Apple Tech Support Reviews

First loaner phone didn't even work, as I noticed before leaving with it. My pleas that any premium brand would normally offer a new replacement on the spot where it's self-evidently not fit for purpose fell on deaf ears. All the genius could say, on repeat, was 'It's the process' and the even less helpful 'I know where you're coming from'. It would have been more honest to simply say 'Computer says No.' Hopelessly inadequate. I can't think of any other expensive tech product where the manufacturer wouldn't be falling over themselves to apologise and instantly replace rather than increasing your frustration by giving you the liability of a loaner phone while they muse over what particular manufacturing or parts fault has led to an expensive but rubbish product. I have no idea how long they will take as they couldn't tell me.

I only got this because of a manufacturing design error in the iPhone 6 Plus I had before which succumbed to 'Touch Disease' as written about on the internet and now the subject of class action lawsuits in the USA. Yet more evasive Apple handling of that too. Having seen the sad decline of both Apple's hardware and the well documented farce that is their software, I can confidently state this is the very last Apple product I'll ever buy, but not the last review I'll write. Absolutely appalling complacency and contempt for ensuring customers get a working product for a high price. A rotten apple if ever there was one.

First it is really hard to find the information to receive support, secondly there is no option to answer a survey or give feedback. I finally found an Online Support Page which directed me to Support and Service link. When I clicked the link I received a message that informed me the "Page You Are Looking For Cannot Be Found". WHAT A JOKE!!! Clearly Apple is so arrogant that they have absolutely no interest in helping their customers or hearing about such poor experiences. I am appalled though from reading other reviews I should not be surprised. Hanging up on customers appears to be very common and as such I would venture to guess this is an acceptable strategy for the advisors if they don't want to help the customer or to clear support queues. UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Apple, are you familiar with the David and Goliath story. You are the Goliath, you better be careful or the David's of the industry will take you down. Several of my colleagues and friends have started divorcing themselves from your eco-system as a result of your shady strategy to reduce battery life on some of your phones. I say shady as Apple only educated the customer of this horrible practice when pressured to do so as a result of the public outcry. Shame on you! Customer trust is not something Apple is known for, you should be embarrassed and ashamed. I provided the most recent ticket number below but there are two others that ended with the same horrific experience (disconnecting from the customer).

On the chat for 47 minutes without being able to talk to said senior advisor. Give up, call their support number the chat person gave me and it wants my phone ID (?) with no option to talk to a person. Finally call and give them the case # that was given from the chat and they don't have any record of the issue. I had to email them the link I was sent because they couldn't see the picture I was sent. Unbelievable. Still waiting. What I can't understand is how Apple with all their Billions can't spend some money to improve their customer support experience. I know someone who works at a company (not Apple) that handles Apple Care - Apple can't even bother to run their own support!!?

The block should not be connected to free apps in the first place. Since 2013, I have spent $3.11 over and over again. Any concept that is implemented unto a computer system is also designed to be removed, so I don't believe that the billing department cannot do anything. Or if they cannot why not establish something where they will give a one time courtesy to waive a bill under $5.00, surely they cannot afford it with all the money being spent with Apple from people all over the world. Apple is making millions but you block my entertainment for $3.11? Any other company would waive or dismiss it. Most mortgage companies or even phone companies would not hold their product or deny their customer service over $3.11. In addition, I am not trying to download anything other than Netflix which is a free app and it's not a part of what Apple offers at all.

That app and many others are completely free. I guess it's what I get for trying to troubleshoot my app when it doesn't work. I will never do that again and I know how Apple really feels about their consumers. I am sure that Steve Jobs the founder of Apple who drove a nondescript car would not let a customer be disappointed and treat them this way over $3.11. They really need to re-examine how they treat people who spend their hard earned money with them. I could understand if it were $390.00 or even $500.00 but it's not it's only $3.11. On my last call to Apple today, I was told the advisor told my CSR customer relations representative that it was not about the "money" but the principle. That's not true because that's all they continue to harp about is the $3.11 which is minute in the bigger scheme of things.

At this point I really don't want anything to do with Apple and I was going to get my daughter and hubby tablets later this year. But why would I spend almost a thousand dollars with a company that can't forgive $3.11 for two songs. That's right it's about the principle. I will remember that when I walk past the Apple Store to another company that won't mistreat me over $3.11.

Just in case some person from Apple who can do something reads this (case # **) I told customer support that today’s service was not good Enough, and that if this is all the support I get today that I AM DONE WITH APPLE, ITUNES, THEIR RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE TECHNOLOGY AND ABSOLUTELY INEFFECTIVE SUPPORT SYSTEM. Scripted response, "I am sorry sir that’s all I can do for you today." I have been using these products for 15 years and thank you for nothing, 10 of thousands of dollars, probably 20 plus phones, 5 or 6 iPads and at least 6 full blown apple computers. This is a polite rant because it is posted on the internet, otherwise there would be significant profanity in my descriptive summary. Good job in your customer satisfaction, not!

Today, Ken (technician), worked with me for almost 2 hours trying to correct this issue. He, along with chatting with his supervisor, finally figured out why the old apple ID would not recognize my new one. He told me exactly what I needed or the information I needed to correct the issue. I have two options. Even though we are still working on the issue, this is by far the BEST customer service I have received. Both technicians had a great attitude throughout the process. They even made sure they had my email address & phone number to call me back if disconnected.

BACK TO THE PHONE. Needless to say more aggravation. Finally someone told me to simply say manager when I got one and ignore the automated speech. Tried that. You guessed it. I was hung up on again after holding for a substantial amount of time. Service that you can not easily avail yourself of is no service at all. I am sooo sorry that I purchased this phone and would advise anyone not to believe that Apple provides you with anything special unless frustration is special.

My phone number was logged incorrectly into their system at least 3 times and they still won't use my preferred number. They misspelled my name and put a repair order in another person's name after they registered my phone to someone else. Then they said I altered my phone making it ineligible for repairs. I think this company will do anything to avoid accepting fault and making repairs. I switched to Samsung. #neverapple.

I call again for the third time, this time I went through the automated system to technical support. Finally after waiting 23 minutes I talked to a nice lady named Jessica. I explained everything that happened to me before to Jessica, which she couldn't believe. I explain the problem to her, for my third time in the past half hour and she says that she will get the problem resolved and for me not to worry. Jessica said it's an easy fix at least five times. After a couple minutes she says she needs to transfer me, but they can definitely help and she will stay on the line with me. She does stay on the line with me while we wait. Ten minutes later Jessica's voice comes on and she says she's transferred me to Renee who will know the solution to my problem.

