Gold Star--Apple Customer Service

From Dana Baggett, "I just hung up from a phone call with Apple Customer Relations, who called me in response to my e-mail complaint of two days ago! Judy was given a case number and asked to have me call back when I got home.

Apple CS Rep Dan Durrett heard my story, got on the ValueAmerica web site to see that VA is still selling the AppleCare Plan I "bought" last Nov. 25, got on the phone with VA while I waited on hold, then conferenced me in on the call with a VA rep named Tim. (Of course it took maybe 20 minutes to get VA on the phone.) I think Dan and I were on the phone for over an hour total.

Bottom line: VA still has no definite fulfillment date. I was promised a call back the first of next week. Of course I was offered credit card credit but as I explained to Dan, VA made a promotional offer to me which I accepted in good faith. I want to hold VA's feet to the fire to fulfill its obligation to ship me the product. There was no suggestion that the only reason it hadn't shipped is that I used VA Dollars to partially pay for it. (In other words, they are so screwed up that the problem is bigger than VA dollars.) When Dan conferenced all three of us, I pointed out to Tim that VA continues to sell this AppleCare product (with the wrong Apple part #) as of the present moment on its web site! He sounded surprised and said what we're heard before, that the problem apparently is at the distributor end. (An obsolete Apple part number shouldn't be the problem; the distributor must have a cross-reference to the current part #.) Incidentally, Dan said that among other benefits of upgrading to the three year agreement is in-home service!

After Tim at VA hung up, Dan and I talked some more. He has generously extended my 90 day warranty another 90 days, to April 2000 to be very sure that there is a seamless transition to the three year plan. I said to Dan that one reason I wrote Apple was to bring directly to its attention the shoddy practices of one of its authorized dealers. I said that Apple needs to give oversight to this dealer, as consumers may be unable to distinguish between the dealer and Apple Computer Inc. He indicated that he would definitely bring this episode to the attention of management.

I am impressed with Apple's prompt response to my web page complaint. Apple does listen."