A New Problem With Apple!

[dickie]

So last week my girlfriend's iPhone 3gs did something new. She had just plugged it into the charger - the one that came with the phone when she purchased it - and plugged the charger into a wall outlet. My iPhone charger occupied the other socket. Within about 60 seconds, she noticed that the phone was getting extremely hot to the touch toward the bottom where the charger is. Then the burning smell started, so she immediately unplugged the phone. The end of the charger cable was actually hot enough to burn her skin and leave a scar where it touched her arm. When we looked at the port on the bottom of the phone, there were scorch marks on the contacts for the cable.

My phone was fine, we unplugged both cables and plugged them back in, then plugged her cable into my phone. It functioned perfectly. We plugged my cable into her phone and it said "this charging device is not supported." We tried some other cables we had from her old iPhone and our iPods, same thing. The issue was definitely related to her phone.

In the morning she called the local Apple store to make an appt. at the "genius bar." The guy on the phone listened to the issue, then said (in the most obnoxiously condescending douche voice possible) "Ma'am this could NOT be a problem with your phone but I guess if you want you can bring it in Friday and 4:30 and I will try to fit you in." Mind you, this was LAST TUESDAY so we know he is probably booked solid til then with people who have problems with their brand-new iPhone 4. Last night, on a whim, I decided to take her through all the troubleshooting steps they will go through and ask her if she did so they can send her away without resolving her problem.

I plugged the phone into my computer. Wasn't recognized by either device. I swapped cables, tried again, no dice. I tried unplugging it and plugging it back in a few times and for a split second it said "sync in progress" so I wiggled the cable and held it in at an odd angle and finally got it to sync up. I backed up all her data first, then I tried to restore it per Apple's troubleshooting docs. It would not maintain connection long enough to restore. I tried to update it to OS4, also no connection. My phone worked fine on the same cable in the same slot. I had a nagging idea in my head Apple would still try to f*** her over, so we registered her on their support site. It initially told us her hardware was no longer covered unless it was a "manufacturer's defect." Well, of course this is a defect! So I selected the exception and had a tech support rep call us.

She was polite but seemed like she knew nothing about what she was doing. Her first idea was for us to pay Apple $29.99 to cover the device, so we explained this is a manufacturer's defect and it should be covered for free. She had already heard the story once but we repeated it for emphasis that it was in fact the iPhone itself. She said, "Oh well it COULDN'T be the iPhone!" and suggested we restore it. I had just gotten done telling her that no computer would recognize that specific phone, so I asked her how she recommended we restore it. She read through her list of scripted responses, then told us to take it to an Apple store, but they "probably wouldn't be able to help us since it doesn't sound like the phone was the problem."

Now I KNOW that Apple told its support employees to DENY DENY DENY all responsibility for issues with their hardware, the memo was leaked and published all over the place recently. But this is just retarded. It's not even like we have an iPhone 4 and they can't afford to swap it for us... they have TONS of leftover 3gs's that nobody is going to buy. But still, we get screwed by their piss-poor customer service AGAIN.

So, I decided to make everyone aware of this issue in case they were wondering how Apple is treating their customers. I am no overzealous fanboy, I do happen to like my iPhone 3gs when it has service... It has provided the least number of headaches out of all the phones I have owned and tried recently. It's a grudging concession though, as I have had no small number of problems with their products before. But back then, when my 6th iPod died the same way as the other 5 before it, even a year out of the warranty, they would just send me a box to return it and a new iPod no questions asked.

I will update with results of our visit to the Apple store if I get to go with her.

[Razi]

When I first walked into an Apple store and saw the "Genius Bar", I almost bursted out laughing.
Hiring the people that work there is a devaluation of the word "genius".

[lino]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune . I have similar luck with computer hardware. Sometimes you have to be persistent and keep trying and speak to supervisors, etc... Good luck!

[4cefed]

IB4AppleBashing

[IanS]

I really used to dig apple. They used to be the cool company that made Microsoft look like retards.