Renee asks some questions moving very slowly as she assesses the answer to each one. It then takes her ten minutes to look up my account. After much delaying she says she needs to transfer me. At this point I have been on the phone with Apple Tech Support for a little over an hour (I really wanted to watch this movie). I ask her what department she works for since she's supposed to be tech support, and she tells me Billing?!? I then ask why she acted like Tech Support for the first 20 minutes of the call and she argues with me that it's only been 10 minutes and this and that.

I asked Renee how to file a formal complaint and she didn't really have an answer, if Renee is even her name. Apple literally gave me the run around for over an hour, before I just called it quits. The ridiculous thing is that Apple just wasted all of these employees' time and mine for a problem that could have been solved in 5 minutes. Steve Jobs would be ashamed of Tim Cook and what the company prides itself on today.

I phoned and talked to a tech who told me that I now had to wait in a 'cue' and there were 40 repairs ahead of mine and I must drop it off and return days later to pick it up. He refused to budge or honor what I had been told in store previously. I then asked for manager who was robotically friendly and I was on the phone with him for 45 minutes in order for him to 'arrange' for me to come in store on the Wednesday day before Thanksgiving and be able to have it done while I wait. I offered to make an appointment in December to come in and wait, but was told 'that is not the way it works'. It takes all of 15 minutes to replace battery. Went back to mall on my holiday--the last place I wanted to be on my day off--and was at Apple store for another 90 minutes checking in and waiting for repair. Found most of the reps to be abrupt and not particularly friendly, bordering on rude.

Including drive time, phone hassle time, time in store, it took about 6 to 7 hours and many hassles to simply get a battery replaced. Owning a Mac really is not worth the hassle of repairs for a simple battery replacement (cost $140). Have replaced batteries on PC laptops by ordering for $30 on Amazon and replacing it myself. I hope to never deal with Apple 'customer service' again. It is so bureaucratic and regimented that it is like dealing with the government. I suspect Apple would prefer you simply trade in your current computer for a new one rather than deal with the hassle of getting it repaired.

We also have iMacs at work with AppleCare support. The one time I needed it, I held on the phone line for 40 minutes, and got a woman who didn't have a clue how to help us with the software issue. She then transferred me to the 'Enterprise' department which gave me a recording with a URL and then disconnected me. Don't even bother with AppleCare. It's not worth the cost. I went online, watched a YouTube, and was able to correct the software issue myself. Apple makes very nice and very expensive products but their customer service and tech support leave much to be desired. I think they are so enamored with themselves and the products that they really do not care about the customers.

And because nobody knows their stuff, Way too much time is spent informing them their answers are way off base and just plain wrong. By the time you're done you'll spent an hour or more for the final answer. It may be like the one I received from Apple Support yesterday about my problem: "It was just a one time technical glitch." Really Apple? Apple should hire people who actually KNOW how to use their products. The best support I have received at Apple support was from a woman who admitted she'd never used Apple products until being hired by Apple as a Senior Advisor. She actually listened and then tried to help and worked with me to understand the problem. She wasn't technically experienced but it was refreshing for someone to really listen and not just read scripts. This is not the company I once knew and loved. Don't bother calling Apple support. They don't have a clue.

I only FINALLY got an email on Tuesday (4 days later) saying they were sorry I was having an issue, and they were looking into it. Today is now Thursday (6 days later) and no other contact from support since Tuesday and nothing has been fixed. I needed a ride today and couldnt even use the Lyft app because my iTunes account wont accept ANY payment method that I put in. VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH APPLE SUPPORT!!! Oddly enough, when I had an Android phone, I never had a single problem making purchases with Google Play.

Today, I contacted the company to get this resolved. I spent 122 minutes on the phones, spoke with 6 different representatives who continued to place me through to their "senior advisors," to only spend 95% of the time waiting for a representative. Nothing was resolved. Even though we know fraud happens every day (the recent Experian Breach comes to mind), they claim that they don't how this could have happened. Truly, I have never been so frustrated with the lack of competency in human beings in my life. What I just endured for over two hours leaves me challenged to the core that big businesses can get away with such fraud. I will be pursuing this further.

Now, this is what gets me. I bought my laptop 6 months ago. They have Applecare and Applecare plus. Well, the technician said I had Applecare Plus until October 2020. And I was going to have my item insured and sent back in 5 days. He just didn't know how to assess it. I showed him the crack that is corroding and he had a totally different story. It didn't help that his boss was equally rude. When they were talking he was so condescending because she doesn't have AppleCare Plus but just Applecare and their whole demeanor changed.

He found a price and told me it would be 475. Why have me wait an hour to give me the wrong information, you cannot even assess the damage, and don't even know what is wrong with the laptop? I will never visit Grand Central Apple Support again. Don't give me one quote then tell me something else after your boss corrects you. Then make me feel less than because your seller then sell me the extra support. Apple is all about the money but if you know the extra warranty is better to sell it to me sooner rather than after the damage happens.

My iPhone was factory unlocked and the iPhone that I received is Sprint unlocked phone that doesn't accept T-mobile sim card. I took my iPhone again and explained the matter and they said, "We gave you one exception and there is nothing we can do for you anymore. You can trade it in for $75." And the senior iPhone advisor ended the call with me as there is nothing he can do for my case. Don't let Apple do that to you guys. There are lots of respectful companies that would love to serve you the way you deserve.

I've done the crap they ask for on the Iforgot.Apple.ID page (or whatever) and I've talked to Apple support MORE THAN ONCE and they said they'd call. They said they'd call yesterday. Nope. They said they'd call today. NOPE. I've had to call them back both days. NOTHING. Now - I'm on hold until they can get an account supervisor. Probably NOTHING still. Because APPLE SUCKS! I HATE APPLE! Once I get my account re-done I'm going to Android. You know why? Because they actually WORK! Don't shut off your account for no damned reason. Because they have GREAT customer service. Because it doesn't take 9 FREAKING MONTHS to get an account re-set! THIS IS WHY I HATE APPLE!

Original Review: Aug. 24, 2017

On July 31 I changed my number due to a personal reason. My provider changed my number after we erased my phone, then told me to sign back into appleID. I didn't know it and had to go through account recovery. I was initially told the info I needed to unlock mine would be sent to a friends phone in 2-3 days. Then I got an email saying it would be 2 weeks. After 2 weeks I was ready to receive the info, but it never came. I called Apple and was now dealing with a Senior Account specialist.

This took another couple days before he said all was well, and an email would be sent telling when the link and code would be sent to my friend's phone. That date came and passed and I received nothing. I submitted another request to account recovery, and was informed I would have to wait another 2 weeks to receive the same info I was promised on 2 previous instances which never came. Did I mention I'm still paying for apps and iCloud space I cannot access? No matter how this ends up, I am done with Apple forever.

