[brapper]

And I had the privilege of speaking with a d ick.

I installed the newest security update and upon restart couldn't get past "loading login window." So not wanting to troubleshoot and waste time, (enough work to do right now..) I called applecare.
From the conversation start he sounded exasperated like he didn't have time to talk to me.
About five minutes in he turned into a dick tho when he asked me to shut down my computer, so I did and then I get this question:

D - "How long since your computer was on?"

Me - "I just shut it off 'cause that's what you asked me to do."
Then he says, like I'm an idiot:

D - "Listen to the question, I can't help you unless you listen to me. How long since the computer was on?" ( that was out of the blue..)

Me - I turned it off thirty seconds ago like you asked

D - That's not what I asked you, how long since it was on?

Me - I'm telling you I just turned it off, so it's been thirty seconds since it was on.

D - You're not listening to me...

At this point I cut him off and say:

Me - No, listen to me, I don't have time to screw around with you right now. You're asking me a question to which I'm giving you an appropriate answer. If you're not getting the answer you're looking for, you stop and think, then rephrase your question accordingly.

D - I want to know, Sir, how long ago you turned your computer on.

WTF?

It turns out he wanted to know how long I allowed my computer to boot for before I called to say something was wrong, and I only found that out by explaining step by step what I did before calling.

But it didn't end there. Admittedly, I'm not on the most recent computer here (Tibook 667, 768 ram) but he had zero patience throughout the call. When waiting for disk utility to finish he was like a three year old in the back seat waiting for it to be over, "is it done?" "no? how about now?"

So I just ended it, by saying:

"Listen, I'm going to archive and install, and just get it over with. I don't have time to ask to talk to you supervisor but I may send off an email later. It's your job to help me, that's what I pay for, but I expect you to do it as painlessly as possiible. Also, make sure you put a note on my account saying you're not allowed to work on my cases anymore. Thank you."

I was upset because back in the iBook days with logic board issues, I always thought the Applecare people were really nice and patient, always willing to walk a mac novice through the proper steps. This guy was not only an ass, but I could tell he was a manual reader 'cause he sounded like he was reading through the steps he gave me. Fortunately, he didn't spoil the Applecare experience for me, but he did piss me off.
[/vent]

[ManOfSteal]

He was probably going to tell you to perform an Archive & Install anyway...so glad you didn't waste more of your time on him and did that yourself...

[OptimusG4]

Did you happen to catch the guy's name? I ask cause I know a few people that work in AppleCare...

[Rev-O]

I always find that repeatedly interrupting people who are pissing me off somewhat satisfying. It becomes a bit of a game; you patiently wait for the person to start speaking before you interrupt them and hit them with a:
A) "No, you listen to me..."
B) "Oh, would you just shut your yap for a minute..."
C) Long, exasperated sigh followed by "Whatever..."
I resort to this very infrequently, but sometimes it feels so good.

[brapper]

Originally posted by OptimusG4:
Did you happen to catch the guy's name? I ask cause I know a few people that work in AppleCare...

No, unfortunately I didn't. I realized later, when I thought back on it, that he greeted me with "thank you for calling Applecare, can I get your first name please..."
Usually, when not stressed, I jot down the person's name so we can have a friendly exchange back and forth...but today I didn't think of it.

[brapper]

Originally posted by Rev-O:
I always find that repeatedly interrupting people who are pissing me off somewhat satisfying. It becomes a bit of a game; you patiently wait for the person to start speaking before you interrupt them and hit them with a:
A) "No, you listen to me..."
B) "Oh, would you just shut your yap for a minute..."
C) Long, exasperated sigh followed by "Whatever..."
I resort to this very infrequently, but sometimes it feels so good.

haha, I can see that being a good time but today I wasn't willing to mess around.

[Buckaroo]

Did he have an accent from India?

[brapper]

Originally posted by Buckaroo:
Did he have an accent from India?

haha no, though i thought that would come up.
Definitely not, if he did I'd have accepted the inane questioning.
I thought of pulling a "Hey buddy, why don't you transfer me to the india office, maybe they'll speak english to me!"
But, alas, I restrained myself.

[Amorya]

You get good and bad. I've just (finally!) got a new battery for my laptop. I had to call about eight times - they tried to send out a total of five batteries. It was UPS that was at fault (as far as I can tell), combined with my uni first rejecting one package, then my parents putting a note on their door saying "if we're out take to ___" and got the house number wrong!

But nearly all of the Apple guys were really patient, apologising for the delay and waiving the 10-day grace period for handing back the old battery.


However, when my power adaptor broke once when I was in Ukraine on holiday, I phoned Apple and asked for a new one. (They put me through to Apple Ukraine, so I guess they must auto-sense the phone number or something, although it was an international call to the UK.) That guy spoke little English but said he'd send me another one... but he sent me an adaptor for an Apple Flat Panel Display.

So when I got home I called Apple again, and asked for the right part. Here's when I got an asshole - he had the cheek to tell me that the part was right and I didn't know how to plug it in. (There's a difference between the round grey adaptor that says "Flat panel display" on it, and the square white adaptor for a powerbook G4.) He kept telling me it was my fault, and accused me of losing the cable I needed to connect it. Finally got him to send me another.

It arrived, and I got hit with a £60 charge even though I returned both the wrong part and the faulty part in the same box three days after receiving the right one! Turns out he'd flagged me as trying to beat the system! When I phoned back and explained, they were very nice, and had me fax my bank statement to their office. I got a call the next day by a department head, apologising profusely and asking where to transfer the refund to.



So in all, pleased with Applecare - just some issues sometimes


Amorya

[Komisar]

Hmm.. I guess the outsourcing to india is noticible...