Ex-Apple Employees Reveal How to Get a Free Replacement for Your Broken iPhone
Whether you're an iPhone user or
not, you've probably heard about how good Apple's customer care is when compared to other brands. The
same is true for the in-store experience in Apple Stores around the world. In
India, the official Apple stores aren't here yet, but the affiliates work hard
to maintain the same levels of customer satisfaction. Like any business though,
things are a little different behind the scenes, and if you're ever wondered
what life is like for the people working in these jobs, then you're in for some
fun.
A recent article by
Thrillist parts the curtain and gives people a look backstage.
One interesting thing - and you might have noticed this - the
article (which has inputs from three Apple Store veterans with about five years
of work experience each) reveals that the Apple Store employees are not allowed
to say "no", directly. According to one of the sources, Lucas, the
employees would have to find workarounds, so they would have to say something
like, "Yes, I absolutely can help you and I'd love to. The replacement is
$199," instead of saying "no, you'll have to get a replacement."
Lucas also talked about a loophole that allow people to get a
free replacement iPhone from Apple. All it takes is a little bit of research
and knowing the right way to ask. "The iPhone 6 had an issue where the
camera had a film that would slowly slide over the lens," he explained.
Now that's a problem that users could get a replacement for. If they walked in
with a cracked screen and said, "I dropped my phone and it's
cracked," then they'd have no luck getting a replacement, but if they were
to say, "I know this film is a defect," then Apple would replace even
a broken phone because of a known issue. "It is always worth looking up
issues like this ahead of time," Lucas said.
That said, it's pretty clear when people are lying. According to
Tony, who worked with Apple as a Family Room Specialist for five years, one customer
tried to convince him that liquid damage was some alien fluid, from when he was
abducted by aliens. Another customer claimed that he shot his phone with a
rifle because it wasn't working - that phone wasn't replaced. And there was a
customer who walked in with a deformed phone and claimed that it had suddenly
gotten very hot and burst into flames. On the inside, it was filled with water
- the customer said he threw water on it because it was on fire, but the
employee is quite convinced that what really happened is that the phone got
wet, so the customer decided to microwave it.
However, the Apple Store
employees also admitted that they couldn't help customers for stuff like frayed
cables. "We'd just have to say they'd probably been wrapping it incorrectly
or not caring for it properly, even though it was clear a ton of people had the
exact same issue," said David, a part-time sales specialist with four and
a half years of experience.
The Apple Store employees are divided into four categories.
There's the Genius, who are the ones fixing your computer, and are given
intensive training from Apple. Red Zone specialists are sales reps that help
you buy the different products. Family Room specialists are the ones who have
to repair your phone, which people said was the hardest job in the store. And
finally, there are Leaders, who are the management for the store.
Across the board though, Apple works hard to keep its new
products a secret even from these employees. According to one of them, the
first batch of Lightning cables was even shipped inside a mock enclosure that
mimicked the older 30-pin cable design, and instructions on how to reveal the
new connector were sent only after the new cable was unveiled.
Funnily, the policy of never saying no also means never asking
people to leave - as long as people weren't bothering other customers.
According to one David, there was an older customer who would come in every
single day and look up pictures of Mila Klunis and other celebrities for hours.
The Apple Store employees know about more than just what people
are looking up in the store though. Pictures of people's private parts were all
too common when the staff was helping with data migration from devices.
As one of the employees put it:
"Some things just can't be unseen."
Source : http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/features/ex-apple-employees-reveal-how-to-get-a-free-replacement-for-your-broken-iphone-868104?pfrom=home-trending
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