23 1/2 hours of runaround later, including being disconnected 3 times and talking with 6 different people from across the world, we still have no idea what the status of our shipment is. And, they have no way to track it? Seriously? The last person we spoke with went on and about how frustrated he was with all of the irate customers calling in complaining that they had not received their merchandise. What does that tell you? I would really hope that after our experience and the vast number of complaints on this site, there is something that can be done to hold this company accountable for their actions.

At the time I told them it was a bug introduced after a patch since I always was able to remove this web data and cache before I signed out. Now four months later I decided to spend a day based on their recommendation restoring IPad with a level 2 engineer from apple. FYI… level 2 engineer working for apple has as little as 3 years of experience in IT. Results were the same after 5 hours of my time, web data still existed and no new IPad was offered by level 2 engineer. Would this have fixed the problem? No but I thought I would appease them since this is what their engineers told them to do. This is a software bug Apple Level 2 support confirmed it by contacting the software engineering staff at Apple. So what does this mean? Simple, an outside entity can place a file on your device that stores data of which the contents you are unaware of and the operating system cannot remove it.

I will not use my apple devices for banking, purchasing or any sensitive data, whether personal or corporate. I have 30+ years’ experience as an IT systems engineer. Specializing in UNIX, Linux and red hat with security at the forefront of any IT development effort. The underlining operating system in the Apple operating system is UNIX based. This is the reason I purchased their products because the history of malware and viruses is minimal in this environment. Too many companies are changing from quality to quantity. The percentage game has always been played. Worry about the 90% and ignore the other 10% because dollars are paramount. Unfortunately most of the 90% are ignorant to the data being stored about them because they have no idea how to check. Security should be forefront, toys - secondary with risks conveyed.

This option does not help me as a customer as I would have to spend additional money to get the product. Since the representative made a mistake it should have been their job to fix the problem without additional customer damage. I love Apple and my recent purchases should have justified extra support, however this experience was horrid. Not only am I still waiting for the product I am missing vital work time online!

In these 7 weeks I haven't been asked anything at all to verify me, no communication whatsoever except for the advisor telling me to wait, they're working on it. So... About 10 years worth of apps, movies, songs, etc. That I paid for I can't access and probably never will with the way Apple handles these things. Needless to say I feel cheated by Apple, this company is a soulless robot corporation that only rips you off of your money but doesn't employ people to handle real issues. Shame on you Apple and your worthless engineers that create robot machines to handle sensitive customer issues that don't get anything done!

Now they are saying part is not available with Apple and it may take about a month to get fixed. My all work is stopped. Am losing my business as well, I asked Apple to provide me alternative option or replace the device but they rudely denied to do that. I need replacement of this device within the time frame their service engineer asked for. I cannot wait for a month, we customer buy such product because we believe they will provide good service but unfortunately they are worst than any other companies in the market.

I spent two weeks escalating the situation to three senior advisors and finally one was able to help. He looked into the case and didn't know why the account was disabled. He worked to enable it and allow me to use my card again so that I could make purchase on the NEW Apple ID I was told to create while the release of my first account was being processed. Yesterday (Literally two weeks after my first account was released), I tried purchasing this Builder Pack on my new account and the same problem popped up. So I reported it to Apple and guess what these ** did after I clearly told them what happened the first time?

They went and disabled my account again. Now I have to contact them again to give them ** for making the EXACT same mistake twice in less than a month. All I want is a ** Builder Pack from Clash of Clans for less than $10. Why do I have to go through this ** every time? Are they going to tell me to make a THIRD account? No. ** you Apple. Get your ** together.

Next problem. Ok so I've been in Italy for about 4 days. My screen starts getting these weird lines and acting up. I looked up how to fix it, cooled it down, etc. and nothing worked! So I finally get around to calling Apple support, two days later. They. Were. Awful. I was on hold more than I talked to someone. This first dude's suggestion was that I go to a store that accepts the warranty. I told him that's not going to work but of course he looks it up anyway. After finding ONE store that'll accept it, I told him again I don't have transportation so he decided to "look at our other options." This dude wanted to do express care - have me send my phone back within 10 days and wait for a new one to come. After waiting for almost an hour, turns out they don't ship out of the country AND I can't get a new phone in Italy because foreign phones are made different and I'd have more problems when I returned to the States.

Ok. So I tell him this is ridiculous considering this is 100% Apple's fault since this is a brand new phone: wasn't dropped, hasn't gotten wet. Nothing. Purely a malfunction. So he transfers me to a "senior advisor." So she starts doing the exact same thing he did: looking up places I can bring my phone. So I start telling her we've already done this and I was told I can't get a new phone over here anyway. After going back and forth, basically the same exact stuff I had gone through with the previous dude, she tells me I have to wait until I come home. I said absolutely not as this is my ONLY form of communication, my camera, my map, etc.

So after me telling her how much more pissed I'll be if this phone stops working while I'm over here, we finally decide to see if she can ship a new one to my dad and he can ship it to me. I told her THEY WILL pay for shipping since it's APPLE's FAULT. Again, after going back and forth for ten minutes she tells me she has to check on that and she'll call me back. So eventually she calls me back and tells me they can give me $100-$150 credit for the online Apple Store. That's great, and except I don't need a damn thing from them. So I asked her if I'd have to send my phone back first and she said yes. I told her that's not going to work because, again, I NEED a phone while I'm here. She kept saying she's sorry that I think it's their fault and at this point I'm livid so I told her it IS their fault.

Then she says, "I'm sorry none of these solutions work for you" and kept telling me they were "trying" to help me and "it's not your fault you're overseas." I had to explain again and again that the whole point of me getting a new phone was so I would be ok when I went away. Then I asked her how she would feel if her family member was overseas without a phone and she said she wouldn't like that. That's pretty much where our conversation ended. I told her I'd talk to my dad and see if he can get through to them since they're so bogus.

This is the shortened version. I kept having to explain things again and again and all they kept saying was "I'm sorry you're frustrated, I understand why you would be." Yeah, cut the training lines and be helpful for once! I also told her god forbid I go home and my phones not under warranty anymore and I guaranteed her I would have some sort of issue waiting that long. She told me (supposedly) my phone is under warranty until June 2018 but I told her I never know with these people since they're not very helpful. My phone isn't even two weeks old so as far as I'm concerned, it's Apple's problem and they need to find something convenient for me. I'm livid right now. $750 phone and they won't work with me. Oh, ok. Thanks a lot, Apple!

On Oct 22, 2016 I received an email from Apple telling me to "click here" to download their new Sierra operating system. I'm not a sophisticated techie but even I can manage that. And that simple click at 11:30 pm while I was waiting for Saturday Night Live to come on was the beginning of the end. About 10 minutes into the download Sierra froze. Nothing I did could unfreeze it. I waited and waited and waited. But still frozen. Finally I decided to shut down and reboot. Worst move ever because it came back with a black screen with assorted bits of garbage on it and some sort of cryptic aborted message. There was no way in or out.

