Q: Do Apple have a complaints department in the UK?

Sorry to disappoint, but "we guys" are not Apple. You are complaining to fellow users, not Apple staff.  As there is nothing we can do to help you, a bit of a waste of time.

Hi all

I have an i phone 4s on a two year contract with Tesco mobile. 18 months in it has developed a problem with Wifi. The Wifi on off switch is grayed out so I can't switch Wifi on. The Genius desk at the Trafford Centre, Manchester have confirmed it is a hardware fault, however, as the phone is out of it's 12 month Apple warrantee they won't repair or replace. Tesco mobile won't help either as they only supplied the equipment with the 12 month warrantee which Apple offer on all it's products.

In terms of customer service everyone at both Apple and Tesco have been very pleasant and understanding but the cold fact is I have committed myself to a two year contract with the sevice provider based on equipment which only has a 12 month warranty. This is my first Apple product so my limited experience suggests when the contract is up I should change to a more reliable product, or one with a better warranty. Galaxy offer two years for example, which fit's much better with a two year servioce provider contract.

My problem - for the 18 months it has worked I have loved the i phone!! Can anyone with more experience than me of these devices offer an opinion which might sway me one way or the other in 6 months time?

Thanks in anticipation your advice.

Have a look at this may have relevance with the seller ie Tesco

http://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

This is truly awful, how can Apple not have a complaints department!! So annoyed that we the customers are being treated in this way after spending our hard earned cash on Apple products that simply are not up to standard, my ipod has died just have a year and half!!

It is called the Apple retail store genius bar

If your iPod is dead, why complain on an iPhone forum populated entirely by users?

Apple have people who give support to customers. Much more productive than paying people just to listen to complaints from customers.

There is a very good reason to complain on a public forum and everybody should do it. It's very important for people considering making a purchase from Apple to know how badly Apple treat their customers. It seems they just want to take people's money and then fob them off if they have a genuine complaint about a faulty product.

They are a victim of their own success. There are a lot of chancers out there who probably deliberately damage their product and then expect Apple to replace it free of charge so they have had to take a far more strict stance. Unfortunately good loyal customers with genuine issues are getting caught out and treated like they are trying to somehow trick Apple.

We Love Apple wrote:

 

There is a very good reason to complain on a public forum and everybody should do it. It's very important for people considering making a purchase from Apple to know how badly Apple treat their customers. It seems they just want to take people's money and then fob them off if they have a genuine complaint about a faulty product.

I generally assume that people who complain on public forums rather than spending their energy actually working with a company to resolve the issue are only telling half of the story (leaving out important issues such as user damage, losing their temper with employees, refusal to accept reasonable solutions, etc). I tend to leave such posts out of my calculations.

Sure complaining on a public forum should be a last resort. The problem is that Apple does not make it easy to work with them to find a solution hence the OP and the discussion that follows, and they alienate many customers who try.

I have used Apple products for over 10 years and today I had the worst customer experience in my life when I went to the Apple store.

My MacBook power cable stopped working and I could not charge a laptop I paid £2,500 for last year. I was told to buy a new one for £50 as my warrantee was out and that I don't have any consumer rights as I purchased the laptop in the US (from an official Apple store). When I asked if they thought its acceptable to buy a £50 replacement cable every 12 months just so I can continue to use the laptop, the Genius technician told me the cable had burnt out and therefore some material must have got into the connector and therefore it's not the manufacturers fault. I only use the cable for charging and don't even really take the MacBook out of my house so if it burns out that easily then to me it's a design flaw. In any case I paid as I rely on the MacBook for work. When I complained about my disappointment I was told they have other customers to see. After paying and signing a service agreement I was given half a MagSafe charger. When I realised this I asked how much a whole one is (£65) and if I can change it. I was told its too late as I signed the service agreement and cannot return it. I asked about the warrantee and was told it's 90 days as they provided a repair service!!!!! They sold me half a brand new cable at almost the same price as a whole one. They didn't repair a thing. They also did not advise me on the best solution or give me a choice and then refused to budge when I asked to change to the full cable product. UK consumer law states a product must be as described and function for a reasonable amount of time. You have a statutory right to get a full refund on a faulty product up to 6 months. The burden is on the retailer to prove the item was NOT faulty. After 6 months the burden is on the consumer to prove the fault and you can even request a refund up to 6 years post purchase. Selling new products at full price as a 'service' and giving a 90 day warrantee is a real breach of statutory consumer rights in my opinion. It seems Apple think its ok to fork out £50 every 90 days for a new power cable for one of the world's most expensive laptops.

