Monday, April 10, 2006

AppleCare - as efficient as Amazon!

Most customer care lines are jammed first thing on a Monday morning. Most companies, particularly etailers, put most of their resources into sales, and leave support and repair lines understaffed.

After only three layers of "press 1 for ...", I got through to a real person without queuing, who straightaway asked for the iPod's serial number (as they don't expect anyone to have a serial number for the lanyard headphones), took a note of problem, a daytime dispatch address, and a credit card (in case I was to forget to return the faulty headphones in the prepaid envelope they'll send out with the replacement). Call lasted ten minutes - replacement should arrive in five working days.

Very slick customer service - in the same league as Amazon (on a good day) and very few others. If customers are trying to defraud them, they'll either not be willing to give credit card details, or they'll end up paying for stealing an extra set of headphones when none are returned. And if a customer has a genuine fault, the negative experience (broken hardware) has been replaced with very positive vibes about Apple's willingness to be helpful. Probably good publicity too - as people like me will tell others.

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