So I called 24/7 AppleCare and embarked on a 12 hour world tour, speaking to Apple techs from the Philippines to Australia - for almost 12 hours straight!!! At one point I spent almost 3 hours on the phone with a senior tech in Melbourne who managed to somehow get Sierra off my system and get me back to El Capitan. He then had me reinstall Sierra assuring me that as soon as it finished downloading (a mere 2 hours later) everything would be perfect. He even kindly offered to call me back at 9 am NY time and check up on it.

Only it wasn't fine at 9 am - it was worse because I could no longer access my own user file. I spent another hour or so on the phone with an even more senior tech, who finally threw in the towel. So I packed up my mortally wounded operating system and ran to Apple's flagship 59th Street Store in NYC, where I spent over an hour going through the mess with an assortment of their Geniuses. I left my MacBook Pro in Apple's ICU with the assurance they'd get everything working again ASAP. You can imagine how thrilled and relieved I was when Apple called me 3 days later and told me I could come pick up my MAC, which was now perfect.

But it wasn't. It took me exactly 30 seconds after turning it on to realize that almost all my dozens of files were gone. Only a handful remained and they contained a hodgepodge of random documents from any and every file including the operating system. The best analogy I could use would be if a tornado went through a conventional file room and all that remained was a huge pile of random paper, with 1/2 of the files completely blown away, never to be found again. It was beyond bizarre. And it didn't take a Genius to see this, because instead of the dozens of files and subfiles that appeared when the initial menu came up, there were now less than 20.

But I didn't panic yet. Because I had everything backed up - not only to an external hard drive but also the elusive iCloud. So I returned to the Apple Store with my back-up drive, where I left Alan, supposedly one of their best and most senior Geniuses, with the crystal clear instruction that before doing anything further he needed to make a duplicate of my pristine back up drive and work only from the duplicate so that there was no risk of my remaining data and files being compromised.

But unfortunately Alan didn't do that. Instead, he plugged the drive in and when a prompt popped up to complete downloading Sierra he hit it. And somehow, someway that Apple can't or won't explain to this day, the deadly Sierra managed to worm its way into every single file on my back-up drive and even into the Cloud to destroy them all. For those familiar with Time Machine suddenly every single file, regardless of its date, was the identical scrambled mess as all the others. This was the 2nd time Apple's Geniuses didn't catch this (or own up to it as the case may be). Once again they insisted everything was "perfect".

By now we were into December and my battle with the Apple Store was at a standoff. It had degenerated into a series of increasingly ridiculous lies, history rewrites, denials and finger pointing. They even tried to write the whole incident off to my external drive failing which was utterly preposterous because my external drive wasn't even in the mix until the 3rd cycle of repairs and denials.

But my favorite was Apple's repeatedly denying any responsibility or liability for the destruction of my data and files because somewhere, buried deep in the fine print of their Apple User Agreement, Apple disavows itself of any liability for all software. This includes their own, proprietary IOS operating system. By this logic Apple's sole legal responsibility is limited to the sleek metal box that houses the operating system Apple created, without which the metal box does not run. Perhaps their lawyers need to look into Contracts of Adhesion. Buyer beware the next time you invest $2-3000 for your new MAC. If MAC's operating system fails and destroys your data it's not their problem, it's yours!

So I trudged back and forth to the Apple Store for another month. Ironically I broke my wrist in December after slipping on ice one block from the 59th St. Store on my way there. I arrived in tears, with my old (now damaged from the fall) MacBook Pro that the Geniuses requested I bring them to try restore some of my older files, saying I had to leave it and run because I had to go to the ER. And they actually argued with me telling me they couldn't work on it unless I stayed!

I suggested that the Store team contact the Sierra team at Apple because maybe they could unscramble what happened since they presumably wrote the code. Implausibly, according the Apple store's top Manager, he had no way of reaching any senior Apple executive directly, even Tim Cook. If this is true and the Manager of Apple's premiere flagship store can't connect directly with one of their top executives it would go a long way towards explaining why Apple is so dysfunctional. Are they this desperate to avoid any direct contact, or even indirect, with their customers?

From my experience the answer is a resounding YES. Forget calling anyone at Apple. No matter which door you go in through (and I've tried them all, even Investor Relations and HR) you end up with one of their utterly useless and frustrating Customer Service Reps, who will run you in Applespeak circles no matter how long you spend on the phone with them. It's an endurance test and you can't outrun them.

So after a month more of this I decided it was time to escalate to Tim Cook. I wrote Mr. Cook a lengthy letter filled with specifics - dates, names, micro details in the hope that the ever growing chain of mishaps and missteps would set off an alarm, as one would expect of any CEO looking at what should appear to be a major customer service fail. Even more importantly, I also detailed other incidents I'd come across with the same failure by Sierra on or around the same date I experienced it. This included numerous posts on Apple blogs and two other cases I'd found in NYC. Not to mention the 1st Australian tech I spent 3 hours on the phone with told me that this was a known bug and glitch with Sierra. One would think that a problem with Apple's new IOS would be an instant red flag to Mr. Cook. Unless of course he already knew about it.

A couple of days after emailing Tim Cook I was contacted by Megan **, a member of Mr. Cook's "Executive Leadership Team." No disrespect to Ms. **, but as far as I can tell after 5 mos of dealing with her, she's just an upgraded AppleCare team member in disguise. She claims Tim Cook had read all my correspondence and is aware of the matter but I find this hard to believe. If he truly is shame on him. Once Ms. ** jumped in I spent hours on the phone with more AppleCare team members, having to start the entire saga from start every time, making me wonder if anyone from Apple ever read the file before jumping on the phone with me.

The dots never connected on their own between the Store, the Geniuses, AppleCare and anyone else involved. So on every call I had to spend hours walking the tech du jour through the ever increasing maze of misinformation and failed fixes. I don't believe I ever spoke to anyone with senior engineering expertise from the nature of the conversations I had. I certainly never spoke to anyone for the Sierra team despite repeatedly requesting this. At one point I was contacted by an AppleCare rep who asked questions during 3 lengthy calls, supposedly at the behest of the iCloud team. But he ultimately disappeared and I never heard anything further on that front.

Which brings us to now. Finally, after 6 months and countless failed attempts to retrieve or restore my missing files and data (which is over 10 years worth of personal and vital business files) Ms. ** called me and told me that Apple had come to the conclusion they could not fix the problem. Therefore Apple felt "terrible" and wanted "to make financial restitution" for my loss."