I think it's important to let other people know not to pay for products under the guise of 'replacement' when they can just buy a new one for the same money and be covered under a propper warrantee.

People can make up their own mind about a company. For me Apple makes great products, but treats their customers like dirt.

They gave you an out-of-warranty replacement unit for a reduced cost. Even though the warranty is only ninety days that does not mean the charger will fail in 90 days. I've never burned out a charger on any of my laptops.

They didn't fail you or do you dirty they saved you 15 pounds. While service replacement units may be refurbished chargers are usually not so you probably received a new unit.

Just curious: what was the import duty on the MBP when you brought it in.

We Love Apple wrote:

 

Sure complaining on a public forum should be a last resort.

I also don't read long blocks of text that aren't properly broken into paragraphs.

Every single service experience I've had with Apple has been resolved promptly, cheerfully and perfectly.

Best of luck.

I've been looking for a complaints email address, not sure I've ever come across a company without somewhere to direct complaints to.

Simply to make note of what a horror I feel the latest iOS is, not simply for it's aesthetics.

I'm not going to make a Genius bar booking to complain to a spotty teenager. I'm not going to write a hand written letter to a faceless address with no chance of a reply and no proof of delivery at a later date.

I want a complaints department that respond to concerns, perhaps not personally on each occasion - if there is an influx of issues around a similar subject - to make a global response. A complaints department that has been trained to direct my issue to the right department. A complaints department that can push things upstairs if the issues burn hot enough and let the ghost of Steve Jobs know. I'm sure if I ran a company I would want to know how I can improve things so I can embezzle the rewards from even more product sales in further tax dodging and non-research-funding.

I surely can't be the only one with a very-often-crashing iPhone 5 running iOS7 while scrolling around some apps. Apps that stood up perfectly well in the very clean and mature lines of iOS6 and previous.

I want to make Apple aware of this on their complaints line so that they can group complaints of the same topic and perhaps do something about it or look at their profits and sweep it under the carpet, either way I want them to know about it!

I need to take my iPhone back for the same fault each and every iPhone I've ever had has developed - the failing of the Lock/Power button on the top. But that's not what I'd complain about, as they will fix it under waranty and it will cost them money.

And I will probably buy the full spec MacBook Air too, because there's no such thing as an Amiga anymore, Windows 8 is as bad as iOS7, and it's quite a pretty thing and will look alright next to my iPad, iMac, Apple TV (So happy that the network ITV exists in the UK to break the whole iNess.) But if my experience of the sale is bad then I will want to complain about that too.

magicturkey wrote:

 

I want a complaints department that respond to concerns, perhaps not personally on each occasion -

The best and most effective way to complain remains a letter, on paper, with a stamp.

While the type of complaint department you envison sounds great, it doesn't exist now an probably never will. Therefore, the logical thing to do is to use the avenues currently offered. Or, you can complain here. You can belittle hard working people because they don't fit your stereotype of what a smart person looks like. Of course, neither of those will accompish very much. But, suit yourself.

Best of luck.

"I want a complaints department that respond to concerns, perhaps not personally on each occasion"

And that can be accomplished through the feedback URL.  Too, several poster's have commented that they had a complaint, and responded to, if a letter was sent to TC. 

As for an actual failure and repair: every incident is recorded, and placed in an internal Apple database.  Every responsible Apple engineer has real time access to the problems that are reported, the module that was repaired and, as appropriate the device that failed.  Accordingly, corrective actions and revised test procedures are then developed, and implemented.

Meg St._Clair wrote:

 

The best and most effective way to complain remains a letter, on paper, with a stamp.

 

While the type of complaint department you envison sounds great, it doesn't exist now an probably never will. Therefore, the logical thing to do is to use the avenues currently offered. Or, you can complain here. You can belittle hard working people because they don't fit your stereotype of what a smart person looks like. Of course, neither of those will accompish very much. But, suit yourself.

 

So for one of the largest technology companies out there, the best form of contacting them to raise an issue is by sending them snail mail?

And, awww bunnykins I didn't mean to upset you but I'm not belittling anyone hard-working or not, the Genius Bar is not for complaints, it's for techie assistance and repairs, I was a spotty techie repair kid for a couple of years myself - if someone came to me with a complaint I wouldn't do a great deal with it because my job is not to filter complaints through to the intended department. I'd give out the phone number and contact for the complaints department though.