Apple Care? What a joke.

This morning has not been a great morning due entirely to the sheer lack of customer care shown by Apple.

I recently purchased an i-phone 5, one feature of which is Apples i-cloud.  I had hoped to use this in conjunction with my macbook in order to back-up all my photos, and free up some space on the laptop, only to find that the software on my macbook was not compatible.

Fair enough.  We have had it a long time.  Time for an upgrade.

Having travelled out to the Apple store in Cribbs Causeway Bristol I was informed by a staff member last month that they couldn’t help.  I needed to contact Apple Care about arranging an upgrade.

Ok.  Seemed a bit odd but I went home.

I duly rang Apple and after finally getting through their voice recognition system, I really don’t have an accent but there was clearly some problem in understanding me, I was finally put through to a human.

I explained the situation.  He checked the serial number of my phone, my macbook and the memory status of the macbook.  I was then informed that I needed to purchase the Snow-Leopard software disc at a cost of £18 to install on my macbook and I would then be able to update the software to the desired specification and install i-cloud for use.  Hurrah!  I duly handed over my card details and was told it would be delivered shortly.

It was and I installed it straight away.  I then performed all necessary software updates as instructed and went to install i-cloud.

Only it wouldn’t let me.

I looked at the Apple website, all the support forums I  could find, but whatever I tried it did not give me an option to install i-cloud.

Now, call me old-fashioned, but I quite like to deal with real people and thought the situation may be more readily resolved if I brought both my phone, and macbook, into an Apple store and see if an Apple staff member may be able to show me where I was going wrong with these Apple products.  Sound reasonable?

So this morning I did just that.  I dragged my heavily pregnant self along to the Apple Store in cabot Circus, Bristol.  And it was HOT today.  By the time I got there I was a bit flustered and very warm so was relieved to get out of the sun.

I was greeted at the door by a nice young chap who asked if he could help.  I explained the situation and was told that for this I would need an appointment.  Could I come back at 15:45.  It was now 11am.  ‘Not really’ I replied, ‘Are you sure there is no-one available sooner?’ I asked while scanning the floor currently occupied by several blue-shirted staff members stood about chatting to each other.  ‘No, it is a bit like a Drs surgery, you need an appointment’.  He then helpfully informed me however that perhaps Apple could help me over the phone and gave me the customer support number again.

Great.

So I stood, in the Apple Store, on the phone waiting to be put through to Apple support.

By the time I got through I was starting to feel a bit dizzy and needed to sit down.  Having not been offered anywhere to sit I had to head outside and perch on a wall, in the sun.  Having explained the situation again to the staff member that I eventually reached I was told that the Snow-Leopard upgrade was not sufficient to use i-cloud, I actually needed to purchase the Mountain-Lion software at a cost of £14 and to get this to work I would also need to purchase extra memory at a further cost of £40.

Ok, I accept that may be the case but why was I not told this initially and sold a piece of software that was never going to do what I had needed it to?

‘I don’t know’ was the answer at which point I requested a refund.

After checking with his superiors I was then informed that as I had opened and installed the software a refund would not be granted.

BUT HOW WOULD I KNOW IT WASN’T GOING TO WORK UNLESS I INSTALLED IT?  I was following their experts instructions after all.

Not happy, I asked to speak to his superiors.

To cut a long story short this phone call lasted 53 minutes.  I spoke to three different people.  I remained sat on the wall outside the store the entire time, feeling increasingly unwell in the sun, and informed each staff member that I spoke to of this.

At no stage did they feel the need to inform a Bristol staff member who perhaps could have checked if I was ok,  if I needed a seat, to get out of the sun, a glass of water, or even if I was perhaps in labour FFS!  ( I wasn’t, thankfully.)

They eventually agreed to refund the £18.

I am still unable to use i-cloud without spending a further £54.

I had to end the call at 53 minutes to dash to the nearest public bathrooms to be sick and get some water.

Having profited from my purchase of both the i-phone and macbook Apple quite honestly have shown no interest in helping resolve my issue.

I am unsure how to proceed but, having been a loyal Apple customer for many years, their sheer lack of care leaves me seriously considering a switch back to Windows for phone, laptop and desktop.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Do Apple care?