Aside from this being a cataclysmic problem to my business because years of work product, contacts, correspondence and records were gone in a flash (including all the back-ups) I also lost irreplaceable personal photos and other correspondence. How do you even begin to determine a financial value for such a loss? A really cyberage dilemma. So I started researching and came up with a number of formulas that businesses, insurers and others have applied to determine the value of data loss. Needless to say, there was a wide range going from $50,000 to well into the 6-figures.

So, I went back to Ms. ** and told her I thought the best way to determine the financial value was to agree upon a formula or methodology to apply first. But none of this mattered because Apple had come up with their own solution - they offered me a choice of a $3500 check or $5000 of Apple equipment at retail price (which actually translates to less than $3500 at their wholesale or manufacturer's price). So $3500 or $2500? And of course in return I had to give Apple a full release from all liability.

And that's as far as Apple will go. $3500 for every record, file or document I had - over 250,000 gigabytes of files and data vital to my life and business. Or to put this in proper perspective, a mere fraction of what Apple spent to develop the special box to keep pizza crusts from getting soggy in the employee cafeteria in their new corporate palace. The palace with the zillion dollar door handles and miles of special glass. Otherwise known as Apple-Versailles. So my life's work is worth less than a soggy pizza crust. Good to know. Maybe I should just settle for $5000 worth of pizza boxes and door handles.

Here's the real kicker - my MAC still doesn't function properly. Backing up still has the very same problem it had on day one. All of the files, regardless of date, are mirror images of each other, with incomplete, corrupted files. So 7 months later I don't even have a working computer and operating system. Instead I have a $2500, 500,000 gigabyte word processor and email reader. And Apple's offer of $3500 for "restitution". Samsung and their exploding phones are looking pretty good right now. At least they acknowledge their responsibility and are giving everyone new phones that work.

So think about this the next time you line up for hours to pay top price for Apple's latest must have toy. God forbid anything goes wrong beyond the ability of a quick fix by an Apple Genius or AppleCare. You won't be able to escalate to any senior executive or engineer. You'll be lied to, run around in circles, waste months of your time and thanks to the fine print you'll never read or see, Apple will deny all liability. And that nice shiny box it comes in is only worth $3500, even if Apple's own IOS fails. Something to keep mind as Apple gets set to launch High Sierra.

Today I called twice. The first time I was on hold for 25 min and disconnected. I called again, spoke to a representative, was transferred. They fixed my Apple ID then needed to transfer me again to fix my daughter's Apple ID. I waited another 30 minutes and the representative I spoke to was rude and clueless and I demanded a supervisor. The supervisor then told me I would have to speak to a representative in the iTunes department AGAIN... 2 hours and 27 minutes later, I hung up... PROBLEM UNRESOLVED. For the amount of money we pay for these phones and the service, their customer service should be mediocre at least. More than 4 hours on the phone with them... Just wasted time.

Over a period of 18 minutes a young gentleman would ask me to spell the street I grew up on 5 times. Yes 5 times he asked me to spell the street I grew up on. As well many other questions he would repeatedly ask and to no avail could he understand that I know the answers and then suggest he would get an senior adviser to help. Yes 27 minutes with a senior adviser and guess what... No, she could not figure out how to get me into my account either and finally with many attempts of me not being able to answer questions that I know the answer to I became "timed out" as she put it and I would have to wait 8 more hours!!

Yes 8 more hours before they could try again. She said... "Sir please call back in 8 hours and we will try again." My experience with Apple support was not good! But most importantly the security issues here are the real problem! Someone has access to change my information... my birth date and other known questions to me get changed??? How??? Apple security is obviously NOT GOOD!!

Then I proceeded to 1) enter my phone number which is setup for two factor authentication and 2) enter ALL of my credit card information. I thought well that's pretty secure. But then the foolishness begins. After receiving my "code" via 2-factor authentication on my iPhone where I am logged into iTunes -- and have a fingerprint id that works, I was sent an email to my email account on record to again confirm that it was me trying to change or reset my password. I gave pause and actually thought that something really really bad must have happened recently security-wise to this company who's software is routinely compromised.

I continued anyway and clicked the link to confirm my email. After doing this, there was a not very straightforward note about someone would send me instructions to recover my account – in a few days! What? I confirmed via 2-factor authentication on my iPhone, additionally verified my email address by clicking the link and additionally entered ALL of my credit card information and logged into my iPhone where iTunes works via fingerprint id (still) and you need a few days? What do you think the point of 2-factor authentication is? I'm trying to spend $1.29 on the iTunes store on my PC!

Then I noticed the email that Apple sent to my account to ask me to click on the link and the more I thought about it the sillier it seemed. Apple has real security issues and is compounding their issues themselves-- "An account recovery request for your Apple ID (**) was made near Redmond, WA on 05/08/2017 at 1:05 AM GMT. The contact phone number provided was **. If you made this request, click the confirmation link below to help Apple verify your identity. If you didn’t make this request, you should cancel account recovery immediately." THANKS APPLE. It's good to know that if my Apple account and email were compromised I can count on you to send an email detailing what MY PHONE NUMBER IS. Can this process not be automated -- like everywhere else (Amazon, etc.) or are you just incompetent at automating such things?

Apple claims that another person was using my card to make purchases but they couldn't tell me who, cause they were a victim too... How can someone that is using my card a victim? I was like, really, I have no purchases from Apple other than my monthly iCloud storage. They went on that my bank must have reported. I was like no, there have been no charges, and my bank would reach out to me. Then the agent went on to say nothing happened because they caught in time. Caught what in time? How would they know that I wouldn't authorize this person to use my credit card without asking me.

I asked, does Apple think it has any obligation to notify their customers that their account info was compromised? I was told "No, you are confusing us with your bank". Um no, you claim that you shut off my Apple ID because you thought that my account was compromised, and you claim that you caught in time. If you had information that I or my bank didn't have, you should at least have a message somewhere informing the user was shut off for potential fraudulent activity. The guy claims they don't have that info on file to do that... Really? You knew enough to shut off my Apple ID, and my Apple ID is my email address.

Long story short, I am pretty certain that Apple shut my ID off because of me using the iPhone 5, however, they won't admit it. They won't give me any information as to what happen with my credit card if something really happened, and now I need to cancel my credit card to get a new one based info provided to me by someone that lied a few times on the phone.

Apple should be ashamed of themselves. While they may not be under any legal responsibility to notify their customer, I would think they would had a civic obligation. I dragged my feet for four weeks on the Apple ID; however, if I knew right away about fraudulent activity, I would have taken action to protect my accounts that day. I am lucky every purchased is emailed to me, and I monitor my accounts, however, what if someone really had my credit card info, and Apple knew it, and they spent thousands of dollars? Apple still doesn't think they owe their customers appropriate notification.

