APPLE SERVICE TODAY: What happened?

TL;DR? The MacBook Pro’s keyboard and top case was replaced.

My 1984 128k Macintosh. For no other reason other than to demonstrate my long-standing association with the brand.

A few weeks ago I posted APPLE SERVICE TODAY: MacBook Pro Keyboard Replacement Program which outlined the trouble I had with my 2016 MacBook Pro 15”.

Towards the end of the article, I mentioned ‘I await their response’, from both the Authorised Service Centre and the Apple Support Representative whom promised to immediately email me and follow up later in the day regarding my concerns.

Those calls never came. From anyone. I was left to wonder if my machine would be repaired for a further 10 days. Then, as if by some miracle, I received a text message that my MacBook Pro was ready for collection.

I must admit that I purposefully refrained from calling the Authorised Service Centre to enquire about the repairs, and what had occurred with Apple. To be perfectly honest, this was an exercise in experiencing everything the Apple repair process had to offer.

And it wasn’t a great experience. By any stretch of the imagination.

I know and understand that this is a Trillion-dollar international organisation. In the few minutes that it has taken you to read this, Apple has sold 800 odd iPhones, 183 iPads, 80 Macs, 157 AirPods, 107 Watches, and made $1.4million in revenue. They are baffling statistics.

My four-year-old MacBook Pro is of little consequence. Isn’t it?

Well, in a word, no.

In my humble opinion, having worked in consulting organisations for most of my adult life, with many product-oriented clients, it’s not that difficult to help the end user feel supported. Valued.

Not every customer of Apple’s is going to be so willing to forgive bad customer service, given an almost life-long association with the brand. A high percentage of users, as evidenced by posts in Apple-centric groups on Social Media, are first-time purchasers of the brand.

This experience hasn’t destroyed my love for Apple products, but it has certainly bruised the relationship.

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