My frustrating experience in getting my iPOD Mini

[warpdrive]

March 6, I order a new iPOD 2G 4GB Mini from the apple.ca (Canada) store. Order goes through and confirms it will take within 5-12 days.

Two weeks later, I call Apple,
- "where's my iPOD?"
- "It was delivered"...signed by a person named "Wendy xyz" on March 9.
- "No such person lives or has ever been here by that name, I live in a single house with my wife, and that's all"
- "ok we'll look into it"

a few days later passes, I call back.
"We can't do anything, the courier says it was delivered to the right address and signed for, we can't send you a replacement until the courier admits misdelivery"
I say "it wasn't delivered to me". "ok, we'll get back to you"

April now, Apple customer service (area code 512) calls me "apparently the courier still says it was delivered to the right address, our claims department closed the case because it was delivered. I'm going to escalate the case, but there is a chance you'll have to go after the courier yourself or maybe get your credit card company to refund you the money for goods not received"
"great, this is total unsatisfactory, you should be sending out a replacement in the meantime"
"Sorry, can't do it...our hands are tied"

Mid April. Courier company called "SameDay" calls me "Wendy signed for it and claimed she knew me and was the cleaning lady" Of course, I'm steaming mad at this time, so I decide to try to find this Wendy myself. I use 411.ca and find a last name that matches Wendy's on my street. It's a completely different address, but I find out it's the townhouse complex down the street....so I figure out that they must have delivered to a UNIT number, not a HOUSE number. So I call the courier up and let them know what I find out, including the telephone number of this Wendy. Meanwhile, I'm comtemplating calling the cops on this Wendy person for stealing my parcel. Courier calls me back the next day and says they found the house, but Wendy is (conveniently) not there, and they will get back to me soon if they retrieve the package. I hear nothing for a few days.

So Apple then calls me back and says the courier reopened the case and is going to attempt a retrace of the route and try to do a retrieval. It will take up to 15 business days to resolve.

Five days later, I had leave a messge at Apple saying they should provide some goodwill gesture for putting me through this ordeal. Then I get a message saying they are going to send me a replacement. No mention of any kind of goodwill gesture.

I wrote Apple complaining about their service and asking for some kind of goodwill gesture, and this is their response.

Dear xsdysdsad

Thank you for contacting Apple.

Apple welcomes your comments and suggestions. Customer feedback is vital to Apple's goal of improving Apple products and services.

Sincerely,

The Apple Store Team

This whole experience has soured any desire for me to buy any future Apple products. Even though it was the courier's fault, I found the attitude at Apple completely ambivalent. They just didn't seem to care.

[Judas1012]

That sucks, and I really hope "Wendy" gets a good whacking for doing that...

...however, expecting Apple to go and give you free stuff because the courier messed up is expecting a little much. The already sent you a replacement unit, even though, as far as they know, the unit was delivered successfully. Sorry to hear you got crappy technical service -- I know how frustrating that can be, but the sad fact is that tech support phone operators don't make much more than a burger-flipper does... you know the kind of rude service you get from places like McDonald's by the ####### smart-mouth cashier? He probably makes as much as the level 1 tech support at any company.

I think you'd do better trying to get something out of the courier, since you actually can point the finger at them, and have proof to back it up (save all that paperwork and phone records -- and see if you can get the courier to write down and sign a letter conerning the whole delivery incident -- "Oh, yeah, I'm Wendy, the cleaning lady," story).

And while you're at it, most definitely give the police a ring. Accepting a package that is not addressed to you, no matter what the courier says that delivered it, is illegal. It's "Wendy's" responsibility to look at that tag and make sure it's her name and address on the package when she signs for it.

Ooh... sometimes I wish the penalties for theft were a lot higher than they are for people like her.

[warpdrive]

Yah, theretically, Apple certainly does not have to give any freebies since they actually did nothing wrong. After the courier admitted the mistake and did the retrace, they resent a new iPOD to me, so they fulfilled their obligation.

In my experience, what separates a good company from an average company is the extent of the goodwill gestures to keep customers happy. They should "throw the customer a bone" just to appease them a little. Companies that I've dealt with like Amazon, J&R Music world, BHPhoto, Mercata, all were companies that voluntarily gave me goodwill gestures whenever any mistake happened, even if it wasn't their fault. I continue to be a loyal customer to them. Apple did not want to seem to lift a finger even though they admitted they understand my frustration during phone calls to me updating me of the situation. Their policy is so inflexible, I have to wonder what happens in the future when I have other hard to resolve problems. All I can say is...Apple has lost my faith, and they dropped the ball all along the way in taking care of this customer.

I'm not going to call the cops on Wendy because now it's the courier company's problem. If they tracked down the house, they are clearly in the right to sue Wendy or file charges. They admitted fault to Apple (otherwise I would not have gotten a replacement since Apple had to wait for the courier to owe the claimed value of the lost good)

[warpdrive]

Update to my story

I wrote a letter to Apple back complaining of the experience, and they are refunding me $10. Better than a kick in the head I guess!

[HomelessIpOD]

i would be so ####ed off...i would find it hard not to go to wendy's house and demand my ipod (even though apple sent you another) she has no right to have it! I know exactly what it's like, except the other way around. I ordered an ipod off of ebay and when it came the courier says to me "are you Dave?" i said "yup"...he hands me the package and turns around and leaves. Now i was happy i had my ipod, but on the other hand i was thinking...what if he gave it to the wrong house? i live at 114 west...what if he went to 114 east? stupid canada post! The other time i used a courier it was when apple sent me replacement headphones...it came by purolater and i had to sign the little electronic pad thing...thats what should always be done...including an ID check if you ask me...but yeah i would be so friggen mad...go to her house!!