Long story short I'm willing to pay my insurance cost, sell it at a loss and buy an android or samsung 8 just to not vote for these jerks with my dollar! As well I will never spend another cent on iTunes, apple or any affiliated product. YES I did drop it to be fair but if that is the quality I get for my money and flat out zero support. That apple has fallen far from this tree!!!

I called back to Apple Care and after waiting on hold for 25 more minutes a new technician answers. Told the tech about my experience this morning - asked to speak to a senior tech again, waited an additional nineteen minutes. The senior tech asked me to do a upload - ok. Then she tells me she will have to schedule another time after the download is complete to help me with my music download. A total of 86 minutes wasted this morning just trying to download some music. Again how hard can it be?? I am more mad at myself for putting up with this APPLE propaganda crap for so long, than I am at APPLE. But to be clear Apple has really poor support. Time for a change.

I wrote a letter to Apple's head office in the US. After 2 months I got a short standard reply letter telling me to contact the local support (which refused to honour the guarantee in the first instance). So dead end. So two lessons: 1. Apple has a serious issue with quality. This is not the first Apple product I buy that is defective. 2. Apple doesn't care about its customers. It is OK for them to sell a defective product and will at best give you a refurbished unit back in replacement for a unit that never worked. 3. The international warranty is a joke. I left the new iPad Pro in the Shanghai store, told them they can do whatever they want with it. I will never buy any Apple products again. Not for me, not for my kids, not for my future grandchildren. Actually that will save me a lot of money. At least I must thank Apple for that.

I called and spoke to a new Senior Advisor., uploaded the file and was told everything was good but that the department that fixes such things are not available on weekends. There was no confirmation or communication and I called the next day and spoke to a third Senior Adviser who said the problem could be fixed at an Apple Store and I should have been told about that. He said he would contact the store, an 80 mile round trip for me. There was no phone call, no arrangements for reactivating the phone. On Sunday an email was sent and the phone could be used but all contacts, music etc. was not available until they "finished".

Today, 3/21/2017, I spoke to another Senior Adviser (I am sent to different advisers, I didn't make random phone calls) and was informed that it is now 14 business days before the phone would have all features restored. That will be approximately 5 weeks. The music and apps on the phone are not Apple property and yet there is no way to access or use what has been paid for. Apple Care uses alternative explanations. They used to be a company that represented progress and innovation.

They ask for a credit card... And here we go again, it's 10 years down the line. Who is still going to have the same credit card or even credit card number? So I now have lost all of my stuff because they ask me to verify my security questions when I do not know. "Oh I'm sorry sir, please find that credit card and we can unlock it..." Sure thing, I'll go root around the dump looking for a black garbage bag that "could" have chopped up credit card information for myself.

The next day several phone calls from me and not 1 returned by Apple and I am frustrated!!! But the wonderful Support Team of Apple does not understand that spending so much time on a phone trying to correct their problem while still trying to run my business is not only frustrating but since no one can seem to do anything about my problem it is a waste of my time! An exact week later I call again because no one had called me back as promised. I do talk to someone who again I had to explain my situation to instead of them actually reading my case file which if being written is lengthy. But of course she had not read my case and was leading a very frustrated customer through the same line of questions I had answered many times!!

Now through whatever manipulation they have done my sign in email address was again the same email address I had originally signed up with 12 years ago and still no way to sign in! So I call again today, 2 weeks after updating my phone, I call using the case number given me by Apple for my problem to be worked on and so the next person I talk to from Apple will know my situation, but the agent has not read my file and starts with the same line of questions I have answered many times before which should be in the file you should read before dealing with a frustrated customer. Still no call from my "dedicated person working my case," still not being able to sign in or use my account! 2 weeks to literally change an email address on my profile and it still has not happened! Apple you have lost a customer and his family for life!!

Original Review: Tech Support at Apple is worthless. I used Windows my whole life, and recently changed to a Macintosh system, THIS WAS A MISTAKE... Not only did I have to relearn everything about how to use a computer, but there are an insane amount of glitches and bugs in their applications. Case in point, I have been using TextEdit to record data that was cut and pasted from the internet, much like I used to use Notepad in Windows and at first it was just the same. Unfortunately, last week some time, Apple decided to upgrade my system from Sierra 10.12.2 to 10.12.3, and after that things went south.

Now when I cut and paste text from online, it adopts the font used on the web page and transfers that font to TextEdit whereas in the past the font remained consistent regardless of the font used on the site. This unbelievably frustrating and time consuming as I work from home online, and do not have the time to go through and word for word transpose everything I need to save to avoid the font being set differently. So, I tried to post in the forums, asking for advice, but like all things Apple, the community website has a ton of different requirements in order to post. As a result, I ended up having to contact "Support" (what a joke), to get some assistance.

The agent that I chatted with was named Jonathan, and suggested for me to create a new admin account and then log into it to see if it happened on the new account as well (it did). I did this, and after waiting the eternity it took for the Mac to log into the new account, I came back and Jonathan had ended the chat session because I had not responded for too long. Like he didn't know what I was doing (following his advice). So, I tried to start a new chat session, but it just hung there forever in an infinite loop and would never open a new chat window. As a result, I ended up calling support on the phone, ANOTHER MISTAKE. The phone agent could not answer anything and sounded as though she had the volume turn all the way down. I then went back to try and open a chat session again, and it was the same thing, INFINITE LOOP. I feel like I made a HUGE mistake getting a Mac, and now do not know how to get out of it!!

Now that repair was sorted out, sort off, replaced hard drive, reinstall OS. SECOND REPAIR HDrive WENT DOWN again. REPORTED SPARK SHOCK, showing it head AGAIN when inserting USB device in to the USB port. Machine went back to Apple. This time they replaced the hard drive for SSD drive and they said they repaired screen. Again NOTHING FROM APPLE SENIOR SUPERVISOR TECH TO SAY ANYTHING REGARDING USB ISSUE. MACHINE comes back, now machine goes well... until start of January 2017 screens show patches of fuzzy. USB issue back again and constant power downs...

NOW for the apple support, get through to Apple, get put in touch with senior advisor, go through the motions, problems for mac, that supervisor he would get back in touch in 4 days. 6 days no call... back on to Apple another supervisor full of apologies, same issues discussed, again supervisor stated he would be in touch 3 days. 4 days go by no call. Now they said they're taking issue serious regarding USB, shock spark, etc. Now its time for the 3rd phone call. Nothing from the other 2 supervisors. This is number 3, this time I asked for management. NOT IN YOUR LIFETIME. ANOTHER SUPERVISOR, he states he will chase this up and he would phone the next day. No phone call.

