An Open Letter to Steve Jobs on Customer Service
Posted by Ben Jackson Wed, 08 Mar 2006 04:24:00 GMT
Note: this story has a happy ending. See updates at the bottom.
Hi Steve,
You don't know me, but I know you. I've been a fan of yours, and your company's, ever since I first traded daylight for the warm, green glow of my grandfather's old Apple IIc (he was, and still is, ahead of his time). Sitting there, a wide-eyed twelve-year-old twisting his brain into knots while hacking out line after line of BASIC, I knew that I had found, if not a friend, then at least a purring, text-based approximation of one.
Since then, I have owned, at one point or another, a Macintosh Classic, several generations of PowerMacs, a Blue and White G3 Tower, a Wallstreet Powerbook G3 which got me through undergrad, and, most recently, a Titanium Powerbook which I bought in September of 2004. This last purchase has been far and away the best computer I've ever owned.
Until today.
While checking my email, all of a sudden my display began to show jagged screen artifacts. While they made for interesting op-art, within less than a minute my 2-year-old laptop was utterly unusable. I restarted to no avail. Checked the display over VNC from another box, with the same results. Searching Google, I found numerous reports of problems with banding in the displays on the same model from 2005, but nothing even remotely close to what I was experiencing. Finally, giving up, I brought it to an Apple authorized technician and was told that, since the display was not the issue, most likely my motherboard was fried.
"Well", I thought, "good thing I bought the extended warranty." I promptly showed the technician my original receipt, registered AppleCare policy, passport, and proof of residency in the United States. You see, shortly after I bought the laptop in the U.S., I moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Imagine my shock when I heard that, before I could get my motherboard replaced under warranty, I would have to wait up to 30 days for the store to send my AppleCare information to São Paulo, only to have them send it to Apple U.S. for approval.
30 days.
That's a month during which my computer, the heart and soul of my livelihood, will be sitting useless on my desk. In other words, if I wish to pay my rent next month, I have no choice but to immediately shell out the equivalent of US$1000-1500 (plus installation fees) to buy a new motherboard.
I know as well as anyone how difficult it is to get things done in Brazil, let alone any third-world-country. But Steve, can you (and Apple) really tell me with a straight face that there are so few Macintosh users in the second largest city in Brazil as to justify sending my information to São Paulo, further delaying my warranty service, when it's going to end up in the U.S. anyway?
Perhaps you should ask Nando Costa, or Matthias Brendler at COB01, or my friends at J. Walter Thompson's Rio office what they think of this policy. They all use Macs, some from the U.S. as well, and I'm sure that they would like to know that when something goes wrong, they can count on spending at least a month without their machines.
I'm not angry. But I am very disappointed. I love your company, its philosophy and what it represents for me: a beacon of hope in the rough, shark-infested waters of the PC market. I am an unabashed Mac fanboy. I've evangelized your platform to everyone I know, from open-source Flash Developers to creative writers. And I will continue to shout your praises from the rooftops, because I believe in my gut that the Mac OS is the best thing that's ever happened to this industry.
But you can be damned sure that I'll be watching the OSX86 project with a microscope.
Best regards,
Ben Jackson
+55 (21) 2256-1022
R. Emílio Berla 180
Copacabana, RJ 22061-060
Brazil
Update: Just got off the phone with Apple São Paulo. They are giving my case "special priority," and insisted that approval rarely or never takes 30 days. Steve, if you're reading this, thanks for the quick response.
Another update: Within three days after I wrote this, my laptop was back in my hands with a new motherboard and a shiny new display to boot. Many thanks to Leoni at the Ipanema MacXpress for doing a kick-ass job.
That totally sucks. I don't have AppleCare anymore on my 12" powerbook. Doh.
I lived in Brazil for 3 three years doing software development in Sao Paulo, Rio and Belo Horizonte. During these three years I saw a grand total of 0 Macs. Not a single one! :-(
Is it just me or does your display say "fuk"?
Yeah I saw the word "FUK" on your display as well...
Apple Brazil is shit... Helloooo Apple US, can you do something? HELP US!!! We love Mac, do you love Brasil?
Why not just FedEx it to the US repair center? Call US tech support, first, of course, to talk to them about it. Cut out the middleman. Or ship it to Apple, then have Apple ship it to a friend of yours who can then ship it to you.
Shouldn't take more than two weeks to be fixed.
It doesn't work like that! If you do this you'll have to export your computer and then import it again... Is cheaper to buy another then export/import a Powerbook from/to Brazil, believe me!
It is the same theme in Hungary:(
the carefully crafted spelling was accomplished courtesy of marquee selections
Well my friends Apple not suck only in Brazil, in Mexico is the same shit, for some reason Apple think that we are extraterrestrial people or simple we are so stupids, I try to buy the QuickTime Pro in the Apple online store and I can´t doing the operation cause my credit card is Mexican, I call to Apple Mexico to find the way to buy this license and they tell me that not exist any way to buy this license the only way to obtain this software is buying software, something like Finalcut pro or other program that contain The QuickTime pro like a boundle, that´s mean for the "very intelligent Apple crew in Mexico" I need expend $1200 dollars to obtain the license for Quicktime Pro, wow you are brillant," I say to Apple guy if not exist other way and he tell me "No" so I say I will be try by the illegal way and he tell me "If you want..." wow!!!! Or Apple is so stupid or the US team not look more far than Coupertino, Finally a friend in LA find for me the software and sent me the disk. But for the Mexican Apple crew is more easy say to the customers go to find your software in the illegal way instead try to solve the problem.
Sigh...unfortunately I can relate to this all too well. I live in Luxembourg, where I bought an iMac revision A last year, including AppleCare. Even registering AppleCare was a nightmare -- I finally called direct to the US, and got everything sorted after a one-hour-long long-distance call at my own expense. Soon after, I had the common "logic board" problem on the iMac, with the video and performance problems. They would not help me in Luxembourg, where I bought the iMac. Service would instead be provided from Belgium. They refused initially to help me at all (even though Apple specified that for this iMac problem, it would be fixed free of charge for computers within a specific serial number range -- which mine was). Finally, 2 weeks later, they finally agreed to pick up my iMac (but only because I had AppleCare, otherwise I was left with a broken iMac that was not my fault), drive it to Belgium, and drive it back 2 weeks later fixed. It was a stupid ordeal. Not only do we pay a heck of a lot more for Apple products here than in the US or Canada, we also get the worst imaginable service...
Anyone who has ever tried to use a HMO insurance or to challenge a telephone bill in the US knows that American efficiency is a myth.
Well this is something I really don't get: in Europe a Mac costs A LOT more than in the US and the service sucks! Is there really any reason for that? What kind of international market policy they have (if there is such thing as international market policy AT ALL at Apple!)