Now the tables have turned. Again and again apple, you throw your customers under the bus, you act like your products are miles ahead, and you sit on your high horse. Reality check, you have re written the book on evil corporations. Nice job.

[Jesda]

Call HP. Rashid will be happy to read off his script.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I hate modern tech support. It's neither tech nor support. It's scripted problem screening, and it accomplishes nothing. I hate all the garbage they have you try before actually attempting to solve the problem. Did you reboot? Did you power cycle? Did you try a different cable? Did you try a different PC?

Hey, a$$. LISTEN. If any of that s*** actually SOLVED the problem, I wouldn't be wasting my time, patience, and sanity talking to you, would I?!?!

Even worse, if you try to jump ahead of them, or offer supporting evidence for your theoretical diagnosis, they just get lost. THAT'S NOT IN THE SCRIPT! WHAT?!

Look, moron, I know it's a power supply problem. I want it fixed. I don't wanna troubleshoot with you. I don't want to drill down. I want to send it to your repair facility where people with brains can solder a new capacitor in and send it back to me. I'd do it myself but then the warranty will be voided if something serious goes wrong with it. I know what's wrong. I told you what's wrong. Shut up, listen, and do as you're told.

To be fair to the poor (in some cases) folks on the other end of the line, oftentimes their ineptitude is forced on them. They're not permitted to have "dead air" because management moronically thinks that's bad. Which is beyond stupid. I'd rather be put on hold while the "genius" tries to SOLVE the problem than chatted with about s*** neither of us cares about just for the sake of sounding our voices.
Whoever designed the modern tech support call center format is an idiot. I foresee the format disappearing gradually as small companies try REAL support and it catches on with customers.

[AppleBonker]

Hey, a$$. LISTEN. If any of that s*** actually SOLVED the problem, I wouldn't be wasting my time, patience, and sanity talking to you, would I?!?!

As much as I agree with you, the problem is the vast majority of consumers have no idea on this stuff. It sucks for people like you, but it benefits the largest percentage of the population. Your comment above is exactly the reason I avoid calling tech support until it is absolutely necessary.

[Jesda]

I enjoyed my last call to Lenovo. I gave a quick description and the guy (in Atlanta, for real) was like "Oh yeah, its broke. We're sending you a box tonight."

The whole repair process was three days, all that service for a $200 refurbished netbook. Impressive.

[dickie]

Jesda, you go through a business support line or open to general public?

[Jesda]

Jesda, you go through a business support line or open to general public?

Standard end-user support. Its just a cheap Ideapad from Microcenter.

I first got someone in the wrong department because the prompts are wrong, and she was American or Canadian and very politely transferred me to the right place. It was shockingly good.

I think their support after 5pm goes to India though.

[infinitgkid]

I actually think that the OP's issue was an issue that Apple already recognized and issued a recall on the wall charger. There were claims that the wall charger even caught on fire.

[dickie]

Can you post a link to this info from Apple? I couldn't find anything while searching, and we bought our phones at the same time; I have never had an issue with mine...

as a matter of fact the only recall I can find related was in 2008 for the 3G charger, which we do not have/use. Ours were purchased this year and are 3gs phones.

[skydragoness]

I really used to dig apple. They used to be the cool company that made Microsoft look like retards.

Now the tables have turned. Again and again apple, you throw your customers under the bus, you act like your products are miles ahead, and you sit on your high horse. Reality check, you have re written the book on evil corporations. Nice job.

THIS ^

[BusyBadger]

I hate modern tech support. It's neither tech nor support. It's scripted problem screening, and it accomplishes nothing.

Hey, a$$. LISTEN. If any of that s*** actually SOLVED the problem, I wouldn't be wasting my time, patience, and sanity talking to you, would I?!?!

Look, moron, I want it fixed. I don't wanna troubleshoot with you. I don't want to drill down. I want to send it to your repair facility where people with brains can fix it and send it back to me. I'd do it myself but then the warranty will be voided if something serious goes wrong with it. I know what's wrong. I told you what's wrong. Shut up, listen, and do as you're told.

My new script for handling tech support.

