The MacBook was bought 5 years ago this coming “Black Friday,” and had never given me a problem that even remotely required a trip to the shop So, I can’t complain. I have a great computer.
The only thing I’ve done is buy an external storage device for it. The internal storage which came with my MacBook Air is anemic at best, and external drives are cheap. 4 Terabytes is more than I’ll use.
Yes, Apple has taken strides in memory storage, but I’m not yet willing to spend almost $500 more than I paid for this one to get just 2 Terabytes of memory.
So, I find myself standing at the Geek Squad Desk at our local Best Buy, the place I bought my Mac from almost 5 years ago.
The first thing I’m told is they can’t work on Macs. All they can do is ship it to the closest repair center. Expect it to back in August 4th. I even got that in writing on the receipt. Okay, that doesn’t sound too bad. Sure.
From there it went downhill at the speed of sound. One the 1st of August, a week after I dropped it off at Best Buy, I get an email saying the computer was being prepped for shipment. Call me crazy, but, I was starting to doubt they’d make the date they gave me for getting my computer back. So, I called the Geek Squad at our Best Buy for answers. Umm, ah, gee, and well, are not what I, or any customer wants to hear. What they did say was because of COVID the computer sat on a shelf in quarantine for a week. I asked if they were aware of the use of UV light or alcohol wipes and such? No response. I was told it would be 3 weeks to get it back. I should have got the liars name. I hoped he was right, but, for some reason, I was doubtful. No clue why.
Later that day another email announced they shipped it. One week down, how many left? The adventure continues.
Twelve days, yes, I said twelve days. Twelve days later, another email informs me they have received my computer at the facility. Phileas Fogg traveled around the world in 80 days, in 1872, why did it take my computer in 2020, 12 days to travel less than 100 miles? Well, now it’s there I think, a few days to do what needs to be done and I’ll get it back. Sure thing.
Ten days later, I get a notice that I needed to call the Geek Squad 1-800 number to discuss the estimate for the repair. Note: Geek Squad has my home phone number on file, so calling me direct would speed things up, if only by hours. Days if I hadn’t been checking the repair status daily.
I had to pay a deposit to leave computer at Best Buy. The deposit is used against the total cost of the repair. I was told the balance would be $92 and change. Remember this amount, it plays a role later. Hint, I should have gotten his name and more important, I should have checked his math. The tech, really a customer service rep, has no idea what is wrong with computer, and knows only what it will cost to repair. He said I’d get a call in about an hour. He was unable to say why the call was going to be made. Just over two hours later, I call them. I end up talking to a guy in India. The problem is the “push 1 for idiots, push 2 for morons, and push 3 for I have no clue,” puts this guy on the line and he was the wrong department. He explained this to me repeatedly while attempting to find out what was going on. He was so busy explaining the call should not have come to him, that he was not listening to what I was saying. I finally had to yell at him to shut up. In the end he patched me through to local Best Buy tech. All this guy could say was the records showed I approved the estimate and that was all that was needed. He had no idea why I was told someone would be calling be in an hour.
One more thing about my friend from India, he was reading from a script. Anything I said that was not within the parameters of his script was more than he was trained to deal with. Once he shut up and listened, he did what he could and helped as much as his limited abilities allowed. I regret yelling at him to shut up. Check that, I regret the need to have done so, it really wasn’t his fault. He was not trained to think outside the given script. Customer Service today is about getting the customer happy as fast as possible and move to the next customer. Satisfied should be the goal not just happy.
The computer has now been with Best Buy or the repair center for 29 days.
Day 31, I get a notice the computer’s problem is being diagnosed. I wonder how they arrived at an estimate when they had yet to look at the problem two days ago, but refrain from calling for fear I’d mess up their system and have to wait longer. System? Yes, I said system, shoot me.
The good news is they knew in short order what the problem was and ordered the part which was in stock. Don’t ask. I don’t understand it either.
Day 34, I am informed the computer is fixed. But, I’ve yet to be told what was done, other than the upper case was bad. As Gibbs would say, “In English Tim.” A new keyboard was installed. But I didn’t know that until I got it back. All the keys are new, shiny and unworn.
Twelve hours later it was shipped back to Best Buy. And twelve hours after that it was ready for pick up. Did they send it out with Mr. Fogg?.
I arrive to pick it up, and am told the balance was not $92 but $80 more. I argued, but, well, I didn’t know who I talked to, and as I said, I didn’t check the math when given the estimate. My fault. I would not have changed the total had I checked, but it would not have been a last minute surprise.
35 days in total
I’ve used Geek Squad before and was happy with the service. But it was them doing the service at our home. They fixed the problems and for a reasonable cost.
When I attempted to get an answer as to why all this took so long, it was always hinted that COVID was the main reason. I find that inexcusable. When you offer a repair service it should cover all the products you sell even if that means having Apple people on the payroll and on site.
Their customer service stinks. Most do. I know it is at thankless job, I was a Customer Service Lead for 3 months for Reserve Army Travel in DoD. The difference is, I was not limited in what I could do, I understood Travel Pay and their problems. I was free to process the claim myself or give it to someone I trusted to get it done and done right.
Companies are spending their reputations and sales to save a dime, and the customer knows it.
The Mac is great computer, but the company is missing the boat in not having easy access to repair services.
Sales are half the service and we need to remind companies of that, daily.