1 email stating "Hi Steven, I can see David has taken some action on the account and resubmitted a form for the engineering team. I have asked him to contact you on this, as I am unsure whether he got in touch with you. Kind Regards, Trevor **. Mac Senior Advisor." They don't seem to like the idea of me requesting a replacement for my mac because of the USB fault that's been reported twice now 3. APPLE STOP LEAVING CUSTOMERS AT RISK.

Called again and explained what happened again!! Person said "ok so are you going to pay now!?!?" I said "no!" He said "then why are you calling me!!!" And HUNG UP!!! Called again. Lisa answered and said "well if you're not happy take it to an Apple Store near you." I said I need a supervisor and her answer was "AGAIN!?!! you want a supervisor AGAIN!!!" I'm still speechless over this treatment! I've been in customer service for over 20 yrs!!! These people should be fired!!! Finally Dereck supervisor helped me and was nice!!! But I wonder how I can get a complaint to the right people to have something done about this incident!

As the consumer I understood Apple Care to be coverage of your phone for damages to the phone. I dropped my phone and the screen was cracked. In early December I went to the Apple store, and they told me my options based on my Apple care of $39 to replace my screen or $129 to replace my phone. As my coverage date was in February 2017 there was not urgency for repair. In December before the holidays, I made an appointment to meet with an Apple genius to get my phone assessed. I expressed that I have been having the following problems: The screen was cracked, the photo button was sticking, the iPhone charger when plugged into my Mac Book air would vibrate constantly.

The genius looked at my APN and advised that my coverage was only for Apple Care and would be $169 for a screen and $469 for a new iPhone. I advised that was different from what I was told before. He checked my account and said there was nothing confirmed before. As the customer he was right and I was wrong is what he was saying.

He then advised that I only had basic Apple Care and that I should have gotten Apple Care plus which I knew nothing about. Prior to my appointment with the Genius department not one person I spoke with at Apple told me about Apple Care Plus. So I googled Apple Care and Apple Care plus and could not find a comparison online. I advised this to the Genius, he said Google is not an authorized Apple website. The Genius then took control of my computer to show me the comparison on the Apple website. The page the Genius took me compared Apple Care plus and out of warranty coverage. I told him this was not a comparison of Apple Care and Apple Care plus, it was a different language. He said my phone is not covered as I did not have Apple Care plus. Again the genius wanted to prove he was right and I the customer was wrong.

He then told me I only have a warranty on my software until February 2017 not Apple Care, but he continued to call the warranty Apple Care. I told him this is a misrepresentation and poor communication. This is when he got feed up and said he would have someone else talk to me. Again saying he was right and I was wrong.

The next genius came over very confrontational as she had spoke to the prior genius about my frustration, she came over very combative, hoping to one up me. I expressed my frustration about the poor communication and misrepresentation. She told me with authority that my phone had only Apple Care and not Apple Care plus. I requested she print out my purchase receipt and show me where my iPhone stated that it was Apple Care not Apple Care plus. Which she did and then she advised the phone did not have apple care, only a warranty on software until February 2017. I expressed my frustration as a consumer with the poor communication and misrepresentation from Apple customer service and the genius department labeling my phone as having Apple Care when in fact it did not have any Apple Care, only a warranty.

As a customer, I would appreciate if Apple representatives would speak a common language that is understood by all. This poor choice of language leaves the customer confused, baffled, and disappointed. No one wins, as we all leave unhappy. In addition, my other iPhone issues were never addressed. I the customer left very disappointed and frustrated at my experience with Apple, as the information was a misrepresentation of Apple Care and the Warranty, the agents were not authentic, genuine and transparent with information. It was a battle for them to be right and for me to be wrong which is not the Apple I have supported for over 20 years. I would appreciate if Apple would address the misrepresentation and customer treatment, as I do not believe this represents Apple’s values, vision, and/or mission statement. Thanks for your immediate reply.

"Hi Teresa, Thanks for contacting us. We received your information, but we couldn't complete your unlock request for Find My iPhone. Product: IPAD MINI WI-FI 16GB WHITE-USA. Serial number: **. We need the original sales receipt to show proof of purchase of the product. To be considered valid, the receipt must include this information: 1. Resellers name, address, and phone number or website URL, 2. Date of purchase when the product was originally sold, 3. Itemized product information, including price and product serial number." Now remember I sent an email to them from Walmart with ALL the information requested. I have been dealing with this nonsense for three months!

At any rate, I love the comfort of the iPhone (I have had an iPhone for at least 10 years). The fact that I understand how to operate the phone has kept me with Apple for a long time. But, since I'm due for a new phone, I think it's time to switch brands. Just a warning to all who are there to listen: If you want a phone with good tech support, don't choose an Apple, don't get an iPhone, don't get stuck using iTunes.

Although Apple Inc. is a global leader in technology, their system has a huge flaw that ends up with customers being left frustrated. Billions of people use iPhones, iPads, etc. Just because the Apple Corporation is a popular and successful company, they should not be allowed to hold people’s devices hostage and treat customers like manipulative fraudsters or criminals when their Apple ID account is inaccessible. I went to get a password reset and then found out that getting back into my phone would be very challenging. The security that Apple has built to protect customers, creates a problem for customers, who honestly get booted out of their Apple ID account. I'm left very frustrated.

My problem started 13 days ago, when I woke up and attempted to check the messages on my phone. My phone had restarted itself and greeted me with the message, “iPhone requires your passcode after restarting.” I typed in my four-digit code to be met with an Activation Lock screen that required my Apple ID and password. I typed in my password: or at least what I thought I remembered was my password. It didn’t like the password that I typed. I tried again because on a little iPhone screen, with my chubby fingers, it is easy to fumble letters. Still not being let in, I had to turn to my laptop. After attempting on my laptop, it became obvious that I would need to click the “forgot password” link. That would prove to be no simple task.

First, Apple wanted to text a code to my phone, which I am locked out of. Then I discovered that Apple’s definition of a “trusted device” is another Apple product. Well, I trust my laptop and android tablet, too. Apple has two email addresses for me, which are tied to that ID. However, apparently, they can’t just send me a link to click on to authorize a new password. Well, here I sit 13 days later with no cell phone. I am still paying T-Mobile for service that I’m not able to get on the phone that I paid for. My complaint – my $600 iPhone is useless – I cannot use the simplest features, like the flashlight. I sit here with my original paperwork, receipt, and picture ID. The company won't let me prove that I own this phone. Apple will not let me use it. T-Mobile says they can’t unlock it because Apple doesn't authorize them to. I would gladly make a new Apple ID; if only I could get the phone unlocked.

