Do Apple have a complaints department in the UK?

OK, heated discussion aside I have just posted this in another thread regarding logging a formal complaint in the UK. Here are the steps I took and would recommend...

Please bear in mind the feedback option recommended by some does not guarantee a response - as is stated on the actual feedback option

Phone 0844 209 0611

You will go through a few phone prompts and then be put through to a person in Apple Care

He/She will ask you to confirm the serial number and tell you if the product is within warranty

He/She will ask how they can help

Describe to them the outline of your issue and finish by telling the person you wish to raise a formal complaint

He/She will advise you that you are going to be transferred to Customer Services

I was on hold for a couple of minutes but the person transferring me joined my call again to advise that the wait would be a couple of minutes more (someone keeping you up to date - nice touch)

When the Customer Services person was ready to take the call the original person conferenced in the person and introduced us both before leaving us to it

You are now through to someone who can process, evaluate and repond to your complaint

The response may or may not be that day, tomorrow etc etc but the person will advise you of the timeline, your case ID and their contact details

You have now logged your complaint and it is being addressed by someone with the authority to respond and if necessary authorise any further action (contribute to repairs etc)

I have tested this personally and it works. Total time spent on the phone? Around ten minutes. I am of course now awaiting Apple's verdict 🙂

Cheers,

Andy

I had my phone replaced by Apple on the 8th February at the Apple shop in Trafford Centre. They asked me if I wanted to download my information from iCloud which I had last saved on the 6th February. The photos that were download were not my photographs. Some of them were of a highly explicit nature of persons (male/female) whom I do not know. The couple in question would be mortified to know I have received their intimate photographs off iCloud. All the photos were deleted and I was told an iCloud representative would get in touch with in a couple of days, which they did not. Since then I have been on to Apple again about a differed matter and they tried to get my original photos back on my phone but again these initiate explicit photos were downloaded to my iPhone. My 13 year old niece has been staying and has used my phone but thankfully did not look at the photos. I also got the Whatsapp download which I have never heard of and have never used. I have complained to Apple and had no satisfaction and I found their representative Alex de Matos rude and condescending, I received confirmation that an Apple engineer has started their investigation on the 20th February, later that evening I received an email saying that their engineers are going to require a bit more time to investigate. Alex phoned me today to tell me they were still looking in to it. I still have these explicate photos on my phone. He also told me this had never happened before, he needs to read this website. Apple do not have a complaints department, even though it would be best practise if they had one. I have found an address that you can write to and I suggest recorded delivery. Apple Retail UK Ltd; 5th Floor; 6 St Andrew Street; London; EC4A 3AE. I am now going to get in touch with the Trading Standards agency and the Data Protection agency as Apple have violated principle 5 and 7. Principle 6 states a right to right to claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Act.

DarenWheeler wrote:

Every major corporation in the world has a complaints procedure,

I would strongly disagree with that statement. It is my experience that most retailers and most companies in fact do NOT have any department nor staff dedicated to simply processing complaints. It's pointless to employee people for such a thing and a waste of money as well. Most companies deal with complaints through their technical or customer support departments, as Apple does.

But generally, no company employees people or resources merely for the sake of cataloging complaints. That's also the reason why more and more companies are doing away with general support emails and why Apple has never had one. Companies have learned it's far more efficient to process support and/or complaints by telephone or chat rather than wade through a morass of often pointless rants and complaints from an email inbox.

Call AppleCare back, give them your case number and tell them you want to be transferred to Customer Service.

There are a couple of routes you can take at this point as your iphone is only 6 months old. If you got your phone via a 3rd party, e.g Vodaphone on a contract, then you need to take it back to them. It is their responsibility to sort out your issue with a fix / replacement.

If you bought the iphone from apple, then they are bound by law to do the same. Have you tried taking it into an apple shop. The staff are often very helpful and will sort issue, even when the warranty has expired. If you are unfortunate enough to get a member of staff that is less than helpful, the request to escalate your query with a senior member of staff is usually sufficient.

You have to remember that you are within your rights as a consumer, apple know this, although some members of staff may try it on. The company themselves are aware that if they don't solve your problem, Trading standards will gladly get involved. It must be fit for the purpose for which it was bought!

I wouldn't lose faith in apple just yet, the larger the company, the more fault there will be with their products. However proportionally, I would bet that apple have less issues than any other PC / phone company and their products have a much longer shelf life! Good luck in getting it sorted!

The Yorkshireman wrote:

I would like Apple to know how angry I am at how I have been treated.

Then you should tell them. This is a user-to-user forum technical support forum. And, while we may sympathizewith your plight, we can't do anything about it.

See the contact information provided earlier in this thread or use the Contact Us link at the bottom right of every page in the forum.

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

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