hours. Apple’s response was to “wait 2 business days and then check back.”
I’m not a big fan of the wait and see approach and was a bit frustrated. That chat took 30 min by they way and as I mentioned to them, I expected a bit more than “wait and see.” Even Walmart does better than wait and see. I specifically asked if they could ship a replacement as this one is clearly not anywhere that’s trackable. They said I should wait and see.
Wednesday
Next day I called. Support was very friendly and the rep said that the package should have been in the shipper’s system so the rep initiated a replacement– which should take a day. I get an email saying it would now arrive on Thursday.
Wednesday night comes and I notice the label shows printed but again not picked up. I call. I’m told, don’t worry… it’s with the shipper.
About an hour later I get an email saying the phone is delayed with no known arrival date.
Thursday
I call Thursday morning… this time ask if this can be escalated as I’m getting a bit frustrated. The manager advises he can see in the system that the phone is with the shipper and that although he can’t send me any proof of this, the phone will be in my hands by Friday.
I am not wanting to take faith as a answer here and pretty much spell that out. Along the lines of, “So, after missing two arrival dates, the only thing Apple can tell me is that I should accept what I’m told on the phone and even though there’s no information in the shipper’s tracking history, I should have faith that this is going to come.” Manager tells me the shippers page will be updated by end of day.
Guess what happens? End of day comes, no update.
Thursday Night
I call again.
This time get a grumpy manager. Said that there must be a problem with the carrier. He says he can ship it with a new carrier, but since it’s after 5pm on Thursday, I won’t get it until earliest Monday. The whole week I’ve explained to them I need this phone by Saturday so I can set it up with the Mrs and I’m leaving (for Kamailio World) on Sunday.
Monday isn’t going to fly for me… so ask why he cant ship it with Saturday delivery. His answer was a non-answer. Whatever. Bottom line: Too bad.
So, I cancelled my order. Have no desire to deal with this while I’m traveling. In theory they’ll refund me.
Friday
As of this posting, they refunded the apple care. Looking at the carrier tracking page, the carrier received the package just after midnight in Kentucky; label was printed 2 days earlier.
As of this posting the phone got to Gainesville at 08:46 this morning. We’ll see if it gets returned to Apple or delivered.
In Closing
Even after cancelling, I don’t know what will happen and had really hoped not to deal with this for a bit. Looks like at minimum I may have to handle a return of an item or keep the item and then decide if I want the apple care. I guess another possibility is that they load it onto a truck and make the driver handle the return when they attempt to deliver. Who knows at this point.
Regardless, for someone that’s been pretty loyal to Apple for a while, they made it very clear that trying to make things right is no longer a priority. At no time did they ever try to follow up. Everything is initiated by the customer. No ownership of a problem… I wasn’t looking for anything other that the item I had purchased and never received.
How you handle problems says a lot about you… and this was a big eye opener for me.
Oh well.
Update Friday @ noon
The sender requested that we hold this package. posted to the carrier status.