Support for the military? You're right, it's probably overrated...
Ok, so when going through the support channels, unless (and this is a LOOOONG shot) a user is able to search for a solution in your support site and fix it themselves, they have two, and only two options. One of which is to take it into a store. That's wonderful for a large portion of America who lives near an Apple store. However, there are those who that's not a practical answer. At least those individuals are left with the ability to make a phone call. Better than nothing.
Then there are those of us in the military who get deployed to places like Afghanistan. Is it impossible to make a phone call from over here? Of course not, but when I do I use my computer. I'm sure you at Apple can understand that if I'm wanting to call about an issue with my computer, chance are, my computer's not going to allow me to make that call.
Next issue, I'm an outside the box thinker so I have my family call on my behalf. I give them my computer serial number, apple ID, etc. Anything I figure she would need in order to get my account/device recognized and to prove that I do have the Apple Care Plan. I received an email from Apple support the next day (I won't fault you on the time it took because it is afterall the weekend and I am in a largely different timezone). The individual said that based on what my wife was able to describe, he thought he had it figured out what would solve the problem. Resetting the NVRAM/PRAM and/or the SMC. While reading the symptoms that could be present if those things need reset, I noticed it didn't sound like it matched up but, hey, you guys are the experts so I did as I was told anyway. Naturally it did nothing to help. I'd like to know when Apple plans on incorporating some means of support for those in out of the ordinary locations. Email would work, many companies have interactive live chat options that could possibly help in areas. Seeing as how even the email from Apple support says "do not reply" you're still quite sub-par there. I'd also like to know when you plan on hiring people who do more than follow a little checklist of "if this, then that" solutions for computer issues. Maybe someone who can do a little analytical thinking. The answer I got in email seemed very automated, and not like there was any true thought put into it.
I know that you at Apple are smart enough to be able to sense the frustration in this message and I hope the degree of which isn't lost in the fact that I'm holding back how I truly feel and am trying to be a reasonable, controlled customer and not just going irate. However, I had been anti-Apple and Mac for a LONG time. I avoided iPods when they came out initially but eventually gave in, then one device led to another, built and built until I finally broke down and did what I thought I would NEVER do and bought a Mac. Wonderful machine until it stopped being a wonderful machine. Now that combined with the lack of support I'm getting is making me question my decision to give your products a chance. Please work with me. You have to understand, other than email from my work computer, my Macbook Pro and the means of communication it provides (Skype, Facetime, iMessage, etc) is my only means of speaking to my family to include wife and daughter. I've been seperated from my daughter cause of training and this deployment over half of her life. This is my only means of connecting. It doesn't matter how great your product CAN be. If the long term, big picture of the useage and support for that product isn't worth it, I'll take my future business elsewhere.
MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)