The support that Apple offers is of no use. I’ve had three phone sessions and one online chat session. Customer service associates can’t help. They simply don’t have the training or (apparently) lack access to see my account and tell me what the status of the recovery is. No one knows what is actually going on. They go through the beginning of their scripted response each time, trying to get me to do the same things that I have already done. My account is already in recovery mode; please do not send me to iforgot.apple.com again. I have already been through that and provided the required information. Tell me where I am at in the process. How much longer, realistically, will it take? Why am I still sitting here two weeks later with no access to my phone?

Apple’s website says, “Go to iforgot.apple.com and check the status of your request. If you can provide additional account information such as credit card details, you might be able to shorten the account recovery period, or even regain access immediately.” Not so much. There is not much information about status. Why does it take so long? If it is an automated process, why should it take weeks or months? I have been stuck here in limbo for 13 days. I’ve read complaints online from people who have been like this for 21 days, four weeks, and eight weeks. Why? This takes me back to my last point about communicating with people about the process.

Apparently, at the root of this is the find my iPhone function. I thought it was neat… at first. You can click and Apple shows you on a map, where your phone is. Did I leave it at work? In the car? Let’s see, oh it is somewhere in my house! Well, the function forever links this phone to the Apple ID that I do not have access to, and no one will allow me to get into my phone at all. Two-factor authentication – I have no idea what this means. It was promoted to me as something to keep my account secure. Described by Apple – “Two-factor authentication is an extra layer of security for your Apple ID designed to ensure that you're the only person who can access your account, even if someone knows your password.”

A good thing, right? Nothing ever stated that getting a password reset would be a pain in the behind and take an absurd amount of time, while locking me out of using my device in any manner. If it had been clearly communicated what this was I would have made sure not to have this function activated. I still do not know what this entails, all I know this seems to prolong getting my account back. Now it’s just an expensive piece of junk sitting here. I have the original receipt with the serial number, my phone with the serial number, picture id – why can’t someone in an Apple store verify that I’m legit and unlock the phone?

I am being treated like a criminal. A forgetful person? Maybe. However, from what I’m reading online, I’m no different from many other people. With the billions of people using Apple devices, there are many people in my position. So why does getting a password to my account have to be so painful and frustrating. Why can’t Apple communicate the process a little better? Why won’t anyone tell me what’s going on with my account? When will I have access? What is the issue with establishing ownership of my phone? Thanks Apple! After this, I don’t want any Apple products. I’ve learned the hard way that Apple has too much control. As in, they shouldn’t have the ability to lock people completely out of their device.

Ultimately she transferred me to a "customer service representative" who would take care of me. It sounded like the same person trying to disguise her voice, who would not address the issue of Apple selling a product that is not supported, and she continued on "the customer is wrong" approach until I finally told her that if she worked in an Apple store she would be fired and hung up. She went by the name of Daniella or Daniell. The experience was awful and I would definitely not recommend Apple to anyone at this point.

Updated on 11/14/2016: After making me wait for a month, I get a call from a senior officer who promised to get a positive outcome, but ended up saying the same story. No warranty due to third party. This issue was explained from the beginning. Why make me wait for a month for the same report: unit send in with no power issue, current test fail no current flow 0.013A, cannot detect by iTunes, unable to restore, internal check found out battery have been damaged/punctured, confirmed have been replaced battery at third party, missing battery - pull tab, replace with normal transparent tape not eligible for any service. Apple free toll: 1800-803-638 (OPTION NO. 5). Really disappointed as I have been an Apple supporter for more than 20 years, as I still preserve my Macintosh Classic and displayed it in my office. My nephew has been calling me silly for supporting the brand which has no value for the amount of money spent. No more apple for me!! Damn Apple!!

I informed him that I would like to get a second opinion from Knowhow tech. Before I left the store I decided to just charge my laptop and see if it powers on. To my surprise it did. So I called the tech and told him he had misdiagnosed my laptop as he told me it doesn't switch on but it did. He told me that he will re-schedule an appointment for me to come with the laptop in 7 days. I said, "No, surely I shouldn't have to do that as it's your fault that you misdiagnosed." He started to shout at me and I shouted back and left the store. I got to my job. The IT technicians opened the computer and found that the battery had been disconnected from the logic board. They reconnected it and now my computer is fine and didn't have to pay 587. The tech guy said there was no signs of water being in the computer.

I am 100% sure Apple tech lied to get money from me. I am not only disappointed but wanted to tell my story so that someone learns from my mistake of trusting Apple. I will never ever buy AppleCare. People what you fail to realize is that if you buy your Apple products from PC World/Currys and buy their care cover for 9.99 it covers water damage, any hardware damage except loss compared to AppleCare which only covers hardware issues. Knowhow (PC world tech) are very efficient, good and quick not like the rude Apple stuff. I will never for to the Apple store in Meadowhall Sheffield again in life.

I mentioned the issues I have been experiencing in the last several months. Due to this present day, subpar CS, I shared that I will be thinking twice the next time one of my devices needs to be upgraded. His response, "I understand you have to go with whichever company you think is best for your needs"! Wow, unbelievable.

She then let me speak to her supervisor which made her put me on hold for a further 15 minutes; once again the supervisor tried to sell me AppleCare and even once asked if I wanted to pay by Debit or Visa?? She told me the same thing and asked if I wanted her reference when I presumably go back to Apple to get the screen fixed, she said only Apple could fix it when I mentioned if I could go to a third party. She didn't even know what a "iStore" was.

Money wasted on a device that belonged to a company who refuse to help their customers if the customers are not willing to pay lumps of money after they spent a fortune when buying the product! Thanks a lot Apple for your disgusting service and wasting time you weren't willing to compensate for. This iPhone has only caused trouble from the start and has put me, my friends and family off Apple products.

What happened to continue the saga? My wife accidentally deleted the data on the new handset instead of the old one. I know, not a great move. Now the new phone can't access the cloud (doesn't recognize our wifi), and my wife was never able to receive a new Apple ID password (this is when the phone was working). Why does Apple insist on making things go through the cloud? Who does this benefit? So after trying to reinstate the data for over 3 hours, we gave it a rest and hope we can have better luck with the service provider SoftBank who unfortunately seems to have the same level of poor service as Apple.

I imagine going back to an Android phone and getting my new smartphone set up by the provider in about 20 minutes (Apps and all, Apple doesn't transfer your apps)!!! We were told we need to keep the same Apple ID to get credit (for the old phone), but that is the same ID (smartphone email account) we can't access without cloud access. Nice system Apple! Never mind that Applecare in Japan doesn't get you a new phone, it only gives you a discount on the repair bill! Which takes you about 2 years to receive (not kidding. Nice touch SoftBank - why did Apple give you exclusive rights initially to selling the iPhone, I will never know). Sign me, One fed up Apple user - give me an Android any way!