[AZ89two4Tsx]

Are you guys going to the actual Apple store? I have nothing but good things to say about them. My dad's Iphone one day just decided to not take a charge anymore. It wouldn't register no matter how you connected to it. This was probably due to the cheap a** car charger he bought. The phone is like 7 months old.

We brought it in to the "genius bar." They looked it over for about 5mins, then gave us a brand new Iphone. Lol all he had to do was sign like 2 papers and we were in and out within like 10mins.

Maybe you guys just have bad luck, idk....

[King Ranzo]

Heh. I hate Apple. Recently, my iPod classic decided to stop syncing with my computer properly. I restored it. Still no dice. I reinstalled iTunes. Still no dice. I reformatted it and then restored it again. Still no dice. I might go into the Apple store and tell them my problems and see if they will fix it. If not, I will throw it at the employee and tell him "That's what I f*** think of your s*** a** products. Have a f*** horrible day, you gigantic tampon."

[King Ranzo]

Here's my conclusion. iPhones suck. Android phones rule. Period.

[dickie]

UPDATE:

http://gizmodo.com/5582647/iphone-4-cat ... wners-hand

Apparently the new iPhone has a similar problem manifesting. Apple has still been no help to us. Their employees peg my bullsh*t meter, and their f*** fanboys on their support forums trying to tell me that I'm wrong and it's impossible for their hardware to have any defect gave me an aneurysm and I died.

[Jesda]

Android is awesome.. for virgins.

[BusyBadger]

UPDATE:

http://gizmodo.com/5582647/iphone-4-cat ... wners-hand

Wow, can't believe that happened with a USB cable. Would have made complete sense with an IEEE cable though.

[AppleBonker]

Would have made complete sense with an IEEE cable though

dammit...

[twofortyesecks]

I had a refurbished MacBook Pro (the older version) it had a problem with the temp sensors and gradually cooked itself. I took it in for multiple repairs throughout one month. Every time I'd pick it up it would crash before I'd even leave the store. On the 5th crash I kind of freaked out in the middle of the store until a manager handed me a new MackBook Pro of the current version. He really really wanted me to leave.

My suggestion is to make a big fuss; they'll hand over a new phone.

[Looneybomber]

UPDATE:

http://gizmodo.com/5582647/iphone-4-cat ... wners-hand

Wow, can't believe that happened with a USB cable. Would have made complete sense with an IEEE cable though.

Like 802.11? Wireless?

In other news, my basic phone works great, is blue, and I only have to charge it 2 or 3 times per week!

[zacmil]

Yep, this sounds exactly like every experience I've had with Apple. Last winter I had one of the contacts in the headphone jack of my old 30gb iPod break. I knew what the problem was, I knew that I caused the problem (sticking it in my pocket and walking up a hill everyday), and all I wanted was to get an idea about what my options were. Because the iPod was so old and was no longer under any kind of warranty, they were going to charge me an unreasonable amount of money (I don't remember how much) just to talk to me. After getting the run-around for the better part of a day I discovered that it would cost more to fix than it was worth and the most Apple would give me would be a 10% credit if I traded it in. I said screw it and just bought a junk iPod for parts and haven't had an issue since then. The whole experience soured me on Apple and when my iPod finally dies for good (or I fill it up, whichever comes first) I'm probably going to switch to Zune and be done with Apple forever.

In regards to the tech support thing, it's really no fault of the representative that she was no help. I actually just left a call center that did tech support for a few colleges and one of my biggest complaints was the utter lack of training that I received. The real issue lies with the people at the top. They realize that those sort of places are a big revolving door, so they don't really want to spend money training you. They know that once you quit out of frustration or are let go due to your inability to follow procedure there is someone else just waiting to take your place. Personally, I don't think it will change until the consumer begins to demand a higher grade of customer support.

[BusyBadger]

Would have made complete sense with an IEEE cable though

dammit...

Even though I was a little quicker on the trigger, at least you get it.

Like 802.11? Wireless?

Apple's proprietary name for the IEEE cable & interface is Firewire.