Apple – dealing with 1

We have a dream – and that is of a world in which, no matter what help or information on technology matters we need, there are people in the business of providing it who have ordinary email addresses we can use to contact them, and who respond with emails we can print out and follow.

We read once that, “Whatever technology enables, happens,” and the technology certainly exists for this to happen, but so far it doesn’t seem to be happening very much at all.

Why?

We are certainly interested in why this is not happening in relation to Apple products? You would think that it would be in Apple’s interests for this to be happening with their products, but, in our experience, Apple support is a nightmare.

We have a simple question which is an example of what I’m talking about – “How do I make a reservation to see someone at the Apple genius bar?” and this is how one of our readers has got on so far in getting an answer to this question.

He had no problem making one a first time. As far as he remembers, he simply went to the website of a nearby Apple store – the Castle Towers Apple store, and scrolled down to:-

and clicked on “Manage reservations” and was able to successfully make a reservation. But all attempts to do this again have failed. First of all, when he did this, he was told:-

and was asked to enter a password??? Why on earth would one have to have a password just to make a reservation??? – getting one is a whole different subject, which we won’t go into here – but fortunately he had one, and entered it, which, when he did it, this came up.

So far so good. He clicked on “Find a store” and a list of stores appeared, BUT, when he clicked on “Castle Hill, Castle Towers,” he was taken back to:-

It didn’t matter how many times he did this, how many times he clicked on “Find a store” and “Castle Hill, Castle Towers,” he kept being taken back to “Find a store” again!!! He was going round in circles

Our reader says he was in the Castle Towers store about 10 days or so ago and told one of their people about this, and, when he looked into it, he said, “Oh, it’s not working, I’ll tell the manager about this.” But 10 days later it’s still the same!!! – either he didn’t tell the manager, or the manager didn’t do anything about it. He asked this person if the store had an ordinary email address or a an email form which he could use to make a reservation and was told the store didn’t have either of these. (Afterward proved to be in error.) So he asked this person if he could made a reservation of him, and he did, in just a minute or so, over the phone – so he had his reservation! But he’d actually had to have travelled to the store, and be in the store, to get it.

So he used this reservation to see someone at the genius bar, and was seen by a “Josh.” Our reader claims that Josh was aggressive, patronising and dismissive. When he explained to Josh that he wanted to know how he could make reservations to see someone at the genius bar without actually coming to the store to do it, and without using the telephone, as when he’d done this, he’d had to wait on for 23 minutes before he could speak to anyone, and then the person he’d spoken to wasn’t helpful, Josh virtually mocked him for wanting to know something SO SIMPLE! But he wasn’t helpful in saying what to do, and our reader say he finished with Josh confused and intimidated.

But before he left the store, one of their people approached him asking if he needed help, and he asked him if the store had an ordinary email address or email form and he said they did, and said he’d go and get one of the stores business cards with the email address on it. (So perhaps the person he’d seen ten days before, either didn’t know about this, or was under instructions not to tell anyone.) After about 5 minutes he came back saying he’d found out that the business cards didn’t have the email address on them, but gave him a business card on which he’d hand written, “castletowers@apple.com.” Our reader says that he thought that, with this ordinary email address, perhaps all his problems would be over. BUT:-

On Wed. 21 Aug. 2019, this was sent by email:-

Not having got a response, on Fri. 23 Aug. 2019, this was sent by email:-

On Sat. 24 Aug. 2019, this was received by email:-

It’s hard to guess what “additional information” would be needed before a simple reservation could be made, but perhaps it will all make sense when a response is received to this email sent on Sun. 25 Aug. 2019:-

As of the late afternoon on Mon. 26 Aug, 2029, we are awaiting a response.

To us, it’s almost beyond comprehension that if there are “a couple of different ways ” to “create a reservation,” if this claim is not a lie, that (1) these were not provided to our reader by the person he saw 10 days or so ago, or (2) that they were not provided to our reader by Josh on the Genius bar on Wed. 21 Aug. 2019, or, (3) in a prompt response to the email sent on Wed. 212 Aug. 2019.

One thing is for sure, and that is, that, if we ever find what these “couple of different ways” are, we will do our best to display them here in this blog.

One of the things that has us fascinated is this. We have recently authored a blog on Wesfarmers, an Australian conglomerate, said, in a Wikipedia article, to have 223,000 employees, 70% more than Apple is said to have in a Wikipedia article, yet, when we were having problems with a Wesfarmers entity in the western suburbs of Sydney, we were able to use an ordinary email address readily available on Wesfarmers website, to get assistance, yet, when we are having problems with an Apple entity in the western suburbs of Sydney, there is no sign of an ordinary email address on Apple’s we can use in a similar way.

To us it’s no surprise that there are this who say that Apple is going going down hill fast!

A comment or a question? Email us at info@questionsmisc.info.

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